Watching Doctor Who

Ever so slowly, I am catching up. I’m only one episode behind now. This is the Reaction Post for Torchwood series 2, episode 7: Dead Man Walking. This is the second episode in a three episode long roller coaster ride. Ready for my rambling commentary? Let’s discuss, shall we?

Last episode was mostly Martha-centric. This one is really all about Owen. Owen…who is only mostly dead. His body has shut down. He can’t eat, sleep, or shag. And yet…he’s still walking around. Oops.

And if you think about it, Jack now should understand what Rose did to him a lot better, as he’s done something similar himself. The scene in the jail cell was really quite touching. Also…Jack claims to have dated Marcel Proust. Owen makes a good point that they never know when Jack is joking. Jack’s reply is equally telling. When you’ve lived as long as he has, you don’t really need to make things up.

We have also been given a couple of things to think about. Who was the little girl that Jack went to talk to? (And how did he know about her?) What were all of those Weevils doing in that church when they’re supposed to live in the sewers? Why did they react to “Duroc” the way that they did? I don’t think that they were hunting the glove so much as Owen/Death. (And I hope that there isn’t another pair out there. Mind you, you know that there will be the rest of the outfit somewhere along the way.)

How freaky was Duroc!Owen? Also, Jack was right about the vomiting. Ewww. Interesting to see them using Darren Aronofsky’s favorite camera trick in this episode. That was in the part with Owen’s night on the town. (The Owen!Cam) Too bad Owen didn’t properly think all of that through before he went out drinking. It didn’t work out very well, did it? I’m quite proud of him for talking to the Leukemia patient like that before taking on the baddie himself. He could have just shooed Tosh and Jamie out of the room, but he didn’t. He gave Jamie hope, and distracted Tosh with a kiss.

I loved how Ianto kept being redirected to the Weight Watchers website while he was searching for information about the baddie. When the gauntlet went for Martha’s face, did anyone else think of that scene with the plastic hand in the Doctor Who episode “Rose”? I’m glad that the aging thing ended up working rather like a spell. Get rid of the baddie, and the spell is broken.

Gwen reacted quite believably in this episode. She avoids the glove like the plague. After the other one tries to kill you, that’s quite reasonable. Owen is/was her friend and used to be even more, and so they even manage to have a wee conversation. No wonder she’s calling Rhys in tears.

How long will Owen’s undeath last?

Torchwood, Dead Man Walking