Watching Doctor Who

Here’s my review for the second episode of Torchwood. As usual, the spoilery stuff resides behind a “more” tag. I hope that you enjoy it. Has anyone else started looking more closely at black SUVs?

Episode: Day One by Chris Chibnall
Rating (1 to 5): 3
Alien Tech: Meteor/Space Ship, portable cell that looks like a shell, jack’s wrist computer (maybe alien?)
Who kissed whom? Gwen kissed Rhys. Gwen kisses Possessed Carys. Jack kisses Posessed Carys. Gwen kisses Jack.
Who Died? Matt Stevens, Eddie, 5 guys at the clinic, the alien
Were they playing “Spitting Games� by Snow Patrol? nope
Converse? nope.
Jack on the roof? not this time.
What do we learn? The usual formation varies. Still not allowed to take any alien tech off of the base without Jack’s permission.
Doctor Who References: The Hand (and it moves on its own). Reference to the Sun exploding (if you had to work your way through Jack’s back catalog, that’s how long it would take.)
Favorite bits: “I could go through them the old-fashioned way: with my eyes.” “Right, just to recap, you’ve traveled here to feed off orgasmic energy.” “You people and your quaint little categories.” “You know, strictly speaking throttling the staff is my job.” “Period military is not the dress code of a straight man.” The rest of the squad ganging up on Gwen in hopes that she has further Jack info.

Observations and Musings:

This episode is basically Gwen-centered. Poor Gwen has the worst first day on the job ever. She even has to come into work the night before she was really supposed to start. She is denied entrance to the crash site (Jack has to come back for her). She is the one who breaks the spaceship and sets the alien free. She goes to interrogate Carys and the alien inside her, and end up snogging her in the cell. Gwen follows this up with trying to strangle a co-worker. (Okay, Owen was being an asshole, but still.) Gwen feels responsible for all of this mayhem, so she offers herself as host. Luckily, Jack saves the day. I wonder if Gwen is going to kiss everyone who saves her life. She seems to have an effect on Jack. At least he finds her unexpected. At the end, he asks her to please go home and be normal. Nice sentiment. She won’t be ‘normal’ long. You will also notice that she has continued lying to Rhys. She had already begun during the first conversation we saw in episode one. Gwen seems unable to discuss anything freaky/work-related with him.

I loved the snarky Ianto moment. He offered to narrow down the suspects the old fashioned way: with his eyes. Oh yeah, and “Need me to do any attacking, sir?” Do you think that the rest of the team should maybe have gone to get Gwen out of the cell just a wee bit faster? Jack is still drinking water instead of alcohol. I wonder if we will ever get to the bottom of that little mystery. The Hand makes an appearence. Jack lets her go just to get it back. Owen actually does something doctor-related. (Rat jam. ewww.) Tosh figures out where Carys is headed. By the end, don’t you think that everyone has been awake for a couple of days? I mean, Gwen is still wearing the clothing from her “night out.” I hope that the team is salaried. It would be a big pain to have to figure out hours on that job.

Image Source: http://www.time-and-space.co.uk/

Day One, Torchwood, Chris Chibnall