Watching Doctor Who

Here’s my review for the third episode of Torchwood. I would just like to say…wow, Gwen can really run.

Episode: Ghost Machine by Helen Raynor
Rating (1 to 5): 3.5
Alien Tech: The Ghost Machine/Quantum Transducer, The other half of the machine, some alien coins and rocks
Who kissed whom? Gwen and Rhys kiss. Strangely, that was all. (Well, the whole Ed Morgan/Lizzie Lewis thing too, I suppose.)
Who Died? Lizzie Lewis (in the past), Ed Morgan (in the present)
Were they playing “Spitting Games�? by Snow Patrol? Nope.
Converse?Gwen’s look red to me.
Jack on the roof? No, but he was outside during the day. That is a bit strange on its own.
What do we learn? Jack lives at the Hub, and he says that he doesn’t sleep. He appears to be a good shot, too. Owen has a stack of different ID Cards containing a variety of job descriptions. Gwen’s mum is at least 60.
Doctor Who References: Just a little bit of Time Theory & the whole “the trouble with knowing the future is you can’t just leave it alone” discussion. (not directly related).
Favorite bits: “I believe estate agents pronounce it ‘Splo’.” “I’m not gonna hurt ya. I’m gonna bloody kill ya.” Gwen learning to shoot all of the guns on the table…with Jack standing really close to her. Jack’s random late 1990s slang. “So…call the cops.” The chase through the gardens.

Observations and Musings:

Wow. Gwen can really run, can’t she? So can Owen. I’ll bet that you have to be in excellent physical condition to survive this job. Mind you, pushing buttons on strange alien machines is not perhaps the brightest thing in the world. You do sort of get the feeling that the folks who do push the button don’t have much of a choice, but still. Gwen once more shows her skill with getting people to talk. Mr. Flanagan just tells her everything. She is also a very protective person it seems. She even cares about Bernie, and no one else seems to. Gwen’s relationship with Rhys is already getting a bit shaky. They have an argument over the phone and Rhys hangs up on her. On the other hand, Jack is a bit closer to her than expected. He teaches her to shoot while standing way too close. He gets really upset when she activates the other half of the machine. And he ends the episode with his arm around her as the sun begins to rise. Call me crazy, but the interest seems to be a bit more than the usual Jack flirting. Oh, and she has to take the machine home. It seems that she uses it at home to experience the feelings that she used to have, and to reconnect with the past, somehow. At this point she seems to still love Rhys. I wonder if she ever told him about the Ed Morgan incident. One other thing…wasn’t future-Gwen awfully interactive? (I’m still hoping that Gwen is physic, and that this is a first clue. I suppose that we’ll have to wait and see.)

After initally being his usual annoying self, Owen really takes the second “close encounter” personally. It really gets under his skin. He experienced Lizzie’s fear, and now he needs to avenge her. They can’t re-open the case, so Owen takes all of the files home with him where he goes through them while drinking (and barefoot). He can’t get the incident out of his head. He tracks down Ed Morgan himself to put the fear of God into him. From this we learn that Owen has nerve, and that he is really angry. (Nice car, by the way, Owen.) When Owen disarms Ed Morgan at the end he goes a bit mental. Perhaps this is a bit due to the fact that the knife looks like the same one used on Lizzie. He also seems upset that Mr. Morgan was reacting to Gwen in an agressive fashion.

I’m amused by Bernie’s “I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe” for two reasons. Firstly, it’s the first part of my favorite quote from Bladerunner. Secondly, this fella has no idea who he’s talking to, does he? These folks have seen so much more than he ever has. I love how these folks (okay, Owen) use their paper reference sources. Sometimes the phone book works better than the internet.

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

Ghost Machine, Torchwood, Helen Raynor