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foxmonkeyI watched yesterday, wrote notes as I watched, started to post about what I'd watched, then thought perhaps I should watch again. Well, I started to today, got about twenty minutes in and realized nothing had changed. So! Here are my as-it-unfolded reactions to the second episode of season/series two.
1) Banter between the husand and wife in the hospital room. Sweet!
2) Owen ges to be all doctorly and stuff; taking samples, performing some kind of swabbing operation on their hands...ah, testing for blood.
3) Owen's actually acting normal. I think they're trying to make me like him. The bastard.
4) Pretty harsh treatment for this woman when they don't have a clue what's going on. What's with the screaming, Jack?
5) Jack/Ianto banter. Cute! Ianto: "It...passed."
6) Someone on my friends list said that Tosh has the potential to be as awesome as Martha. Naaaaaaaaaah. But she's good so far in this ep, I'll give her that. Sadly, for Tosh and for Torchwood in general, Martha > everyone.
7) Ianto: "...or the first sign of exploding." Ianto, can I have your snarky Welsh babies?
8) The mind probe...damn, why's Jack so harsh all of a sudden? Ye gods.
9) Love the sleeper agent actress! This is a version of Gwen I could live with.
10) Why the hell is Jack being such an asshole?
11) Ianto: "I know everything." Pause. "And it says so at the bottom of the screen." Ianto, I loved you when other people were only confused by you.
12) Ianto is made of awesome. Great snark.
13) This is so not the Jack I've come to love.
14) Big scene at the end with guns and the sleeper and frantic camera angles and OH MY GOD, who scored this thing? because the music in this scene is completely awful. Jeebus.
15) Theory: Jack's trying to reassert his authority by piling on the asshole-ishness? Jack's scarred by events that took place in his Doctor Who episodes? Gimme a clue, Harkness. What the hell?
16) Okay, the obligatory nod to the 'ship they're trying to build. Jack has to ask about the wedding. In a surprise move, Gwen doesn't add any shading or layering to her responses, at least none that hit me over the head. And for that (and precious little else in this episode), I say YAY!
Overall: What the bloody friggin' hell happened to Jack's characterization? He wasn't in the apartment, so the fact that Beth and her husband were the only two people there that Jack knew of didn't mean there wasn't another explanation. For a man who's supposed to be hip to the more bizarre happenings on (and off) the planet, that was extremely narrow, limited thinking on Jack's part.
Also, if Jack's smug little speech is any indication ("There's no one else, just us"), it's a good thing UNIT will be making an appearance later in the season. Obviously, Torchwood's headed off the rails -- again. If nothing else happens this season, I hope they rework the whole "we don't answer to anyone else" aspect of the agency.
I do have to wonder...was it the way Jack was written, or was it the way John Barrowman played it? What if he'd given a more subtle performance, no shouting? And who's at fault, the director or the actor? Hmmm.
Nice team interaction. They're continuing the "us vs. him" thing begun last week with Jack's return. Tosh came close to being kick-ass. Owen was human. Ianto continues to plant the Welsh flag on my heart. I actually *liked* Gwen this week, and that's never, ever, ever, happened before. I *really* didn't like Jack, and that hasn't happened before, either. I wanted Beth to join the team.
An intense epsiode, one that could easily have been one of my favorites. As it is, Jack's characterization/Barrowman's performance ruined it for me.
1) Banter between the husand and wife in the hospital room. Sweet!
2) Owen ges to be all doctorly and stuff; taking samples, performing some kind of swabbing operation on their hands...ah, testing for blood.
3) Owen's actually acting normal. I think they're trying to make me like him. The bastard.
4) Pretty harsh treatment for this woman when they don't have a clue what's going on. What's with the screaming, Jack?
5) Jack/Ianto banter. Cute! Ianto: "It...passed."
6) Someone on my friends list said that Tosh has the potential to be as awesome as Martha. Naaaaaaaaaah. But she's good so far in this ep, I'll give her that. Sadly, for Tosh and for Torchwood in general, Martha > everyone.
7) Ianto: "...or the first sign of exploding." Ianto, can I have your snarky Welsh babies?
8) The mind probe...damn, why's Jack so harsh all of a sudden? Ye gods.
9) Love the sleeper agent actress! This is a version of Gwen I could live with.
10) Why the hell is Jack being such an asshole?
11) Ianto: "I know everything." Pause. "And it says so at the bottom of the screen." Ianto, I loved you when other people were only confused by you.
12) Ianto is made of awesome. Great snark.
13) This is so not the Jack I've come to love.
14) Big scene at the end with guns and the sleeper and frantic camera angles and OH MY GOD, who scored this thing? because the music in this scene is completely awful. Jeebus.
15) Theory: Jack's trying to reassert his authority by piling on the asshole-ishness? Jack's scarred by events that took place in his Doctor Who episodes? Gimme a clue, Harkness. What the hell?
16) Okay, the obligatory nod to the 'ship they're trying to build. Jack has to ask about the wedding. In a surprise move, Gwen doesn't add any shading or layering to her responses, at least none that hit me over the head. And for that (and precious little else in this episode), I say YAY!
Overall: What the bloody friggin' hell happened to Jack's characterization? He wasn't in the apartment, so the fact that Beth and her husband were the only two people there that Jack knew of didn't mean there wasn't another explanation. For a man who's supposed to be hip to the more bizarre happenings on (and off) the planet, that was extremely narrow, limited thinking on Jack's part.
Also, if Jack's smug little speech is any indication ("There's no one else, just us"), it's a good thing UNIT will be making an appearance later in the season. Obviously, Torchwood's headed off the rails -- again. If nothing else happens this season, I hope they rework the whole "we don't answer to anyone else" aspect of the agency.
I do have to wonder...was it the way Jack was written, or was it the way John Barrowman played it? What if he'd given a more subtle performance, no shouting? And who's at fault, the director or the actor? Hmmm.
Nice team interaction. They're continuing the "us vs. him" thing begun last week with Jack's return. Tosh came close to being kick-ass. Owen was human. Ianto continues to plant the Welsh flag on my heart. I actually *liked* Gwen this week, and that's never, ever, ever, happened before. I *really* didn't like Jack, and that hasn't happened before, either. I wanted Beth to join the team.
An intense epsiode, one that could easily have been one of my favorites. As it is, Jack's characterization/Barrowman's performance ruined it for me.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-04 03:47 am (UTC)He was a horrible, horrible person!! Cruel and heartless and completely unrecognizable. I'm not used to disliking Jack, but I actually loathed him there for a while -- from his macho pandering in the interrogation to his ruthless torturing with the mind probe. I was just disgusted by the sheer *outpouring* of undeserved cruelty toward Beth (who was portrayed by a truly fabulous actress).
I almost stopped watching two or three different times, and I just. *flails* I have no idea where that came from! None! But if they show it to me too many more times I'll have to stop watching. It really, *really* disturbed me. There are enough unlikable people in the world without me having to make some of them my entertainment. I'm willing to write this week's episode off as truly sucky writing and an off couple of days for JB, but wow. That was just...unacceptable.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-04 04:37 am (UTC)YES, same here, exactly. From the moment they slammed Beth into the meeting room chair and yanked that hood off her head (which was horrifying enough, little did I know it was about to get worse), I was in WTF?-land. I couldn't even sit through another viewing to make sure I'd been fair the first time around.
It really, *really* disturbed me.
I agree, it was absolutely sickening. Another episode like that and I'll be very happy to find something else to watch.