Torchwood 2-02: Sleeper
Jan. 23rd, 2008 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethThat was *fun*.
I had laugh muscles hurting, some bits were that fun.
And then also dark, and revisiting some of my least favourite themes from last year but with a different spin.
And then with big action and small moments and... that was just all kinds of fun.
Also, Ianto has a personality. And it is *snarky*. And cute.
... it's much easier being a fan of him when he, you know, exists.
specifics...
We got a lot more from last week's previouslies than I thought.
We also got the entire 'lets have sex' joke in the trailer. That makes it less fun. *pout*
... Except only Tosh and Ianto were there so it's a lot more aimed than it looked. Which makes it funner.
We got some of that dark stuff where Torchwood ignore the usual rules, the bit where they won't let her have a lawyer etc... and then they turn out to be right, so what does that do to the moral stance of the show? I mean basically they just tortured her to find a terrorist cell, only with a SF twist. The fact that it worked is also down to the SF, the mind probe. So I can't technically give my usual complaint about torture-doesn't-work. But... they complicated the hell out of it by having the tortured be, well, emotionally tortured, be an innocent human woman who tried to help them once she found the plan. So oh dear they hurt an eventual ally. But... it worked.
That's just not simple, that tangle there.
They also fixed Gwen and her whole 'humanity' speech, the parts that bugged the hell out of me, and fixed Torchwood-the-organisation a bit too. Because Gwen standing there telling her if she feels human that counts, that would be 100% different than the Torchwood 1 stance on the matter. And Gwen's speech about humanity... well, okay, I still am annoyed at her having a definition based on demonstrating things in a socially acceptable manner, but here she's actually doing something useful with it instead of whining at people. Here it's more of a pep talk, being supportive. It's very difficult to keep liking a character that whines.
... I'm trying to think big thinky philosophical thoughts and I'm coming up "Because I know everything! And it's written on that screen there."
That's just win that is.
What else... had the feeling it was a bit short. Like, if it was a 42 minute US style episode it would have been spot on, but as a rounds out at 50 minutes with the previews UK ep? Very slow ending.
And why is it still Gwen gets the wrap up speech? Ianto and Jack got much funny but no quiet moments. And we don't even know if they went on their date yet.
... Though Ianto's willing to talk about Jack's bad manners in bed... *giggles again*
This was another good one. And it could be the kick off for a big arc. All kinds of win.
I've set the recorder to get the subtitled version on the repeat. Win. Yet I'll be watching the repeat without subtitles, if I'm up that late...
ETA randomly: Watching the behind the scenes stuff on the website reminded me - we find out how bodies get out of the autopsy area! It sends them to the vaults by sliding them in and closing the door. And the from there Ianto slides them in the drawer. So in Cyberwoman there was no way out cause there was no power, but otherwise if you were really desperate you could travel like the corpses. Cool.
Also on the website it confirms the boardroom uses the Valiant's walls. I thought so, and I was thinking it to go with my kinky Jack fic. Because it has those two big concrete pillars and the Valiant walls, it's got lots of bits of the setting. Different bits, but lots. So if he were trying to recreate-and-change... then he could be chained up in the boardroom, which is somehow much, much kinkier than the way I wrote it in the basement.
*is thinky*
The Jobs site is asking me for a password. What up with that?
I had laugh muscles hurting, some bits were that fun.
And then also dark, and revisiting some of my least favourite themes from last year but with a different spin.
And then with big action and small moments and... that was just all kinds of fun.
Also, Ianto has a personality. And it is *snarky*. And cute.
... it's much easier being a fan of him when he, you know, exists.
specifics...
We got a lot more from last week's previouslies than I thought.
We also got the entire 'lets have sex' joke in the trailer. That makes it less fun. *pout*
... Except only Tosh and Ianto were there so it's a lot more aimed than it looked. Which makes it funner.
We got some of that dark stuff where Torchwood ignore the usual rules, the bit where they won't let her have a lawyer etc... and then they turn out to be right, so what does that do to the moral stance of the show? I mean basically they just tortured her to find a terrorist cell, only with a SF twist. The fact that it worked is also down to the SF, the mind probe. So I can't technically give my usual complaint about torture-doesn't-work. But... they complicated the hell out of it by having the tortured be, well, emotionally tortured, be an innocent human woman who tried to help them once she found the plan. So oh dear they hurt an eventual ally. But... it worked.
That's just not simple, that tangle there.
They also fixed Gwen and her whole 'humanity' speech, the parts that bugged the hell out of me, and fixed Torchwood-the-organisation a bit too. Because Gwen standing there telling her if she feels human that counts, that would be 100% different than the Torchwood 1 stance on the matter. And Gwen's speech about humanity... well, okay, I still am annoyed at her having a definition based on demonstrating things in a socially acceptable manner, but here she's actually doing something useful with it instead of whining at people. Here it's more of a pep talk, being supportive. It's very difficult to keep liking a character that whines.
... I'm trying to think big thinky philosophical thoughts and I'm coming up "Because I know everything! And it's written on that screen there."
That's just win that is.
What else... had the feeling it was a bit short. Like, if it was a 42 minute US style episode it would have been spot on, but as a rounds out at 50 minutes with the previews UK ep? Very slow ending.
And why is it still Gwen gets the wrap up speech? Ianto and Jack got much funny but no quiet moments. And we don't even know if they went on their date yet.
... Though Ianto's willing to talk about Jack's bad manners in bed... *giggles again*
This was another good one. And it could be the kick off for a big arc. All kinds of win.
I've set the recorder to get the subtitled version on the repeat. Win. Yet I'll be watching the repeat without subtitles, if I'm up that late...
ETA randomly: Watching the behind the scenes stuff on the website reminded me - we find out how bodies get out of the autopsy area! It sends them to the vaults by sliding them in and closing the door. And the from there Ianto slides them in the drawer. So in Cyberwoman there was no way out cause there was no power, but otherwise if you were really desperate you could travel like the corpses. Cool.
Also on the website it confirms the boardroom uses the Valiant's walls. I thought so, and I was thinking it to go with my kinky Jack fic. Because it has those two big concrete pillars and the Valiant walls, it's got lots of bits of the setting. Different bits, but lots. So if he were trying to recreate-and-change... then he could be chained up in the boardroom, which is somehow much, much kinkier than the way I wrote it in the basement.
*is thinky*
The Jobs site is asking me for a password. What up with that?
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-23 10:54 pm (UTC)Skanky race issues, the return! Another black woman, another multiracial relationship, another dead black woman by the end.
Black woman taken over by alien technology and gunned down by the whole team...
And we don't get Ianto's reaction. Plus his recent comedy stylings might be fun to watch but if he were ever to get return of rat tummy this ought to be cutting it pretty close.
Maybe he's on drugs. No rats, party!
... sorry.
Owen is still a bit of a bastard, but not as much. So far.
And probly some other stuff... I gots to sleep at some point.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-23 11:08 pm (UTC)I loved quite a lot of Ianto's snark and comments but I felt in places he was getting awfully close to annoying and I felt him mucking about on the chair Beth was about to be strapped down to and possibly had her head explode was insensitive and kind of horrible. I like him being snarky but I also liked that he was a nice guy and generally fairly professional and I didn't feel he was either of those things particularly. But perhaps that was part of the theme of "Torchwood is actually really dark" they had going on? Or maybe it was just the writer. Time will tell (hopefully). Still too much Ianto is still way better than too little. And there was plenty of Tosh as well. :D
no subject
Date: 2008-01-24 03:54 pm (UTC)Ianto - yeah, the line between snarky and annoying is a very fine one. But his 'mucking about' added a visual to all their warnings about danger. Also I'm now intrigued: Jack will use it on apparently normal looking people... Would he use it on team? Team-in-chair is a bit like Toshiko's line about how they're risking Weevils but not humans - asking where the line is.
Or, just kind of funny.
Am wondering how much of Ianto's reserve is going to go the way of rat tummy, like it was a mask. He had a nice moment with the tray last week, just that touch of extra professional. But I guess one problem with Ianto having hardly any time last year is any characterisation we get is going to be new, so feel off? Don't know, shall see.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-26 12:18 am (UTC)The thing is though, Jack didn't use the mind probe until after they'd discovered that Beth's skin couldn't be broken.
At that point he knew they were dealing with (best case) some dotty scientist who'd installed a force field on a human or (worst case) some alien who was pretending to be human.
Either way, Beth was definitely not 'normal'.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-25 10:58 pm (UTC)Uhh.. I thought he was doing it on purpose: to disturb the others and make them/Jack think twice about what was going on. Sometimes a visual reminder with disturbing sound FX is more efficient than a "But think of the things that might go wrong".
Orrr, maybe I'm just reading too much into it.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-27 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-24 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-24 06:55 pm (UTC)IANTO: 'Can't imagine the time when this isn't everything. Pain so constant, like my stomach's full of rats.'
Also, someone made an icon with some rats saying "We're in UR tummy, makin u emo" or similar