Torchwood fears

[alixtii]

All the people who didn't like Torchwood for the first series for reasons I couldn't fathom are cautiously optimistic about the second series--and for some reason that has me really scared. I mean, there's a lot to look forward to. UNIT has a lot of promise to act as an effective foil to Torchwood Three, as a representation of how protecting the world should look like. But I'm afraid it's going to abandon the darkness of the first series, in exchange for--I'm not even sure what. Camp, maybe?

If Torchwood abandons the fact that Torchwood members aren't good people, then it effectively validates everything that happens in the first series--it becomes a show about why hacking into CCTV systems (still seems like an oxymoron to me) isn't so bad after all. And we really don't need another show like that (we already have 24, God help us) and I can't put my support behind a show that encourages the view that civil liberties aren't important.

The show I fell in love with is about how power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, while acknowledging the allure and appeal of that power. If series two turns into a show about how absolute power is actually sorta cool, I'm not sure what I will do. Cry, maybe.

*crosses fingers*

ETA: I watched the first two minutes and I feel a little bit better. *still crossing fingers*

Comments

[booster17.livejournal.com]

The reason I wasn't terribly happy with Torchwood season 1 was the wild unevenness of the episodes. For every brilliant ep like They Keep Killing Suzie, you got re-packaged crap like Random Shoes. Just pick a tone and stay with it, willya?

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

I can see a certain unevenness of tone, but the thematically consistency (well, except for the random fairy episode--that came out of nowhere) completely floored me.

The fact that pretty much everybody agrees "They Keep Killing" is brilliant does give me hope that my tastes aren;t as wildly different than everyone else's as I fear.

[booster17.livejournal.com]

I give it a chance based on everyone's first season being one where you throw things at a wall to see what works and what doesn't. To me, season 2 is the make or break bit. More Killing, less Shoes please.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

As long as its not a season of fairy episodes (they were good guys in the fairy episode! wtf?), I'll be happy, I think.

[booster17.livejournal.com]

Actually, thinking about the fairy episode brings me to an unavoidable conclusion : it's not a Torchwood ep alas, but a Sapphire and Steel episode instead. It's a good solid story, but it just doesn't fit into the TW universe. I suspect everyone loved the ending so much they kept the whole thing without retooling the front end too much.

I liked it, but then I'm a massive Sapphire and Steel fanboi.

[beccaelizabeth]

*nods*
but the more I heard from the writers the less I think they think they're writing what I was watching, sort of thing. so it may well not see the bad.

[netgirl-y2k.livejournal.com]

I think my main problem with S1 (apart from the fairy episode) was the wild inconsistency between what everyone involved with it seemed to think they were making and what appeared on my screen every week.

And I've seen a couple of interviews with Chris Chibnall and John Barrowman that makes me think they're addressing this. So I'm exercising cautious optimism.

Although really I just want then to acknowledge that Torchwood are wildly dangerous and mainly inept and not, in fact, Mulder and Scully. And I think UNIT could provide a good foil for that.

[dkompare.livejournal.com]

I just want then to acknowledge that Torchwood are wildly dangerous and mainly inept.

I agree, but therein lies the inconsistency issues. As much as I was intrigued by the premise and (less so) characters, there were waaaayyyy too many WTF moments. It says something that the most consistent and rewarding character was the one who had the most reason to be effed-up (Jack). Owen was too emotional. Gwen was too schizoid. Ianto was too pouty. Tosh was too tentative (though after Jack, the most relatable IMHO).

I think, in all their zeal to be "adult," they lost some focus on the characterization. As a result, going into series two, I can't forgive Gwen just because she's "seen some stuff." I can't forgive Owen for being a petulant queen. I can't forgive Ianto for being a mopey git.

And yet, I still have enough faith in all involved that they'll have recognized the problems, settled down a bit, and righted the ship for '08. It doesn't hurt as well to have Martha Jones on-board (a real adult) for at least a few episodes!

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

I don't want to forgive Gwen or Owen. Torchwood Three is, to me at least, the perfect embodiment of the adolescent mentality--and I love being able to enjoy and revel in it (will to power for the win!) without feeling like it is being sold to me as a mature adulthood. (Cf. my similar love for the Supergirl series.)

[dkompare.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say "perfect," by any stretch! The problem is twofold, as I see it. One: the characters are ostensibly adults (albeit, with the exception of Jack, incredibly immature ones). Two: there's not enough internal consistency to sell it as such.

I could almost buy it if the team were all supposed to be, say, 22 or so, full of youthful arrogance and ego. But they're supposed to be around 30 (IMHO), which makes such behavior pathetic and/or creepy. I'm not saying they should become austere professionals; I'm just saying they should show just a bit more competence.

OTOH, perhaps Jack has some master plan. After all, if he was somehow "entrusted" with Torchwood Three (or took it upon himself very seriously) you'd think he would have assembled a much more mature team (not necessarily age-wise, just behavior-wise). But he didn't, which makes me wonder whether these particular folks (or their descendants?) have some role to play down the line that requires them to be in Torchwood now.

AFAIK, series two will lay down a few more clues about Jack's 51st century life, so maybe we'll see a bit of this as well. I swear, though, if Gwen humps another alien-infested Welsh lass out of the blue...

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

The characters are certainly biologically adults, but I'm not sure why that should affect the type of adolescent fantasy being presented: Batman and Superman are adults, as are the majority of their rogues galleries; the Doctor himself is 900+ years old, etc.

I was shocked at the high level of what I saw as thematic consistency within the show. With the exception of "Small Worlds" (Which came out of nowhere) I can't think of a single moment when the Torchwood team were what one could call good guys. There arrogance and egotism is continual. Their overall ethic seems to be based on a line of Owen's in ep 2: "We don't miss."

I'm far from convinced that Jack is not immature. Nor that his superiors (the Crown, I guess) necessarily saw Cardiff as a priority prior to the destruction of Torchwood 1.

I agree that Torchwood 3's behavior is creepy and pathetic; I think the genius of the show is exactly in the way in which it reveals the limitations of adolescent wish-fulfillment in this way.

The more competence Torchwood 3 shows, the more the message of the show as a whole becomes that a secret extragovernmental organization set up to "protect" Britain is a viable option.

[netgirl-y2k.livejournal.com]

I think, in all their zeal to be "adult," they lost some focus on the characterization

I can't agree with this sentence enough. And I think the prime example of that was the Jack/Ianto relationship. Ianto went from threatening to kill Jack to propositioning him with a stopwatch with no stops in between. What's weird is I think that the character who got the most consistent characterisation (or perhaps just the best performance, IMHO) was Owen, a character who for me never recovered from that tasteless and badly thought through date rape 'joke' in the pilot episode.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

See, I'm not sure I really want Torchwood Three itself to recognize how dangerous and inept they are, because I love the way they run around thinking they are some type of ubermenschian moral superpeople.. There are ways to acknowledge their danger without letting the characters in it on it (UNIT will be useful here) but it's not easy.

[netgirl-y2k.livejournal.com]

I love the way they run around thinking they are some type of ubermenschian moral superpeople

I actually love that too. I think my trouble really is more with the production team, who seem to think that they're writing the x-files while I'm seeing the keystone cops.

So really what I should probably do is stop watching the de-classifieds and get back to enjoying the pterodactyl ;-)

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've avioded the Declassifieds for exactly that reason.