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Torchwood Children of Earth: Day Three |
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| Story No. | 29 | 
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| Production Code | Series Three Episode Three | |
| Dates | July 8, 2009 |
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With John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd.
Written by James Moran Directed by Euros Lyn Executive Producers: Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner. |
| Synopsis: All the children of earth speak in unison at the exact moment: We. Are. Here. |
A Review by Emily Monaghan 8/11/09
This evening, a friend asked me which episode of this season of Torchwood would be the dud. She was voting for Wednesday, on the grounds that it's the middle. I disagreed; I've a soft spot for James Moran, as his Twitter is so funny and enthusiasm for slaying so infectious. I think, if any, it'll be Friday that drops the ball. I don't trust Torchwood, not even this New Improved Version, to be able to wrap this up with the same smoothness it's started. Plus, I anticipate there will be tears. But we'll see.
In any case, this is barely a season any more. It's a Classic series Doctor Who five-parter, making up a single story, but done properly. Since the revamped series started serving pacy 45 minute episodes, there has been many a complaint that the format rushes stories. Arguably true, but few Classic stories ever justify or take advantage of a film-length running time. Cut back the padding, and you're almost back to 45 minutes again. Torchwood is actually, for the first time in its life, teaching Doctor Who how to do something. How to do a multi-part story. We need to stop thinking of it as the same creature as its first two seasons. This is TW 2.0. I couldn't bear to hear The Dead Line this afternoon. I can't go back. Owen was my favourite team member, and I haven't missed him or Tosh once since the week started. I can't help but think in terms of two different shows. If it is renewed, I hope they don't go back to monster-of-the-week-in-Cardiff. I hope they take the brilliant boost in quality and run with it to interesting places.
In a way, today was a backward step. Sending the team to London yesterday cut Torchwood loose from computer-bound "do a global scan" shortcuts that have always been so without drama. Maybe Tuesday was so exciting because it went so far off what we expect of the show. While Hub 2 was a cute touch, I was disappointed that they felt the need to get the the entire team together in an in a room and have them tapping at software again, with someone making the coffee. They even contrived to replace Captain Jack's greatcoat. It's not like it wasn't well handled, and perfectly at the service of the plot. But in a casual montage, they undid all that was interesting about Tuesday. A necessary move, but still a disappointingly lazy one.
Frobisher was the easy highlight of the episode, and I suspect, will ultimately prove the highlight of the week. Even though he's a shifty bastard, he obviously does have a very strong moral core, if a flexible and deeply buried one. When he gives Jack "my promise, my absolute promise" that his daughter will be OK, you do believe him, just as his "absolute guarentee" to the the 456 seems so solid. His admission that Jack is "a better man than me" is heartbreaking in its honesty. He's damn fantastic playing one man band against a box of dry-ice, even stealing scenes he's not in. I adored his nervous slump on exiting the Room.
They. Are. Here. What a bloody fantastic scene. The direction, the dialogue... I didn't make a single note, I was busy paying rapt attention. Typically, the alien menace wants to address the world, and when Frobisher stoically explains that's just not done, it replies "YES". What a fantastic moment of genre-bending. Yet as the episode goes on, those accomodating "YES"s become increasingly sinister precicely because we do not expect it. We know a kick is going to come.
It's fascinating to see proper, peaceful first-contact done in a sci-fi show. I actually enjoyed watching them go through the whole process. I was particularly intrigued by the information they had pre-prepared on the planet for visiting aliens, and the insistance that this did not constitute a request for technology exchange. I was happy to find out what UNIT has been doing: being booted out of the way. In a way, Children of Earth is merely a grown-up Pertwee story, with "twits from the Ministry" masterminding the whole operation. Terrifying twits, as it turns out. It's strange to think that the creepy corridors of power is a direct result of The Christmas Invasion. When the Doctor claimed Harriet Jones lead England to a new era of prosperity, this was what he meant. The way she dealt with the Daleks of Journey's End, the way she handled the 456. I've a funny feeling this solid, dependable PM we elected to replace Saxon will not do half as well. Mind you, Mr Saxon probably would have teamed up with the 456 to conquer the universe.
As for the rest, I loved Gwen's abuse of her police know-how. Clem Clem Clem, all wonderful. I love how childlike he is, even in his movements. I wonder if the smelling thing will be explained. I love Lois for refusing to wear the contacts. She does it eventually, she has to for the plot to continue. But I love the fact she stays adamant throughout that scene and does not give in. I am liking her more this week. Lois' excuse to join the first contact party was another demonstration of adult being done well, and I adored the almost bitter admission "You're not the first". Bridget evidently has such an unrequieted thing going on there! I also loved the sight of Ianto's sister babysitting the kids; of course the parents would still have to work. It's little sane touches like this which ground the fantastical elements in reality. I was happy to see Andy OK, and liked Stephen's reaction to his mum pulling a knife.
Of the regulars, Ianto stood out, if only for that gorgeous scene with Jack. He asks about the explosion, but can't bear to go on to drowning in concrete. I loved Ianto's quiet "shit" when Jack admitted Ianto would simply grow old. And attempting to get Rhys out of the way, on the basis that "The world's always ending". Aw... his touchy reaction to "queer" was also well done, with Clem clearly marked as stuck as a 1960s child. I'm amused that the Torchwood team are still removing alien tech to liven up their nightlife despite the disasterous consequences earlier on. The cliffhanger was the best sort of twist: obvious, in retrospect, and not shocking because you knew it all along. There could be no other way.
Someone on Behind the Sofa bet that the American-news-lady would be back before the end of the week, and here she was today. I'm a little disappointed that no real location filming seems to have been done in London, and very disappointed that this week contained the first gun-point-dramatic-standoff. I really hate them, and while it wasn't badly done, I dislike them so much I can't help but react automatically.
Finally, some wild speculation. Yesterday, I suggested that while a Doctor Who villain might still turn up, it's an unlikely and unecessary move. Children of Earth has been at its most clumsy when mentioning the mothership and is strong enough to stand virtually alone from it. Yes, I got happy at the phrase "fixed point in time and space", but it also felt weirdly out of place. Usually, Torchwood bothers me because of the Doctor's absence. I've already rationalised where in the Whoniverse Blake's 7 can exist (during Frontier in Space, by way of Caves of Androzani). It even happens in Battlestar Galactica; I'm writing a silly crossover where the Doctor actually prevents the destruction of the colonies and creates harmony between Cylon and Human in the first few minutes of the series. The concept of him showing up here, all celery and cat-badges, defeating the 456 with a cricket ball and a grin, guilt-tripping Frobisher to death, deposing his third PM and sorting it so neatly that Friday becomes superflous - is so ridiculous I can't envisage it. In short, bringing back a Classic villain is fun to speculate on but pretty unlikely. Yesterday, I suggested maybe Tereleptils. And then today, Friend 3 suggested a theory so good that I've promised to buy her an icecream if she's right.
The Macra? Hidden away in that swirly smoke, what we have seen could easily be the brown cracked claws. They breathe poison gas. And of every monster they could choose, the Macra are the ones fobbed off by time, starring only in The Macra Terror which was deleted in the 70s, and then brought back in a sympathy cameo for Gridlock. Friend 4 tells me they also had an enslaved empire in the original episode. Friends 4 and 2 then tried to prove this theory by working out the airdate of The Macra Terror, which sadly proved to be 1967 and not 1965.
All told, this was a quieter adventure than the previous two, but it needed to be. A breather before the onslaught finale, an exercise in needed exposition, and a showcase for some rightly slow, tense, wonderful scenes in which Peter Capaldi creates drama using only a goldfish bowl. If my reaction is cooler, then it is because my standards for what I expect of this show have been irreversably raised. The shock value of the first two days has worn off. Let's see if they can keep up the quality as we trundle towards a climax...