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Torchwood End of Days |
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| Story No. | 13 | 
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| Production Code | Series One Episode Thirteen | |
| Dates | January 1, 2007 |
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With John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori and Gareth
David-Lloyd.
Written by Chris Chibnall Directed by Ashley Way Executive Producers: Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner. |
| Synopsis: The Rift fractures, releasing the past and future into Cardiff. |
Team rift, manipulated by John Nor 2/4/07
With this episode, the rift is open, with global consequences. Will the team be tempted to fully open the rift by a sinister stranger? This episode was first transmitted as a double bill with the episode Captain Jack Harkness preceding it. This episode definitely benefited from being viewed with that episode, as some of the good will towards Torchwood generated by that excellent episode was brought forward into the viewing experience of this one.
Any temptation to stop and think and coolly analyse the rickety
plot-mechanics of End of Days was declined by myself because of:
a) the good will just mentioned
b) more great character scenes building on the previous viewing
experience coming wham-bam thick and fast distracting me from more
ponderous concerns
c) the episode being watched in the festive holiday period with a
couple of beers and the optimism of the brand new year.
The pace and feel of this episode is similar to Cyberwoman - when you stop and think about it all it is fairly ridiculous - but the sheer enjoyment of it barrels you through and over these doubts.
So, following on from the last episode, the rift is open, and across the globe there are strange phenomena. With the contrasting appearances of Roman soldiers and spaceships near the beginning, I immediately thought of my favourite Doctor Who graphic novel The Tides of Time. (A classic. Check it out.)
Ianto does a bit of foreshadowing, reading from the bible, as according to the news reports various religious groups around the world are demonstrating about these being the End of Days. (Although you would have thought that they would have been taking it all in their stride what with the whole world recently experiencing blood-control zombies (The Christmas Invasion) and rather a lot of Cybermen (Army of Ghosts/Doomsday). I will return to this point later.)
Jack snarks back to Ianto having a Russell T-sanctioned pop at religion and commenting on "the randomness of existence". (Is this also a meta-comment on the sometimes random coherence of the plot of this episode? Probably not intentionally.)
Talking of faith, my faith in the television programme Torchwood takes another hit with the next sequence. Apparently institutions across the world are all pointing the finger at Torchwood as the expected source of the global chaos. Although it has been established they are beyond governments, the United Nations and so on, and are apparently a shadowy secret organisation, here they are being questioned by the whole world. I understand that this is done to up the dramatic stakes and to underscore the theme of responsibility, but the drama is undermined when the idea of what Torchwood is and how it functions is so vague and confusing. (Later at the hospital the doctors have been expecting Torchwood to clear up any problems. Just how secret are Torchwood?)
However, during the actual viewing of the episode, this angst over what-Torchwood-is was quickly forgotten as I was absorbed by the compelling set-pieces that followed. The creepy Bilis Manger is back from the previous episode and tempts each of the crew (apart from Jack) to open the rift fully with visions of people they have lost (or will lose in the case of Gwen.) After referencing The Shining in the last episode ("the caretaker", the ballroom) these visions are reminiscent of the images of the spooky twins from that film. After the guilt-wracked scenes in Combat, there is another showcase for the acting talents of Eve Myles as she finds she cannot avoid the fate that has been presented to her. Her tears and dark laughter here are electric.
This episode is full of great scenes which propel the story along on a wave of enjoyment, especially the mutiny. The climactic scenes, when viewed as part of a rip-roaring 100 minute story (with the previous episode) are great fun.
However, a show like Torchwood, like Doctor Who, has to world-build and suspend disbelief while working within the necessary constraints and absurdities (such as the multiple world-invasions mentioned earlier). A flaw of this episode, a muddy and confused picture of how Torchwood functions in the world of the show is not a necessary absurdity at all, and this is a flaw that has been seen in various episodes before this one. Luckily, the sheer verve of the story means you don't worry about that aspect of the show too much when you are watching it.
So, in summary then, an enjoyable romp which is best viewed in one sitting with its superior previous episode.
Oh, and the very last scene is intriguing...
A Review by Joe Ford 4/5/07
A good, climatic episode full of great scenes but it felt as though it was five episodes crammed together.
I have found Chris Chinball's episodes to be the weakest of the year by a long shot (Countrycide was a favourite but only because of its superior direction) and it seems as though he is getting the hang of the series but still needs a fair amount of discipline before he can come up with the goods. If anything this is far superior to duds like Day One, Cyberwoman and They Keep Killing Suzie. After those lazy attempts I feared the worst but ended up being pleasantly surprised, if a bit under whelmed after the gem of an episode last week (Captain Jack Harkness).
I'll deal with the good stuff first because that takes up the bulk of the episode. It seems odd to me that an episode that is centred around a rift in space and time should practically ignore its potential throughout the first season. Doctor Who's much-underated Boom Town is the only episode to have used the idea to its full potential. So hurrah for End of Days for showing what dangers can poke their heads out of the rift, everything from bubonic plague to homicidal historical soldiers. The opening scenes of the episode are fantastic because they show the nasties that lurk in the rift causing horrific scenes on Earth. Scenes such as the soldier fighting with the police and spaceships hovering over the Taj Mahal are caught with dramatic realism on the BBC News. What's even better is when we realise how at the mercy of the rift we all are and how even Jack, who supposedly has all the secrets, does not know how to contain the nightmares pouring forth.
And what a great decision it was to have Owen be the one who is responsible for all this. I know a lot of people don't like him, but Owen has gone on an incredible journey this year and his character has gone through so much development in the last four episodes of the season that he has really become the focal point of the series. Out of Time saw him at his most charming and vulnerable, setting him up for the inevitable fall when Diane leaves him heartbroken. Combat saw him trying to get on with his life; his relationship with Gwen falling to pieces, his job no longer holding any interest. Whether this has affected his mind or not remains to be seen but at the end of that episode he growls at a Weevil and manages to frighten the beast and it would certainly explain his irrational and borderline psychotic behaviour in Captain Jack Harkness and End of Days. So he opened the rift to save Jack and Toshiko from the past and to see if he can rescue Diane and as a result unleashes the forces of hell on to the people of Earth. It's horribly fascinating to watch Owen's reactions as things go from bad to worse. His panicked response at the hospital is tense but when he confronts Jack at the Hub and demands answers only have the whole problem thrown back in his face and told it was his fault I was hiding behind my pillow! Owen's shock when Jack asks him to leave Torchwood is palpable, shared by the rest of the team and his uneasy descent to the surface, not believing he will be leaving for the last time is actually rather poignant.
Watching this episode is like watching an emotional firework explode but then Torchwood has never been known for its subtlety. It's nice that these characters have a well-thought-through reason to turn against Jack in this last episode and that it doesn't feel contrived. None more so though than Gwen who has battled all year with her conflicted feelings since joining Torchwood. The decision to make Rhys a semi-regular was a stroke of genius on the part of the creators because it has really helped us to see how Gwen struggles with her life in Torchwood and her life at home and, even better, allows us to see how somebody copes on the other side without knowing what their other half is getting up. Gwen's emotional journey has been as fascinating as Owen's, probably more so because here is a character that we all like but thanks to her dealings with Torchwood is turning into somebody even she doesn't like. Her affair with Owen was dynamic; as the short arsed wanker put it, sex with a stranger can be so damn hot after years with the same partner but I am pleased to see the show deal with the aftermath of cheating on your other half, that the euphoria doesn't last forever. Tosh finding out (Greeks Bearing Gifts) should have been their wake-up call but they kept on going, leading to Gwen's jealous reaction to Owen and Diane. Suddenly, now Owen has found love, he doesn't want casual sex with the Welsh girl .
Ianto too has some lovely moments, mostly surrounding his feelings for Jack. Whilst he has been sorely underused throughout the year it comes as something as a shock when Ianto turns on Jack to try and bring back Lisa. However his true feelings emerge once Jack is killed and the tiny scene where he takes Jack's coat from the stand and smells it with tears in his eyes says more than ten pages of dialogue. The kiss they share is much needed; references to their sexual relationship are all very well but as last here is some on screen passion.
Billis Manger makes a second wonderful appearance and really does take the crown as Torchwood's most enigmatic and unnerving villain. He really has proven quite a find, manipulating the team with some finesse and chilling to the bone.
Okay let's deal with some of this episode's problems. It may sound oxymoronic but whilst I think the characters are the best thing about this show it would run a lot more smoothly without them! Seriously, what is the Torchwood recruitment policy because this lot are a bunch of emotionally retarded and argumentative losers who cannot understand the meaning of chain of command or authority. Seriously you wouldn't see the characters on SG1 shacking up with each other! Sam Carter and Cameron Mitchell as fuck buddies? You wouldn't see any of the Star Trek casts all turning on their Captain! Perish the thought! If you look across the episodes of series one it seems to me that most of the problems caused are due to the cast themselves; in effect, they are their own worst enemies! In Day One Gwen releases the alien. In Cyberwoman Ianto is keeping the monster in the basement. In Greeks Bearing Gifts Toshiko is doing the bidding of an evil alien. In They Keep Killing Suzie they walk straight into the most obscure and ridiculous of traps. In Combat Owen walks into a cage ready to die. In Captain Jack Harkness Owen opens the rift and causes all the headaches in this episode! They really are a burden on themselves. In series two we need to see more cohesion amongst the team and more threats from without otherwise I will suggest a mass sacking and new recruitment.
A good example of sloppy scripting is how End of Days starts out as an apocalyptic end-of-the-world scenario but as soon as things get personal for the team and Chinaball has gotten bored with that and wants to explore the characters and their betrayal of Jack, the end of the world is conveniently forgotten. Even worse, it is wrapped up with a casual one liner suggesting the rift is closed and all the problems are over, although things will be more turbulent than ever. Considering the first twenty or so minutes of the episode are focussed solely on this apocalyptic nightmare, it does seem rather remiss to so conveniently forget about it.
What's even weirder is how the episode then proceeds from a character piece into a monster show with a bloody great demon being spat from the rift and tearing through the streets of Cardiff. This is one step too far into implausibility for many people's tastes. A friend at work (not a science fiction fan) was happily watching this episode until this lumbering beast came lurching into view. How on Earth can they hope to cover this great spectacle up? The CGI isn't that brilliant anyway but it feels jarring that the episode can switch from such intense character drama into SF campery with such ambivalence. As payoff for the season I was expecting much more than this. As I said at the beginning of this review, it is trying to do far too many things at once.
However what does work really well is the aftermath of Abaddon's attack where you realise, suddenly and shockingly, just how much you do genuinely care about these people. Suddenly this team has clicked into place. We have been through an incredible emotional journey with them and have walked away from it really caring about their fates. It makes you glow to think that we have a series two.
It has been such an odd season, in a way huge let down for those of us who were expecting the British X-Files but in another way, despite some faltering steps, a show that has carved out a unique identity and as the season progressed got better and better. Torchwood takes risks, that is its biggest strength. It dares to make its characters real people who make terrible mistakes, it chucks morality out the window, it attempts genuine comedy, it can make you utterly sickened, really scared and turn you on like no other show on television. It's a curious beast but one I have come to find strangely addictive:
Everything Changes: 7/10
Day One: 2/10
Ghost Machine: 8/10
Cyberwoman: 3/10
Small Worlds: 8/10
Countrycide: 8/10
Greeks Bearing Gifts: 7/10
They Keep Killing Suzie: 3/10
Random Shoes: 9/10
Out of Time: 9/10
Combat: 8/10
Captain Jack Harkness: 10/10
End of Days: 8/10
"I just do the best I can" by Robert Smith? 20/9/20
Death has been hovering over these characters like a shadow, so in the season finale, this happens literally. The first part is great: things coming though the rift, the threat of an actual resolution to the Gwen/Rhys plotline, the bubonic plague. All of these should have gone somewhere but are either background material or just a stepping stone to the epic confrontation that the whole series has been leading up to. And then it all goes a bit pear-shaped. Instead of emulating Star Trek (the reset button aside), this time round the story draws from a different science-fiction source: Battlefield. Only, um, without the cleverness.
The beast they release, Abaddon, is actually known as The Destroyer in The Book of Revelation, which seems a little too coincidental. He's the chief of demons of the seventh hierarchy in demonology, so he should be a serious badass. Not that you'd know it from the episode; he's just a lumbering McGuffin to add tension for a few moments, who's really there just so Bilis's actions make sense.
In fact, you sense that only one group of the show's makers have understood that the beast is meant to be the evil of all evils. Sadly, it's not the writer, it's the CGI people. So what we've got is a gigantic, terrifying creature who can destroy all... but who appears onscreen for barely a few minutes, does almost nothing and is then vanquished entirely. And not even by the Brigadier this time, which is doubly disappointing. Oh, for the happy days of 1989.
The mass deaths are a pretty cool idea, though. You can see how this takes the series' tropes from the entire season and scatters them wide. The problem - and they had this problem in Doomsday as well - is that it's all CGI. It's not personal enough; we don't get lasting consequences or the death of loved ones. Well, not permanently anyway. Even the Hub survives, when it really shouldn't; starting the next season with the remains of Torchwood operating from a whiteboard in Gwen's kitchen would actually have been pretty cool.
And then there's Jack, who undergoes the nearest thing he can to a regeneration and emerges not as a Doctor-substitute but as a companion. Literally. And so, finally, Torchwood proves one thing: you can't take a companion and make them the Doctor. It simply doesn't work. You can give them their own series, and it's can be great - Bernice was proof of that, especially in the nineties - but it has to go its own way, not be trapped by the past. They broke the mould when they made Doctor Who, and pale imitators - even pale imitators who try and add a twist or invert the concept - are just that.
So, at the end, what we have is a series whose individual episodes are mostly enjoyable but whose overarching theme makes for a show that can't quite stand on its own. It can't break free of its past, even though it barely has one; the inevitable character descent may be fascinating, but it isn't a whole lot of fun; the obsession with death leads to way too much character and story corruption; and Jack's character is a square peg in a round hole. There's much that's fascinating and much that's worth thinking about, but it's a Doctor Who pie that's been overcooked, when it should have been a whole new recipe.