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Torchwood Out of Time |
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| Story No. | 10 | 
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| Production Code | Series One Episode Ten | |
| Dates | December 17, 2006 |
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With John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori and Gareth
David-Lloyd.
Written by Catherine Tregenna Directed by Alice Troughton Executive Producers: Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner. |
| Synopsis: Three people from the 1950s fall through time to the present day. |
Christmas, present by John Nor 5/3/07
With this episode the team encounter an airplane that has flown through the rift from the 1940s. They try and help the three occupants adjust to life in the 21st Century.
I have been generally fairly diligent in my writing of these Torchwood reviews, putting my thoughts down in the space between episodes, but with the last four of the season, all being transmitted around the festive Christmas period (this episode one week before, hence the tinsel in the supermarket) I have had a slightly more relaxed attitude. I am writing this review of Out of Time having seen the rest of the season. I will not mention anything about future episodes as I make my way through these last four, except to say that they are more strongly linked than any other grouping of Torchwood episodes so far, and you could almost categorise them as one long four-parter: with one character playing the key role.
"No puzzle to solve. No enemy to fight." Jack verbalises in this story both a strength and weakness to this episode. A strength, as the whole of the screentime can be devoted to some great character development, but a weakness when viewed as part of the season as it contributes the continuing impression that as a supposed secret organisation hunting down alien technology, Torchwood is pretty aimless.
Screentime is divided equally between Gwen, Jack and Owen and their associated refugees from the past. Gwen is given the task of explaining 21st Century sexual morality to Emma-Louise, which shines a light on the conflict she feels over her affair with Owen, without directly referencing it. There is a great scene with Gwen's wonderfully expressive face providing an ironic commentary on Emma-Louise's naive questions about Rhys.
(As an aside, in the Doctor Who episode Rose the idea of working in a shop is looked down upon slightly, but here it is presented as a great adventure for Emma-Louise. There is Torchwood and the real world Gwen says, and her young charge is only too keen to opt for the latter.)
As well as the comedy of Gwen's story, there is tragedy with Jack and John Ellis. Jack can relate to this "man out of time." A subtle but effective reminder of Jack's humanity is his finding of just the right radio station for this bewildered man. The scenes of John Ellis visiting his son in the old folk's home are very moving, as is the comfort Jack provides in a controversial scene.
Owen's story builds upon his rather callous attitude to the ladies by having him fall in love. Louise Delamere as Diane does a wonderful job of portraying the headstrong pilot (and looks a knock-out in the red dress.) After the slightly incoherent use of sexual images in Day One, sex here is used as an integral part of the drama.
All three plotlines as well as being satisfying tales in their own right also cleverly add to the ongoing character-based plotlines of Gwen, Owen and Jack.
The "central tone" that I referred to in my review of Greeks Bearing Gifts is reinforced here, as we visit another style bar, one of the few seeming constants in Torchwood as although aliens, mystic wraiths, or disturbed welsh villagers come and go, there will always be some stylish nightlife! This is one of the few anchors of the show, bizarrely enough.
So, in summary, an excellent episode that takes the opportunity of a more relaxed pace to substantially add to the character development of the three leads.
"You don't get reunited... it just goes black" by Robert Smith? 28/3/20
Doctor Who is a series that celebrates life. Torchwood, on the other hand, is obsessed by death.
You can see this right from the get-go. There's Jack's immortal status, Suzie's resurrection glove, Ianto's efficient disposing of bodies and the general sense you have of being in a morgue when in the Hub. Compare that to the corporate brightness of Torchwood London in Army of Ghosts and it's a wonder they even share the name.
It's not that Doctor Who doesn't have its fair share of death, but it doesn't revel in it. Even when the body count heads upward, it's always in spite of the Doctor's efforts. Watch the end of Warriors of the Deep or Resurrection of the Daleks, and you don't get the sense that death is something the Doctor is okay with.
Compare that to Jack, a man who so dearly wants to die that he can't even begin to start living. He's set up as the Doctor-substitute (both textually and meta-textually), but it doesn't work - probably deliberately - because, while he's okay pretending to be the wise seer and the mysterious leader, he can't deal with the immortality. Whereas the Doctor's deathless nature is something that's usually benign and occasionally the cause of life-affirming celebration, Jack's is a curse.
Indeed, most of Torchwood's Season 1 episodes end the same way: kill the bastard. Shoot 'em up in slo-mo, fling them into the sun with a bad joke, attack them with BBQ sauce and a pterodactyl (don't ask), keep killing them over and over... One of these even makes it into the story title, which is a strangely impressive feat.
The first episode that doesn't is Out of Time. Which is like one of those ponderous Star Trek episodes they kept making, where people from the past must wander around the Enterprise and act surprised when they can get food from a machine or when doors open automatically. The genius of Out of Time is that it realises that we're living in the future right now. So it's not just an excuse for random comedy involving changing attitudes to cigarettes, but has actual, meaningful things to say about our society.
What's more, then episode explicitly admits that they aren't dealing with a villain, so they have no one to kill. But never mind, there's still death to be found, with the climax leading to a suicide that can't be averted. Except that it probably could have been, if the Doctor had been in that car, rather than Jack. When Jack gives his speech about living, he just isn't convincing enough, and it soon somersaults into a speech about fear of death - but it's a fear that also contains longing, so it's little surprise that his speech is so ineffective.
But then, that's Torchwood all over.