Everything Changes |
Torchwood They Keep Killing Suzie |
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| Story No. | 8 | 
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| Production Code | Series One Episode Eight | |
| Dates | December 3, 2006 |
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With John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori and Gareth
David-Lloyd.
Written by Paul Tomalin & Dan McCulloch Directed by Brian Minchin Executive Producers: Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner. |
| Synopsis: Suzie's back! No, wait, she's dead again. Hang on, no, she's back once more. |
Retarded by Joe Ford 31/1/07
This is the most shocking and bold Torchwood episode yet and yet it also exposes more of the series long-term problems than any other. On a first viewing it is exciting and glossy television with some well-timed twists and, if I am honest, even on the second viewing it is possible to see how well executed the plot is, each clue in the investigation leading the team closer to the truth.
I am taking the risk of sounding like the Mother Teresa of the Ratings Guide but my biggest problem with this episode (and the series in general) is its message and complete lack of morals. I watched Planet Earth on Sunday night, having never watched the show before but utterly captivated after several moments footage. Being exposed to nature's beauty and some fascinating facts proved quite an emotional experience. It was a shock to turn over to Torchwood to see people stabbing and shooting and shagging and swearing. What a contrast. To have seen this wonderful planet we live on and then what the shit the human race add to it was extremely enlightening. Doctor Who has always had a strong moral sense; people criticise Love & Monsters, but Elton's closing speech about life being so much better is such a fantastic gift of a message to a television audience. Torchwood doesn't seem to share any of its parent show's ethics or decency and I am starting to feel a bit disgusted with the lengths it will go to shock.
First of all is all the inter-Torchwood shagging that is going on. What is wrong with these people? They cannot keep their libidos in check for five minutes! Gwen is in a serious relationship but is secretly screwing Owen on the side. Owen has slept with everyone; in episode one he slept with a man and a woman (boyfriend and girlfriend!) and now we learn he has also sailed in Suzie as well. Toshiko is getting in on the bisexual action, lusting after Owen but last week getting all racy with a female alien! And now we learn that despite the fact Ianto was pining over the death of his recently killed girlfriend, he is now using a stopwatch to time some horny man on man action with Jack! The message here seems to be that relationships are not important and sleeping around is more satisfying. Get a life.
All these problems are exemplified in Jack Harkness, a character that should be the highlight of the show but is slowly turning into the reason I might stop watching. "Could you kill her?" Gwen asks and Jack responds with a hungry, "Oh yeah!" Is this the sort of man who should be running this kind of operation? When the team realise that Max has been psychologically programmed to attack on the word Torchwood Jack says the word a couple of times for a laugh. I'm sure this is supposed to show how much of a fun guy Jack is, but you are talking about a murderer who has been abused mentally, so Jack just comes across as an ass. What doesn't help is John Barrowman's awkward performance, tending to overemphasise some points and to blow some of the episode's emotional moments.
Before I move off into other complaints I want to highlight to lines of dialogue. "Death by Torchwood" is a fitting epitaph for a series that barely spends any time saving people's lives but dealing with its own internal issues. "That's all we are in the end, a pile of boxes" Toshiko states, which is clearly supposed to be a profound statement but merely serves to point out how empty and soulless the world of Torchwood is. What about the effect you have on people when you are alive? This show needs to remember how bloody good it can be to be alive or it will find itself heading to its own grave.
The Jack/Gwen argument is vital because it shows somebody asking the question of who actually cares about the people that work at Torchwood. "Did you ever stop and think what that glove would do to her?" But it's not enough in an episode that would see Jack slaughter a member of his staff with the line "How much more of this can you want?"
For what is supposed to be an adult show, there were several moments here when I tutted at how nursery school that tone could be. How childish is the scene where the detective harkens all of her colleagues over to hear Jack make a tit out of himself? Up until the last ten minutes there is a possibility that this episode could actually lead somewhere interesting, but when you learn why Suzie concocted such an elaborate scheme the script becomes an overcomplicated farce. And all the "We never gave it a cool name" stuff is beyond a joke. It's hilarious watching a show that is trying to be cool; it's like watching a show written by 40 year olds for a target audience of mid-teens!
Suzie made quite an impact in the first episode. Her heavily publicised appearance led us to believe she was a long term regular and her sudden death was a great shock. The feeling in Everything Changes was that she was a weak woman who had been seduced by the alien technology. They Keep Killing Suzie seems to suggest that in fact she was a cold and calculating killer all along with plans within evil plans. Very convincing.
But it's not all bad; as usual, the direction is absolutely fantastic. It's just a shame that James Strong cannot re-write the entire script from top to bottom. The resurrection scenes are nicely clinical (stop watch, white tiles, Tosh recording, Gwen's red shirt) and there is a nicely staged club scene that feels energetic and lively. Plus the shot of the camera panning around Suzie's head with the bloody hole gaping out is brilliantly twisted.
There are a few lovely ideas here too, the sorted of macabre imagination that would get the show noticed if only it was tethered to a more intelligent script. Having the glove and knife complete the life circuit, ie having Jack stab Suzie in order to bring her back to life is creepy and brilliant. Plus the line, "You're getting shot in the head... slowly" is terrifying. And as I said before, the plotting itself is actually quite clever. If only the content could match up.
Other points of interest:
Suzie Q and A by John Nor 26/3/07
This week the Torchwood team are confronted with a serial killer, which leads them to resurrect an old friend.
The "normal" Torchwood episode tone that I described in my review of the previous episode Greeks Bearing Gifts ("a Cardiff of gritty urban streets and style-bars, with 'alien tech' to the fore") is maintained with this episode.
At the beginning (after the very first ever "previously-on-Torchwood") we see the Torchwood team doing a bit of a "power walk" (e.g. striding as a group looking cool in slo-mo towards the camera.) Some of the shine of this glowing confidence is removed by the visit to the crime scene and Detective Swanson moaning about their arrogance, telling them that the crime is their fault.
(The logic of the interaction between Torchwood and the police is as ill-defined as ever but I will let it slide for this review.)
What seemed to be a wink to fandom in the first episode - Jack explaining Gwen's memory erasure involving "a dash of Retcon" - is expanded here into a main plot point.
If you are reading this you probably know what the term retcon means, in the context of stories. (Retroactive Continuity. Where a story is presented that throws a different light on the plots of earlier stories by filling in the gaps, or sometimes even altering the facts established by earlier stories - hence the word being used for this chemical.)
One of the most famous retcons is Arthur Conan Doyle bringing Sherlock Holmes back to life in a story after seemingly killing him off at the Reichenbach Falls. With the Doctor Who episode The Tenth Planet, the writers retconned the idea of William Hartnell portraying the Doctor into the idea of William Hartnell portraying just one version of someone called the Doctor, resurrecting him as Patrick Troughton. So retcons and resurrections have a long history together, appropriately enough for this episode. Whether the makers of Torchwood are really retconning the events of Everything Changes is debatable as both these episodes form part of one fully-planned season of Torchwood.
After Gwen suggests they bring the Resurrection Glove back into action (ironically for the very purpose that they seemed to be doing but weren't that I highlighted in my review of Everything Changes) there is an intriguing remark from Captain Jack.
He explains that compassion and empathy help the wearer of the glove and we see that he struggles and does not get it to work. The viewer who has been watching all the episodes so far can infer the possible reasons: his undeath and his lack-of-mercy. Are they connected? Each time Jack "dies", does he become more and more of a heartless bastard?
(Actually, the others apparently can't get it work either but they ARE slightly self-centered as we have seen from previous episodes.)
The team deduce that they have to bring Suzie back to continue the investigation. As they visit the lock-up to go through Suzie's things, the recurring theme from Countrycide of Gwen-in-too-deep-no-turning-back is reinforced. She ponders her future.
There is a nice sequence of images as Suzie is jerked back to life: the gasp; the spinning overhead camera shot. Subtly done, especially in comparison with the frenetic camerawork of Greeks Bearing Gifts.
The recurring theme of who-do-you-speak-to-about-the-horrors-of-Torchwood appears again, after Ianto releasing his pent-up-fury in Cyberwoman; Gwen finding solace in Owen's bed in Countrycide; and Toshiko opening her heart to Mary in Greeks Bearing Gifts. This time we learn of Suzie's solution to the problem, as she explains how she would tell Max everything every week, then erase his memory with Retcon.
Her character is sketched out quite nicely with the feelings of her guilt over messing things up portrayed convincingly by Indira Varma.
Now we come to part of this episode that is flawed, for me at least. As Gwen takes Suzie away from the Hub she worries about Jack catching them. "You never know, we might get lucky." Okay, Suzie knows no luck is involved, as she knows Max is chanting Emily Dickinson poems as they speak.
BUT.
How does Max begin chanting at just the right moment? As it is, the episode is less than brilliant as an unexplained plot hole like this distract from the excellent images and characterization.
Jack and the rest are trapped and realise from Max's chants that he is a "Trojan horse". (Hmm, two in two weeks.)
There is speculation over just how much was re-written of the initial script by Russell T. There are certainly some of his hallmarks present, especially philosophical discussion on religion, and the well-drawn characters. The performance of the episode definitely goes to Indira Varma who ranges from petulant self-pity to cold menace to wild-eyed madness. The scene on the pier is great. Maybe Suzie remembers a more merciful Jack, but once again his ruthlessness is on display.
The ballad that plays at the end was slightly bewildering, as it looked like the episode transmission had been replaced by a "Gwen/Jack" "shipping" music video from Youtube! The bewilderment continued with the Jack/Ianto stopwatch moment.
Mainly because of the great characterful scenes between Suzie and Gwen, this was a very good episode that could have been brilliant if the plot mechanics had been tighter. If perhaps there had been a scene where Suzie said to Gwen "Before we go, I just want to apologize to Max as you wheel me by" (and thus activate the chanting from Max) then I would be more relaxed.
Maybe an explanation can be written in to a future episode: as a retcon?