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Previously on Torchwood, we learnt that nobody can die (apart from by burning them to a crisp, obviously…) and… well, that’s about it. We’ve not been given so much as a hint as to why this is or how it could be resolved. However, it now seems that we’re on the road to discovering all those a-little-too-well-kept secrets, even if this week’s soulless, meandering episode didn’t bother to share any of them.
For the last couple of episodes, Jack has had about as much to do as a gardener on an industrial estate but, this week, he had to earn his top billing, being kidnapped by Gwen, as well as being at the centre of a painfully prolonged series of flashbacks that further confirmed that Torchwood has sold out to America. This was, as I believe it’s known in the trade, a filler episode, with the influence of the American writers being particularly felt, with what was, essentially, a little bit of backstory (Jack met this man who, of course, fell in love with him, but then they fell out) being spread across a truly tedious 50 minutes of television. (Well, probably about 45 when you take out the introduction, the ‘Previously’, the opening and end credits, and the ‘Next time…’)
The trouble with a John Barrowman centred episode is that he can’t act. OK, he carries the show well enough when he’s the larger part of an ensemble cast, but when most of that ensemble is discarded as quickly as all those Miracle Day campaigns/ groups (the 45 Club, anyone?), Barrowman’s below par acting capacity becomes all too visible. He can’t do emotion without a smutty wink and a nudge, making it yet more impossible to take him seriously, and in dramatic scenes, he completely overplays it. It doesn’t help that the character of Jack is quite difficult to like; this is a man who’s lived for about 7 million years, but yet he’s quite happy to rip Gwen to shreds (or whatever that badly delivered, laughable line was) so that he can live, when all she wants is to save her baby.
Barrowman was by no means the only problem with this episode, though. The next was that Rex and Esther appeared in a grand total of 2 scenes, just as they were becoming interesting. Admittedly, Rex still doesn’t feel fully fleshed out (pardon the pun), but Esther has gone from being someone who I had to Wikipedia the name of at the start of the series, to an interesting, almost-believable character.
Another problem was that it was all so darn predictable. Oh, look, it’s Rex and Esther pointing that sniper at those do-badders, I wouldn’t have guessed that. And guess who those aforementioned do-badders are working for? Could it be Angelo Colasanto, I hear you cry, the man who we’ve spent the whole episode getting to know? Surely not!
Another dismal week in the Torchwood hub, therefore, with the only good thing being that we finally got to see an alien, albeit briefly. I had hoped that this would be the first of many alien sightings, but in the ‘Next time…’ trailer, Jack refers to “the people that are behind this.” Not aliens then? Just when I thought I couldn’t feel any more disappointed.
Read last week's blog here.
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