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exhilarationThe fact that I said I had to "plow through" it should be an indication of how well I liked it.
I loved the first season of Torchwood. Second season was intriguing, and I figured from there the series could go either way.
I now feel that the series has made a huge and fatal error and can never recover.
I find children creepy. Children in general, really. Apparently so do the writers of this universe, cause so many plots seem to revolve around creepy/possessed children. That was my very first thought upon starting the miniseries, and that should be a pretty good indication of where things went from there.
There was not one single thing about this series that didn't scream "seen it before" at me.
The series could just have easily been a two-parter. Maybe three, but that'd be pushing it. It was so stretched out and padded it was a chore to watch. Usually a five part series like that would have several plotlines running through it - right? But of course, having just killed off two main characters, and therefor a big chunk of subplot, yeah, what did they really have to work with?
As far as I know, it wasn't meant to be a series finale or anything, which makes it even worse, because I don't see how they're going to recover from this. New characters, anyone? Not just people in for a one-off, who's sticking around? Nobody. Not even Jack. There's no hub and no Jack, just Gwen and Rhyss and the baby - that ain't no Torchwood.
I think the strongest point in the series was in the beginning watching Jack and Ianto talk about how they aren't a couple because they don't like the word (or Jack doesn't, anyway, and Ianto likes Jack.) After that it was just no, no, and no.
Jack and Ianto both have children in their lives - Ianto has his sister's kids and Jack has a grandchild. So - really, they both make an attempt to "borrow" said kids to experiment on? I felt it very, very strange that that was not really addressed. I kind of like how Jack's daughter is pretty much afraid of him, but that's just a tiny minor thing.
Ianto's death about killed me. I hate emotional scenes like that that are completely pointless. I love Ianto and I love watching Jack and Ianto and yet, I should have felt my heart cracking for Jack but instead I found myself looking at how much more of the series I had yet to watch before it was over. And the children - that's a massive, heartbreaking thing for a government to sacrifice so many children like that, and yet I was just annoyed that it was being drawn out so much. I don't have a problem with darkness, angst, tragedy, hopelessness... I have a problem when it's poorly done. And it was, IMO. It lost its punch.
The suicide at the end - pointless. The attempt to portray the character in a sympathetic light right before his death - pointless. Fine, he wasn't a total shitbag. But at that point I didn't care.
And Captain Jack has left us for the sky again. So where does that leave Torchwood? No hub, no central office, and no Jack. Wtf are they going to do for the next season then?
No mention of Owen or Tosh. Not one word, and not one single flash of remembering. I thought that was badly done. What were the writers thinking with this? I just don't get it.
How should it have gone? There should have been a scene where someone (probably Gwen) should have looked around the hub and noticed it's silence, and there should have been a split second flash of Owen and Tosh at work.
So that doctor in the beginning was a spy. Fine. Let him be a spy. Let him into the hub. Let him start working with Torchwood. Let him start to get into the dynamic before he's found out and executed. Let someone else who might be a potentially useful member then not be trusted (until the very end, when they're offered a position out of necessity to keep the whole thing going.)
That ending was lame. That radio frequency shit was lame. I really, truly was holding out for The Doctor. I know they said he would never show up on Torchwood, but that would have been my ideal solution. Not to just swoop in and save the day - to bounce off ideas with Jack until they both found something that would work. Obviously no humans on earth could even touch the problem - obviously it would take two aliens from space to work it out. (And I did notice how Jack sort of passively does not include himself as part of the human race)
What if The Doctor knew, saw what Jack did to his own grandson to save the rest of the children? What then? That I would watch, that would have my attention.
Blegh. Just - blegh. Really.
All my shows are going to shit.
As I explained before, this is why I'm watching Xena now instead of all this crap. But see, the thing is... I've seen Xena before. Not every single episode, of course, but I've seen enough to know how the series goes haywire at the end there. So I know it's coming. Maybe I should just save myself the trouble after season four and not even watch the rest? I hated the ending of Xena, as I'm starting to remember more and more.
So what was a good show? Sigh. That animated Star Wars is pretty damn awesome, I'm in favor of that. Ah, the, oh, HBO show "Carnivale" was freakin' awesome - maybe that's my problem, all the good shows have moved to premium channels, and being that I don't even have a television anyway I don't even hear about them. After Xena I think I could do with a Carnivale re-watch. If I'm not in China by then :P
Oh, and then there's FMA:Brotherhood, I need to catch up on that liek whoaz. I saw the original first, and then read the manga - so this new one is more or less following the manga, so I'm not feeling as much draw to watching each episode cause I already know what happens. It's still exciting to see it animated though.
I've been working hard on my Harry Potter fic. The movie inspired me. This doesn't mean I approve of the movie, either, though.
>.
I loved the first season of Torchwood. Second season was intriguing, and I figured from there the series could go either way.
I now feel that the series has made a huge and fatal error and can never recover.
I find children creepy. Children in general, really. Apparently so do the writers of this universe, cause so many plots seem to revolve around creepy/possessed children. That was my very first thought upon starting the miniseries, and that should be a pretty good indication of where things went from there.
There was not one single thing about this series that didn't scream "seen it before" at me.
The series could just have easily been a two-parter. Maybe three, but that'd be pushing it. It was so stretched out and padded it was a chore to watch. Usually a five part series like that would have several plotlines running through it - right? But of course, having just killed off two main characters, and therefor a big chunk of subplot, yeah, what did they really have to work with?
As far as I know, it wasn't meant to be a series finale or anything, which makes it even worse, because I don't see how they're going to recover from this. New characters, anyone? Not just people in for a one-off, who's sticking around? Nobody. Not even Jack. There's no hub and no Jack, just Gwen and Rhyss and the baby - that ain't no Torchwood.
I think the strongest point in the series was in the beginning watching Jack and Ianto talk about how they aren't a couple because they don't like the word (or Jack doesn't, anyway, and Ianto likes Jack.) After that it was just no, no, and no.
Jack and Ianto both have children in their lives - Ianto has his sister's kids and Jack has a grandchild. So - really, they both make an attempt to "borrow" said kids to experiment on? I felt it very, very strange that that was not really addressed. I kind of like how Jack's daughter is pretty much afraid of him, but that's just a tiny minor thing.
Ianto's death about killed me. I hate emotional scenes like that that are completely pointless. I love Ianto and I love watching Jack and Ianto and yet, I should have felt my heart cracking for Jack but instead I found myself looking at how much more of the series I had yet to watch before it was over. And the children - that's a massive, heartbreaking thing for a government to sacrifice so many children like that, and yet I was just annoyed that it was being drawn out so much. I don't have a problem with darkness, angst, tragedy, hopelessness... I have a problem when it's poorly done. And it was, IMO. It lost its punch.
The suicide at the end - pointless. The attempt to portray the character in a sympathetic light right before his death - pointless. Fine, he wasn't a total shitbag. But at that point I didn't care.
And Captain Jack has left us for the sky again. So where does that leave Torchwood? No hub, no central office, and no Jack. Wtf are they going to do for the next season then?
No mention of Owen or Tosh. Not one word, and not one single flash of remembering. I thought that was badly done. What were the writers thinking with this? I just don't get it.
How should it have gone? There should have been a scene where someone (probably Gwen) should have looked around the hub and noticed it's silence, and there should have been a split second flash of Owen and Tosh at work.
So that doctor in the beginning was a spy. Fine. Let him be a spy. Let him into the hub. Let him start working with Torchwood. Let him start to get into the dynamic before he's found out and executed. Let someone else who might be a potentially useful member then not be trusted (until the very end, when they're offered a position out of necessity to keep the whole thing going.)
That ending was lame. That radio frequency shit was lame. I really, truly was holding out for The Doctor. I know they said he would never show up on Torchwood, but that would have been my ideal solution. Not to just swoop in and save the day - to bounce off ideas with Jack until they both found something that would work. Obviously no humans on earth could even touch the problem - obviously it would take two aliens from space to work it out. (And I did notice how Jack sort of passively does not include himself as part of the human race)
What if The Doctor knew, saw what Jack did to his own grandson to save the rest of the children? What then? That I would watch, that would have my attention.
Blegh. Just - blegh. Really.
All my shows are going to shit.
As I explained before, this is why I'm watching Xena now instead of all this crap. But see, the thing is... I've seen Xena before. Not every single episode, of course, but I've seen enough to know how the series goes haywire at the end there. So I know it's coming. Maybe I should just save myself the trouble after season four and not even watch the rest? I hated the ending of Xena, as I'm starting to remember more and more.
So what was a good show? Sigh. That animated Star Wars is pretty damn awesome, I'm in favor of that. Ah, the, oh, HBO show "Carnivale" was freakin' awesome - maybe that's my problem, all the good shows have moved to premium channels, and being that I don't even have a television anyway I don't even hear about them. After Xena I think I could do with a Carnivale re-watch. If I'm not in China by then :P
Oh, and then there's FMA:Brotherhood, I need to catch up on that liek whoaz. I saw the original first, and then read the manga - so this new one is more or less following the manga, so I'm not feeling as much draw to watching each episode cause I already know what happens. It's still exciting to see it animated though.
I've been working hard on my Harry Potter fic. The movie inspired me. This doesn't mean I approve of the movie, either, though.
>.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 09:49 pm (UTC)Also, what is this "Torchwood" you speak of? I have to start watching more TV, I think, because I have no idea really :)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 03:15 am (UTC)Torchwood is a BBC show, a spinoff of the new Doctor Who series, starring John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, an immortal, pansexual humanoid from the 51st century living on Earth and fighting for good, made by the same guy who did Queer As Folk. I dunno if it's on regular cable here in the USA yet but it shows in the UK and I'm obsessed. I am a sucker for space ships as well...
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 10:11 pm (UTC)There was a single flash of remembering.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 03:17 am (UTC)I'm just bitter that Owen died in the first place. He was my favorite :(
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 03:18 am (UTC)HP6 and Flylady
Date: 2009-07-21 04:19 am (UTC)Anyway, found this in the archives of my email and thought of you:
Dear FlyLady and Crew:
My DH and I am preparing to leave for a trip to China (!) and as I was packing and reviewing my to-do list (I titled it my Trip Control Journal) I was reflecting on how your way-of-life has changed my life. I joined your program because anxiety was ruling my life. I am a BO person whose life has been ruled by perfectionism. Loving myself was a concept that was foreign to me but I clung to the idea that it was possible. I believed in your belief because I had little of my own.
I love getting up in the morning to your emails that tell me that living sanely is possible and that housework can be simple and "good enough". I love the testimonials from others who have made progress and have hope. The pamper missions are particularly important to me and I have included them in my routines. I now take time for me. I can even laugh at myself.
I am three years into your group and my anxiety is much better -- your loving program has been so helpful. I wouldn't have dreamed that I could fly to China and feel as prepared and relaxed as I do.
FlyLady, thank you for being there with your love and support and for sharing your personal story with us "strugglers".
A Grateful Flybaby
Re: HP6 and Flylady
Date: 2009-07-22 03:07 am (UTC)Re: HP6 and Flylady
Date: 2009-07-22 05:00 am (UTC)