TORCHWOOD: At the END OF DAYS, the Cosmic Reset Button Makes an Appearance

“END OF DAYS” – Series 1, Episode 13, Story 13 – Written by Chris Chibnall; Directed by Ashley Way – Thanks to Owen, it’s the end of the world. The Rift is open and spilling out and a giant monster who’s so old he’s in black and white pops out to kill everyone. Awesome. Thanks, date rapist.

Honestly, there’s not a lot to say about END OF DAYS, a show that succeeds emotionally more than narratively but at least sends a rather lukewarm season out on something close to resembling a bang.

The basic plot sees the Rift spilling out energy and causing people from the past walk into the present. Taking a cue from much of what it did wrong during the season, writer/producer Chris Chibnall delivers an episode that keeps moving, if nothing else. Seeing a Roman guard get put in jail and the outbreak of the Black Death is pretty enjoyable, and these scenes work more for the characters than the plot. Seeing Gwen chatting with her partner from her previous life as a cop and realizing how far she’s come is a much more rewarding use of screen time than a Roman soldier shouting. Likewise, seeing Owen take charge at the hospital where the Black Death has broken out does a far better job of showing his inner turmoil than anything else he’s done all season.

I like how this episode builds on the previous story where Owen opened the Rift to save Jack and Tosh from being trapped in time; Owen is all, “I’m a hero!” and Jack is all, “This is all your fault!” so Jack fires him in a decision no one else seems to like.

The team is being tempted by Bilis, the creepy old dude from last episode, into opening the rift by showing them dead or missing people (Gwen’s boyfriend, Tosh’s mom, Ianto’s girlfriend pre-Cyberwoman, Diane), and Gwen ends up dragging Rhys into the Hub and locking him away in order to keep him safe. But, of course, it doesn’t work and he ends up dead, and now she’s bound and determined to open the Rift in an attempt to bring Rhys back to life.

Jack steadfastly refuses, but the team finally unites in ganging up on him and does it anyway after Owen shoots Jack “dead,” even if it might mean the end of the world. Which it does, because Bilis wanted the Rift open to free Abaddon, who looks kinda like a black-and-white version of The Beast from THE SATAN PIT, but he’s around for about two minutes before Jack sacrifices himself to stop him.

But hey, at least Rhys is back thanks to you hitting that big cosmic reset button, right, Gwen? You know Rhys’ returns means tons and tons to Gwen because even though she just threatened the world to get Rhys back, Gwen won’t leave the really-really-really-really-no-not-really dead Jack’s side and won’t let anyone lock him into the morgue. So she waits and waits and waits until the episode is almost over and he gets better. Then everyone hugs everyone – yes, even Jack and Owen hug which means Owen isn’t fired anymore. Honest, it’s in the rulebook somewhere – if you get fired, shoot your boss, and then he comes back to life, saves the world, dies again, comes back to life again after a women you’ve slept with waits by his side AND he gives you a hug, you totally get your job back. The episode ends with the heard-but-not-seen arrival of the TARDIS and Jack takes off with the unseen, unheard Doctor to save the universe.

It’s not a great episode, but it’ll keep you entertained. Lots of running and shouting and shooting and quick scenes give END OF DAYS a sense of momentum that might make you shake your head when it’s over, but should keep you entertained enough when you’re watching it live. Even if it’s messy, there looks to be a plan here, and you couldn’t say that for most of season 1.

July Reviewing Note: Who, Trek, Avengers, and the Guy They Named After the Dog

For regular readers of ATOMIC ANXIETY and anyone who might stumble across the blog, I thought I’d give an overview of what reviews are coming up for the next month or so now that I’ve finished off the James Bond marathon. (And yeah, I’ve still got the original Casino Royale to go, but that’s not really part of the overall Bond family – I’ll get to it when I’m in the mood for it.) But there is a plan to what’s coming so in order to help you figure out if you want to keep coming back, here’s where my reviews will be focused for July:

1. The THIRD DOCTOR serials. Reviewing the Third Doctor is alternately easy and hard, considering that there’s still a good number of his serials still not on DVD, some are on DVD, and some are available for streaming on Netflix. Now, some of these can be watched via VHS copies (or YouTube) so I’ll hunt around and review what I can find, but if it’s not on DVD, I might skip it and then review it whenever it finally gets released on DVD in the future. Reviewing the Pertwee episodes is my primary focus, but because of the different delivery methods, it’s not always going to seem like it.

2. STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES Season 2. Now that STAR TREK is on Netflix Instant Watch, I can get back to reviewing this very hit and miss show. As I explained at the time, I’ve never watched full episodes of STAR TREK before (I’d watch it here and there when I was a kid and was unbelievably bored by it), so this isn’t so much a re-watch as a first watch. Because I can watch them whenever I have a chance and because each episode is 45 minutes or so instead of 2 1/2 hours, you’re certainly going to see more TOS reviews than WHO reviews.

3. AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES Season 1. I was pleasantly surprised to see this appear on Netlfix’s Instant Watch as quickly as it has, and I mean to watch it before it disappears. I won’t review every episode, but I will likely tackle it four or five episodes at a time – whatever seems to make sense at the time. I’ve got a few reviews written from when the show first appeared, but not having cable made it too difficult to keep up with the show online, and now I’ve got the whole show to go through.

4. The INDIANA JONES movies. Granted, there’s only four of them so it won’t take too long to get through, but they are definitely on the agenda.

Beyond that I’m sure there will be the usual assortment of randomly selected movies that get reviewed, depending on what’s available that I’m in the mood for on a given night. The DC Animated Movies are always worth a watch, and I’ve been in a John Carpenter mood so there’s still plenty of randomness to come. I’ve got one more episode of Season 1 of TORCHWOOD to review, and I’ll probably fold in the odd episode of Season 2 here and there, but TORCHWOOD is one of those shows that I tend to have to be in the mood to watch – when I am I’ll plow through 3 or 4 episodes, but then I might lose interest for a week or two. I’ll fit them in around the Pertwee and Trek reviews more than anything else.

Thanks for reading, everyone.

TORCHWOOD: CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS, Meet Captain Jack Harkness

“CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS” – Series 1, Episode 12, Story 12 – Written by Catherine Tregenna; Directed by Ashley Way – There’s a haunted abandoned night club. Jack and Tosh get sent back to World War II. Jack meets the guy whose name he stole. Jack makes out with himself. Jack and Tosh can’t get back. Until Gwen finds a can.

Hey, lookee here, a pretty darn fantastic episode of TORCHWOOD! As a wise philosopher once said, “Heavens to Mergatroyd!”

There’s nothing overly fancy with CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS and there’s a kind of extension of the big emotional moment that even a Russell T Davies’ script thinks went on too long, but that’s a small quibble in an otherwise excellent episode.

We’re finally going somewhere in TORCHWOOD, which has, at long last, traded in their slow, limp X-Files riff for some good old fashioned RTD running and shouting. Jack even smiles. No kidding. He smiles. There’s a mystery about hearing 1940s music in an abandoned dance hall and suddenly Jack is like, “I’m smiling! Mysteries are fun! Let’s do something besides be mopey douchebags!”

Tosh, of course, is like, “I don’t know how to be anything other than a mopey douchebag,” but Jack reminds her she’s more like a mopey mouse than a mopey douchebag and Tosh is dragged along.

A timeslip happens and they end up at a World War II dance where they run into … Captain Jack Harkness. Naoko Mori then does that face she does better than anyone – you know the one. The one that expresses shock and confusion and disbelief, brought together with a dash of “I don’t want to be here. I want to be someplace safe.”

HARKNESS then breaks off into three subplots – Jack getting to know Jack, Tosh trying to send a message to the future, and Owen and Ianto hissing at each other while Gwen tries to find Jack and Tosh. There’s a creepy old guy named Bilis Manger who keeps a Torchwood file in his desk, has a camera in 1941 that hasn’t been invented yet, and can bounce back and forth through time. One second he’s playing creepy with Tosh and the next he’s doing it with Gwen.

Wisely, writer Catherine Tregenna keeps a nice balance of action and dialogue going so the episode never grinds to a halt. It’s the first episode that really shows what TORCHWOOD is capable of, where the characters are shown to be competent, and where actions have consequence. Owen wants to open the rift to bring Jack and Tosh back, but it comes across as self-serving and Ianto calls him on it, telling him he has to let Diane go. (You remember Diane, yeah? The British Amelia Earhardt that Owen fell in love with?) Owen is all, “Well, at least I didn’t keep my dead girlfriend hidden in the basement half-turned into a Cyberman!” This acknowledgment of past stories is a nice touch, and sorely needed in this blah, haphazard season.

Tregenna is also the first writer all season to really give everyone a purpose and a moment inside the episode. Jack is getting to know Jack, Tosh is trying to save the day, Gwen is trying to save them, and Ianto and Owen are playing slappy fight over who gets to be in charge when Jack is gone. The situations they find themselves in might be confusing to them, but they all act competently – especially Ianto, who stands his ground and puts a bullet in Owen’s shoulder to keep him (momentarily) from opening the time rift. It’s the first time where the team is shown to be what the first episode promised us – a competent group of mystery solvers.

The emotional thunder show is Jack and Jack. 1941 Jack is the captain of a group of young airmen leaving in the morning for some training exercises. There’s a woman who’s into 1941 Jack, but he’s only lukewarm towards her. It’s pretty obvious why (he’s more into pants than skirts) but the show manages a good bit of emotional turmoil for 1941 Jack in letting this out. 1941 Jack is obviously attracted to Future Jack but it’s not an easy thing to just let out and I felt the show (and the actor, Matt Rippy) made his coming out real, tortured, and believable. Future Jack keeps telling him to live for the moment because he knows that 1941 Jack dies the next day, but he won’t tell him this because … I don’t know, there are time laws against this kind of stuff and if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person Jean-Claude Van Damme shows up to arrest you.

The two Jacks end up dancing as 1941 Jack finally outs himself and they share a sweet dance and then a kiss and then Future Jack has to go back to the future. It’s drawn out for too long, but it’s still an honest scene, and the show needs more scenes like it to allow us to care about the characters.