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Torchwood - Lost Souls
Not to be republished elsewhere without permission. Stephen James Walker, this means you
The Radio Episode.
"This is no job for the Ambassador for Wales" but it was great fun. Also more orientated towards the informative side of the Who'verse's history than most episodes of the new series era but fitting the day of particle physics on Radio 4. And can I just say, the juxtaposition of Torchwood and The Archers - utterly surreal.
It was penned by Joseph Lidster, who wrote one of the best of season two and again does a great job here. There's a good balance between the educational mandate and the simple but vital human drama. Putting the team in a life threatening situation after Exit Wounds, using the Martha they all know but isn't one of them as a sounding board and having a monster that gets into people's heads pretending to be dead loved ones allows a great exploration of how our three regulars are dealing with the aftermaths of the deaths of Tosh and Owen. This being Guilt - Gwen, Not Well but knowing he's stuck losing loved ones but connecting anyway because they're worth it - Jack, and worryingly for Ianto wanting to be with his dead loved one, Lisa to the extent he gets glowy - if not Twilight Sparkly - before Jack and Gwen get through to him that it isn't the dead, it is a monster getting into his head and the dead stay dead.
There's great one liners and an answer to the essential question re Weevils;) Can they swim? Turns out, not so much. There is good Ianto snark and also bits from Jack, especially re Weevils dress sense.
I suspect that some Janto fans at least will feel more than a tad miffed at the lack of Janto. There really isn't much but him the loving coffee and Jack line form Gwen to Ianto as she tries to reach Ianto and Jack himself seems to put Gwen and Ianto on the same level re his feelings towards them. It seems stronger on the Gwack vibe, if anything.
There is some great Gwen generally, both individually, with the two boys and with Martha.
Eve - like Gareth - does a nice job with radio acting. Jack is also pretty good. I wish Freema had a wider vocal range, as she really needed one to get the full range of emotions she was given to play with out via voice alone, which was a shame as she was given good stuff and there character was genuinely essential to get into how the regulars were feeling.
Background info reveals. Jack knows his particle physics. During the Time Agency period an entire colony was wiped out by the neutron eaters. I wonder of Captain John was with him? There was a funeral - presumably for Tosh with a memorial side for Owen as there wouldn't be anything to bury.
The dead characters were honoured appropriately and the characters, as in Exit Wounds, gain in my love for their grief for and respectful mourning for them. It was also good to see that Ianto still mourns Lisa, as it reflects well on him as well as her worth as a person. Good job, Joe.
There were some lovely swipes at irrational faith over reason, try and achieve a Rapture-esque everyone gets transmuted into angels, lets open the door to Heaven and not listen to the voices of reason telling you that means we all die. I do hope Sarah Palin listening, though I'm sure we wouldn't be that lucky.
Though I do wish Martha had gone a bit more towards atheist over agnostic, at least the other main voices were reason over faith.
The redemptive death was suitable and all the more effective coming as it did after the guy realised it wasn't Angels.
And finally, they won by embracing reason over irrational faith and reversed the polarity. Old Skool Love:)
In other words, well worth listening to.
The Radio Episode.
"This is no job for the Ambassador for Wales" but it was great fun. Also more orientated towards the informative side of the Who'verse's history than most episodes of the new series era but fitting the day of particle physics on Radio 4. And can I just say, the juxtaposition of Torchwood and The Archers - utterly surreal.
It was penned by Joseph Lidster, who wrote one of the best of season two and again does a great job here. There's a good balance between the educational mandate and the simple but vital human drama. Putting the team in a life threatening situation after Exit Wounds, using the Martha they all know but isn't one of them as a sounding board and having a monster that gets into people's heads pretending to be dead loved ones allows a great exploration of how our three regulars are dealing with the aftermaths of the deaths of Tosh and Owen. This being Guilt - Gwen, Not Well but knowing he's stuck losing loved ones but connecting anyway because they're worth it - Jack, and worryingly for Ianto wanting to be with his dead loved one, Lisa to the extent he gets glowy - if not Twilight Sparkly - before Jack and Gwen get through to him that it isn't the dead, it is a monster getting into his head and the dead stay dead.
There's great one liners and an answer to the essential question re Weevils;) Can they swim? Turns out, not so much. There is good Ianto snark and also bits from Jack, especially re Weevils dress sense.
I suspect that some Janto fans at least will feel more than a tad miffed at the lack of Janto. There really isn't much but him the loving coffee and Jack line form Gwen to Ianto as she tries to reach Ianto and Jack himself seems to put Gwen and Ianto on the same level re his feelings towards them. It seems stronger on the Gwack vibe, if anything.
There is some great Gwen generally, both individually, with the two boys and with Martha.
Eve - like Gareth - does a nice job with radio acting. Jack is also pretty good. I wish Freema had a wider vocal range, as she really needed one to get the full range of emotions she was given to play with out via voice alone, which was a shame as she was given good stuff and there character was genuinely essential to get into how the regulars were feeling.
Background info reveals. Jack knows his particle physics. During the Time Agency period an entire colony was wiped out by the neutron eaters. I wonder of Captain John was with him? There was a funeral - presumably for Tosh with a memorial side for Owen as there wouldn't be anything to bury.
The dead characters were honoured appropriately and the characters, as in Exit Wounds, gain in my love for their grief for and respectful mourning for them. It was also good to see that Ianto still mourns Lisa, as it reflects well on him as well as her worth as a person. Good job, Joe.
There were some lovely swipes at irrational faith over reason, try and achieve a Rapture-esque everyone gets transmuted into angels, lets open the door to Heaven and not listen to the voices of reason telling you that means we all die. I do hope Sarah Palin listening, though I'm sure we wouldn't be that lucky.
Though I do wish Martha had gone a bit more towards atheist over agnostic, at least the other main voices were reason over faith.
The redemptive death was suitable and all the more effective coming as it did after the guy realised it wasn't Angels.
And finally, they won by embracing reason over irrational faith and reversed the polarity. Old Skool Love:)
In other words, well worth listening to.
no subject
It was Meat or Fragments Jack again, seemingly very indifferent to the news that his lover was being gobbled up by the glowy possession thing. I sometimes feel that it's being played as if Jack expressing any kind of specific concern for Ianto - as he would and does do for anyone else under his command when they are in danger - would be a wrong thing, as if they need to show that he isn't favouring the boyfriend, by making him utterly un-reactive. You know - it's all "Gwen! Get out of there!" not "You need to both get out of there!"
Still, loved the crunchy little snarcasms here and there, loved Jack being demoted to assistant, loved all the references to the departed and it thrilled me that Ianto hears a voice mocking him by calling him "Coffee-boy!" and immediately thinks it's Owen. Of the three of them, it makes more sense that he'd be the most easily predated one: Jack knows he has to be able to let go and move on, even with the guilt, and Gwen stays anchored to life because of Rhys. Poor Ianto at this stage seems to have more dead friends and colleagues and lovers than he has live ones, which has to be a bit of a bummer at the age of 26.
no subject
The snark was fabulous. I'm expecting many icons of fantasticnesss out of the best lines and glowy Ianto.
The poor guy does seem to have really been through the death ringer, especially as his dad seems to be dead as well and we don't hear about his mum. Poor bunny.
no subject
Yes, I thought that too. It's something she really needs to work on if she wants to do more radio work. I thought Eve sounded fabulous and if the BBC Radio Drama department don't snap her up for more roles they will be seriously missing out as she has a great voice.
I really enjoyed it and I wasn't expecting too much but as a non-shipper I did notice the lack of Janto, though Ianto had some excellent lines and some good stuff to do. The Ambassador for Wales was delightful :)
no subject
The Ambassador for Wales line was not only fabulous, it begs to be iconned.
no subject
As for Janto moments, I didn’t feel any, but then I’m not disappointed in that either.
no subject