Posted by Kent in Science Fiction, TV, TV Review | 1 comment
Review: ‘Torchwood: Children of Earth, Day One’
Torchwood is one of my favorite TV series because it’s built on top of a great TV legend, Doctor Who. Torchwood is a spin off series of the rebooted Doctor Who and it’s ran for a few seasons. It’s different than Doctor Who because it handles more adult topics and it’s language and violence and even sex can be a little over the top. Doctor Who is a family friendly show by comparison.
Both Doctor Who and Torchwood are taking a part time break and rather than bring us full seasons of TV we’re getting different specials from both. Doctor Who had an Easter special and now Torchwood has a five part mini-series called “Children of Earth.”
When the mini-series starts we’re taken back to 1965 with several children on a old bus in the middle of nowhere. They’re dropped off and all suddenly start walking into a bright light, all except one. Suddenly we’re back in 2009 with a mystery involving children under some kind of mind control. All the children in the world froze at the exact same time causing accidents all over the world. Torchwood is of course curious about what’s happening and moves to investigate. But soon the second incident involving the children occurs and this time they all speak together saying “We are coming.”
This sets off the team to try and solve the mystery and there are a lot of cool revelations about it along the way. But what really makes this mini-series worth watching for fans is the revelations about Jack, Ianto and Gwen. Much of the episode is about family and growth. Ianto and Jack are finally a couple, which isn’t exactly surprising given the way the characters have been written over the past 3 years. But what is surprising is that neither of them are really all that comfortable with the change. Meanwhile Gwen and her husband Rhys are looking to finally buy a house and really settle down. They’re married now, but now Rhys is looking to have a child. Gwen on the other hand is still enjoying the life of an adventuring heroine. There’s a really great moment for jack involving a woman who’s identity, when revealed, is quite spectacular. It gives Jack a great moment and shows why he’s not exactly ready to settle down. Great writing for a sci-fi show.
What’s great about this episode of the mini-series is the second half. The show really starts to ramp up and a lot of cool twists happen that are definitely going to keep me tuned in tomorrow night.
The series leaves Jack as a saintless savior having sacrificed his grandchild to save 10 percent of the worlds children. (Perhaps, given the show's storylines with gay/bi characters, Davies choice of percentage serves as commentary on society's homophobia — or aliens just like nice round numbers).
Jack's sacrifice, one could argue, allows us to see that he is no longer the cold hearted callous man as he was in 1965, when he agreed to play a part in starting the whole mess. Going further, insofar as he is responsible for feeding 456's addiction in the first place, without any moral regard, it is fitting that this unforgivable act would cost him his own grandchild's life in the end, and leave him a broken man. Call me judgemental.
Indeed the whole repugnant mini series, filled with allusions to child violence with a child sacrifice at the end, fits together very well as a cogent story. However, It's still a repugnant story that I wish Davies had done differently. Obviously, the Doctor can't come to the resuce in every crisis, even if Jack is at the center of it — and this is made clear in the final episode, but using children in fiction this way — well it's something the 456 would do.