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July 18, 2007

Torchwood: "Everyone is Bi and Depressed"

I guess I'll just keep writing about what I'm watching, eh?

So I finished watching season 3 of Doctor Who (the final 3-parter started strong and interesting with the first two episodes, and then fucked up the last one with a Deus Ex Machina worse that the ending of Season 1), which was pretty good overall. Really good episodes balanced with really shitty ones. But anyway, I have no new Doctor Who until Chrissymas, so I thought I'd look into the spinoff show, Torchwood.

It's not really that good.

Now, the show had a lot going for it. The main character is Captain Jack Harkness, a character I enjoyed in Season 1 and I enjoyed his return in Season 3. The idea behind the show was to make a more adult Doctor Who, which would be a nice thing. There are moments in Doctor Who that feel restrained because of it's wide appeal. I'd like to see a gritty no mercy people actually die sometimes sort of Doctor Who show. That's what I wanted Torchwood to give me.

However, it's version of "adult" is what a 12 year old would consider "adult." All of the attempts at a more grown up show simply come with more freedom of language and sex. The sex is really kind of blatant, too. Not the subtle, actually sexy kind. I mean, the second episode had an alien who needed to fuck to survive. It was all kinda silly. And because the series is trying to be darker and more adult, the silly doesn't work like it does in Doctor Who. In Doctor Who, it's silly and campy and ridiculous, and plays to those strengths and that is its charm.

Also, Captain Jack was constantly reprimanded by the Doctor for attempting to shoot people in Doctor Who. The Doctor kept him at bay. Thus, one would assume that, while not with the Doctor, Captain Jack would shoot people. This is not the case. There are guns, sure, but outside of the pilot (which had a little of the silly retardedness I'm talking about, but it could be written off as it trying to find itself... it found itself, just not the self I wanted) nobody really shoots, nobody gets shot. When a problem could be solved easily by pulling the trigger, it isn't. This is disappointing. You're already hitting all the adult content flags, you might as well shoot some people. (Then again, perhaps that's a difference between Europe and America. We try to be adult, you get lots of violence and a little sex. They get a lot of sex and a little violence. I dunno. I'm rambling a little here.)

Add this to the characters, who, as far as I've seen, Ecks has summed up pretty well with his statement I quoted in the title: "Everyone is Bi and Depressed." Everyone is willing to have sex with everyone, because it's an adult show and there should be sex. Captain Jack's Bisexual flirting was entertaining in Doctor Who, yet he's the secretive boss, so we never see glimpses of him doing it. He's either all business or flirting with members of the Torchwood team. And none of them are interesting. The main lady appears to have went to the "you'll never be in any danger" academy of police training. Then there's the guy who keeps being important and I keep hating. He's bi, he's moody, he ruins relationships for fun, and I don't like him, yet he's been a minor focus of the episodes I've seen. The other two people, the asian computer search girl and the doorman hacker person, could be interesting, but only because I don't know anything about them.

Also, they hired a helicopter, and dammit, they are going to have lots of dramatic aerial shots.

Seriously, listen to the theme song for the show. Just the song feels like they're trying way too hard, and that's exactly how the whole thing comes off. I'll probably watch one or two more episodes, to see if it recovers, but I kinda doubt it. It's decided what it's going to be.

Posted by poetfox at July 18, 2007 06:34 PM

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