Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Torchwood’s obsession with standing on top of buildings is becoming more than a joke. Almost to the point where it should be renamed to something more fitting. Luckily however, there’s no buildings in this (Except for one scene, but there aren’t any sweeping fly-pasts, luckily).
I enjoyed the last series, it was something interesting and different. However, it wasn’t the best series in the world. Hopefully this series will be better.
The episode starts off with the team chasing a blowfish. A blowfish driving a car. And then Captain Jack (after being off on his jaunt with the Doctor) shoots him.
And then the guy from Buffy (Spike, is it?) appears and starts causing trouble. And by trouble, I mean in less than 30 seconds they make a Buffy joke. And then a “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, I’m your only hope.” joke.
Jack goes to check it out, and they kiss. And then they fight. I can’t help but think this episode has ADHD.
After the talking bit about some new plot point, everyone goes back to the Torchwood HQ. Apparently the “Time Agency” (the agency Jack used to work for) has been disbanded or forced to close or something. Doesn’t really make sense, how can you close a Time Travelling agency?
Then there’s a bit of lovey-dovey talk as the ever-sexually-confused team members try to work out who they want to screw next. Then they all go out and look for these bombs or someshit. Then there’s some predictable turn of events and Jack cops it. Except he doesn’t because we know he can’t die.
Then they get their revenge and yadda yadda yadda.
Russell T Davies, creator of the show, said that “With a lot of the [Science Fiction] material from America, I think gay, lesbian and bisexual characters are massively underrepresented, especially in science fiction, and I’m just not prepared to put up with that. It’s a very macho, testosterone-driven genre on the whole, very much written by straight men. I think Torchwood possibly has television’s first bisexual male hero, with a very fluid sexuality for the rest of the cast as well. We’re a beacon in the darkness.”
That’s all fine and good, you know. I think it’s a great idea. However, trying to turn every scene into a sexual joke at every opportunity gets old fast. It wasn’t so bad in Series 1, but in this episode it’s been unbearable. I understand that the first episode needs to be a hard-hitting one to get people watching the rest, but this is just over-the-top.
Let’s hope the rest of the series is better. Freema Agyeman will be appearing later as Martha Jones, which should make it interesting, if only for the references to Doctor Who.
