emmelinemay | crack crabs (Reply)

I honestly think it is the most frustrating TV show ever (with the possible exception of Lost, but for entirely different reasons).

There are some bloody good ideas in there, fighting for notice amongst the over-long emotional scenes and set pieces, the clichéd dialogue and really quite atrocious acting of the two remaining main characters. RTD is his own worst enemy - seriously - killing off the most likeable character and the best lead actor? Good skills man, good skills.

Watching the final instalment last night Mark and I commented that the whole thing could have easily been covered in 2 hours, that the 5 hours were a lot of padding and filling, and missed opportunities (why not make something of Frobisher's actions? It would have got out on the news, that he'd killed himself and his family rather than go for 'innoculations', why not use this as a reason for why families all over the country are fighting back forcing UNIT to go to 'stage 3 maximum force'?).

I thought the revelation that the 456 (it was just a slimy vomiting Macra, right?) was basically a smackhead mainlining children for kicks was actually brilliant, a genuinely shocking reveal, and made a lot of sense when looking back at the alien's behaviour and way of talking. A lot of episode 5 managed to be genuinely gripping, and I found myself far more drawn in than in any of the other episodes. Right up until Gwen and Jack were back in it, pretty much. For at that point I realised that the final episode contained very little of the actual Torchwood crew themselves, and was mostly based around the drama of everyone else.

And there, perhaps, lies the problem. John Barrowman really is a terrible actor, and the girl who plays Gwen has always been dreadful, unable to link her physical acting to her tone of voice or facial expression; and the poor bastards have to deliver some really terrible lines. The last 5 minutes were excrucitating.

I have to admit, I didn't really ever understand quite how the older chap was linked to the alien and all the children, or why he died, or how they worked out that his death was a clue to how they could kill the 456, or how they managed to control the children via Stephen. Explanations welcome in the comments. I just went with it in a 'if we bounce the particle beam off the main deflector dish and re-route the tachyon flow through the warp drive' sort of way.

I am left with a relief that RTD is no longer responsible for Doctor Who, and am curious as to how on earth they are going to write a series 4 of Torchwood. Maybe they won't bother. I don't think I'd mind too much.

I don't feel like I wasted 5 hours of my life, they way I did after the first series. And the second series. I feel like I maybe wasted 2.5 hours. And I really do like the idea of the child addicted smack crab.

I think that may be RTD, and as a result Torchwood, in a nutshell, actually. He has great ideas, huge idea, grandiose exciting plot ideas. And has no idea how to execute them. Torchwood is a great idea, with loads of scope, poorly done.