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swordznsorcery Mar. 7th, 2008 15:10)
swordznsorcery Mar. 7th, 2008 15:10)I wasn't sure about this episode when I watched it last week on BBC3. Perhaps it was because it's a little uneventful; I don't quite know. This week I really enjoyed it, though - proof, perhaps, that sometimes a second viewing can make all the difference. It's a fairly unusual piece; not that Torchwood ever especially bothers itself with being normal. Joe Lidster is best known for his work writing audio plays for Big Finish, and he's done some great work for them in the past. "Terror Firma" was a terrific recent-ish one for the Eighth Doctor, for example, in which Davros returned, up to all manner of tricks. It had a wonderfully written support cast, and a great story. He also wrote "The Gathering", of course, but that's not entirely his fault. Somebody had to get saddled with it, after all... At any rate, it was always going to be interesting to see what he came up with for Torchwood, and with one small issue keeping me from being wholly enthusiastic, I think the result was very good. And, to be fair, that small issue isn't his fault in the slightest. It's a non-linear story; very simple, really. Just a day in Owen's shoes, seeing how he copes with being dead. Not, admittedly, an issue that tends to bother many people. At least that we know of. Clearly of some considerable import to him, though; and he has to decide if he wants to carry on the way he is, or if the best thing is simply to look for a way out - or, having seen what might be waiting for him, whether he can really face up to doing that, either.
"A Day In The Death", then. Owen is dead. Very dead. He can move, he can speak, and he's clearly conscious - but beyond that, he's definitely dead. He's lost all sensation; he can't feel the things that he touches. He has no air in his lungs - except, presumably, for what he sucks in to speak with. He has no blood loss when he cuts himself; but if he does cut himself, it'll never heal. He can't eat, drink, sleep, or have sex - all of the things that he likes the most, as he said last week. He's not very happy, really. During the course of one day, though, he meets a couple of people whose feelings mirror his own. The first helps him to reconsider his position, and then its his turn to help the second. Sent into a house to retrieve a potentially dangerous alien artefact from a collector, Owen finds an old, scared man, wasting away in a bed. Owen's been dead - he knows that it's not something to wish for idly - but he also knows that there are worse things than being dead. So does the poor old bloke in the bed, when Owen helps to make him realise that maybe the dark that's waiting for him is no worse than the dark that he's living in now. I'm not sure why Owen gets so upset about not being able to save the guy when his heart fails, though. Owen has no breath, so he can't do CPR - though he can clearly suck in air to speak, so I'm guessing that he could actually suck air in and out in order to perform CPR, but that's by the by. It was an old, frail man, whose life was clearly reaching its natural end; and Owen had just been helping him to accept that. CPR would likely have been cruel, not kind. I suppose it was just about Owen having to face up to another of the limitations of his new condition, though. It wasn't his failure to save that man in particular that mattered to him; it was the fact that, as a doctor, there are now limits to his abilities. Although I still think that he could do CPR if he thought about it. ;)
The second part of the story is the one that I do have a slight problem with; but as I said, that's not Joe Lidster's fault. I just think that the woman in it is a rubbish actor. She goes OTT with everything; over-enunciates every line, and is way overboard with the facial expressions and the gestures. Still - the lines that she speaks are good, and her importance to Owen is clear. He finds her thinking about suicide, believing herself more or less to have died a year ago, when her husband was killed in car accident just after their wedding. She can't see anything to live for, so Owen tells her the story of his day. She thinks that he's planning on killing himself too, but gradually it becomes clear that the story of his day is the story of why he's decided that life - or living death - is worthwhile after all. He wants to show her that, no matter how bad things may seem, sometimes there's still a spark to cling to; and today he's found his. The alien device that he was sent to retrieve wasn't dangerous after all. It was a message; a greeting; a reply to the ones sent out by Earth years ago. Alien music and one hell of a light show, making up Owen's personal cheering-up device. I suspect that's symbolic really, though. Alien lights are pretty, but they're not enough to keep you going, day to day. Owen's got his friends, and his job that he loves, and the knowledge of all that's out there in the universe. I do wonder what his lonely widow will have left, when he and his pretty alien light show have gone away. Still - that's her decision, which is kind of the point.
Sheesh, I do go on. It was good, anyway. ;) Richard Briers was terrific as the scared old man clinging to life. It's good to see him getting a role that he can do something interesting with - haven't seen him doing that in some while. Ken Branagh has always given him good parts, but even Shakespeare can get a little samey; and everybody should get the chance to play with aliens every so often. Well, they should. A pleasing, theatrical nature to his scenes, too. One set, not much camera movement, not much cutting away. Quite old-fashioned, really, which is nice to see. Direction doesn't always have to be frenetic. Nice work Joe Lidster and co anyway, then. And next week, it's the Evil Dead. :D
Owen, adrift in more ways than one.
Ianto's amazing alien coffee machine. Well what else would they use to make the coffee in Torchwood?!
Owen and a lonely widow contemplate jumping off a roof.
Richard Briers' dying man. Somebody else who's all alone in the dark.
But sometimes, the dark has surprises.
Jack bids farewell to Martha. Who I neglected to mention in the review, but she was there. Then she wasn't.
I like Martha. Hopefully she'll be back another time.
Up on the roof - Owen shares a little light.
Because if you're lucky, there's always something good out there somewhere.
And that, I think, is enough waffle for one entry. Don't all flock to disagree. ;)
"A Day In The Death", then. Owen is dead. Very dead. He can move, he can speak, and he's clearly conscious - but beyond that, he's definitely dead. He's lost all sensation; he can't feel the things that he touches. He has no air in his lungs - except, presumably, for what he sucks in to speak with. He has no blood loss when he cuts himself; but if he does cut himself, it'll never heal. He can't eat, drink, sleep, or have sex - all of the things that he likes the most, as he said last week. He's not very happy, really. During the course of one day, though, he meets a couple of people whose feelings mirror his own. The first helps him to reconsider his position, and then its his turn to help the second. Sent into a house to retrieve a potentially dangerous alien artefact from a collector, Owen finds an old, scared man, wasting away in a bed. Owen's been dead - he knows that it's not something to wish for idly - but he also knows that there are worse things than being dead. So does the poor old bloke in the bed, when Owen helps to make him realise that maybe the dark that's waiting for him is no worse than the dark that he's living in now. I'm not sure why Owen gets so upset about not being able to save the guy when his heart fails, though. Owen has no breath, so he can't do CPR - though he can clearly suck in air to speak, so I'm guessing that he could actually suck air in and out in order to perform CPR, but that's by the by. It was an old, frail man, whose life was clearly reaching its natural end; and Owen had just been helping him to accept that. CPR would likely have been cruel, not kind. I suppose it was just about Owen having to face up to another of the limitations of his new condition, though. It wasn't his failure to save that man in particular that mattered to him; it was the fact that, as a doctor, there are now limits to his abilities. Although I still think that he could do CPR if he thought about it. ;)
The second part of the story is the one that I do have a slight problem with; but as I said, that's not Joe Lidster's fault. I just think that the woman in it is a rubbish actor. She goes OTT with everything; over-enunciates every line, and is way overboard with the facial expressions and the gestures. Still - the lines that she speaks are good, and her importance to Owen is clear. He finds her thinking about suicide, believing herself more or less to have died a year ago, when her husband was killed in car accident just after their wedding. She can't see anything to live for, so Owen tells her the story of his day. She thinks that he's planning on killing himself too, but gradually it becomes clear that the story of his day is the story of why he's decided that life - or living death - is worthwhile after all. He wants to show her that, no matter how bad things may seem, sometimes there's still a spark to cling to; and today he's found his. The alien device that he was sent to retrieve wasn't dangerous after all. It was a message; a greeting; a reply to the ones sent out by Earth years ago. Alien music and one hell of a light show, making up Owen's personal cheering-up device. I suspect that's symbolic really, though. Alien lights are pretty, but they're not enough to keep you going, day to day. Owen's got his friends, and his job that he loves, and the knowledge of all that's out there in the universe. I do wonder what his lonely widow will have left, when he and his pretty alien light show have gone away. Still - that's her decision, which is kind of the point.
Sheesh, I do go on. It was good, anyway. ;) Richard Briers was terrific as the scared old man clinging to life. It's good to see him getting a role that he can do something interesting with - haven't seen him doing that in some while. Ken Branagh has always given him good parts, but even Shakespeare can get a little samey; and everybody should get the chance to play with aliens every so often. Well, they should. A pleasing, theatrical nature to his scenes, too. One set, not much camera movement, not much cutting away. Quite old-fashioned, really, which is nice to see. Direction doesn't always have to be frenetic. Nice work Joe Lidster and co anyway, then. And next week, it's the Evil Dead. :D
Owen, adrift in more ways than one.
Ianto's amazing alien coffee machine. Well what else would they use to make the coffee in Torchwood?!
Owen and a lonely widow contemplate jumping off a roof.
Richard Briers' dying man. Somebody else who's all alone in the dark.
But sometimes, the dark has surprises.
Jack bids farewell to Martha. Who I neglected to mention in the review, but she was there. Then she wasn't.
I like Martha. Hopefully she'll be back another time.
Up on the roof - Owen shares a little light.
Because if you're lucky, there's always something good out there somewhere.
And that, I think, is enough waffle for one entry. Don't all flock to disagree. ;)
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