TW Children of Earth: Day Five

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Spoilers within.



I haven't read what anyone else has said about this yet. I didn't get to watch it until very late last night and due to something that happened earlier in the evening, I was already feeling a bit emotional.

This perhaps partly explains my very visceral reaction to this final episode - and it felt like a final episode of the series to me, and in fact I hope it is, because the way I feel at the moment, I don't want to see any more Captain Jack ever. I daresay I'll get over it. As I said, was already feeling pretty emotional and wound up.

Firstly, should say it was a very good episode. The solution was in the end a bit deus ex machina but the sheer horror of it meant that you didn't really notice. This time, RTD stayed true to the spirit of what had gone earlier and gave the darkest, bleakest series finale I've seen on British telly in years. There were individual acts of human heroism, of course - Frobisher's loyal secretary facing up to the prime minister, Gwen and Rhys, Ianto's sister and brother-in-law and the men on the estate trying to defend their children (and I'm tearing up again even as I write this), but overall the behaviour of everyone was pretty appalling.

I started crying when I realised what Frobisher was going to do with that gun and didn't really stop till the episode was over. Give Peter Capaldi a Bafta, someone.

Not sure I can write much more. I was thinking of getting the series on DVD. Maybe I will at some point, but at the moment, I don't think I'd want to watch it again.

One final thing, though: were we supposed to feel sorry for Jack, do you think? Because I don't. All I can think about is his daughter, and how she lost everything - father, child, her whole world - and unlike Jack she can't run away to the stars or wherever he's gone. She's stuck, on earth. Alone.

Bleak, yes. Brilliant, yes. Never, ever thought I'd say that about Torchwood. What a way to go out.

Maybe one day I'll be able to give a more balanced review with a little joke about what Captain John was doing while all this was happening. Just now, I can't.

Comments

[gillo]

I didn't sleep very well, as my head was too full of disturbance. It was so incredibly bleak. Brilliant TV - and I don't care about the plot-holes because the acting and, yes, even RTD's writing, were so powerful.

It makes me want to cry for the human race. And what it says about RTD's view of life is incredibly depressing.

I have to process it properly - meta later. But for now I think I need something very comforting indeed.

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But for now I think I need something very comforting indeed.

Yes, that's how I feel. I've been trying not to think about it, but I can't stop myself. RTD made Joss look a bit of an amateur.

[gillo]

RTD made Joss look a bit of an amateur.

Hmm. I think

Belonging

had a similar effect on my first time round. They are so familiar that it's hard to get the same emotional response as the first time, but

The Body

is still the best ever, when it comes to harrowing. This is fit to be mentioned in the same breath, though, which says a lot about how far TW has come.

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Belonging? I seem to have had some kind of brainstorm today. What's that? Is is a BtVS episode, because I don't remember it. All I can think of is a Spangel fanfic I wrote myself that had that name.

As for The Body, I agree that parts of it are very harrowing. However, I find other parts annoy me, so I can't quite agree with your assessment.

[gillo]

Belonging

is my stupid mistype for

Becoming

. I mean the episode where Buffy kills Angel.

As for

The Body

, despite a few plotholes (first response just wouldn't leave someone alone with a body like that) I thought it was astonishingly powerful, and still feel so on rewatch. I rather think some bits of COE will annoy me on rewatch too.

It deserves a

lot

of BAFTAs, though.