TORCHWOOD
Captain Jack rocks. Gwen is the bomb! Owen is a naughty boy….. in a
good way. Tosh is unlucky in love but great with everything else, and
Ianto…. well I love him too.
In many corners of my life I could be severely whipped for the
confession I’m about to make. I never cared for the Doctor. The new
Dr. Who while definitely a curiosity, lost me after two episodes. Blame
Billie Piper. So when the ever enthusiastic Jon Jordan announced he’d
purchased the spin-off on the new WHO I figured I had eleven hours to
catch up on my reading. I am now another eleven hours behind in my
reading.
TORCHWOOD (and work on the anagram here) is the saga of a
hush-hush organization founded by Queen Victoria after she was
rescued from werewolves by the Doctor in an episode of Dr. Who.
“The twenty-first century is when everything changes and we’ve got to
be ready”
Before the pilot airs we’ve met Jack. Last seen coming back to life in
the 51st century, this affable con-man shared a few adventures with
Rose and the Doctor and somehow ended up in today’s Cardiff,
running Torchwood. Don’t worry, Clews will be revealed. Jack is larger
than life. Over sexed and alone at the same time. He can’t die and
therefore is sometimes afraid to die. He is a leader. Jack’s journey
through season one will break your heart AND give you balls.
Gwen is introduced to us as an everyday copper whose job overlaps
that of the team’s. Gwen possesses the gift of empathy and soon
becomes an asset to the Torchwood staff. Eve Myles is beyond good
in this role. Gwen is my favorite T.V. gal in the last five years; a femme
through and through. Melding her everyday life to the demands of
TORCHWOOD is a journey I’ve entirely enjoyed.
The rest of the cast is also fab, if not as developed as our two leads.
Character assets and weaknesses are revealed through such good
writing and superb acting that when the climatic episode of the first
season takes place their behaviors are entirely believable.
The first season of Torchwood has everything: There’s murder,
mayhem and sex, of both the human and alien kind. There’s a
dedicated workforce trying to save the rest of us from ourselves.
Carefully nurtured stories and sub-plots can reach well into the future.
Russell T. Davies (Queer As Folk, Dr. Who, Touch of Evil) is a
producer of serial television with few peers. Urgency , eminent peril,
girl on girl, and yes, even boy on boy…. With TORCHWOOD, he’s
given this viewer MUST SEE T.V.
TORCHWOOD is now available in region 2 DVD but never fear people.
BBC America has seen fit to bring it to the States. It will debut this
summer.
Ruth