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antigwenallies Apr. 7th, 2008 09:19 am)
jennelldhalrbj.livejournal.com posting in antigwenallies Apr. 7th, 2008 09:19 am)Review of "Exit Wounds'' by Jennell Hartmann Sierakowiak.
WARNING---CONTAINS SPOILERS.
Unlike, it seems, many viewers, I did not think this was a fantastic episode. There were, in my opinion, a number of things wrong with it. I will not even try to explain the continuity error where Owen is in one place, then obviously on a roof, and then back to the first place again. Continuity has never been Torchwood's strongest point. I could list numerous instances of continuity errors but I won't bother as I know lots of people have noticed them too.
My dislike of the character of Gwen was not improved by this episode. I found her scenes in the Police Station totally unbelievable. I think we viewers were intended to be swept away on a tide of emotion that was supposed to prevent us from seeing just how ludicrous these scenes were. I cannot, and will never believe that a PC, walking the streets one year, will suddenly, the following year, be taking over the entire Cardiff Police Force, giving speeches and issuing orders to people who, in some cases, must have been an higher rank than her. Having been completely useless for much of Season one, and also not exactly professional in much of Season Two, Gwen is suddenly rushing around giving out orders to everyone. I love the way the writers write everyone rushing to obey Gwen when she never obeys anyone, even people with far more experience than her. The writers obsession with Gwen was never more evident than in this episode. The scene where she gives a speech to the assembled Cardiff Police Force was ridiculous. PC Andy and Rhys are shown standing there, their eyes moist with love and admiration. Being of a somewhat imaginative turn of mind I half expected Gwen to whip off her clothing to reveal tights {plus the regulatory underpants OVER the tights} and a brightly colored top emblazoned with the letters SG--super Gwen. My husband Dan said, during this scene ''I wonder where she's left her Halo?'' I had a dreamy notion that she would, at the end of the program, be whisked up to heaven to the accompaniment of an heavenly choir and a voice saying "this is my beloved daughter''. Being a Catholic I felt guilty about that idea and had to go to Confession and confess my blasphemous thoughts.
Two members of the Team were killed during this Episode. Owen's death puzzled me as I thought he was already dead. I also thought that Cardiff did not have a Nuclear Power Station, or whatever it was supposed to be. The way his death occurred struck me as being totally unlikely. The room sealing itself, the single female struggling when he first enters the room, it was all, to me, anyhow, unbelievable. I was also feeding my youngest son during some of this episode and there is nothing on Earth calculated to root you in reality than breast feeding a baby. { It is a pity I wasn't feeding him during Gwen's Police Station scenes }. I never liked the character of Owen, and, as he was actually dead anyhow, I did not get very emotional about him disappearing, or whatever is supposed to have happened to him.
Then there was the death of Tosh. There was, I hasten to add, some fantastic acting in this episode. Even Eve Myles managed to play an emotional scene without making her eyes look as if they were about to fall out of her head, which was a bonus. However, that said, the death scene was a bit --weird. The thing that puzzled me was the amount of time it took for Jack, Ianto, John and Gwen to reach her. What were they doing on the way? Are we supposed to believe they stopped for a snack and a shower or something? I expected them to arrive LONG before they did and I kept wondering where they were and why they didn't come.
I also DO not approve of removing two characters from a successful show just because it is a good idea to show that people in dangerous occupations are likely to meet horrible ends. This is FICTION we are dealing with here. There is NO rift. There is NO Torchwood. There are NO Weevils. It's a fantasy, folks. FANTASY. It isn't necessary for fantasy to be realistic. If it was Gwen would be dead by now and if she ever got into a covert organization she would have been THROWN out very speedily. Captain Jack would have died long ago or never have arrived at all.
Then we come to Gray and John. John had become a different person in this episode. That was not convincing. Not to me anyhow. The actor playing Gray was a bit amateurish. The whole idea that a person would spend years hating someone because, while they were running away from peril, he let go of his hand was not very believable. In the scene we were shown the boys were running and Gray tripped and his hand slid out of his older brothers hand. In the rush of adrenalin that inevitably accompanies this type of flight, the older boy did not realize he was not with his brother until it was too late. We were intended to believe that Gray hated his brother for this and that Jack has felt guilty for years. Why didn't Gray hate his Parents? The way we were shown the scenes Gray wouldn't have known his father was dead, or am I misunderstanding this? I would have expected that a small boy would look to his PARENTS for rescue--not a brother only a few years his senior. When my daughter, Anna-Louise had a fall at school last year and broke her arm, evidently the first person she wanted to see was me. Her older brother was in the School also at the time {in another building as he is four and a half years her senior} and she didn't ask for him at all. Yet the way the Gray scenes are written it is as if Gray knew all along that the only member of his family alive after his capture was Jack. Yet we know his Mother, anyhow, was still alive.
Finally, a little irritation. When Jack releases Gwen, John and Ianto from their cells Gwen flings herself at him and clings onto him. This is the usual way Gwen is written which always spoils all her scenes for me. She is selfish and never thinks of anyone but herself. She knows Ianto and Jack are involved and it is fairly obvious that, regardless of how Jack feels about Ianto, Ianto loves Jack. Yet she doesn't think of this as she runs to Jack. This scene could have been moving but it just made me want to shout "get off him you self centered bitch''. This is definitely NOT how the writers expect ANYONE to see Gwen. Some folk are now saying that they have become fond of Gwen during this season but I still loathe her. Even if I was wavering the above mentioned scene plus the Police Station speech would have turned me against her again.
The writers have made some attempt, I think, to improve peoples conception of Gwen and it does seemed to have worked, at least partly. I would still love to see her suffer. She NEVER suffers. Even in this final episode she didn't really suffer. She used Owen and she has never been shown to be very friendly, at least not in any consistent manner, to Tosh.
Despite numerous rumors and gossip I do not believe there will be any more Torchwood. If there is, it will be totally unrecognizable. Evidently Gwen will never leave. Anyhow, for me there is no Torchwood without John Barrowman. If we get a watered down version with Eve Myles I will NEVER watch it. However, there is nothing to prevent the BBC making a Third Season with the entire original cast. This is FANTASY folks. Jack could find an artifact that resets time. Dr Who could do it at the end of the Season just started showing. You can do ANYTHING in Science-Fiction. That's what the FICTION bit is for.
WARNING---CONTAINS SPOILERS.
Unlike, it seems, many viewers, I did not think this was a fantastic episode. There were, in my opinion, a number of things wrong with it. I will not even try to explain the continuity error where Owen is in one place, then obviously on a roof, and then back to the first place again. Continuity has never been Torchwood's strongest point. I could list numerous instances of continuity errors but I won't bother as I know lots of people have noticed them too.
My dislike of the character of Gwen was not improved by this episode. I found her scenes in the Police Station totally unbelievable. I think we viewers were intended to be swept away on a tide of emotion that was supposed to prevent us from seeing just how ludicrous these scenes were. I cannot, and will never believe that a PC, walking the streets one year, will suddenly, the following year, be taking over the entire Cardiff Police Force, giving speeches and issuing orders to people who, in some cases, must have been an higher rank than her. Having been completely useless for much of Season one, and also not exactly professional in much of Season Two, Gwen is suddenly rushing around giving out orders to everyone. I love the way the writers write everyone rushing to obey Gwen when she never obeys anyone, even people with far more experience than her. The writers obsession with Gwen was never more evident than in this episode. The scene where she gives a speech to the assembled Cardiff Police Force was ridiculous. PC Andy and Rhys are shown standing there, their eyes moist with love and admiration. Being of a somewhat imaginative turn of mind I half expected Gwen to whip off her clothing to reveal tights {plus the regulatory underpants OVER the tights} and a brightly colored top emblazoned with the letters SG--super Gwen. My husband Dan said, during this scene ''I wonder where she's left her Halo?'' I had a dreamy notion that she would, at the end of the program, be whisked up to heaven to the accompaniment of an heavenly choir and a voice saying "this is my beloved daughter''. Being a Catholic I felt guilty about that idea and had to go to Confession and confess my blasphemous thoughts.
Two members of the Team were killed during this Episode. Owen's death puzzled me as I thought he was already dead. I also thought that Cardiff did not have a Nuclear Power Station, or whatever it was supposed to be. The way his death occurred struck me as being totally unlikely. The room sealing itself, the single female struggling when he first enters the room, it was all, to me, anyhow, unbelievable. I was also feeding my youngest son during some of this episode and there is nothing on Earth calculated to root you in reality than breast feeding a baby. { It is a pity I wasn't feeding him during Gwen's Police Station scenes }. I never liked the character of Owen, and, as he was actually dead anyhow, I did not get very emotional about him disappearing, or whatever is supposed to have happened to him.
Then there was the death of Tosh. There was, I hasten to add, some fantastic acting in this episode. Even Eve Myles managed to play an emotional scene without making her eyes look as if they were about to fall out of her head, which was a bonus. However, that said, the death scene was a bit --weird. The thing that puzzled me was the amount of time it took for Jack, Ianto, John and Gwen to reach her. What were they doing on the way? Are we supposed to believe they stopped for a snack and a shower or something? I expected them to arrive LONG before they did and I kept wondering where they were and why they didn't come.
I also DO not approve of removing two characters from a successful show just because it is a good idea to show that people in dangerous occupations are likely to meet horrible ends. This is FICTION we are dealing with here. There is NO rift. There is NO Torchwood. There are NO Weevils. It's a fantasy, folks. FANTASY. It isn't necessary for fantasy to be realistic. If it was Gwen would be dead by now and if she ever got into a covert organization she would have been THROWN out very speedily. Captain Jack would have died long ago or never have arrived at all.
Then we come to Gray and John. John had become a different person in this episode. That was not convincing. Not to me anyhow. The actor playing Gray was a bit amateurish. The whole idea that a person would spend years hating someone because, while they were running away from peril, he let go of his hand was not very believable. In the scene we were shown the boys were running and Gray tripped and his hand slid out of his older brothers hand. In the rush of adrenalin that inevitably accompanies this type of flight, the older boy did not realize he was not with his brother until it was too late. We were intended to believe that Gray hated his brother for this and that Jack has felt guilty for years. Why didn't Gray hate his Parents? The way we were shown the scenes Gray wouldn't have known his father was dead, or am I misunderstanding this? I would have expected that a small boy would look to his PARENTS for rescue--not a brother only a few years his senior. When my daughter, Anna-Louise had a fall at school last year and broke her arm, evidently the first person she wanted to see was me. Her older brother was in the School also at the time {in another building as he is four and a half years her senior} and she didn't ask for him at all. Yet the way the Gray scenes are written it is as if Gray knew all along that the only member of his family alive after his capture was Jack. Yet we know his Mother, anyhow, was still alive.
Finally, a little irritation. When Jack releases Gwen, John and Ianto from their cells Gwen flings herself at him and clings onto him. This is the usual way Gwen is written which always spoils all her scenes for me. She is selfish and never thinks of anyone but herself. She knows Ianto and Jack are involved and it is fairly obvious that, regardless of how Jack feels about Ianto, Ianto loves Jack. Yet she doesn't think of this as she runs to Jack. This scene could have been moving but it just made me want to shout "get off him you self centered bitch''. This is definitely NOT how the writers expect ANYONE to see Gwen. Some folk are now saying that they have become fond of Gwen during this season but I still loathe her. Even if I was wavering the above mentioned scene plus the Police Station speech would have turned me against her again.
The writers have made some attempt, I think, to improve peoples conception of Gwen and it does seemed to have worked, at least partly. I would still love to see her suffer. She NEVER suffers. Even in this final episode she didn't really suffer. She used Owen and she has never been shown to be very friendly, at least not in any consistent manner, to Tosh.
Despite numerous rumors and gossip I do not believe there will be any more Torchwood. If there is, it will be totally unrecognizable. Evidently Gwen will never leave. Anyhow, for me there is no Torchwood without John Barrowman. If we get a watered down version with Eve Myles I will NEVER watch it. However, there is nothing to prevent the BBC making a Third Season with the entire original cast. This is FANTASY folks. Jack could find an artifact that resets time. Dr Who could do it at the end of the Season just started showing. You can do ANYTHING in Science-Fiction. That's what the FICTION bit is for.
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I hated the Gwen Police Station scene. She's was a PC and they acted like she was some great leader. *Ianto style eye-roll*
'When Jack releases Gwen, John and Ianto from their cells Gwen flings herself at him and clings onto him.'
I loved Ianto eye-roll when Gwen ran to Jack. Just when you think Ianto can't get anymore awesome.
'She NEVER suffers.'
That's way I dislike her so much. Rhys is still alive and now Andy is pining away for her.
'Despite numerous rumors and gossip I do not believe there will be any more Torchwood.'
Yeah.