Sunday, July 12, 2009

Torchwood: Children of Earth



This last week on BBC One, we have been subject to a 5 day extravaganza of Torchwood. And it was amazing. If you are reading this and don't want spoilers my advice is for you to stop reading articles entitled "Torchwood: Children of Earth"!!!

Each of the 5 episodes was more thrilling than the last. We begin with Jack, Gwen and Ianto visiting their families and friends as a new crisis in which all the worlds children become conduits for an alien intelligence (the 456). Jack introduces us to his daughter and grandson. Gwen discovers she's pregnant much to Rhys' delight. Ianto visits his sister and her husband and comes out. But the Government don't want Torchwood around as the crisis deepens, and attempts to kill them all. There the adventure begins. During the course of this adventure the British Government agrees to give up 10% of the worlds children, we discover Jack was implicit in an earlier such deal, Jack's family are taken hostage, Torchwood blackmail the Government with video footage of Cabinet meetings, Ianto dies (*SOB*), Gwen and Rhys desperately fight to save a group of kids as the Government begins to bus children to army bases, Jack is rescued from a prison and finds a solution... which leads to him sacrificing his grandson (and horrifying his daughter) for the good of the rest of the world. It ends with Jack heading off into the great beyond leaving a tearful and distraught Gwen and fractured Britain behind.

It was an intense, exciting and ultimately depressing tale leaving nothing sacred and leaving you on the edge of your seat. This was a story about the nasty nature of humanity, the dark choices that face those in positions of power (be they an awful Prime Minister or Captain Jack) and the only character from Torchwood who both survives and maintains her goodness is Gwen.

Will Torchwood continue? Part of me desperately wants it to, because I've always been a fan. But part of me thinks this ending is too final, too awful and too clear. Any attempt to have another season would probably end up cheesy and boring. But I'd love to be proven wrong!!

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2 comments:

  1. Nice blog. Give it more exposure on Blogiche

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  2. Anonymous7:51 am

    I was totally exhausted after each episode. It was brilliant.
    In my family we have talked about the possibility of the series coming back. My husband says that it can't go on for much longer as Captain Jack does not get any older, and John Barryman does, but as he has gone to another planet there might be something there which has made him look older, very slowly. They can do a lot with makeup.
    I just think that a series as brilliant as this one can't stop yet.

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