Torchwood Children of Earth (Spoilers for the whole series)

[amanuensis1]

Some discussion regarding Torchwood C of E and some cold facts regarding narrative structure/resolution:



1. If you're going to end Torchwood (the organization as well as the series), killing three-fifths of the team and making the leader leave Earth works.

2. Jack reneging on "An injury to one is an injury to all" is bitterly, bitterly unpopular. Unfortunately, Jack has had moments when he didn't exactly stick to this credo, so it's not completely out of character. It's damned unfair, and it really couldn't be crueler to have put him in the situation to make that particular sacrifice, but at least the writers recognized that that's really it for Jack. He can't stay here any longer after a decision like that. He's no longer our hero. He can't die, so at the least he has to leave Earth.

(Mind, I don't like that choice. It was a very mean thing to do, to take away the Jack-as-hero perception. I can't argue the structure of it, but I will argue that it sours the audience. An audience might grieve and that is the way of sad events in a story, but souring the audience is a risky choice.)

3. Watching the politicians of Earth turn into genocidal maniacs was brilliant, but I'm sorry, that demands an ending far more devastating for the majority of them. Not all of them could/would/should get Frobisher's ending, but we really needed to see more death/imprisonment/suicide/abject public stoning of these characters.

4. Similarly, when the world has gone stark staring genocidal you can't gloss over that with a "Six months later." I think the descent into hell that this miniseries depicted was fabulous but the world would be irreparably scarred if it could come back at all from a devastation like that. Children ripped from their parents' arms by their own government. Chaos and anarchy, guys. Riots in the streets. Not "Six months later."

You can hate the deaths, you can hate what they did to our Captain Jack Harkness, but as for me I'm vilifying them for dropping the ball on the resolution. Which is a serious pity, since most of it was tight and horrifying and brilliant. Bad writers, no denouement biscuit.

Comments

[quill-lumos.livejournal.com]

Completely agree with you on the ending, I thought the rest of the story was horrifying but brilliant too. The politicians deserved far more than they got, there needed to be some closure for the audience, but the interesting thing for me was how well the programme held up as a scathing attack on the UK's current government. There have been lots of revelations in the UK recently about cover-ups and dirty dealings etc. The programme works best if it's viewed against that backdrop

In this story, the 456 could have been dealt with differently if the government had not tried to hide what had happened back in 1965, that would have bought them more time. Jack solved the 'problem' of how to deal with the 456 fairly easily, how much easier would it have been for the world's techies to work on this. The clues were there, the whole thing about wavelengths, the children being used for amplification etc. with more time, things might have been very different. The Prime Minister is even called 'Green', surely a nod to our deeply, deeply unpopular Prime Minister.

Good Sci-Fi works best when it is used as a lens to view our own society, this is what I think they were doing with Torchwood. It was flawed, it was deeply distressing and I can't see how the show could continue, it shouldn't continue after that, at least not in this form.

Lucie

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I so hope the writers are on the same page as we are, that they meant this to be an ending for Torchwood completely.

And as an attack on government, I thought how well it could extend to any government. Obviously I'm not as close to this portrayal as someone from the UK is, but it felt like it could have been a conference table in the White House as well.

[starcrossedgirl.livejournal.com]

Totally with you on the politicians and the six months later thing. I had a serious moment of WTF? when the female cabinet minister implied that soon, she'd be the one in the Prime Minister's seat. Like... really? After her impassioned caught-on-camera speech about how we should pick out the poor of the population? What on earth is that scene meant to say to me? "The world sucks, and it will never stop sucking!"? In which case, gee thanks, I got plenty of that in RL already.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think one might argue "that's the way politicians are, see, they never get punished, everything just gets covered up," but this isn't real life, this is a story, and stories have to have some degree of narrative justice. A tale this devastating needed more of that.

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

dropping the ball on the resolution.

Is this why I feel... I'm not sure what I feel. Some kind of unrest. I thought the whole series was amazing, and dark, wow was it dark, but I feel like... I needed something more? I hadn't realised it, but you're right, I wanted to see more of the fallout, it ended kind of abruptly.

About the politicians, I'll be cynical and say that IRL politicians would probably have found a way to save their asses. But yes, stories should follow story rules and give some kind of closure. My need to see some justice wasn't exactly satisfied.

Still, wow. And phew, that was freaking intense. God, I can't even go back to sleep now. (I woke up just to see the last episode because I couldn't wait till tomorrow - how crazy am I?)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

If I hadn't liked this so well I couldn't feel as strongly as I do about the flaws. I still want to praise the thing for its good points!

And it's reasonable to think a lot of the politicians would have got away scot-free but, oh, there would have been scapegoats thrown to the wolves and they would have been EATEN ALIVE. Jail. Shamesuicides. All that. I really needed to see that.

[tbranch.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything ya just said. Its really too bad that with S2 ending on a downer and now this....it would have been nice to show a potential continuance with Torchwood, a twist to remind the viewer that Gwen still has access to the TW databases, there were 2 potential replacements.

But hey...I'm not the writers, right? I would have been happy with a Doctor guest appearance at the end to talk about the consequences of what had happened....After-school special like.

And I guess thats why they didn't....cuz they be still awesome. Heh.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

If there's a "Announcing the next season of Torchwood!" any time soon I'm gonna have to smack something. Because, yes, this is an ending, structure-wise.

[tbranch.livejournal.com]

hahaha....yeah it'll be "Last Time on Torchwood....we screwed everything up, so lets begin...again." DAMN YOU!!! *shakes fist*

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

Chaos and anarchy, guys. Riots in the streets. Not "Six months later."

THIS. Yes. The government would have fucking collapsed, and that would have been pretty interesting. They had way too much to cram into the last episode, so they cut corners where it needed to count the most. And the technobabbly solution - WTF, that was it? Just Jack typing a few things on a computer? Really?

[busaikko]

They could have done it really simply and low-budget as well. Have the car in 'six months later' have all kinds of permit tags; insert a line about curfews. Have Gwen be obviously armed. In the grand panorama of the city, have there be areas of blackout and occasional flashing lights. All subtle signs that the nation is at unrest (I lived under military curfew for 2 years, it's quite eerie).

I would have preferred to have the grand reveal at the end be the putting-together of puzzle pieces from parts 1-4: I don't *get* the technobabble, and it cheapens the sacrifice. We live in a world where researchers have discovered how to extract vanilla flavouring from cow dung, where there are contact lens cameras, and *Jack Harkness* can't make a broadcast using alien-advanced audio technology that doesn't involve the wetware of a human voicebox? The show lost me there. Too much emotion used as whitewash for a plot that doesn't really stand on the legs it was given. *grumps*

[glorafin.livejournal.com]

To be fair, most TW-Dr Who arc resolutions are based on obscure techno-babble, usually taken from Grade 5 notions of what an electromagnetic wave is, so it's not surprising that they went with it again this time. You just have to forget about the technical way aliens are destroyed (who cares really?) and concentrate on the effects it all has on humans, which is the most important thing plot-wise.

[busaikko]

*g* Yes, that's generally how things go. It must be a lot harder doing SF than straight-up fantasy (looks at your HP icon) because people *will* start picking apart techno-stuff, whereas there's nothing to be said about a Killing Curse, really.... I'm afraid I always come across as rather hard of heart: no offence meant, ne.

[aunty_marion]

Absolutely. smallship1 is grumping about the '6 months later' crap too, and I'm inclined to agree. There is NO WAY something like that would just ... vanish.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I wanted to see the hangings. The literal hangings.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Shoot, I love your vision of the nation at unrest. Why didn't they put that in there, darnit?

[busaikko]

I think they wanted to give viewers some hope that life would return to normal. *insert bitter laughter here*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I seriously don't believe everything could have been glossed over. The MILITARY. TAKING CHILDREN FORCIBLY AWAY FROM THEIR PARENTS WHO ARE SCREAMING AND SOBBING.

[glorafin.livejournal.com]

I think that the political fallout of the whole thing was not torchwood related so were left off-screen. I'm pretty sure there would be a political fallout, and a severe one, after Day 5 but it was not the point of this series. In my opinion, there would be massive resignation, new elections and a completely public and transparent investigation about the whole thing... and people would have realized with time that governments were faced with an impossible situation and that the only thing they could be blamed for really was the way the children were chosen.

And the Minister who suggested they be chosen according to social standing would probably be more blamed than most in the end, even though she might think she'd get away with it at the end of Day 5.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

But I think the point is that you have to give the viewer resolution, even if it wasn't Torchwood-related. By not giving it you leave the viewer assuming there was no fallout, which is a suspension of disbelief that I just can't do.

[garillama.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I was thinking about this all last night, and I think Jack leaving would have been even more poignant if they had skipped the "Six Months Later" and done it at the end of Day 5 or "A few days later". If he ditched out on Gwen and Rhys while the country was in the middle of riots and political upheaval, and Gwen was sobbing and begging him to stay and help them explain and help them fix things? Whew, now THAT would have been a betrayal.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

And I would have loved that version as well!

[garillama.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about this more and more, and I think the thing that bothers me the most is, where was the Doctor? I know he's kind of a deus ex machina, but really? I can suspend my disbelief enough to say that Jack was too bullheaded to call for help, Gwen didn't have access to the cell number, and Ianto wasn't willing to go against Jack's wishes until it was too late, after the Hub was blown up and he didn't have access to the number. But this thing was world-wide. That means Martha Jones, down in Africa, and presumably with her cell phone (because she's way too smart to travel without one), would have been seeing all this happening, probably called UNIT and gotten blown off, and called the Doctor. And now that I think about that, I'm sure UNIT has some radio channel or something to contact him as well. This is all assuming that the TARDIS didn't just take some initiative and drag the Doctor to Earth all on her own.

And I simply cannot believe that Jack would have given up and used his grandson without calling the Doctor and asking for help. He's cold, but he's "last-resort" cold, and he would have been running through every option in his head before he volunteered Stephen. The Doctor isn't the kind of option one just forgets.

I know, I know. It's a different series, and if the Doctor's there to step in and fix every problem there wouldn't be any conflict, blah blah blah. But I really just can't believe that no one in the entire world would have thought to call the Doctor.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, one has to recognize that Torchwood doesn't have the Doctor and be willing to suspend one's disbelief that he won't be there to fix their messes. And it can be hard to do that when the shows feel so similar (and one's a spin-off of the other, yeah, that).

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean - I hadn't realised that it was one of my problems with it but it really is. The ending seemed very ... pat. Sudden attack of technobable and crazy angst and then we're at six months later with no idea what actually ahppened. Which is kind of annying so say the least especially after such a huge, huge build-up to it all. It wasn't ... I don't know. It just didn't feel right in some ways to me. Not enough pay-off for all the horrible angst.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

After all that, the viewer deserves to see the fallout in all its icky glory.

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Mind you, I don't know if I'd have coped with much more icky glory so maybe for me at least, it was a good thing they left it where they did!

[drgaellon]

This has been an ongoing problem with Doctor Who in general for years and years, and under RTD's stewardship in particular. They never quite manage to figure out how to END their damned stories... Edited for typing fail

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

If this is an ending, it works. So I hope it's an ending!

[tattercoats.livejournal.com]

Wandered here via AuntyMarion... With you generally on the 'six months later'.

However, the whole thread of the politicians was, I found, utterly compelling, the scene where the 10% are chosen, chilling and horribly credible.

And at the end of Ep 5, when we'd got our breath back, we had a very in-depth talk with my teenage son about David Kelly. Remember him.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*checks Wikipedia page* I should learn more about this Kelley person, it looks like!

And, yes, at the end of the episode when they choose the 10% I was thinking, "The most amazing part of this series doesn't even have anything to do with the main cast. Wow."

[lexin.livejournal.com]

"An injury to one is an injury to all"

I never really believed that Jack believed that. He's never struck me as a natural trade unionist.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I think he would like to believe he's a person that would believe that, if that makes sense. But ultimately, it's not him, is it.