Torchwood: Children of Earth finale

[janne_d]

So I'm possibly going to express an unpopular opinion here - but I think the finale was probably one of the most intense things I've seen on television and fitted the rest of the episodes perfectly. So I have to say I think it was brilliant.



God. What to say? It blew me away and left me stunned. There's a lot of programmes out there that go for dark and cynical and hard - and then they flinch. They don't carry it through and everything comes up rosy at the last gasp. And I fully expected RTD and co to flinch too, they've done the reset buttons before.

But they didn't. There was no Doctor ex machina, no magical miracle at the end. They took the elements they already had in place (the children, Clem) and followed it right down to the bitter end and broke my heart.

Actually that's not quite accurate - they broke my heart twice and Peter Capaldi is a god among actors. I was curled up into a tiny ball of tension all through his last bit and it was painful to watch. A true tragedy as well because if Frobisher had gone along with the plan, his daughters would have been saved - only he couldn't because he'd hit the absolute breaking point, the line he could not cross and that was the only choice he had left. And if Frobisher had sent them off, I don't think he could ever have lived with it afterwards no matter the outcome.

And then there were Jack and Alice. Beautifully played and staged and there was just never any doubt what decision Jack would make. And again, it was painful to watch but it had the same inevitability about it as Frobisher - that is what always had to happen from this set up because Jack couldn't let anything else happen.

So there it is. I was pissed off and disappointed last night and now I am in awe. For once the RTD team lived up to the expectations and world they had created. Hats off to them. Round of applause.

(Please send surgical glue to mend my shattered heart now, okay?)



ETA Judging by the flist, it definitely is an unpopular fannish opinion. Huh. I don't think I've ever had one before.

Comments

[torakowalski.livejournal.com]

I... agree with you about Frobisher? I thought his whole storyline was fantastic.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Man, it really was fantastic. I've seen people complaining about him getting all that time onscreen (directish quote 'why does RTD think I care about Frobisher?') but I did care about him and I thought his storyline was difficult and moving and extremely well done.

I'm sorry you're so unhappy with the way things went in this though.

[sally_maria]

You don't know me, I'm here because I love your Merlin fic, but I had to say that I agree with you.

It was painful, yes, but it was such a brilliant bit of television. And after all, this is Torchwood, as cracky as it could be, it has always tended to the bleak.

There were no easy answers, no guys in pure white hats and that was the strength of this - that actually you could see yourself making those decisions - deciding that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Yay, come join me in being unpopular! Actually, I have found quite a few other people out there who agree with us now, so that is good.

as cracky as it could be, it has always tended to the bleak

Exactly. It was fairly obvious that there weren't going to be any easy endings from this storyline as well.

And I think it actually made me fonder of Jack - plus I loved the contrast between him sacrificing his grandson and the politicians trying to sacrifice everyone elses' kids, but insisting theirs be kept safe.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

There was no Doctor ex machina, no magical miracle at the end. They took the elements they already had in place (the children, Clem) and followed it right down to the bitter end and broke my heart.

Yes. This could not be further from the Whoverse, not so much thematically but in its execution. This is what would happen in real life, where there are no saviours, and no lucky endings.

that is what always had to happen from this set up

Exactly, and this is why it was great television: everything that happened happened for a reason, from the events unfolding to the characters' choices.

(♥)

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

This could not be further from the Whoverse, not so much thematically but in its execution

Absolutely. Whoverse tends to do the big build up and then peter out in the resolution, possibly because being a family show means they really can't go as dark as TW. TW really did feel real this time around and it was very interesting to see that contrast.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Andraste's review?

http://andrastewhite.livejournal.com/442022.htm

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

I have now - thanks for the link, that was a gorgeously written review and so exactly what I think about Jack (only expressed much more poetically).

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Andraste is one of my one-stop-shops for sci-fi meta, commentary, and just plain good fic. *g*

[epistrophia.livejournal.com]

Here via seperis, and can I just say THANK YOU! My flist is almost entirely negative about the whole thing.

I'm reallyandtruly fed up of reading "how could RTD do this", "how could Jack do that", "I'm never watching again", "I don't watch telly to be made to *think*, I watch to be *entertained*". Previously very intelligent and admirable fans have gone to pieces.

I could write a huge discourse on the massive plotholes and the leaps in logic, but they only had five hours and generally speaking the drama of it made up for the "Whu? But how/why/when did they...?" moments.

Anyway. Just wanted to say your opinion may be unpopular, but you're not completely alone.

::stands up::
My name is epistrophia, and I thought Torchwood: Children of Earth was completely bloody magic.
::sits down::

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

My flist is almost entirely negative about the whole thing.

Ack, you poor person. Check out these people for more positive reactions: selenak, monanotlisa, fajrdrako, trobadora and andrastewhite. There are quite a few of us out there, despite my intial findings on my flist.

I am truly fed up of reading about how RTD and co completely misjudged and betrayed all their 'genuine' fans and have killed TW solely to piss said 'genuine' fans off...

I admit I am still slightly too stuck on the glee of the drama to have thought much about plot holes - I expect I will pick up on them more when I rewatch.

::stands up::
My name is epistrophia, and I thought Torchwood: Children of Earth was completely bloody magic.
::sits down::

Lovers of Children of Eath unite!