Jack: "If cinema killed the traveling show, maybe this is their way of fighting back."No no no no no.
My reaction to this one was much the same as it was to season one's "Small Worlds" only more so: it just wasn't Torchwood. Souls trapped in a silver flask? The film rethreading itself? Characters on screen walking out into the world? Killing them by photographing them and exposing the film to sunlight? Come on. That isn't science fiction. It isn't even good fantasy.
And it's a shame, because we know so little about Jack's past on earth and I would have loved an episode about it. Imagine Jack and Ianto investigating a mystery from Jack's past, with Ianto finding out things about his lover that he never knew. I honestly thought that was where the episode was going when Ianto spotted Jack in that old film. But no.
I wouldn't even have minded a dark carnival Something Wicked This Way Comes sort of story, if it had been done well, which it wasn't. To make it worse, there wasn't even witty banter, or the usual massive Torchwoodian bisexual flirting. Ianto got to be Sherlock Holmes, but everyone else just ran around from the hospital to the theater to the Hub looking ineffective.
This wasn't the worst episode in season two: "Meat" has that honor. But I was really disappointed with it. Especially since it fell right in the middle of some truly wonderful episodes.
Bits and pieces (okay, two bits):
-- There was also a Highlander episode about a new immortal who made a living in a carnival by killing himself in front of an audience every night. That couldn't have been fun for Jack.
-- Jack was supposedly undercover investigating the Night Travelers. Who was he working for? Must have been Torchwood, if he's been with them for over ninety years.
Quotes:
Gwen: "You did stand-up?"
Jack: "I never did stand-up."
Owen: "He was part of this freak show."
Jack: "Yeah. Some things never change."
Owen: "Are you being rude about me?"
Jack: "Ianto, with me. I need your local knowledge."
Gwen: "Oh, is that what you're calling it these days?"
One out of four stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
I really liked this one. Perhaps because of its utter strangeness. Makes me curious about Hammond's other work like "Sapphire and Steel".
ReplyDeleteNice review even if I don't agree.
Anna
Strange episode this one. Neither breathtaking nor awful, just sort of there really.
ReplyDeleteI actually quite enjoyed Pearl and the Ghost Maker for their uniqueness as an alien threat.
Julian Bleach who played the latter then became Davros on Doctor Who's fourth season.
Meat at least had Rhys finding about Gwen. Here it's a big nothing. I'd even risk putting it as the worst ep of the entire series. Maybe it could have worked as a Doctor Who episode, but that's also a long stretch.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't good at all. It had so much potential: Ianto connecting with the film once he saw Jack, feeling distant from Jack's "past" life and the way that keeps him and Jack separated, Ianto continuing to come out of his shell, the creepiness of carnivals generally...ugh. It felt really long, too. Like, hours.
ReplyDeleteOh, well. The past few episodes have been wonderful (I loved the wedding episode so very much), and I'm sure the next few will be great, as well.
I loved this one, deeply creepy. And utterly hated the last wedding one. One of us must be wrong Billie. Given that I also think Jack harkness is the most annoying man on the planet, there's a good possibility it might be me
ReplyDeleteTo clarify, I only hate Torchwood Jack, I quite like Doctor Who Jack. Torchwood Jack just seems like such a bad boss!
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