donutsweeper | tw 2.02 *sigh* not as good as last week's

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tw 2.02 sigh not as good as last week's

It wasn't a bad episode, but I was nowhere near as interested in it as last weeks.

There were some good points-

1-Snarky Owen. Loved how he told Gwen Jack said she was the one Jack said had to stay and watch the burgler. Also Owen in doctor mode is great.

2- Loved the way they reacted to her 'there's no such thing as aliens" statement. "Beth, Janet.. Janet meet Beth..."

3- Ianto's one-liners and clever bits! "I know everything, also it says so on the bottom of the screen."

4- Loved the bit about the phones being down and "there is no way of getting in touch with Jack, no way", but then Jack radios in

5-Jack- "have a little faith, with a dashing hero like me on the case, how can we fail?"
Ianto- "He is dashing..." (very cute exchange!)

6- Running over bad agent guy- Yay for the TW SUV!!!

but...

Gwen is still frustrating me- she's acting like she did in S1, where we are supposed to love her overwrought compassion and horror at what Jack says they need to do...not my cup of tea (the look she gives Jack when Jack promises to kill Beth if she's stuck as an alien? *grrr*)

and.. How DID the sleepers (or Beth at least) learn EVERYTHING about torchwood and the entire team? Codes and all?

What was Jack's point of asking "turned" Beth about his boots? She looked down at his feet, was that to see if she still understood English in that form?

So... if TW hadn't run into Beth than none of this would have happened? They interfered with Beth's implant and therefore caused the other sleeper agents to awaken?

and.. the weird conversations between the TW team with everyone on different catwalks and levels felt oddly directed, unnatural and stilted

*eep*.. random baby in stroller death? A sleeper agent had a kid? Is that possible, or was she a nanny? Either way... *eep*

Beth was slipped into drawer 007, purposeful Bond reference, or not?

neat how army shoots bad agent guy and no bullets ricochet and hit the car behind him, not one.

and.. Jack was skewered by dying evil alien guy... and is fine? So, he doesn't have instaheal superpowers, he just grunts when completely run through by evil looking sword thing? They've changed the way he can deal with injury again? And huge armsword left little bitty hole in his white tshirt? Really?

eta-

the_dark_side reminded me about Owen watering the plant. Random and utterly odd... Anyone have an explanation?

eta#2- Pirate!Jack was just plain weird

Not a *bad* episode overall... just a lot of niggling annoyances

and on a minor note.. the nice little mind probe blows my finish-a-thon fic out of the water *sigh*

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The little bitty hole thing got me to, but then I looked at it again and I think it was a stitched logo. *referring to the point where Jack is changing his clothes*

Love for the Ianto snark.

Agreed that this wasn't as good as last week's. But I also give it the benefit of not being the episode that we waited for a year for.

I think the boot thing was to prove that she was saying the same thing to any question asked.

And yeah, being run through and then being fine was a bit annoying. Maybe he healed on the drive back? *sigh*

ooh, it was a logo? *phew* okay, that makes more sense then. It still doesn't explain the disappearing injury, but oh well

Yeah, Jack says that sleeper!Beth is only saying name, rank, and serial number. I took that as meaning the boots question was to establish if she'd answer other, stranger questions differently.

The only Ianto moment I disliked was the mock!electrocution. It was cute... in an adorable Ianto sort of way, but just seemed out of place considering the situation. Jack was like "...what" and even Owen thought it was bizarre.

And Jack is barely even bloody at the end there. I had to go double check that he was bloody at all, but he is. I half imagine him just sort of... falling over, and Gwen waiting for him to wake up and then driving back to the Hub.

Still, it was kind of worth it just for Ianto giving him the look of disapproval and Jack running away. XD

good point about the mock electrocution. His first snarky line about the exploding heads was cute enough, but the *bzzt* was a bit over the top.

It did feel like there was a missing scene after alien guy blows up, didn't it? Jack should have collapsed after running from the explosion or something

Everything else he did was adorable, though, so I can forgive him. It seemed really... I don't know. Young?

There were a couple of places in the episode that felt oddly paced and I wasn't sure if it was the writing or weird editing. I wonder if it wasn't just a case of time restraints.

yes- juvenile, that's it exactly.

the editing, especially the last scene, did seem oddly paced. Time issues could explain it.

(there's still no excuse for pirate!Jack though, that was just odd)

Perhaps it's a sign of something else? Ianto trying too hard and setting himself up for a breakdown? *ponders*

hmmm, interesting. If it is a sign of an arcing storyline I'll be happy (not with the fact that Ianto would have a breakdown, but that TW has an arcing SL like that)

I definitely got a "trying too hard" vibe there, but I wasn't sure what to make of it. It could just be Moran's unease with the character; he really didn't seem to know what to do with Ianto, who was pretty useless in terms of plot. Except when he knew everything.

The chair scene made me wonder if he was showing off for Jack, but I have no idea why that would be the case. Or why he would think that would be a good idea.

Maybe stress from trying to figure out his place in the team yet again? He's had to do it a few times (before Lisa, after Lisa, as Jack's part-time shag, as a member of the team after Jack left and now again that Jack is back). Or are we reading too much into this?

I don't think we're reading too much into it at all. He seemed a bit over the top this episode (as adorable as he was), and I think there has to be something else going on to explain the behavior. I jokingly said drugs for lack of any better idea, but I think the stress explanation is a pretty good one.

We probably are, but still, it's fun. ;)

That could be! It's reasonable, I think; Ianto has finally managed to cement a place in the team when Jack comes back-- and if that doesn't change things enough, he goes and asks Ianto on a date. And now team dynamics are slightly off, because he has to reconcile office!Ianto with Jack'sboyfriend!Ianto?

And actually, particularly with the phone comment, Ianto was picking on Owen in a fairly striking way. Kind of like a younger sibling who has just got the upper hand.

ahh, team dynamics being off makes sense as well... I guess we'll only know for sure after a few more episodes!

Something else that occurred to me:

Jack/Ianto dynamics are really different now.

Think about it: in their very first scene together, who is flirting/teasing? Ianto. And Jack is very passive, almost uncertain with his adorable little "... Really? :D" And then later, when Ianto is needling him about the exploding head-- the comments are humorous, but very much directed at Jack. And far later, in the odd little antenna scene at the end, Jack is actively fleeing, and I don't think he'd have that reaction to any other team member. (Though I don't think that's a negative moment, more like 'if you're going to scold me, let's do it in private. ~~and then let's make out, plz~~'...) Ianto seems to be the one dictating their relationship, at least at work. This continues what we saw in KKBB, when in the office scene it is Ianto who gives the orders and Jack who follows them.

If Ianto is realizing that he's allowed to tease the boss at work, maybe he's still working out the limits of that-- testing the boundaries, so to speak?

Or, you know, maybe I'm thinking about this too much. :) Sorry to spam your reaction post.

this kind of spam is GREAT!

hmm- good point about Ianto being the one in charge. That's a huge change to their typical dynamics- and it's like the banter switched.

think of the first episode- Jack describing Ianto with the "and he looks good in a suit" line and the put-upon "carefull, that's harassment Sir" response. The two have almost entirely switched in how they react to each other

a write unfamiliar with the character makes quite a lot sense!

my theory is Ianto was on drugs for the entire episode...or something like that. maybe the magic mushrooms comment wasn't entirely throw away?

There were many things in this episode that were, not good. But I'm trying to mostly la la la them for now. So I'm actually only skimming your post.

I will point out that drawer 007 is where Jack was going to go in "End of Days" and I wouldn't be surprised if it was where Suzie went into/came out of. I suspect it's the only part of that set piece that is fully built.

Suzie was/is in 006!

oh, that's right, Jack was leaning against 007 when he was propositioned by Ianto

The SUV thing made me happy. They don't get to do stuff like that enough.

Also, I thought they promised a bit less of the overwhelming compassion from Gwen and a bit more of Gwen finally getting into the Torchwood mentality this season. It's...annoying, to say the least. I kind of hoped we'd get a more likable Gwen this time around.

Didn't Jack get stabbed through the heart, or am I just seeing things? Either way, I think he should've collapse long before they ran away from the explosion.

If he'd gotten stabbed through the heart he would have toppled instantly. As it was, I'm going with through the left shoulder/side, not actually where his heart would be. I also think that I'm handling the blip with the healing by assuming that Jack was being stiched up/cleaned up by Tosh - or something.

The boots question was, yeah, just to see if she was hearing/understanding him, and if she'd answer ANY question.

Yeah, I didn't think it was the heart (mostly because he DIDN'T die instantly), but it was close.

left side, just next to the heart makes sense- but there's that whole lack of collapsing thing (or appearing even vaguely injured after running from the explosion) that bugged me

makes sense about the boots, that's what I guessed, but wasn't sure

The SUV taking out the bad guy made me happy too! :)

I am SO with you on Gwen (I tried to ignore her compassion scenes last eppy, but to give us so many more this time? *sigh*)

Jack's stabbing (with no collapse) made no sense, period

The SUV is such an underutilized weapon

Yeah, the stabbing just confused me.

that's one of those "grr" worthy moments I have with writers, did they even THINK of Jack's injury at all?

probably not.

I had assumed that after running from the explosion Jack would collapse. If that was all they did I would be happy, but NO, he seemed fine.

I think it would've been rather amusing if he'd actually died while impaled on the sword, thus impaling himself further...but I would've settled for collapse, too.

you scare me.. because I had thought of the exact same thing

*cackle* great minds and all.

Don't think I have anything to add to this review or the comments - just to say I agree with pretty much everything! :-)

agreeing is good! *g*

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tw 2.02 sigh not as good as last week's

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