Well - there we go for another season. I have to say the show turned out to be a lot different to what I expected, and I certainly didn’t see Tosh’s death (although Owen has been on borrowed time since he died the first time). I thought the early part of the show was a bit hit and miss, a lot of action for the sake of it, and I really didn’t connect very much with the Grey-hates-Jack motivation behind it all. Several times I found myself thinking “just kill the whiney fucker will you”. The emergency services in Cardiff are clearly the best in the world as the city went from complete collapse to being fine again in a very short space of time.
The part that touched me the most was the “If you’re watching this then I’m dead” message from Tosh: it really was genuinely lovely and heartbreaking. I watched the declassified episode after and Eve Myles said how the tears she was crying in the scene were genuine, and I can believe it.
So, not quite as good a finale as I was expecting but not bad either by a long stretch. I only wonder who they’re going to get to fill in for Tosh and Owen in series 3 (assuming there is one).
Man, that was depressing. I think I’ll go curl up under the covers.
I was waiting for Owen to die and stay dead; that wasn’t a heart-breaker really. But Tosh? That was sad.
As soon as I saw the grave back in Cardiff 27AD I had the sickening feeling Jack was really going to spend 2000 years buried and sure enough he did. They glossed over the impact that would have on a person, even an immortal like Jack. He gets freed in 1901 and he’s all “oh, hello. Put me back, I’ve got a 100 years to go.” Well, at least that last 100 years was in stasis and not constantly reviving with a mouthful of dirt. Personally I’m quite sure I’d be beyond insane and things would definitely not be “even” between me and pissed off little brother. Oh, and no way Jack’s clothes are still intact.
I hope there’s a third season. This season was a little disappointing at times. It still feels like a new show that hasn’t found it’s footing yet, and it really should have by now. They wasted a couple episodes on Owen. I’m willing to stay with it though.
Favorite lines between Rhys and Andy:
“I’m keeping more secrets than you know.”
“Oh yeah, like what?”
“Like a time agency based in Cardiff.”
“Brilliant secret, I ask you tell!”
This show so irritates me. It’s got great potential but it’s squandered with crappy, inconsistent writing. Every single episode must end on a horrible depressing down note with everybody in tears. Huge plot holes, inconsistent characterizations, and they started recycling plots in the second episode.
Owen and Tosh could’v’e been great characters and the actors are very good but the writers never had a good handle on the characters. They’ve acknowledged they never had a series “bible” that would define what the characters were supposed to be. And I see similar problems with the rest of the cast.
The whoel Jack burial thing annoyed me. So his hair didn’t grow at all underground and his clothes didn’t rot? It would’ve been so easy to show him completely dishelved in rags after 2000 years in the dirt. Just one of many instances of poor writing.
So am I the only one to think that Owen (if the writers were in any way consistent) could possibly not be dead (or dead dead)? I guess the radioactive coolant burning off flesh (or whatever they said) could be bad even if you’re a zombie, but I was entertaining the thought of a living skeleton as a member of the team. I might have actually started to like Owen.
I have three theories on who will replace Tosh and Owen:
Martha will replace Owen - they need a medic. Captain John will pester Jack till he eventually gives in and lets him in the team.
**Plus: **It’s James Marsters. What more do you want? But then, if there were a 24 hour channel of James Marsters sneering I’d tune in, so I may be slightly biased. Minus: There has to be at one person on the team who doesn’t fancy Jack, lest his ego become so huge it becomes an entirely separate entity.
Martha will replace Owen (unfortunately, I can’t see anyway around that, I think it’s a given), but then, in the grand tradition of 1950s comics everywhere, it turns out that the radioactivity hasn’t actually killed Owen, but has instead made him indestructible, getting them over the whole tricky “can’t heal, is made-of-glass” thing, and he returns to make up the numbers, leaving the medic stuff to Martha as he is now much more badass. Plus: I quite like Owen. Minus: It’s such a cliche of a plotline. And honestly, we can’t have two immortals on the team, it’d just get silly. Besides, what would Martha have to do…
Martha: I’m so bored. Can’t one of you injure yourself or something? Go on, please. For me. Ianto: I have a papercut you can deal with if you like?
Martha replaces Owen (sigh), Andy replaces Tosh (just in terms of making up the numbers, I know he’s not a technical whiz). Now, I know this seems unlikely, seeing as so far he’s just been a comic foil for Rhys and Gwen, but it’s not actually a bad idea. He’s keen to join, and there could be some good dramatic progression for his character as he comes to realise it’s not all tearing around in an SUV with fancy gadgets chasing aliens, that people actually get hurt, and sometimes die. Plus there’d be some nice tension between him and Rhys if he was working with his missus again.
Wild speculations aside, I liked this episode a lot. It had a lot of action and kept my attention all the way through (more than I can say for Saturday’s Doctor Who). I think this series is considerably better than the first one - John Barrowman is still the weakest part of it for me, though - I keep hoping he’ll diiscover a third expression to add to his repertoire of “Charming grin” vs. “Furrowed brow”, but he continues to disappointment me.
I assume they evacuated when the plant went, er, nuclear. Except for the Brave Little Toaster trying to get things under control.
I am very disappointed in Owen’s apparent final demise. Not because I found the character particularly compelling but because they threw away the whole “King of the Weevils” potential.
Tosh (a Yar)'s little “I’m dead, I love you all” recorded speech. Now where have I seen that before?