DVD Review: Series 2 of ‘Torchwood’
There are several things that network executives have tried to do over and over again and rarely succeeded in the process. The first is even the act of making a spinoff of a beloved show. Another is changing basic traits of characters who go from the original to the spinoff (like going from a con artist to a hero, albeit a flawed hero.) Then there’s the challenge of spinning such a show from one age group to a completely new one (i.e. aging them into a demographic where they can do adult things.)
Finally, there’s the huge, almost insurmountable challenge of making the show in one country with the intent of it being a mainstream hit in the U.S. Only a few shows have even done that accidentally.
But thanks to a hugely expensive leap of faith by BBC Wales and not abandoning the plan a few episodes in (when much of the “Doctor Who” fanbase were annoyed to death with it) “Torchwood” has now become BBC America’s biggest hit. In fact, its American fanbase is said to be more rabid than in the U.K., with tons of people suddenly deciding that they need to fly over to Cardiff to look for the fictional Torchwood hub and making travel plans around the filming season of the show’s third series (a five-show miniseries set to air both in the UK and the US early next year.) And it’s those American fans who are shelling out for the DVD set
Yes, I’m a fan. No, I’m not going to trash this show like the folks over on io9 love to do (SF Universe is much more balanced in their coverage.) I’ll be the first to say that the first series of “Torchwood” had more issues than the New York Post, with the love quadrangles taking more screen time than the actual alien hunting.
If you ever want to find a way to spend a geeky evening, gather a few fans (or even just DW fans who only made it through one series and never went back) and debate which plotline was the worst or most poorly executed in the first series. My vote’s split between Ianto’s sadly wasted part-Cyber girlfriend and the very fact that Gwen and Owen had sex.
But the test of a good show is when it improves in its second season. That’s especially true for science-fiction shows where the basic technical aspects require more concentration than the storylines at first. And I have yet to hear anyone, even the people who still don’t watch the show regularly because the adult themes bother them, say that the second series didn’t greatly improve over the first one.
For one thing, humans who are taken over by alien beings are far more developed and are cared a lot more about by Torchwood’s staff. Episodes like “Sleeper” and “Meat” show the depth of compassion that even Capt. Jack Harkness (the man who never dies and thus has seen a little too much death around him) has developed.
And in mid-season, a completely shocking event happens to one of the five Torchwood members that changes them forever (really hard to be more specific without revealing huge spoilers) and ends up, in a sense, redeeming them all in how they react. And by the end of the show, there was a whole lot more character development beyond Jack and Gwen, the two central characters in the first series (played by John Barrowman and Eve Myles.) In fact, the show is stolen largely by Ianto, Tosh and Owen (played by the lovely Gareth David-Lloyd, Naoko Mori, Burn Gorman) and they’re the reason you care at the end.
Another nice thing was seeing “Torchwood” bring in a little star power in small but juicy doses. The second series begins and ends with Capt. John Hart, ex-Time Agent partner and ex-lover to Jack, played brilliantly by sci-fi legend James Marsters. If nothing else, fans of all of Marsters’ other shows should buy the set just to see him chew scenery brilliantly in a British accent. Watching him and Barrowman in scenes together is like watching a verbal chess match.
And another guest-starring turn is made by Freema Agyeman, who drops in for a few episodes as Dr. Martha Jones, former Companion to the Doctor and now a bigwig for a UN-affiliated military force. And while Martha’s clearly gained some self-esteem after saving the world at the end of her DW run, she also continues to have some of the worst luck of her own making ever seen on television.
This is not to say that I don’t have a few bones to pick with the show, or even with the DVD release. Sorry, I do recommend that people buy it anyway, but where are the commentary tracks? One of the best things about the Series One DVD set was hearing the cast and crew talking about exactly how they pulled off things in episodes and relating how they shot many scenes in a small time frame and a smaller budget. That was sadly lacking in a lot of places where it would’ve been nice in the second series.
Admittedly, the “Torchwood Declassified” behind-the-scenes featured some things, like how the first scene between Capt. Jack and Capt. John (above) was shot. But it’s only possible to focus on one or two things in a featurette, and just hearing a description of the hell of making the last couple of episodes (no spoilers, but they were very diverse in both locations and emotions) would have been nice.
And as hard as it probably would’ve been to hunt down Barrowman after the show wrapped for commentary (as well as his roles here and on DW, he’s also presented two BBC reality shows, made a BBC documentary and is now on a CBC show) I really wanted to hear what he and David-Lloyd had to had to say about a certain scene in “Adrift”. If you’ve seen the show, you know exactly which one I’m talking about. If you haven’t and you’re not homophobic, you have to watch that episode for that (along with a really lovely performance by Myles.)
However, missing one feature does not ruin a good DVD set, especially for a show like this that really needs to be viewed without cuts, or commercials, and in great quality in a DVD player instead of by a bootleg download. Not to mention there is also a great documentary that basically lays out the life and deaths of Jack (like I said, he can’t die, but he sure tries a lot) and a really wonderful deleted scene that will make you like Owen, even if you didn’t before.
In fact, if you haven’t seen the show before, I would recommend buying this set first, sitting down and watching it over a couple of days (maybe not late at night unless you like nightmares.) You’ll have to get through the trauma of the final episode, which features a plot twist that will make you want to kill the BBC, and then get the first series set to fill in the stuff you don’t know, like what’s the deal with Gwen and her constant confliction.
And then try patiently to wait for Series 3. After all, to blatantly quote Jack, the end is where we start from.
Tags: bbc video, Burn Gorman, doctor who, dvd, eve myles, freema agyeman, gareth david-lloyd, john barrowman, Naoko Mori, torchwoodRelated Stories
POSTED IN: TV Spoilers, dvds
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