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Because, no offence to him, his stories are rather more horror/fantasy than they are sci-fi, really. And, while I'm not opposed to a bit of horror in the Whoniverse, it really jarred quite a bit here, especially in contrast to Reset which was very hi-tech spy thriller.
First things first: My personal opinon on main character deaths in TV shows (or any recurring media, really) is that they should preferably stay dead. And if they must come back, there should be consequences.
So I am really quite pleased that they seem to be going for the consequences bit here with Owen. The "12 people died because you brought me back" on the wider scale, and the whole zombie!Owen deal on a more personal level.
(One question, do you think the lack of bodily functions going on for Owen will mean we'll get gradual body decay for him, and he'll have to pull a Nicky from the Felix Castor books to stay intact? Or will we just get the trad vampire time walking corpse, just without the blood/sunlight issues?)
Though I'm currently trying to work out the point of zombified!Owen in the long term. Yeah, it means that there's always an instant out if Burn Gorman wants to leave, but aside from that (and the epic Owen/Tosh type angst going on), all we seem to have got going on as well is Owen's now unkillable on account of already being dead.
And with Jack and all, does Torchwood really need two impossible to kill guys floating around?
It's not that I dislike the concept (in fact, I think zombie!Owen is made of awesome), it's just I am hoping it's not one of those plots that gets deep focus for a few episodes, and then is only ever brought up in the occasional throw-away line.
And back onto the episode itself.
One of the issues I have seen brought up from some people is the (relative) lack of Martha in this episode, given she's only in three. As I have said elsewhere, I didn't really have that much of a problem with this - look at how much Martha time we had compared to Gwen or Ianto or even Tosh, and I suspect it would stack up reasonably.
What my issue was the aging her up think in order to sideline her, which felt irritatingly gratuitous - the good ol' "we need someone we know in danger to personalise the threat". It's not like having her running around the hospital with the others (or even helping out in one of the wards, perhaps) would have really changed the plot, and there will be pointed looks at anyone who tries to convince me there was no other way of getting to the hospital for the finale.
I was also irritated at how it didn't help Martha with the actual saving the day thing. We know she's capable of it, so can people please let her, you know, help save the day.
That said, her interactions with Owen were rather cute - again, I don't ship them, but they make cute and rather fun friends.
Okay, yet again I shall attempt to get back on topic.
The bit with Jack seeing creepy tarot girl was exceedingly... random. There's probably a really interesting backstory there, and naturally they don't let us in on it. (What is she alien, human with powers ala Tim Latimer in Human Nature, and how the hell does Jack know her?)
The nest of weevils had some oddly amusing decor, though why they had a Resurrection Glove in a box I haven't the foggiest. Wonder if that will ever be explain or not.
That said, getting proper goodbyes was an oddly sweet idea of Jack's. As was Tosh's declaration of love (and Owen subsequently saying it was just grief that made her say that - I disagree with the proposition, I do think she loves him, but I do agree that she wouldn't have said it otherwise.)
We then had Martha as Devil's Advocate of it all - playing the role of the Doctor, really, in his normal "Everything has it's time and everything dies" spiel. For all Jack said he didn't tell UNIT because they might want the glove for themself, I'm also fairly certain he knew what Martha was really saying here. He did have a conversation about fixed points with the Doctor once, after all. And Owen is, just with Jack, wrong now.
*cue S6 Buffy comparisons*
The weird eyes and random creepy languages seem a bit of Matt Jones trademark now, don't they?
Also, I had to laugh a little at the woman coming onto Owen and calling him "gorgeous". Because, even though Owen can be quite entertaining, and even though I've come to like him after many episodes, he's hardly the handsomest bloke around.
Oh, and I'll admit a squick to the throwing up scene. This is mainly because seeing other people vomit makes me feel like I'm going to vomit, and so there was much DO NOT WANT on my behalf in that scene.
What else...
Oh yeah, Owen is so Jack's substitute little brother. I spent far too much of this episode getting that vibe off them. I'm sure the few Jack/Owen slashers will love it, but what with Jack's (completely repressed in his memory) little brother loss issues, I was getting some serious substitution vibes. Or rather, not so much Owen as a substitute but as a re-enactment of that whole Gray debacle.
That line of Tosh's about Googling was ace. As was Ianto's later one about Weight Watchers.
And then we had the random Addams Family scene. Yes, I know everyone else thought it. I do wonder why the hand was so specifically after Martha, though - Jack was getting ready to inject Owen as well. The look between Ianto and Jack was amusing, mind.
And then we had the traditional horror movie hospital scene, random sick kid getting a pep talk, a Tosh/Owen kiss that was simulataneously cute and made me annoyed at Owen for pulling that trick on poor Tosh, and random bizarre CGI wrestling.
Cue victory of Owen over Death (for now) and our vague "Owen will drop dead one day but we don't know when" get out of Torchwood free clause for Burn Gorman.
ETA: Owen's voiceover on the next episode trailer. Was it supposed to sound like they were ripping off Life on Mars at the start or was that just a coincidence?
I may add more later as I think of it. Then again, I may not.
First things first: My personal opinon on main character deaths in TV shows (or any recurring media, really) is that they should preferably stay dead. And if they must come back, there should be consequences.
So I am really quite pleased that they seem to be going for the consequences bit here with Owen. The "12 people died because you brought me back" on the wider scale, and the whole zombie!Owen deal on a more personal level.
(One question, do you think the lack of bodily functions going on for Owen will mean we'll get gradual body decay for him, and he'll have to pull a Nicky from the Felix Castor books to stay intact? Or will we just get the trad vampire time walking corpse, just without the blood/sunlight issues?)
Though I'm currently trying to work out the point of zombified!Owen in the long term. Yeah, it means that there's always an instant out if Burn Gorman wants to leave, but aside from that (and the epic Owen/Tosh type angst going on), all we seem to have got going on as well is Owen's now unkillable on account of already being dead.
And with Jack and all, does Torchwood really need two impossible to kill guys floating around?
It's not that I dislike the concept (in fact, I think zombie!Owen is made of awesome), it's just I am hoping it's not one of those plots that gets deep focus for a few episodes, and then is only ever brought up in the occasional throw-away line.
And back onto the episode itself.
One of the issues I have seen brought up from some people is the (relative) lack of Martha in this episode, given she's only in three. As I have said elsewhere, I didn't really have that much of a problem with this - look at how much Martha time we had compared to Gwen or Ianto or even Tosh, and I suspect it would stack up reasonably.
What my issue was the aging her up think in order to sideline her, which felt irritatingly gratuitous - the good ol' "we need someone we know in danger to personalise the threat". It's not like having her running around the hospital with the others (or even helping out in one of the wards, perhaps) would have really changed the plot, and there will be pointed looks at anyone who tries to convince me there was no other way of getting to the hospital for the finale.
I was also irritated at how it didn't help Martha with the actual saving the day thing. We know she's capable of it, so can people please let her, you know, help save the day.
That said, her interactions with Owen were rather cute - again, I don't ship them, but they make cute and rather fun friends.
Okay, yet again I shall attempt to get back on topic.
The bit with Jack seeing creepy tarot girl was exceedingly... random. There's probably a really interesting backstory there, and naturally they don't let us in on it. (What is she alien, human with powers ala Tim Latimer in Human Nature, and how the hell does Jack know her?)
The nest of weevils had some oddly amusing decor, though why they had a Resurrection Glove in a box I haven't the foggiest. Wonder if that will ever be explain or not.
That said, getting proper goodbyes was an oddly sweet idea of Jack's. As was Tosh's declaration of love (and Owen subsequently saying it was just grief that made her say that - I disagree with the proposition, I do think she loves him, but I do agree that she wouldn't have said it otherwise.)
We then had Martha as Devil's Advocate of it all - playing the role of the Doctor, really, in his normal "Everything has it's time and everything dies" spiel. For all Jack said he didn't tell UNIT because they might want the glove for themself, I'm also fairly certain he knew what Martha was really saying here. He did have a conversation about fixed points with the Doctor once, after all. And Owen is, just with Jack, wrong now.
*cue S6 Buffy comparisons*
The weird eyes and random creepy languages seem a bit of Matt Jones trademark now, don't they?
Also, I had to laugh a little at the woman coming onto Owen and calling him "gorgeous". Because, even though Owen can be quite entertaining, and even though I've come to like him after many episodes, he's hardly the handsomest bloke around.
Oh, and I'll admit a squick to the throwing up scene. This is mainly because seeing other people vomit makes me feel like I'm going to vomit, and so there was much DO NOT WANT on my behalf in that scene.
What else...
Oh yeah, Owen is so Jack's substitute little brother. I spent far too much of this episode getting that vibe off them. I'm sure the few Jack/Owen slashers will love it, but what with Jack's (completely repressed in his memory) little brother loss issues, I was getting some serious substitution vibes. Or rather, not so much Owen as a substitute but as a re-enactment of that whole Gray debacle.
That line of Tosh's about Googling was ace. As was Ianto's later one about Weight Watchers.
And then we had the random Addams Family scene. Yes, I know everyone else thought it. I do wonder why the hand was so specifically after Martha, though - Jack was getting ready to inject Owen as well. The look between Ianto and Jack was amusing, mind.
And then we had the traditional horror movie hospital scene, random sick kid getting a pep talk, a Tosh/Owen kiss that was simulataneously cute and made me annoyed at Owen for pulling that trick on poor Tosh, and random bizarre CGI wrestling.
Cue victory of Owen over Death (for now) and our vague "Owen will drop dead one day but we don't know when" get out of Torchwood free clause for Burn Gorman.
ETA: Owen's voiceover on the next episode trailer. Was it supposed to sound like they were ripping off Life on Mars at the start or was that just a coincidence?
I may add more later as I think of it. Then again, I may not.
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From:
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Because then we can say that Martha Jones can cure zombies, which verges on Chuck Norris levels of Badass.But I would really prefer they stick to their guns on this.
If you don't want to watch the rest of that episode, I have some of the freak-out scene on YouTube. Though I was more focused on getting the stuff about advertising...
Agreed about Reset.
And also agreed about Matt Jones. *snerk*
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magicenergy that's keeping him alive can also heal broken bones or whatnot, which looks more likely from the preview. Maybe a combination of the two?Martha Jones/Chuck Norris OTP OMG!Thank you for the freakout footage! I'd sort of realized in the back of my head that hers was during the day and his was at night, but I was just so struck by the similarities that I kind of overlooked that major difference, there. Apparently there is only the one way in the world of showing a freakout, or possibly there are more ways but no one involved in filming Torchwood knows how to do them. I'm kind of amused by the idea that they have a little seat that attaches to a camera, though, which each individual actor gets to ride when it's time for the Annual Freakout Scene. I like to call it the Freakout Seat. I'll bet it has a label and everything.
Also, I <3 your icon. Just so you know. :D
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That said, I agree on the whole zombie!Owen having super healing being likely. Not as fun as gradually falling apart zombie!Owen, but that's TV for you.
So, who's going to write that fic?I originally had it uploaded for discussion in a class I took last year. But I got lazy and never ended up showing it. But yes, there was a distinct note of similarity there. Not sure how it's done in practical terms, actually.
The icon is brand new - got it from this post here, which has many, many awesome icons. I got this one there as well.
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And those icons are gorgeous OMG. And she's got a manip of Martha and Rose holding hands! I'm still trying to get used to how they're my new OTP, it's just all so weird for me, that.
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They are quite nice, aren't they? I can't really get behind that ship, given that I don't like Rose enough to want to ship Martha with her. Well, that and I'm not huge on femslash.
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Because apparently I like Rose when I write her. I don't know why that is. It's just... strange. Sigh.
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