For the first time in the long and rich history of Carnival of Monsters the three main co conspirators (as well as an ecclectic group of fellow geeks) gathered to watch Day 5 of Children of Earth. The conclusion to the series provoked a great deal of disagreement between the three of us(fuelled heavily by the consumption of a great deal of vodka). We agreed to each write down our impressions of the episode the next day separately, with the full knowledge that what we wrote could divide our blogging community forever…
(SPOILERS)
Take One: They Dropped the Bomb
I wish that I could say that I liked episode 5. I would love to list all of the reasons why it drew me in, how it answered all of my remaining questions and how it excited me. I enjoyed the first four episodes greatly but 5 let me down. I had been expecting the traditional Who universe happy ending, but was soon overwhelmed by the episode's darkness. I was no big fan of Frobisher, but I was horrified when he shot his family, his wife and two little girls, before turning the gun on himself. Spineless git. And then Jack killed his own grandson, coldly, while the boy's mother, Jack's own daughter, looked on in absolute mental agony. Of course he did it for noble reasons, but he still did it. My liking for Captain Jack Harkness has suffered a tremendous blow.
Today I found, to my surprise, that I am an optimist. I don't like unhappy endings, and I was quietly hoping that the Doctor would show up at the last minute and save that little boy. But this is Torchwood, Doctor Who's younger, darker sibling, and happy endings are not guaranteed. I don’t believe that this particular version of Jack Harkness would be welcome on the Tardis any more.
Unfortunately by the end of day 5 Captain Jack Harkness has gone first circle. When we first met him in the Eccelston days Jack was a confidence man who was continually on the run from his past. Now Jack is a washed up hero on the run from his past. It is a sad fate for such a compelling character. He had so much promise and its a shame to see him go back to his old ways. Every bit of good that he's managed to do between now and then is irrelevant.
I finished the episode feeling both sad, unsettled and a little bitter. It could have been so much better. I’m not even sure if I care if there is a season four of Torchwood.
And now for a differing opinion....Take Two: No Happy Plot Cheats This Time
This was my first experience with RTD. This novel, among the last of the superb
New Adventures line, displayed a degree of maturity and darkness that had not been seen in
Doctor Who fiction before. When I heard that Russell T. Davies was going to produce the new show, it was this novel that made me feel that the right choice had been made.
Since then, we have seen that RTD has often opted for the happier--if perhaps less honest, less truthful--endings for many
Who episodes. Which is fine:
Doctor Who is a family show, and while it can drift towards mature storytelling, in the end we should generally get more happy endings than not.
But with
Torchwood--a show aimed at an older audience--I expected a little less plot hammering towards smiles and joy before the credits roll. And we have received that. But even I was taken aback by the sheer darkness of
Children of Earth.Taken aback, but not offended. The ending remained true to the tone of the series. To have the Doctor appear would have destroyed this story, and would have invalidated the entire reason
Torchwood was on the air in the first place. Yes, it ended horribly for our heroes and their families, but all in all, '
the greater good was served'. And what a horrible phrase that is.
I want
Torchwood to come back. But it can it be this team, or what remains of it? No. They are broken. But Lois Habiba? Bridget Spears? The door--and Hub--are open.
And yet again something different:
Take Three: I Thought of Donna
After the haze of my vodka hangover cleared away, I recalled my drunken babblings and tried to make sense of them. Impossible. But I did have another thought. Donna Noble popped into my mind. I thought of her, and how she always kept the Doctor in line. I thought of her face. What would it look like, to see Donna Noble standing behind Gwen's shoulder, to see her reaction to the sick decisions of her government? What would she have done if she were with Jack, witnessing him make the horrific decision to murder his own progeny?
Donna Noble would have done something.
I curled up in bed last night--wondering if I should just pull the trigger and stop the world from spinning--and I said over and over again, "Why does Russell T Davies always take things too far?" This is not to infer that the actual episode drove me to drink. In fact, I mostly just drink cause it's fun. And I was more than halfway to fun-ville before the end credits rolled over the screen. Still, no amount of Stoli could get me to overlook the dismal, depressing, Doctor-less world I had just witnessed. What is RTD trying to say to us?
Torchwood is a different show from Doctor Who. However, the two shows co-exist in the same universe. What makes Torchwood naturally darker is that the Doctor isn't present, and presumably the human element is more likely to make the less admirable choice, as the Doctor points out over and over again--"Doesn't she look tired?" But RTD dropped the ball, and this is why: he ignored the rules of his own universe. He betrayed us somehow. It's not what we signed up for. Maybe he's trying to hold a mirror up to us. Perhaps it's some sort of poetic statement. But one of the most vital underlying statements of Doctor Who, especially in the new series, is the redeemable nature of mankind. Yes, sometimes the Doctor forces us to redeem ourselves. But no matter how we disappoint him, he never turns his back on us. He always forces us to be our best selves. Jack spoke for him--and then Jack didn't follow through. Instead, Gwen's words proved true. The Doctor didn't come.
And that was when we somehow found ourselves in RTD's universe, and not the universe of Doctor Who. It was selfish of him, masturbatory. And I'm not interested in seeing this sort of thing from him again unless it's not related to Who at all. He's very talented, but I think he's time with this series has come to an end. He is clearly bored.
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