Torchwood: Greeks Bearing Gifts

(Originally written 13/8/13, modified 29/10/13)

It was nice to have an episode focusing on Tosh for once, though I don’t know how well it matches with what we’ve seen before. Tosh supposedly has a “stick up her arse”, but just like the others, she was taking things from the base back in Everything Changes. Maybe we’re just not meant to have noticed things from her point of view until now.

 

This episode also did a pretty good job of progressing the other characters’ developments, especially the increasing intimacy between Gwen and Owen (thankfully not from Gwen’s point of view). It’s quite odd to see Gwen so relaxed around Torchwood – is this a result of the affair? In any case, this time it’s Tosh’s turn to be the wide-eyed outsider. In fact, she follows a similar development to Gwen last episode in that she needs to share her experiences with someone else, and ends up in a sexual relationship because of it (though this time there is actually talking involved). I also liked all the little hints at her past with Owen, knowing what ends up happening between them next season.

We hear about how Ianto’s coping (or not) with Lisa’s death – unfortunately though, he actually only had one spoken line, and I think three lines of thought. Not great for his character. We also learn some more about the mystery of Jack, with the revelation that Tosh can’t read his mind. But there were some old-fashioned Jack antics in there as well, with his story about his friend Vincent/Vanessa. This line has sparked some controversy because it implies Jack is "nervous" about transgender people, but with John Barrowman's casual delivery, I interpreted the line as simply showing Jack's experience (in sexuality) to give him skills in other matters (knowing when someone is having an inner battle).

I quite liked the distinctive direction, with its zooms and slow-mos, as it was a fitting way to portray how Tosh experienced the world when she was wearing the pendant. I also liked the insights into Mary’s culture and people, emphasising how different it is (e.g. she finds it off-putting watching mouths talk). But then this just emphasised how weird it is that an alien partakes in the quite human activity of smoking. I suppose since she’s practically immortal, she doesn’t have to worry about getting cancer?

That’s pretty much all I have to say on this one. Quite good in itself, quite good as part of an ongoing story, but nothing amazing. And no matter how many times I hear it, the action figure line sounds really unnatural.