Torchwood: Out of Time

(Originally writtten 26/8/13, modified 7/11/13)

This episode is all at once heart-breaking, hilarious and horrifying.

Heart-breaking

From the moment we see these three displaced travellers, standing with their suitcases and separated forever from what and who they know, I felt sorry for them. Within five minutes I was close to crying, helped along by the soft, subtle music. When it got to the Alzheimer’s scene, I was absolutely bawling. 

And while John’s suicide didn’t overly affect me, I loved how they paralleled his displacement with Jack’s. Even though this episode isn’t about Jack, all it takes is a few conversations with John for the non-Whovians to know a little more about him, and even for the Whovians to realise how he must feel. After watching him in that car next to the dying John, I couldn’t help but wonder how many times Jack had considered – or wished he could carry out – such an act himself.

Hilarious

After the first few minutes, the mood is lightened by a trip to the supermarket. I like how this immediately gives our trio a sense of hope and wonder, with even John happy to see so much food available after rationing – though I did find it slightly unfortunate that the person most excited to go shopping was teenage-girl Emma.

Speaking of Emma, Gwen’s sex talk with her was a surprisingly clever and funny way to highlight her recent antics, as she is the least appropriate person ever to explain sexual etiquette. As for Emma seeing Rhys naked, it’s a funny moment but doesn’t really make sense – it looks like Gwen was home throughout the whole night, so why didn’t she tell Rhys about Emma before the morning? So they could have that joke, that’s why. 

There were also a couple of Owen moments which I found (unintentionally) hilarious. When he gave Diane her red dress, it was all a bit, “You look so sexy, Lisa!” And when Diane ran out on him, I was glad he was getting his comeuppance for all the other times he’s no doubt treated women like shit. Speaking of Owen...

Horrifying

I had to shield my eyes when Owen and Diane were having sex. Then shield my ears when he talked about “What your face looks like when you cum”. Please, stop talking about cum, Owen. It kinda baffles me that John Barrowman is meant to be the sexy star of this show, yet we have to wait until Miracle Day for Jack sex scenes.

Anyway... so why wasn’t Owen a douche this episode? He pretty much does not make a single sexist remark – Diane doesn’t have to do anything to break through his supposedly harsh exterior. And then he acts like he’s never been in love before and it doesn’t fit with Series 2's Fragments (even though it’s not explicitly stated that he’s never felt love, it’s implied). Then Diane asks Owen if he has a girlfriend because he owns beauty products, which I've been told is a gag about consumer culture but completely misses the fact that Owen already has a lover in Gwen. What a missed opportunity.

Finally, it’s a shame that Tosh and Ianto were sidelined so much this episode. I get that there were three travellers, and three members of Torchwood to match them with, but the others needed some more acknowledgement – Ianto wasn’t even around to introduce himself when they first reach the base. Oh well – it was a very good episode nonetheless.