Torchwood: Children of Earth - Day Four

(Originally written 5/1/14)

How many ethical discussions can you pack into one episode?

In 1965, we have Jack’s actions – as Clem says, “The man who sent me and my friends to die can’t die himself!” And while it was rough of the woman in 1965 to imply that Jack “doesn’t care”, I do find myself wondering what right Jack has to be leading Torchwood and saving the Earth. Do his decision-making processes tally with those of someone whose own life is at risk?

This nicely segues into the discussion of the politicians to hand over the children. At first Denise appears to be the most moral, thinking of the kids as kids – and not just her own kids, but those of her brother. She questions the right of those without kids to contribute to the decision – but then, she becomes something of an elitist, wishing to sacrifice those kids from failing schools (her comment on the school league tables seems especially harsh), because again, there’s no one from that background to stand up for them.

But what do you achieve from standing up to your enemies? In this episode, not much. Jack stands up to the 456, and he causes the deaths of Clem, Ianto and hundreds of others by doing so. There is a cruel irony here in that Ianto told Jack he should have “stood up to them” back in 1965; so it could be argued that Ianto caused his own death. And what a death! My tears flowed thick and fast for Ianto (as well as for Clem). This was especially thanks to the sadness, the desperation, I could hear in Jack’s voice.

Speaking of voices, at first I found it difficult to take the presence of Nick "Big Finish" Briggs seriously. But then suddenly his Rick Yates is being absolutely awful, showing little emotion during the discussion (which I choose to put down to callousness rather than bad acting) as he brings up the positives of the 456’s request. I said the PM was the most unlikeable character last episode, but the torch has now been passed to Yates – in fact, the PM redeems himself somewhat this episode, stressing that he is not a willing participant in events. Again, I’m choosing to see this as him having something of a heart, rather than just being a coward who’d rather not deal with it – or maybe it’s a bit of both.

Some minor technical questions for the episode: why did the 456 accept eleven of twelve children in 1965; and why do the contact lenses suddenly transmit people’s actual voices this episode? I’d also like to have a vague idea of how the 456’s technology works, but that’s not going to happen, and hey, it was cool watching it send its message through the kids, repeating the numbers before we hear the kids say the exact same thing.