Torchwood - Countrycide

[lizwilliams]

Spoilers:

Well, it's put me off going to Abergavenny for a bit, that's for sure. As my relative are wont to say, 'Ychafi!'*

Some random thoughts:

I thought it was creepy but I found the resolution, though tense, rather lacking in lustre. It reminded me of Niall Griffith's extremely nasty novel about Welsh rural psychopathy, Sheepshagger, and also - fatally - of the butcher in the League of Gentlemen. I kept expecting one of the villagers to say 'It's local, see?'

First victim: baseball bat: good. I always plan to brain potential rapists on the road with the steering lock, but good to see that this young lady was prepared.
Getting out of car: bad. I'd have called the police, always assuming that one can get a signal in the middle of the Brecon Beacons, and driven around the body at speed. What this says about me, I hate to think. I would probably have assumed that the 'body' was just drunk.
Getting back into car without checking what might have slunk into the back seat during your absence: even worse.

I think Ianto might be in the wrong job, on reflection.

Having a 'who snogged who last' competition: very poor idea, given Torchwood's sexual dynamics. I liked the references to past partners who have bought it (e.g. that poor old Ianto still misses Cyber Lisa). I find Owen quite revolting, unfortunately. Is it just me or is he simian?

Gwen's portrayal of being shot was very good, I thought, given that people on the TV who are shot usually just moan a bit and clutch the afflicted part. OTOH, I've never been shot, so what do I know?

I am increasingly impressed by Jack's decision-making skills. Last week: hand over small innocent girl to wicked fairies (I'm not being sarcastic: I thought this was the correct thing to do). This week: ram bastion of villains with armoured car and shoot every fucker you see who isn't known to you. I can see why Gwen wanted to understand, but in my happily limited experience, serial killers are generally really quite dull, have very little explanation for what they do, and are much better off with a bullet under the chin.

I want the Torchwood car.

* Welsh for 'Eeuuuw!' See: http://www.caergybi.com/encyclopedia.php?letter=y

Comments

[tanngrisnir.livejournal.com]

I kept expecting one of the villagers to say 'It's local, see?'

Glad it wasn't just me. ;O)

I'd have called the police, always assuming that one can get a signal in the middle of the Brecon Beacons, and driven around the body at speed.

I think she had just lost her signal, hadn't she? I don't see what would have been wrong with driving slowly up to the body and peeping out the door, being prepared to zoom at the first sign of trouble.

I think Ianto might be in the wrong job, on reflection.

Ah. Understatement. Nice.

Is it just me or is he simian?

More like a Muppet. But, yes, revolting.

I wasn't impressed by Gwen's being shot (and I have seen quite a few people moderately to seriously injured).

My main problem with this, apart from the largely poor acting, was the Torchwood team's sodding reluctance to shoot! Hells bells, a cannibal cop has his gun on your colleague and you wonder what to do?

Jack shooting them was the right thing to do. Jack shooting them in the legs was stupid. And I don't believe any group of people would have gone through that and the first thing they say is: We have to get an ambulance for them.

I am very disapoointed with Torchwood. Quite like the car, though.

[tanngrisnir.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why I put that last sentence in quotation marks. I must be getting tired. Sorry.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

> And I don't believe any group of people would have gone through that and the first thing they say is: We have to get an ambulance for them.

Quite! I'd have been shouting: 'Finish them off. FINISH THEM OFF!!!'

[hoosier-red.livejournal.com]

1) Baseball bat, very good. But yes, stay in the car and call it in or go find a policeman and report it.
2) Owen is a date-raping manipulative shit. And he's more ophidian than simian to me.
3) LOVE Jack's entrance (and I agreed with his decision last week as well). I did wonder why he seemed to go for legs and arms when a good gut shot presented itself, but that's just me.
4) Can I smack Gwen? Please? I KNOW cops, on both sides of the Atlantic, and she's the dimmest PC I've ever seen (cautionary note: this refers to the character, not the actress. I know that jobbing actors don't have that much control over the scripts).

[tanngrisnir.livejournal.com]

However, what's-her-name that plays Gwen is not that good. I cringe whenever she does a Gwen gets upset scene because she is so bad at it.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

You have my permission to deal her a hefty wallop, that's for sure.

[marsgov.livejournal.com]

I frankly expected the team to score an "own goal," given their propensity to point their guns at each others' heads. Their clumsiness is so blatant that it detracts from my ability to suspend disbelief. (As I've noted here (http://marsgov.livejournal.com/130414.html).)

I'd ascribed the strange reluctance to decisively shoot maniacs to some incomprehensible British sensibility. Even Jack takes time to regenerate, and I doubt he could pull that trick off if he's been carved up and placed into multiple jars — he should have killed them all.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I also can't believe that scores of people go missing every decade in one tiny area and the police don't bother to investigate. OK, the village copper was One of Them, but Brecon's only about 5 miles away.

Two Categories of Errors

[marsgov.livejournal.com]

I agree with you.

I place writing errors into two categories: immediate and deferred. An example of an "immediate" error is when Jack and Gwen enter the room and wave their guns around, repeatedly managing to get into each others' line of fire; or when CyberLisa shows up wearing a chromed stainless-steel bikini and high heels. The images and/or actions are so jarring that it impairs suspension of disbelief.

A "deferred" error is a problem with the deeper logic of the plot. As the plot unfolds and we realize this goes on every 10 years, the action doesn't necessarily let us think through all the consequences of this recurring harvest (even though what you said did occur to me by the end of the show). For example, how do they repopulate the village every ten years?

Estate agent: "How about this nice new home?"
Prospective buyer: "What happened to the previous owners?"
Estate agent: burp "He just suddenly left."

Why don't they dispose of the bodies? If they've been doing this for decades, why aren't they better at it? Where are all the adolescent and child cannibals? If you're away at college during the harvest, do you have to hunt on campus, or do you just get really interesting packages from home, and do you have to share with your mates?

The TV show that did the best job of avoiding these deferred errors was Babylon 5.

[wishus.livejournal.com]

I thought it was definitely playing on all the references you describe - and a wee bit of Urban Legends. On the whole, I liked it, but found myself cringing horribly at Gwen actually going for Owen, whose way of endearing himself to her was seemingly to pull the most horrible, ugly faces (as well as the things he said). Eugh!

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

He certainly has the most peculiar way of chatting anyone up.

[(Anonymous)]

No one has mentioned Reservoir Dogs, so I will.

If Jack had been chopped up and multipally pickled, would each bit have regenerated into a new Jack?

I'll take the Torchwood car if someone can convince me it's powered by an eco-friendly alien device with the carbon imprint of an AA battery ...
- Ben J

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

>I'll take the Torchwood car if someone can convince me it's powered by an eco-friendly alien device with the carbon imprint of an AA battery ...

Somehow I doubt it...

[marsgov.livejournal.com]

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal has an article about Firefly, an engineering firm here in Illinois that's replacing the lead in tradtional lead-acid batteries with a graphite foam.

The batteries will show up in military goods soon, and in consumer goods in 2008. 70% weight reduction, and the expense is only slightly above that of lead batteries.

[camies.livejournal.com]

Dog Soldiers? I know that wasn't quite the same story but it had a similar atmosphere. And it could always be a rogue chapter of the Cymru Goch who are hiding out in the hills waiting for The Day.
(what was that film that had cannibalism standing in for vampirism? Seemed unlikely to me, but the premise was that eating human flesh made them live longer. Set in early 19th century America).

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I was trying to think of the title of Dog Soldiers all night!

At the back of Milford, we came across a ruined mansion covered in crimson hand prints and graffiti advertising the Sons of Flame.

We left, a bit sharpish.

[soylentsoma.livejournal.com]

Think that was Ravenous,

http://imdb.com/title/tt0129332/

With Guy Pearce and Robert Caryle, music by Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn, weirdly enough.

[camies.livejournal.com]

You're right, it was, thanks.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one for whom the words "Worst Yet" would have been an adequate review?

We want aliens! These are not aliens!

Owen has clearly hung onto that alien artefact he was spraying around in episode one (it was episode one, wasn't it?) How long has he been a doctor?

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I want aliens too!!!