This past week in the UK BBC1 has been airing it's Torchwood "Event" Children of Earth, with a new episode each night. While the final episode aired the tonight, it won't air in the US until the week of July 20th. I watched Day One tonight and I have to say its quite possibly my favorite episode of Torchwood thus far.
For those who don't know, Torchwood is a spinoff of the long running UK series, Doctor Who. Doctor Who tells the story of a Time Lord from another planet who travels around in his T.A.R.D.I.S. (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) going to other planets and times to help out and defeat the bad guys. In the past he's had numerous companions and 10 different bodies. (in order to keep the series going, Time Lords can regenerate when their body dies, hence enabling another actor to play the role and thus allowing the series to run off and on since the 1960s) One of these many companions was Captain Jack Harkness, a seemingly immortal man played by John Barrowman. Torchwood, an anagram of Doctor Who, is a government operation started by Queen Victoria to investigate extraterrestrial happenings and keep abreast of The Doctor. Capt. Jack is in charge of the Cardiff, Wales branch of the institute. The series follows Jack, newest member and former police woman Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), and Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Llyod) and several former members as they investigate cases, usually once a week. But this year instead of a typical 13-episode season, it's a five-episode "Event" Children of Earth.
Day One begins in Scotland in 1965 as a busload of children are taken into a bright light, which appears to be a spaceship. It then jumps to present time where Jack, Gwen, and Ianto are trying to keep Torchwood going as they deal with the tragic events of last season. But before they can do much every child on Earth stops moving at the exact same time and starts to chant "We Are Coming!" Now, simply putting this in writing can not convey the terror this scene causes. Almost anytime children are involved with science fiction it's scary, but the sight of all these children standing on playgrounds, streets, etc and chanting the same thing together, some with looks of pure hatred on their faces, is enough to make you want to cower under the covers.
Now Torchwood must discover what is using the children to communicate, and why it is they are coming, as well as whose trying to have Jack killed, and why. During the episode we learn a bit more about our characters with a few shockers about Jack and Gwen, and get a look into Ianto's family. Personally I loved getting to know a little bit more abouth these characters, since in the past two seasons we've only seen glimpses of Jack's long, long life and the rest of the background has seemed to fall onto Gwen, who serves as our eyes in the series. Also we see that Jack and Ianto's relationship has grown since the flirtations of last season. Just don't go calling them a couple.
All in all Day One was a brilliant episode and left me wanting a lot more. There are enough plot threads left dangling and several cliffhangers that all I really wanted to do was watch Day Two. But sleep is a priority and so I'll put it off until tomorrow. I plan to have reviews of Days Two through Five up Next Week, so come back for more, mostly non-spoilery reviews.
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