Torchwood’s Finale: Everything Changes
Last year, when I watched the first season finale of Torchwood, I was very disappointed. The giant CGI monster stepping all over Cardiff looked like something out of a bad B-movie and it didn’t have that dark and gritty feeling I’d come to expect from the show.
Fast forward a year and what ever they did wrong then, they corrected — ten fold. Adverts for the season finale say that when it’s over, everything will be different, and that is an understatement.
The trick is, how do I review a lollapalooza like this without giving it all away? I’ll try by sticking to the common factoids that everyone who has seen “Fragments” and the promos already know. Still, a warning for true spoiler-phobs, maybe you shouldn’t read any further.
(Hums a tune . . . )
Now for those of you who haven’t left the building, let’s talk Torchwood.
Last week, Captain Jack and the crew were nearly killed when they were lured into a booby-trapped building. They all made it out by the end, but they were all quite battered and bruised. I’m sure a glass of wine and a nice hot bath was in order, but no such luck. Turns out the bombs were a present from Captain John Hart (James Marsters) who is the poster-child for gay lover scorned. (Geez, and they say women are bad.) He’s still a little miffed by the fact that Captain Jack tossed him aside in favor of staying with Eye Candy (Ianto) and his other pals this side of the rift. So Hart has decided he’s going to teach his old lover a lesson he won’t soon forget.
He begins the lesson with a visual — Jack’s long-lost brother, Gray, alive and well and fully-grown. It’s just the first stab of the knife. . . we’ve got a long way to go.
“Exit Wounds” ties together dozens of storylines and bits of information that have been teased throughout the course of the season. As a loyal viewer, I really appreciate it when scriptwriters deliver on the continuity. I also appreciate what it took to write a storyline that leaves you breathless without sliding into B-movie territory and that’s what they did.
With Captain Jack dealing with Captain John, it’s up to the rest of the gang to save the city from destruction. And except for the rampaging Weevils, the attack on the city is so believable, I had 9/11 flashbacks. As with all good storytelling, the situation gets worse before it gets even more worse and there’s a point where you’re barely allowed to catch your breath before they sock you with the ending.
The ending. . . no, don’t worry, I won’t give it away. But it’s so horrendously emotional I was in tears long before it was done. I admit that I cry fairly easily, but I read another reporter’s coverage of this episode and he had pretty much the same reaction, so I guess it wasn’t just me.
The promo says, nothing can prepare you for the series changing finale and I’m here to tell you, it’s true. Plot twists, big surprises, and heroism that’ll rip your heart out. And James Marsters? He’s even better the second time around. You won’t want to miss a moment of the second season finale of Torchwood. It airs April 19 at 9:00 on BBC America.
Photo Credit: BBC Worldwide
4 opinions for Torchwood’s Finale: Everything Changes
KayDee
Apr 17, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Haven’t seen the S2 finale yet, but I totally loved the S1 finale, and don’t get the critical/critics panning of that episode. Sure, the monster-demon was CGI created, but it was only on the screen for a minute. The point of the episode was the character interaction - the life and deathness of the world ending, how far could you be pushed till you break, the crisis that had Owen shooting Jack (and doing so NOT knowing Jack couldn’t die), and the unwavering belief Gwen had that Jack would live. Allowing a minutes-worth of a CGI demon to overshadow all that emotional impact seems a bit shallow and missing-the-point-ish.
Cynthia
Apr 17, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Kaydee, I was disappointed because the creature was so laughable in comparison to what they usually do. The Weevils are scary, those evil fairies were deadly looking, most of the “creatures” in the show are truly frightening but not that thing. It was too much.
I’m a huge fan of the old Irwin Allen shows and on Lost in Space, I buy Bumble attacking the Robinsons but it ruined the impact of Torchwood for me. Not this time though. . .
KayDee
Apr 18, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Well, I guess to each her own. For me, the momentum of the show, the pounding and raw grit of everyone’s emotions totally overshadowed what some (not me) thought to be a sub-par CGI effect. For me, the only quirk I thought could have been better was that the demon was dispatched so easily. But then, that wasn’t the point of the episode. The point was the group becoming truly one, truly a family, a single unit with Gwen becoming the true heart of the group … then having that unit ripped apart again in the cliff-hanger when Jack goes missing. So the less-than-a-minute the demon was on screen didn’t ruin a thing for me.
john youngblood
Apr 19, 2008 at 3:58 pm
James masters is like cheese, he just makes everything better except “smallville”
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