Was That The End of Torchwood?
Last week, BBC1 showed the third season of Torchwood- a five-part adventure called Children of Earth.
The first thing to say was that this was an impressive story- after first and second seasons which were a bit of a curate's egg- this season hardly put a foot wrong. Also, they had finally realised what a "grown up" show meant, i.e. intrigue, a strong plot, morally complicated characters.
This was also the second outing of the smaller team of Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones, which we saw in last year's Doctor Who season finale, The Stolen Earth/Journey's End. That adventure saw Martha Jones wander off with Jack as he was saying he wasn't sure about UNIT, and Mickey Smith catching up with them.
When Torchwood's second season finished last year with Exit Wounds, we had the deaths of Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper, the other members of the team (OK, Owen had been killed earlier that season in Reset but was enjoying- or probably not enjoying- a continued post-death existence in Cardiff thanks to the resurrection gauntlet). I had simply assumed that with Owen and Martha both being medics and Toshiko and Mickey being computer geeks then we would simply see Martha and Mickey join the team.
Actually, I'm glad they didn't. The smaller team worked well, and I found that it didn't seem odd that Toshiko and Owen weren't there.
The plot involves all the children around the world just stopping for a few minutes. The next time they do it, they all say "We are coming." The next time it's "We are coming back". Then "We are coming back tomorrow." Finally, "We are here". The reason for this is an alien race called the 456- in Scotland in 1965 they took a group of children and are back for more. 10% of the world's children- or else they will wipe out humanity. The reason, as they eventually explain to UNIT's Col. Augustus Oduya, is "the hit"- basically, a high from feeding off the children.
Then there are the politicians. The Prime Minister, Brian Green, out of his depth, and his spin-doctors, Rick Yates and Denise Riley, coming up with an idea of choosing the 10%. Simply take those from schools at the bottom of league tables, and remove what they see as the 10% who are expendable, and spin it as removing the kids who will grow up to be unemployed, hanging on street corners, in prison. Do it as a way of tackling population growth. The official explanation to start with- a vaccination, with teachers to be told the children in their care have to be taken off to be vaccinated.
One of the main characters is John Frobisher, a weak, but- as emphasised a few times- a "good man", who is a senior civil servant at the Home Office, responsible for dealing with the 456. One of the best scenes is when Green tells him that, to reassure the public, Frobisher's two daughters will be "vaccinated". Frobisher at first assumes that he will have to pretend that they will be "vaccinated", the reality slowly dawning on him- that in front of TV cameras they will be taken off. He will have to say goodbye to his children knowing their fate. When he threatens to use the TV appearance to warn the world of what is happening, Green simply tells him that that will mean that his daughters will know what will happen to them. Frobisher signs out a gun, and ushers his wife and children into a bedroom. No suprise when three shots ring out in succession, followed by a fourth.
During the course of the adventure, the Torchwood Hub is blown up- by a bomb in Jack's stomach. And this gives us the chance to see the gruesomeness of his immortality, as a few hours later he comes back to life- without his skin. Well, over time the skin does replace itself, but part of his immortality is rapid healing, so his skin does grow back. But it was a bit stupid to put all his parts in the same body bag. What would have happened if they didn't? Would he come partly back? Would the main part of his body draw the rest of it to him? If, for example his arm was left at the Hub, would he simply grow a new one or have to live with one arm?
But why are the authorities so keen to get rid of Jack (as well as the rest of Torchwood)? The answer lies back in 1965- and there are some unpleasant revelations about him. He was a group of 4 people who handed over the children to the 456- with the other 3 being assassinated that same day.
By the end of the adventure, you are left with the impression that instead of being the hero, Jack is not a particularly nice person. The most shocking moment is how he defeats the 456- by using a child. However, whichever child he uses is going to die- and the only available child is his own grandson, Steven Carter.
OK, you can debate for ages the morality of his actions. The life of one child against the millions? Whether it's fairer to him to sacrifice a child he doesn't know- maybe one who "won't be missed" (the reason for choosing that group of children in 1965)?
Is that it for Torchwood? In a scene set in April 2010 (near the start, a newspaper Ianto is reading states it is September 2009 and the final scene states it's six months later) Jack tells Gwen he has contacted a passing spaceship and beams up there, saying the Earth is too small for him. Ianto was killed off by a virus the 456 released. Gwen is pregnant (interesting that her telling her husband, Rhys Williams, that she is keeping the baby is juxtaposed with scenes of the Army taking away the children the Government wants to get rid of).
What happens with the Rift and the aliens coming through? Maybe after maternity leave, Gwen goes back to being a policewoman and the police keep an eye on that. Perhaps UNIT takes over the responsibility. Or maybe Gwen leads a new Torchwood team (Gwen, Martha and Mickey?).
And what about Jack? Well, he is supposed to be in David Tennant's final appearance as the Doctor. In Tennant's first adventure, The Christmas Invasion, the Doctor despatches the Sycorax leader with the words "No second chances", and expresses the same sentiments when he turns against the Prime Minister, Harriet Jones. Tennant's Doctor can turn from good friend to hostile in an instant if he disapproves of the morality of one of your actions. Maybe, when the Doctor learns about how Jack sacrificed Steven, the phrase "No second chances" will be heard as the Doctor turns his back on Jack and walks away.
5 billion years on, Jack appears three times in Doctor Who- in The End of the World, New Earth and Gridlock- as the Face of Boe. Now, at no point in those adventures do we learn that Jack is the Face of Boe- in dramatic terms, that revelation is left until Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords. But, perhaps the reason why Jack doesn't reveal his real identity in those adventures is that a rift has opened between him and the Doctor...




