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Torchwood: Season Two
01/05/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
An appraisal of Torchwood by: GF Willmetts. Buy Torchwood in the USA - or Buy Torchwood in the UK  WARNING: As this is being read world-wide, I have no idea if you've watched 'Torchwood: Season Two' outside of Great Britain, picked it up off the Net or waiting for your local TV channel to show this season. Any potential spoilers will only be hinted at and if you're afraid it might give too much away then don't read on but link back in later after you've seen all the episodes. However, consider this: There are plenty of websites around the Net about 'Torchwood' and if you are a fan then I doubt if there any many surprises you haven't come across yet. I've also endeavoured to be nice and not give away too much as well. There is a balance here, folks.
It's often said that the first season of any show is used as a shakedown to sort out any problems. With British TV's more limited budget, if a show isn't more or less right and getting viewing figures from the start, it rarely gets a second season. There was little doubt that 'Torchwood', the Doctor Who spin-off series, wouldn't get a second season purely based on viewing figures. Even so, the viewers voiced some criticisms which were actually addressed when the series returned to the screens.
Some things, like Captain Jack Harkness' hang-ups with the Doctor, was resolved in that series rather than have the Time Lord be formerly introduced to the team. Owen Harper's reliance on alien pheromones when he was on the pull quietly forgotten. Indeed, much time was spent giving the Harper character a more sympathetic side even if it ended up giving him something akin to Harkness himself. I was beginning to wonder at one stage in the season whether they would all end up with odd abilities.
The 'adult' language was modified a little but considering that former 'Doctor Who' companion Martha Jones was going to be joining the team for three episodes and the growing younger audience that was probably understandable. I saw the watershed and cut version of the first episode and there was little significant difference in the violence content or even having a couple men snogging. I've always felt that a TV series can be adult without too much swearing and this has always been proven with other successful adult shows. It's just in the matter of acceptance of what you see on the screen as a given.
Anything beyond that was Torchwood doing their official duties. Mostly that of protecting mankind from alien menaces and being above the law. I hope this isn't a reflection on the real Cardiff but I trust they also have plain clothes detectives as well as uniformed police officers over there. Mind you, Torchwood doesn't appear so secret any more as the name is known if not what they do. With the recent attempted alien invasions, you would have thought it would be hitting the press more unless there's some department 'D' noticing any oddity that comes up.
In many respects, this season of 'Torchwood' could be described as the origin season. Granted, for most of its cast, this was towards the end episodes, but with the return of Jack Harkness and the arrival of Captain John Hart (played by American actor James Marsters), another member of the Time Agents, information was scattered throughout. Considering Harkness' extended age and travels it couldn't be anything else. How much history is given is debatable but it doesn't leave that much from Earth's past couple centuries to show what Harkness has been up to in our past. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if a book series showing adventures from this time period came out to fill in the gaps.
This season could also be considered as one where the writers were instructed to let themselves go a bit which brought out more humour to balance out the more dangerous aspects, especially as the cast were shown capable of taking anything thrown at them. In many respects, humour is often a way to cope with danger and its amazing that anyone would want to volunteer for this kind of life knowing the hazards they are going to face. Considering that recruits are going to be needed for the next season, I hope some episodes are going to be spent showing what kind of training these people are put through. Something that was kind of missed out when Gwen Cooper joined up.
What was significant was allowing each cast member the chance to shine even more than last season. The M.O. for the series is having a danger arrive and they rush off to sort it out. As such, it doesn't stretch out the plot variations too much. Yet, some things are left to the right time to happen such as with the third episode, 'To The Last Man', even if it never explains how Torchwood had cryogenic units back at the start of the last century. I can't recall a certain Time Lord or other alien encounters leaving anything like that in his past journeys although no doubt it will probably end up as something for creator Russell T. Davies to tick off to put in at some point. If anything, it allows any potential plot potholes to be remedied simply by saying, 'We haven't got around to showing that yet.' Don't forget to put on your best Welsh accent when saying that statement.
The one episode to show how much the cast is actually acting was the fifth, 'Adam'. All too often its easy for the viewer to take what is shown on the screen as not being that far removed from the cast's real personas. Having an apparently new but long-term member of the team subverting them all, allowed the cast to play things differently. It's been done before in other series but the variation here was not totally opposite for all of them.
If anything actor Burn Gorman as Owen Harper was a bit of a revelation when he switched from being a cocky loudmouth to being rather timid. It's a shame that any remnants of this transformation wasn't carried over to later episodes but hit by a re-set button. The action is kept fast-moving that you're not always aware how much is re-set personality-wise for the characters at the beginning of each story. If anything, that comes from how well-rounded the characters are defined. It probably helps the team of writers for consistency but you don't always look for surprises.
I often found that the preview of the next week's episode just prior to the credits tended to give rather too much away as to what was going to happen. Although much of the information was kept away from the British media mags, it wasn't impossible to work out that what the next episode was covering although in some cases it was a blind to some really important significant events that I shall avoid here. At least the quality of the stories and effects made it as good as if not better than anything chucked our way from across the Atlantic recently. As with 'Doctor Who', we're showing that at long last we British aren't slouches or one-off season flukes when it comes to how we do our SF shows.
'Torchwood' is getting into its stride now. The templates are set and sufficient trapdoors to change cast if and when they want to move on which will be the first test of the third season. Bearing in mind the strength of the storytelling, I suspect we British viewers are less likely to have tantrums with cast changes. With such a strong base, effective special effects, this series is going to have a long life.
GF Willmetts
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