I Meant Somewhere With Linen!

"Fragments" (Torchwood S2 E12) discussion.  Please keep spoilers for future episodes out of this thread.

Two weeks to wait to finish the story!  Not fair!  Especially after that teaser!

I thought for sure the explosives were going to be the excuse to kill or cripple some cast members.  A little ridiculous for them all to basically walk away from a mostly-collapsed building.

Flashback segments:

Owen: hmph.  I actually am not all that fond of "past trauma" explanations for why people are obnoxious.  I'd rather he just be a jerk.  Some people just are.  That said, nifty alien - octopus on the brain - and touching storyline, though I think it would have been more wrenching had it actually been alien-induced Alzheimer's and had Owen had to watch her personality slip away, or perhaps to have her still be alive in a vegetative state somewhere.

Toshiko: UNIT has its very own Guantanamo; who would have thought it?  I don't recall much about UNIT from my long-ago Dr. Who viewing, but I kind of had them classified as fairly good guys.  And does this de-canon the concept that Toshiko is a doctor and the same character who made the brief appearance on Dr. Who (same actress)?  Was that ever official canon?  The limited contact policy applied to Toshiko (postcards only to mom) really makes Gwen's treatment exceptional.

Ianto:  Whoa, chemistry there with Jack from day one!  Was that a gun in your pocket, Jack, or were you just glad to have Ianto lying on top of you?  Walking a little funny when you left, Ianto?  And what a smirk from Jack on the second iteration of the coat comment!  Ianto Jones, serious clothing fetishist.  And I love that he was the one who brought the pterodactyl in (and that someone is finally explaining the pterodactyl).  Chocolate: secret weapon for dinosaurs, hah.  I suppose the Ianto-this-is-your-life recitation should put paid to my secret fantasy that Ianto is actually a top-secret agent of some kind and not just a butler.  But it doesn't have to.  It could all be a trick!  A conspiracy!

Jack:  1,392 deaths; I wonder if he kept count.  And damn, those Victorian Torchwood women were tough!  Though I'm unclear as to why one of them always walks around in a bicycling outfit.  Sadistic torture- and trigger-happy Victorian butch-femme pair; where does the 19th-century Torchwood find its recruits???  "He's pretty, but you're prettier," hah!!!  If I were skinnier I'd want to do the brunette's costume.  I may want to do it anyway.  Nice time-shifting montage of letters and typewriters and such.  At some point I am going to have to sit with my finger on the pause button and read all about Jack's shenanigans.  Though actually I suspect that either the BBC will post them as extras or put them in the DVD or some more obsessive fan will transcribe them and one way or the other I will be saved the effort.  And yes, that was the same creepy little girl with the same deck of cards as in S2 E7 "Dead Man Walking".  Another immortal?  When do we get her story?  And does it have something to do with the glove?  And, finally, the massacre-like-it's-1999 within Torchwood.  Was that watch significant?  Did Alex know something?  My first thought was "not another Time Lord-watch!"

Captain John does like to scatter dangerous items around, doesn't he?  The season finale should be interesting.

Comments

[Shark Hat]

Finally saw this ep! Yeah, I think Owen even got away without any more injuries, which seems a bit unlikely.

In the "Declassified" afterwards, Chibnall said he wanted to do a romantic comedy for Jack and Ianto. I dunno, maybe it's not liking the romance genre much, but I didn't think there was much funny about it- it read to me that Ianto basically begged Jack to accept him even if it meant being a servant, Jack decided Ianto was useful and he fancied him so he agreed- it felt icky to me.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Shark Hat:
I only sort of agree with you there. I thought there was both comedy and sexual chemistry, but romantic, not so much. Too unequal a relationship.

I'm sorry overall this season that we never got much romance between the two of them - if it exists. I had hopes after the asking-for-a-date bit early on, but since then I think it's pretty much just been sex jokes. Not that those are bad; I love Ianto's one-liners. But I was hoping for more.

[Serge]

I don't know if this is your cup of tea, Susan, but, when I found a link to this on Kourdios's LiveJournal, I had to tell you about it.

Torchwood Babiez

Yes.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Serge:
Nah. Too much cute and not enough clever.

[Serge]

Ah well... As the saying goes, qui ne risque rien n'a rien. Meanwhile, I still haven't asked my wife to put the show on her NetFlix queue. I must rectify that situation.