Torchwood 2.4: Meat

[selenay]

I had to watch this episode twice for the simple reason that the first time I watched it, I hardly took any of it in because I'd decided to knit at the same time and discovered that my knitting was a horrible tangled mess.

A second watching was required so that I could actually pay attention and work out what happened.

This was one of those odd episodes where, at the time of watching, I wasn't consciously loving it but with time to reflect afterwards I concluded that it was in fact a very good episode. It didn't have the lightness of touch of the first three, it didn't pull me in and absorb me in the same way, but there was still something about it.

Things to love:

- Rhys now knows about Torchwood.
- His reaction to finding out what Gwen does and how much she has kept secret were both painful and very real.
- His anger and hurt were toned just right and Gwen's frustration and anger with Rhys for not immediately understanding were completely in character.
- Rhys was eventually able to understand why Gwen had hidden Torchwood so long because of his fear for her and her fear for him.
- So really, generally, Rhys.
- That little look between Jack and Ianto when they were discussing the fact that none of them had had a partner that knew about Torchwood. It was the only Jack/Ianto moment of the show and I would have missed it if I'd blinked, but it said something about their relationship.
- Ianto only had a few lines, but they were all great :-) He does need his own episode, though.

This was very definitely Gwen and Rhys' episode, but I appreciated the contrasts between the relationships on the show. Gwen and Rhys are the ones out in the open trying to make their relationship work despite everything. Jack and Ianto already know what each other does but there is still so much backstory that we know they haven't explored yet and we simply don't see a lot of their relationship. Theirs is almost a mirror to Gwen and Rhys' relationship. And then there's Toshiko with her unrequited thing for Owen who is completely blind to her.

I did wish that they'd be a little more subtle with Tosh. It would be even better if she'd just get over Owen because, although he's less of a total arse than last season, he's still never going to see her that way. I like Tosh and there is so much more to her than just the love-sick puppy thing. It's my one major gripe. Hell, even my father wants her to get over it!

There was one thing that I thought was interesting. Ever since episode one we've been told that Gwen is the heart, the one with the humanity, but this time it was Jack and Owen who had the sympathy for the alien. Is she rubbing off slightly on them?

The one jarring thing in the episode was the whale thing. Um, it just didn't convince me. Sorry. Great idea and all, but the execution in the SFX just didn't work for me.

I've been trying to analyse why this episode didn't catch me the way that the first three did but I simply can't work it out. All the ingredients were there but it felt like they didn't quite gel together. In fact, there were times (particularly in the warehouse scenes) when the episode felt slightly Countrycide-ish, even though it emphatically wasn't.

I loved Rhys, I loved Rhys finding out about Torchwood, I just felt that the alien portion of the episode could have had a stronger plot. This episode shone in the character parts and not so much in the main storyline.

One of the things that I completely missed in my first watching was the ending. I'd kind of assumed that Gwen had ret-conned Rhys. It came from only hearing the dialogue and not seeing any of their faces. That final confrontation between Jack and Gwen doesn't really make it clear what happens until you are looking at the screen, watching their faces and expressions and the expressions of the rest of the team. Then you realise that Jack has given Gwen permission not to ret-con Rhys despite his better judgement.

It feels like he's realising that they all need something to cling to and Gwen needs Rhys but she also needs Rhys to know what they're doing. A relationship cannot survive the kind of lies she's had to tell him and it's for Gwen's sake that Jack gives his permission.

The interesting thing is that she could quite easily have thrown the ret-con away without asking Jack. She and Rhys could have gone behind Jack's back, kept what they knew to themselves and Rhys could have played dumb. I'm sure that he would have agreed just to be able to know what's happening. But Gwen went back and asked Jack for permission: her honestly and unwillingness to keep such huge secrets from the people that she loves is quite a progression for her.

I did love Rhys, he was the high point of the episode. That moment at the end when he says that he no longer looks up and just sees the sky, he thinks of everything that's out there, was just perfect. He wants to know that we're not alone, he's got incredibly curiosity and now that he's had a hint at the possibilities he can't not know more.