TV Club: Torchwood - Combat

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The first rule of Weevil Fight Club? Make sure you rate and review it on TARDIS Guide.

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3 Likes
2

It’s a pretty straight-forward flip on Fight Club, but that isn’t entirely my issue with it. It’s more that it feels like it was written by someone with only a surface-level comprehension of what Fight Club was going for, and then just applying that to a different franchise. It gives “I call people snowflakes unironically” vibes, at least to me.

It also comes hot on the heels of a winning streak in Series 1 between They Keep Killing Suzie, Random Shoes, and Out Of Time, three episodes I like quite a bit. In comparison, it lacks a certain creative spark.

6 Likes
3

GWEN: You can be such a wanker sometimes, Owen. Do you know that?
OWEN: I do, as a matter of fact.

Understatement of the century. He is more than a wanker all the time…

8 Likes
4

Not sure if the 10/10 I gave it a few years ago still holds up, but I do think this episode’s sorely underrated

5 Likes
5

I agree with @turlough on this one, it’s a really enjoyable and underrated episode.

6 Likes
6

Shall I mention the elephant in the room that this was written by persona non grata, Noel Clarke…

I actually don’t remember anything about this one beyond the basic premise.

Torchwood did love their Weevils didn’t they?

5 Likes
7

I really, really don’t like this one. I found watching it a really unpleasant experience.

It felt like it came to the conclusion that “toxic masculinity is good, actually?” Just a horrible watch.

5 Likes
8

It is not the worst story, and that is saying a lot since it is an Owen-focused one. But it is pretty bad. The Gwen and Rhys story is pretty unsatisfying and doesn’t really get someone since he just gets drugged. The fight club story is just a worse version of that story. The moping Owen is just boring. Why should I care for that terrible person? And as @nyssaoftraken says, it doesn’t really manage to criticise toxic masculinity in a way that feels fitting. But my biggest problem is, as always with the pre-season 3 TW, all the characters are just bad…

5 Likes
9

This might need a rewatch from me then…

3 Likes
10

Ianto???

3 Likes
11

He is meh. But after what he did in Cyberwomen, he is mostly leaning to the bad side.

4 Likes
12

I am sorry Tian, but we are no longer friends /j

4 Likes
13

I really don’t get the fuss about Ianto. The only reasonable thing that I have heard is that he was an LGBTQ character on TV when that was not as common as today. Otherwise, he is just there. What is the point of him?

6 Likes
14

He’s lovely though :pensive_face:

4 Likes
15

There are a few Big Finishes I could recommend for good Ianto content!

5 Likes
16

The only TW I have listened to is s05 and s06. I might continue sometime but I got a bit tiered of it after that. I think that I will do s07 before doing any other stuff.

Is he though? He doesn’t do that much. He and Tosh are mostly there.

6 Likes
17

Yes

5 Likes
18

At least we can all agree that Owen and Mark had a gay thing going on in this episode, right?

3 Likes
19

Did not see that. They just felt like morons to me.

1 Like
20

I’ll have to see again on a rewatch, but isn’t the whole point the literal opposite of this?

3 Likes