Eh. Didn’t think too highly of this Episode. In principle, I should like the Episode, but it just doesn’t work for me, and I am not even sure how to properly articulate why.
I can see what it has going, but I don’t necessarily think it does it well. And honestly this isn’t an Episode that I am particular fond or feel strong about either way, it’s on the verge of “average” on a kind day. But for now I think it’s just rate very middling. Really, “meh” does describe it the best. A bit unremarkable, really.
Glad to see some were able to enjoy it!
A very uncomfortable episode, however unlike Cyberwoman, I think it was intentional this time. Quite a morbid and bleak episode, going to be honest, I was rooting for the fairies. When the step-father was killed, what a cathartic feeling; but once the mother starts screaming as she watches her daughter be taken away, my heart broke, and the rest of Torchwood shunning Jack for allowing it to happen. I understand now why Jack feels so alone even among the team, he is burdened with knowledge and experiences that no one else could, the wisdom to understand that sometimes you only have bad options, he reminds me quite a bit of the Doctor.
This episode made me feel complex feelings, and for that I give it 3.5/5.
I did completely forget what happened in this episode before I rewatched, but I thought it was rather nice. I found the take on fairies rather interesting and thought the ending was all bittersweet. It’s not great, but it’s not awful either, just is
My very first Torchwood episode. Hell of an introduction, with its First Of The Year (Equinox)-reminiscent subject matter and exploration of Jack’s past. Hearing that guy say “they’re bright as buttons” still sends shivers down my spine. Those fairies are freaky as hell, even with the wonky of-its-time CGI, and I like the general air of hopelessness within the Torchwood team here. Like… there is nothing you can do, except give the fairies what they want; this is their only chance. Really good showing of what separates Torchwood from the main show.
Firstly I find media that tries very hard to appear edgy to usually be very annoying. On that note this episode has a pedophile and ends with Jack sacrificing a child.
But mostly I just don’t think Torchwood actually do anything here. They mostly just observe the events and give exposition. The ending is resolved because Jack stops the team from doing anything to stop the Fairies, then when the Fairies get what they want they just go away.
This story is just average. I really don’t have much to say about it
besides the fact that the Jack lore drops
were cool, I liked the ending dilemma, and the fairy designs are super cool (I don’t think the cgi is THAT bad and also the design makes up for the lacking cgi)
3/10
Now it’s time for my favorite episode of this season!!!
I’ve come in here thinking I’ve just rewatched a different episode to everyone else (except it seems @eightreece). I thought it was brilliant!
I remember liking this on broadcast but haven’t seen it since so went in with only vague memories of the story elements.
And I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I think every part works to tell a really interesting story.
Jack’s past - both the tragic train journey and the relationship with Estelle. I like how we get the dream sequence first to tease us and then we get the truly shocking reveal of what happened. Barrowman plays the confusion and shock really well. And the Estelle elements are lovely. I love the idea of Jack having to pretend to be his own son to spend time with a past love and the bond between them is really well played by Barrowman and Eva Pearce. I hadn’t remember at all that she died about halfway through and in such a horrible way.
The Chosen One - Jasmine is a spooky presence throughout. Her fixed grin when horrific things happen around her is suitably creepy. The early scenes of the paedophile trying to take her are an uncomfortable watch and his descent into madness and then death in the cell are pretty effective scenes (even if hardly anyone in the market reacts to him chucking up petals). I think her stepfather just about stays the right side of stereotypical. His initial comments about her being weird sound realistic for someone who maybe hasn’t bonded with his stepdaughter. The steady increase in his nastiness is played well and the final slap which seals his fate is an effective shock. The BBQ scene is fun and Adrienne O’Sullivan does good work as Lynn with the panic and grief of losing her partner and then her daughter.
Jack’s sacrifice of Jasmine fits his character, particularly after having seen Children of Earth, and it suits the story as being the only way to deal with the supernatural force of the fairies.
The supernatural - others have seemed to struggle with this element within Torchwood but I think it works really well. I agree with shauny upthread that the scene where Jack explains it all it clunky and not very convincing but overall, I think the threat is well defined and works within the wider context of the Whoniverse which has always embraced supernatural elements (and Jack referencing the Mara ties it together for me). The fairies themselves suffer from slightly dodgy CGI - especially in the BBQ scene where they don’t convincingly interact with the real life elements, but as a concept I rather like them. The sound design on them is particularly unsettling.
PJ Hammond - I don’t think enough is made of the fact we have PJ Hammond writing for the Whoniverse - the man who wrote Sapphire and Steel, for goodness sake!
I think this is an episode which plays in the more adult world of Torchwood without seeming quite as gratuitous as sex gas monsters, rapists or sexy Cyberwomen. I think it actually serves as an interesting yin to the yang of the next episode, Countrycide. It’s the two ends of the spectrum of threats Torchwood deal with - on one end pure supernatural threats, which then move through the more familiar (and explainable) alien threats of most episodes, before ending up with the fully human horror and depravity of Countrycide.
I ended up putting it as 4/5 and rate this as one of the best episodes of the first series.
(Oh and Jasmine’s face in the Cottingley fairy picture is a brilliant way to end the story).
The first reading is the fleshing out of Jack. Jack’s past is pretty blank in Doctor Who. We know he was from the future, worked for the Time Agency and when he learned they had erased two years of his life he went rouge. Now Torchwood gets to start exploring it. We see a little of his life, likely prior to the Doctor when he was running his con in WWII, encountering the faries who killed an entire crew he recently took command of and meeting Estelle. It’s also a nice reminder that while Jack is a flirt with many people, there are people he genuinely liked and cared about.
I also liked the lore, exploring things on Earth more like these faries that are not alien but exclusively Earth based. I also liked that there was no happy ending. They didn’t save anyone, they didn’t stop anything. It was a complete failure, and sometimes that happens. In previous episodes there was some sort of consolation, like they killed Lisa but stopped the Cybermen from returning.
The Torchwood rollercoaster continues with a rather middle-of-the-road outing here. There are definitely some interesting ideas, spooky moments and intriguing bits of character development for Jack (plus the biggest instance yet of morally dodgy behaviour on the part of one of our main characters, Owen’s actions in Everything Changes aside), but unfortunately this has all the subtlety and suspense of a sledgehammer in slow motion. Better than Day One, and certainly not a bad episode, but worse than everything else so far, for me.
It always amazes me that fans can come away from stories with polar opposite opinions. I still think Small Worlds is one of Torchwood’s best episodes (for all the reasons I posted above).
