The Dark Episode that Redeemed Torchwood
Вставка
- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- After the bumpy start of Series 1, did 'Ghost Machine' redeem Torchwood and show what it was capable of?
► Patreon
/ harbowholmes
► Subscribe!
/ harbowholmes
► Twitter
/ harbowholmes
► Discord
/ discord
► Reddit
/ harbowholmes
#DoctorWho #Torchwood #Review
Like the double upload week? Help make it happen more often by supporting me on patreon!
www.patreon.com/harbowholmes
great review, really enjoyed it....my the gods be with you in reviewing cyberwoman
😅😊😊😊
I thought it was a great decision to have Owen see that memory, because he didn't just see it happen, he felt her emotions. So this guy they've so far showed being sarcastic, kinda uncaring, hes taking alien tech to get laid in bars on his downtime. But then he, out of all of them, feels the first hand what someone being sexually assaulted felt. He's not just doing some 'getting revenge for a wrong woman' sort of thing, _he_ experienced it, emotionally at least, and seems actually traumatized himself.
Much like the decision RTD made to kill off Owen in Reset rather than Ianto. The switch was made because he thought Owen would have a better reaction to being denied the physical things (eating, drinking, sex, etc) than Ianto would, Owen being the real hedonist and most tactile member of the team. Similarly, in Cyberwoman, Ianto was the right character to be so loyal in the face of the impossible--the recovery of a partially converted Cyberman. Owen would have been to medically knowledgeable to believe it was possible.
Huh...in typing this I notice my computer's dictionary knows the word Cyberman, but not Cyberwoman. Interesting...
There's probably more than a little guilt in there too. Like you point out, Owen hasn't always been that careful around consent issues and experiencing that from the other side...
If all of Torchwood was like this and Countrycide it would have been more popular and gotten more series. This is dark and mature and edgy but like it doesn't treat you like an idiot. it doesn't sugar coat the darker and more disturbing issues. the real emotions, the consequences of actions. it's really good. We needed more like this rather than the more campy stuff.
Countrycide was the best episode of the first series, maybe of all of Torchwood.
Namu Griff I’d definitely put Adrift on par with both these episodes.
@@namugriff naa Random Shoes
So many good episodes in those first couple of series!
I say i Prefer this to most and that this feels more adult and mature because it is real, it's gritty, it's dark and edgy but it is also subtle. like the sex gas was just smacking you in the face of "look we are for grown ups" whereas there is a value to subtlety. It's the whole show don't tell thing. but if you think about some popular dramas that have emerged that have more adult themes they are not campy and stuff. They don't treat you like and idiot but at the same time they don't sugar coat anything. Like this is real lives and real emotions. It's relatable and understandable. It has the shock factor whilst at the same time it knows when to be restrained. I feel when it comes to shows with more darker adult themes that's how it should be done.
I love how it establishes how Jack never sleeps and then opens the next episode with Jake waking up from a dream
It was this episode where I first started to really like Owen as a character, cheating with Gwen aside. He’s deeply disturbed yet has a moral standing with the world.
Really enjoying these torchwood videos! They're great.
The way I saw Jack saying he didn't sleep was due to him waiting for the doctor to return to the rift
@dr103 He could do what Gareth (I think) said in a convention and just not sleep and die of exhaustion and then just revive again lol
Eve Myles is an incredible actress. Did you know she thought about giving up acting after Torchwood!? Thank goodness she was made the star of Keeping Faith (2017) which showed what an amazing lead actress she is. She was the main reason I wanted to watch Torchwood.
The way Owen reacts to seeing the memory is very similar to how friends react to me telling them about my awful experience. It really shocked me at the realism
I do want to note he also felt her emotions directly, he didn't just witness it, he felt what she did, on another note, I'm sad to hear you went through anything that may be similar to what lizzy did, I hope you are doing better than you were, even if you were doing fine 2 months ago, when you wrote the comment
@@JTeenmining I know it's why the realism really shocked me. The way they depicted the emotions felt during an incident like that were very realistic especially for someone like Owen to feel
@@nicolebee3283 yeah that's fair, torchwood is something I've been meaning to watch, cause of these reviews, so I'm unable to comment on the comparisons, since, when I was told what had happened to my now ex, I wasn't told who had done it to her and so my anger wasn't given a specific direction, but when it comes to being recounted this kind of thing, I just get... this deep anger flaring... I hope your days only get better each day though
The funniest line in the whoniverse is bernie being chased by Owen and the kid who had his ball nicked shouts "kick his head in"
Torchwood if anything deals more with human nature than the actual aliens.
Yeah
Well so do Doctor Who with Seasons 11-12. Must be a Chibnall thing
As does all great SF.
This episode made Owen be cemented as my favourite Torchwood character, He’s such a complex character.
Underrated series. Made me fall in love with Capaldi. He nails it in children of earth.
its now confirmed by Russell T all three of Capaldi's characters in the dr who universe are connected, he just nailed it, end of!!!
Lorries and Lasagna better become the Harbo Wholmes Torchwood reviews catchphrase.
“Evil Alien Sex Gas” is the name of my psychobilly-hardcore band.
Do children of earth. That shit was twisted
I still remember watching it when it first aired. What a great series that was!
That series was shit
@@Tommy.L4ng Almost everyone else disagrees.
Children Of Earth was the first Torchwood series I watched. I decided to watch it after seeing the advert. The way that all the children were all chanting "We are coming" at the same time got my attention.
The first time I heard that guy saying "Lizzy" I was proper freaked
Cyberwoman Spoilers:
(This is my opinion)
If I'm being honest the only thing that was actually good in Cyberwoman is the fact that it gave Ianto more backstory. Cyberwoman gave Ianto something to grow on in later episodes. During the end it gave Ianto a chance to see a different side of Jack, being more caring and treating Ianto like more then the team. What I liked about it is Ianto had the chance to grow with Jack and although the episode was pretty bad, this element was genuinely pretty good because after this we see how he slowly recovered from Lisa.
Agreed. Cyberwoman is such an awkward episode but you shouldn't skip it because it really is the start of Ianto's developmemt. If you want more on Ianto and Jack's relationship, you should listen to Broken! It's a Big Finish audio that goes through season 1 events from Ianto's pov.
@@heyskywalker Noted! Although I just finished Season 3 so I'll need some recover time if you know what I mean
“We’re ruled by the laws of time, and they will not obey us.” Smart callback
Owens best quote
"THE PRESSURE INCREASES INTO ALL THE INTERNAL ORGANS UNTIL, RAT JAM”
Reviews of torchwood - a dream came true. This one is one of my favorite in this season.
Gosh I can't wait to see your review of season 3
I always saw Ed dying at the end of the episode to be his choice as it looks like he throws himself as Gwen whilst saying 'I knew you'd come for me' as if he doesn't want to deal with the consequences of his actions. It doesn't appear like he stumbles at all, instead walking straight into the knife. Though I may have just interpreted his wrong?
I interpreted that as the same way and didn’t think he’d just stumbled until I saw this, because that would feel really coincidental and unnatural
I assumed he went onto the knife deliberately as well. Part of me sees it as he doesn’t notice the knife though but that’s probably just dodgy interpretation because it makes no sense.
A Torchwood review a day keeps the doctor away (wait thats not right, or is it? the secene with Owen under the bridge is one of his best scenes as he's up to that point just the snarky science guy disconected from his emotions, i've always considered this the moment where he realises that his life is empty and he needs someone else in his life
This is the episode where Gwen should really have been fired. Because if your first reaction to an alien device, which you don't know what it does, is just to press the big button on it, you shouldn't be part of an "elite" team dealing with alien artifacts.
Literally every episode at least one of the team commits a sackable offence though
@@bombsite1847 literally - people need to stop attacking just gwen even though they all do shit
She would be a great companion of the doctor then, considering I think that’s a requirement for traveling with him. You see a button? Press it. Especially if it’s big and red
@@sheepincherubsclothing I hated Gwen my first watch, simply bc even though everyone does some shady shit, she does the most and gets away with the most. She has plot armor from actual consequences. She does what she wants, how she wants to, damn the consequences, not there are really any. And while a team member usually messes up in each episode, she does something in almost every episode.
Natural human curiosity. If we see a mysterious button we press.
Im sure bernie played a similar character in hot fuzz (as in he was in a chase scene jumping through gardens)
Yep! It’s Ben McKay
He's Auntie Jackie's sister's brother's boy
@@christianwise637 hahahaha maybe he is f*** ugly
Alright Pete!
He's fuck ugly
Owen is my favorite, and so I love this episode as the first one where we delve into who he is. From the series two penultimate episode Fragments, we know that Jack recruited Owen because he was so tenacious when something caught his attention. He would not give up on his fiance Katie's tumor and made the doctors run the scans again. After her death when he was told that Jack was a hallucination and Katie had died on the operating table from her tumor (and not an alien in her brain) Owen would not give up. Now we see this same quality for the first time (from our POV).
Oh, and my hubs disagrees with you over the Gwen's-gun-lesson scene. He doesn't see it as harassment, but as the sexiest scene in Torchwood--likely because of Gwen's reaction to Jack touching her.
I love these torchwood reviews. I truly appreciate your hard work!
I found out that the BBC created and official UA-cam channel for torch wood about a year ago this, furthers my theory that they’re working on bringing it back as the channels dedicated to the tv show not the audio series and go’s to the effort of making compilation which would require hiring someone to edit and maintain the channel which is a lot of effort for a show that ended close to ten years ago.
This episode made me a HUGE Owen fan. I disliked his attitude in the prior episodes and was more interested in Jack and Gwen but after this I was totally onside for him.
I'm starting my rewatch of Torchwood now...mainly motivated by these reviews and my dissatisfaction with current era Doctor Who. One funny thing about "sex gas"...seeing it ripped apart (mostly justified) took the edge off of watching it and I enjoyed Day One more than I thought I would. Like the act of calling it out and saying what it is made it more digestible
There are some bad episodes of Torchwood but any of them are far better than any current doctor who.
@@xenon8117 ... I really hope chibnall leaves the show and Jodie stays... she should get a redo
@@JTeenmining I haven't been able to take to her honestly, too highly strung for my liking.
I gotta say I adore seeing this Torchwood content! Currently already re-obsessed with Torchwood, as I have been an uncountable number of times before! This is one of my favourite episodes of series 1, especcially for it’s spotlight of Owen (who became my favourite character at around this episode if not a bit after when I first watched Torchwood). I’m excited to see the rest of this tier list whilst I rewatch series 2 and onwards currently.
I adore these Torchwood videos. Coming in the middle of my own Torchwood binge. Would love to hear your take on some Big finish Torchwood stuff (particularly believe, and the story continues) but, I understand that big finish requires major S T O N K S.
Are you implying the sex gas episode wasn't a serious and mature episode? Dear me.
I love the episode solely because we got the line “Came and went.”
If you watch his review of Day One he actually thinks reasonably highly of that episode, despite the goofy premise.
The more I watch these videos, the more I realise Torchwood was FAR ahead of its time.
It's definitely quite an underrated episode
Also can i just say Gwen shouting "I wasn't hallucinating Owen and I'm not bloody senile" in her thick Welsh accent somehow always makes me laugh.
Torchwood just doesn’t get enough credit, it was so far ahead of its time
I’ve never watched torch wood but I’ve always heard amazing things about it from friends and mostly my brother, but I’ve always thought it sounded a bit cheesy, however, these videos are a great window in and it’s making me want to binge watch the entire show.
Good work 👌
You should! It’s really good! Episode 2 and 4 are...questionable, but the rest are absolutely amazing!!
if you have BBC iPlayer all the episodes are on their.
@@larat8252 I like Cyberwoman, shoot me.
Congratulations on 25K subscribers
keep em coming brother, another analytical banger.
Ease up on the sex gas comparison, it was early days. I remember being so excited to watch Torchwood with my friend and his family. Sex gas was a silent episode ahahahah
Another touch you didnt mention was Ed died with the Same knife
Gwen was a lot calmer than I was when learning how to use a firearm. I did fine shooting twice, but then I went into what the teacher called, “sensory overload”. I had to stop and leave the class early.
Harbo crackin’ out these Torchwood videos here!
Yaz should’ve had more in common with how Gwen was written and played.
Gwen screws up and doubts herself throughout series 1 yet she has more experience than Yaz dealing with situations but she never really does anything wrong. With past companions they have screwed up but the new team never really had chances to fail and learn, things just sort of happened.
Torchwood. Have always loved it. Followed it over to Big Finish and they have done some marvelous work over there; sometimes if you just close your eyes you can imagine the scenes playing out in front of you. Lately, with the pandemic there are just too many good choices (Doctor Who Victorious) and the Torchwood Team isn’t together as much as they had been previously...but I digress. I have watched the entire series multiple times and I never tire of it. This is one show that for the foreseeable future is on my watch once a year list. Yes, there are episodes that deal in darker themes, some in lighter, but overall they deal with people and their relationships despite chasing aliens. Kudos to the whole team.
i think its called timelord victorious
This Torchwood analysis series is the real hidden gem!
Any chance you might review the Torchwood Big Finish stories? Some of them are so fantastically good and I love how it gives them a chance to focus on 1 or two characters.
I was hoping you'd talk about this episode
This episode begun Owen’s slow arc of change - which is, imo, the highlight of the first two seasons.
"the are ruled by the laws of time, and they do not obey us" I..I see what you did there
Series two of Torchwood was mostly pretty good and a lot more mature.
I love that ur doing torchwood, thank youuu, and keep up the great work!!!
Good review of the episode. Also have to note a great performance by Gareth Thomas (Blake, from Blakes's 7) who played the elderly version of the bad guy. A fine actor.
I remember the first time I saw this, old Ed was driving me nuts because I KNEW I had seen him in something recently but couldn’t put my finger on it. I looked it up and I was like, “Yep, that’s why.” He was Blake from Blake’s 7!
Seeing the Late Gareth Thomas in this episode was a highlight for me, after years of remembering him as Roj Blake.
Prior to his appearance in series 4 of "The Expanse", this "Ghost Machine" episode is probably my favorite Burn Gorman work. "Combat" from later in Torchwood series 1 is also quite good.
I like that in retrospect Owen was always who he's revealed to be throughout the show.
It's possible that Owen was affected not only the terror and fear, but the evil too.
I forgot about Britain's no guns law and spent a few seconds wondering why a police officer wouldn't know how to use a gun.
In this episode you can see a grandfather clock that looks just like the masters tardis in deadly assassin. at 3:21 exactly
So are you reviewing all of Torchwood Series 1 before Series 4? Because the Torchwood videos are very neat to watch lol
You are totally right. When I first tried watching Torchwood as it aired I stopped after episode 4 'cos the sex gas and edgy, practically naked cyberwoman put me off. I completely forgot this episode existed up 'til now, despite thinking it was good at the time.
Cyberwoman is good imo. Maybe not the suit but Yanto is great in it and i love the dynamic of Yanto hiding her. It's an interesting cyberman exploration and enotional character study. At least imo.
Can't wait for "Countrycide"
That episode unnerved me as a child and disgusts me now. Really well done.
“Because it made me happy” is the scariest line of series 1 hands down.
This episode really annoyed me because they modern day ticket machines are in the train station in the flashback and I've never been able to get my head how they missed such an oversight
Reality and the ghostly overlay overlapping? Probably just a balls up though.
I love this episode~ It really made Owen more likeable, even if he reacted recklessly.
A good episode, but it's slow and kind of forgettable.
I kind of see that the lighting is due to how far back the events are. The further back the device goes, the weaker the empathic energy is, the darker the ghosts are.
Everytime I think of Torchwood, I think of SHADO.
Hey, Thanks for talking about Torchwood. I got the second season for Christmas and I forgot how good the show could be. Schizophrenic, of course, with great episodes mingling side by side with downright awful ones, but those great episodes are worth watching.
1st
When are you going to review “Partners in Crime”?!
I think he said in February
Loving seeing these reviews! Keep them coming please :)
Love these reviews! Torch wood has such a lovely place in my heart so it’s so nice to revisit them!
Same
These are awesome man, loved torchwood even though I watched it years after it finished. So glad you're making videos on it. Love em!
Watching these videos, I realize that you NEED to cover season 2’s episode “Adam”
Only watched up to Cyberwoman....might start watching again to keep pace with your reviews
Great video Harbo, quick question who's your favourite member of the team, excluding jack?
Adam.
Just kidding (couldn't resist) I don't really think I had a favourite. I both love and hate them all equally. If I'm allowed to count pseudo-members though, Andy and Rhys are my favourite
I spedrun this series when I first watched it.(I started like a week ago and finished 2 days ago)
If you're reading this comment, have an amazing year and continue being an amazing person ❤
The episode where they resurrect owen always stuck with me
Random idea. Would the sex gas be able to kill jack, seeing as it is not only alien but also essentially changes the human biology/body into a food source?
The end of Day One kind of implies Jack is more than the sex gas can handle, so I don't think it could kill him, no
@@HarboWholmes ah interesting. I’m American and don’t have britbox so I haven’t been able to watch the show. Thanks for the info.
Do you think not being written by Chinball helped lift the quality of this episode? ;)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Fragments, Adrift, even Exit Wounds
Surprised this was only a B tbh but really looking forward to defending the despised Cyberwoman episode, an episode I actually like.
Never got the hate for this show. It's already one of my favorite shows of all time and I much prefer it to Doctor Who, even early Nuwho. Got tired of the same old
"oh no, someone is in danger"
Cue Doctor tinkering with some random device or using his screwdriver to magically save the day. I loved how Torchwood couldn't save everyone and sometimes had to sacrifice people, even children, for the greater good.
Subscribed and ready for more exploration of my favourite show.
You like Torchwood more than Doctor Who 😦
@@MovieMagic515 Yes.
@@WierdArtistMarcell Fair enough. Torchwood is definitely good but i feel Doctor Who has way more good episodes in all its 38 Series.
@@MovieMagic515 i am not saying I don't love Dr Who. I do. Especially Troughton. He is my favourite doctor.
@@WierdArtistMarcell Fair enough. The 9th Doctor is my favourite and Donna is my favourite companion.
4:56 I’ve never understood this scene - how is Jack so much bigger than the rest of them?!
He’s bigger on the outside?
He’d likely take that as flirting not I think about it.
I'm going to ask this as nicely as I can, because I enjoy your videos and want you to only get better;
Do you have to say every single sentence in the exact same cadence?
Rude.
You just can't get past the Sex Gas, can you?
Please mention "sex gas" in every single Torchwood review you do
Love this vid, but a following episode, if not THE following episode after this, shows Jack sleeping and waking up, he lied
i love the torchwood videos you make
Dead man walking has got to be my favourite
I remember that I loved this episode only to be insulted by Cyberwoman.
Cyberwoman is good imo.
Russel T. Davies: I'm gonna make a Doctor Who spin-off!
Chris Chibnall: Not if I have anything to say about it!
I never thought that Owen wanted to kill Ed, I just think that he wanted to scare the shit out of him.
the trench coat of leadership! very Davies.
Love a trench coat. 13 got a long coat but it doesn’t have the same impact.
@@xenon8117 I disagree.
Can we get sex gas mentioned in all reviews with a nice segue, I am waiting with anticipation
I thought Ed deliberately killed himself on that knife... Just my opinion
Love these Torchwood videos!
Can you also do videos on the Sarah Jane adventures
He said he grew up with the show and doesn't want to review it. I guess he's watched it as a kid and feels watching it as an adult and analazing it would ruin his childhood memories of the show
5:15 Don’t you mean below them?
I relate to this episode being psychic. I see the past and future. It makes me powerless. I want to help people who I see stuff happening to. It cam be a gift or a curse
Can't wait for Children of Earth