2.1: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

[Rob McCow]

Marsters was the only real good point in this, save the odd funny line of dialogue. "Help me Obi-Wan"...

That bit made me squeal because I thought it was so f***ing awful. Why would a Time Agent do that in a cheeky way as if he's never used a hologram communicator before? And copying the body language exactly...
The other big pop culture reference, the playing of Song 2 by Blur during the barfight was equally crass. That song is ten years old!

Tosh seemed to be behaving really out of character.

I dunno, after the whole lesbian-mind-readers episode I thought she got a bit more ballsy. Can't believe she's still chasing Owen though. Daft woman!

Also, I was struggling to hear some of the dialogue - what on earth did Captain John say at the end that seemed to perturb Jack so much? Sounded like "I found Grace"?!

LARGE PRINT FOR JONNO'S BENEFIT: I THINK HE SAID "I FOUND GREY". I'll wager it's Jack's Dad. Or he might have been refering to the grimmer tone of the previous series.

By the way, do all the Time Agents hold the rank of Captain? In fact, Jack only assumed the title because he was impersonating the 'real' Captain Jack Harkness. So why is John a Captain too?

I look forward to the arrivals of Captain Jim Heron, Captain Jeremiah Howard and Captain Jennifer Hepesh later in the series

[enzo1701]

Before I post, please remember I LOVED the first series of Torchwood. (Even Countrycide).

But Kiss Kiss Bang Bang felt a little anti-climactic. I loved the first couple of minutes with the fish in the car. Perfect re-introduction for Jack and as for the "story so far" references, I know exactly why they did all that. Remember that next week there'll be a cut down edited version for the kiddywinks. This will be their first exposure to Torchwood so they need to know what it's all about too.

Owen's sudden change? Felt a bit forced to me. James Marsters was good but can't help but think he was playing to type as it was exactly the same character Spike was.

Did anyone notice though that John showed up in the "coming up" bit at the end? I wonder if that trail wasn't just for the next episode but for the whole season and Captain John will show up again.

Must admit I didn't notice the Torchwood branded guns but then I didn't notice Torchwood on the Land Rover until about half way through the first season.

Funny bits:
"Excuse me but have you seen a blowfish in a sports car?"
"Bloody Torchwood"
"That's a poodle"
"Help me Obi Wan" (sorry but I did find that one funny)
"TAXI!"

Not fantastic but not awful. 6/10. Room for improvement.

[Anthony Williams]

well, we loved it! More on our thoughts later, when I'm back from my lecture...

S'NICE!

Ant x

[Jason Thompson]

I want to know what Jason and Jon thought of the "tiny injection of blood changing DNA" science bit.

It was bollocks. Even assuming an alien device can identify someone from their DNA, there are billions of cells in the body, each with a copy of the entire genome. A few ml of blood, a tiny fraction of which has DNA-containing cells, should barely make a dent in the identification. There'd be more DNA left in whatever meat or salad he last ate than in that syringe. This also assumes that the device is so stupid that it can't tell that it hasn't let go of the original target so can't now be attached to someone else.

The rest of the episode? Better than the last series. The info-dump dialogue was a bit shite and obvious. The sexual stuff between John and Jack was this episode's 'look, we're not a family show' thing, and was entirely superfluous. They could have just worked together in the Time Agency and the plot would have been unaffected.

Owen's change of character I found quite believable. At the start of the first series he was out on the pull all the time, just out to get his kicks, and his relationship with Gwen was based more on sex than anything, but then he fell in love with that 1950s woman, and that would have been a changing experience for him, I imagine.

Paralysing lip gloss. Wasn't it daft of Jack to snog him on seeing him for the first time, or indeed at all, since he knows about this trick?

A solid start, I thought. Let's see where the show goes from here.

[Jason Thompson]

what was the reason they couldn't seperate Gwen & Hart from the handcuffs? Were they special alien ones?

Yes. Unbreakable, and deadlocked, so no way to get them off without the key. As with the Doctor and the sonic screwdriver, the guys in this show have so many ways of getting into/out of/around things that they have to make a big deal about something being indestructible/unopenable to get around this for the sake of dramatic tension.

[Perry Vale]

Did anyone notice though that John showed up in the "coming up" bit at the end? I wonder if that trail wasn't just for the next episode but for the whole season and Captain John will show up again.

The trail was for the whole season, but I'm pretty sure I saw his name in the Radio Times for next week's episode......

In fact I've just checked the RT website, he is listed for ep.2, but so is the blowfish, so I think it might be a mistake.

[Ralph]

I watched this last night and what struck me was the sexual agenda which seemed to be getting flogged hard. It's very forced,must be there in the script and I find it jarring. Should the series really be called Queer as Folk 2 - the alien adventure?

[Rob McCow]

New Doctor Who? Gay Agenda? Apparently the Daily Mail carried a warning in its review about the gay kissing.

[Ralph]

I feel a bit guilty criticising it for this, is it to catch up on lost time when these relationships never featured on TV?

[Dirk Gently]

Well although I found the Jack/John kiss unappealing it kind of showed that their past was both 'loving' & 'violent' in equal measure & had more relevance than in season 1's episodes.

The start was fun & I enjoyed it, 'Bloody Torchwood'.
I loved the power struggle brewing back at the Hub but that didn't go anywhere & it looks like they've all just fallen back in to place following Jack like a bunch of sheep. I liked the Owen change of character, he's far more likable, as is Tosh. Ianto is still boring & does indeed look out of his depth out side of the Hub.
James Masters ruled this episode, John B was out camped & everyone was out acted with the exception of Eve Miles who was superb! Her taking the lead role in Jack's absence was what I believed would happen. She might have been the new kid in the first season but she was the one with police experience & therefore street experience.

The episode was good on the whole, the reboot was expected & wasn't overly long. In fact the best bit was that it was a lot better than the first episode of the first series.

The biggest turn off for me was the crap cop out at the end. Everything else worked until the last 2 minutes!

And I'm with Jonno, that last statement was hard to hear:
"I found Grey...Greys...Graeme...Graham...Grace...?

So yeah, not a bad start. Loved the season preview, can't wait.

[Pip Madeley]

.....

[enzo1701]

The trail was for the whole season, but I'm pretty sure I saw his name in the Radio Times for next week's episode......

In fact I've just checked the RT website, he is listed for ep.2, but so is the blowfish, so I think it might be a mistake.

I know why this is now.

Earlier in the day, they show the edited version of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and it says "for cast, see 9pm showing"... so it looks like they've amalgamated both casts into the one. Seemingly like what they do when they publish cast lists for soaps...

not that I ever read them...

[Rob McCow]

Why have we got spoilers on this thread?

I'll just assume Pip said:

It's.... Monty Pythons Flying Circus

[Pip Madeley]

If you want me to delete the spoiler, I will, although it's been blanked out anyway.

[cyberchris35]

I agree with most of the comments episode 1 was good in places and bad in some. I thought it was good at the begining with this fishman in the car and Gwen ask the woman if she had seen him quite funny. It was obvious that it was also an episode made to bring any new views upto speed with Torchwood. All in all I would give this episode about 7 to 8 out of 10 and I can't wait for the rest of the series.
Just on little aside I just go given to me today the book with Doctor Who season 1 shooting scripts and it got me thinking that both Tosh and Jack know the Doctor but neither know that so wouldn't it be nice to have Tosh just drop it into a conversation and see if Jack's reaction.

[Larry]

well I really enjoyed that much better then most of the episodes in series 1 .

[Jonno]

I hope my avatar isn't upsetting you, Pip! Having seen it, I thought it would make a continuing theme from my previous one (the Doctor and Astrid kissing)!

I'm quite relieved to find 24 hours on that I wasn't the only one that couldn't make out that final bit of dialogue (yay, I'm not deaf!) and thanks to those that have advised about it (though I haven't read any of the blanked out spoilers).

I'm also not surprised to see that I'm not alone in not taking instantly to the lighter tone, i.e. those of us who enjoyed the dark, gritty feel of S1 aren't so sure about this. But, as others have said, it's early days yet and the trailer at the end bodes well.

[FlyingBeastie]

Fish. Spike?

Can't wait till the 26th for all this to make sense lol

I caught the trailer that came after the episode on youtube, though. Looks good (especially Adam getting it on with Tosh n' taunting Jack...me loves the wee Blythe!!! )

[Si Hunt]

Why have we got spoilers on this thread?

So people can read what others thought of the episode that's just been on without blowing surprises for the weeks to come?

The post seemed to suggest that the blacked out bit explained who the "Grey" character will turn out to be, which I'm jolly glad I haven't had ruined for me yet as I'd like to find it out when I'm supposed to.

Si.

[FlyingBeastie]

*nods*

[Pip Madeley]

Probably not a good idea to post spoilers, given mine had complaints.

[Rob McCow]

I don't think we should have spoilers for future episodes in the episode review threads. I could always start a 'spoiler-free' thread if that would help?

I know the text is blacked out, but it's still all to easy to roll over it by accident.

[Milky Tears]

It must be good if Nathan hates it!

I'll now add 8 to my wanking.

8/10

[WhiteCrow]

We finally watched this today - and to be honest it was miles - no make that 1.6 kilometres better than I'd expected. Generally how I feel Torchwood should have been from the beginning.

A nice mix of drama and a bit of humour mixed in there.

Alas the starter 5 minutes reminded me of several first episodes of a new season of Buffy, where Buffy has gone AWOL/to hell and the Scoobies are fighting the good fight without her. Unfortunate in an episode to feature Spike!

But I think the bad Captain John is an interesting addition, a Master to Captain Jack's Doctor. I think it looks like many a future story will be "wa ha ha I am the evil genius behind this silly series of events". I'm hoping for more of the same anyway.

Not groundbreaking but good fun!

[davethesailor]

I think I kind of get it, but what exactly do you all mean when you talk about Owens change of character?

Dave