2.1: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Oksana likes Torchwood because there's less weepy moments than in new Who!!!
I though ep1 was pretty good overall. James Marsters was very good and funny. 'Twas a little confusing at times but entertaining none the less

[Rob McCow]

Here is the best review of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang performed by a weasel puppet on the internet that has ever been seen by these all too human eyes!

Torchweasel!

w00t.

[Dirk Gently]

Harsh but fair. Funny too.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Ianto's suddenly gay now is he? Or is Captain Jack just able to turn anyone's head?

[Dirk Gently]

Ianto has always had a thing for Jack. Did you not watch the 1st series after that cyberwoman junk? I'd understand it if that put you off.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I watched it. But I remember it about as well as I remember Primeval now I do remember Ianto having a girlfriend who he desperately loved and went well beyond the call of duty to try and save though. Seems a bit odd to do that if he just wanted a bit of cock all along

In fact... isn't Reece the only regular who HASN'T had a moment of gayness now? And that's probably only because he never gets to leave the flat set.

[Dirk Gently]

Don't worry, I'm sure Reece will join Torchwood this year & end up with Jack in a three-way with Gwen.

[Ralph]

In fact... isn't Reece the only regular who HASN'T had a moment of gayness now? And that's probably only because he never gets to leave the flat set.

Yes I suspect it is the case!

[Rob McCow]

Has Gwen expressed an interest in another girl? And we haven't even had any autophillia on the Torchwood SUV yet!

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Has Gwen expressed an interest in another girl? And we haven't even had any autophillia on the Torchwood SUV yet!

I'm sure she snogged Toshiko. Or someone. While under the influence of an alien pheromone. Or something.

And we also had a reference to dog-sex the other night too.

[enzo1701]

Yeah the alien sex monster seduced Gwen before stripping Owen.

[MinaHarker]

I enjoyed it. I must admit that it's hard not to see James Marsters as Spike - especially with all the violence and super-strength (holding a guy by the throat with one arm out straight). In fact Jason and I came up with an elaborate way for him to survive the end of Angel, time travel and meet Captain Jack in the future.

The only problem, really, was that there was too much talking and not enough shooting. Why let the bad guys start monologuing? I'd have shot that blowfish way before Jack reappeared. Same goes for John and Gwen being stuck together. We know John is a murderer, we know he tried to kill everyone, so why not just shoot him and then deal with the bomb/handcuffs issue? Plus his constant talking would have got on my wick after a while.

I should be in Torchwood - I'd teach 'em a thing or two!

[MinaHarker]

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.

*sigh* It's like The Impossible Planet all over again in our house.......

[WhiteCrow]

Ianto has always had a thing for Jack. Did you not watch the 1st series after that cyberwoman junk? I'd understand it if that put you off.

I'm still trying to decide if the line "When we we up a dog was pissing on the tent", is a masterpiece of social realism, grounding the moment in the everyday or just so laughibly naff ... puts me off camping in France though.

[Jason Thompson]

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

Dave

We're referring to his apparently sudden change to a man looking for someone to settle down with rather than just pull for a night of fun, and being generally less of a slimy git. In series 1 the first episode saw him 'borrow' some alien pheromones to pick up a couple in a club. He and Gwen had what seemed to be a purely sexual relationship (certainly his initiating of it by holding her against a tree and asking her when she last came so hard she forgot where she was isn't a very subtle way of starting a relationship!). When the woman from the 1950s came along his first response was to suggest they should be f***-buddies. This is what I see as the turning point, because he rather unexpectedly then fell in love with her, and the suggestion was that he's never had that happen before. It was a vision of her that made him want to open the rift at the end of the last series. Personally I think that makes his statements to Tosh about going on the pull for sexual kicks not really being very fulfilling or getting him anything worth having, and now wanting to find someone he has more in common with and can actually have a relationship with, make perfect sense

[Paul Monk]

It wasn't bad. James Marsters was great but if it wasn't for him I think the episode would have been a little bit ordinary. And I'm beginning to find myself agreeing with Jason. DNA magubbins are the latest get us out of a fix thing in tv sci-fi. Massively abused like radioactivity in the 50's and 60's.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

and megabyte modems in the 80s

[Dave Tudor]

Very belated, but I thought it was a decent enough opener, not mind-blowing, and, frankly, a bit jumbled, but plenty of humour and excitement, in fairly equal measures, and a sparkling guest turn from James Marsters ensured a welcome return for 'Torchwood'.

The regulars are far more appealing this time, but my main criticism was that the episode fell into the same trap as the early episodes of the first series: believing that 'adult' means lots of gratuitous sex-and-snogging. OK, so 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' (despite its title!) didn't lay it on quite as thickly as those early episodes, but I believe 'Torchwood' is at its more mature best when it doesn't rely so heavily on such things.

Judging by the trailer, the rest of the series does look very exciting, and with what seems to be a 'story arc' (oh, how I hate that phrase!) already hinted at in 'Grace/Grey' (or whatever it was) I've got high hopes for this second series.

[Rob McCow]

I've got high hopes for this second series.

I hear the division bell riniging.

[Jon Masters]

Finally saw this today - hmm, seems to have unlearnt lots of the good things which made the end of series 1 much better than the start. Someone needs to watch the Incredibles to cut out all the awful monologueing, and the characters seem to have become light entertainment versions of themselves. Marsters was good, but not that good, and there was too much "this happens then this happens then this happens " to it instead of a decent story.

The whole plot about the artifact felt a bit tacked on, and clearly made no logical sense even ignoring the DNA travesty. BTW, if someone takes you hostage by linking you with handcuffs, kill them and then cut their hand off. Job done, move on.

I'll give it 4 cannisters out of 10.

[Pip Madeley]

I had a look at the 'family' pre-watershed version - I'm very surprised they showed the blowfish's brains splattering against the curtains at 7pm! Infact they only cut two minutes, and most of that was just shots of people crashing to the ground...

I also noticed there was no BBC logo at the start of the watershed version.

[Dirk Gently]

I noticed that they cut Tosh saying that the Blowfish had Cocaine in it's system.

[FlyingBeastie]

Kay, finally saw it yesterday (BBC America FINALLY aired it!) And I thought it was quite good. I think James Marsters did a very good job distancing himself from Spike (in fact, the English accent he used was much different to that of Spike's). The character of Captain John Hart was very good, and I like that Tosh seems to now have more to do in the show.

The thing between Gwen n' Jack is kinda "eh", cos' it's like "Choose her or Ianto to go after". Cos' really, wtf? For Gwen its either Owen, Rhys, or Jack! Pick one, please!

And what was up with Ianto getting all bitchy all of a sudden and protective of Jack? He seemed to gay it up out of nowhere (which is fine with this hag ) but he went from getting all mopey n' wifey with Lisa to all of a sudden wifey and overprotective with Jack? They could've paced that dynamic a bit slower.

I too was confused with the Blowfish connection, but it was a brilliant opening, I liked that a lot!

I quite find the Grey mystery very exciting. It'd be awesome for me if Grey turned out to be who I think it is.

But all in all, it was very entertaining and a great start to the series.

Oh and I agree with Tudor- just cos' you're a "mature" show, shouldn't mean everyone's always snogging n' f*cking all the time lol

[Dave Tudor]

Oh and I agree with Tudor- just cos' you're a "mature" show, shouldn't mean everyone's always snogging n' f*cking all the time lol

You put it so much more eloquently than me, my dear.

[Philipnet]

The bit in confidential when John says "nobody expected us to kiss. They all thought we were going to head butt each other" was totally off.
You two were so going to kiss; I was only slightly surprised that James Masters agreed to do it.


Oh, and by the way, it was so the Angel and Spike show.
I mean James Masters was still trying to do his "I'm an English man" accent and there's nothing like a quiet brooding male lead, dressed in black, seeking redemption, looking for the right path to take!

Sheesh, you might as well got Josh Wedon to write it!


P.S. Nice to see Torchwood not taking itself too seriously