2.3 To The Last Man

[SiHart]

This week's episode isn't written by Joe either, but it looked intriguing from the preview last week...

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

There don't seem to be any monsters in it either.

Has everyone read about this in Torchwood Magazine?

[Dave Tudor]

Radio Times says it's the best episode of this series so far.

[Milky Tears]

That means it's an automatic 2/10.

[Rob McCow]

After DigitalSpy gave last week's episode five stars, there's no-where to go! Looks like we're guaranteed another series of Torchwood.

[SiHart]

Well if Primeval can get a third series, I don't see why Torchwood can't.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

Fantastic! I really enjoyed that. The stuff in the ghost hospital was superbly creepy, kudos to Nokky and the guy who played Tommy for some great emotional performances, and it all just about made sense. I love time travel type plots.

Brilliantly made - looks like Helen Raynor's natural home for writing is "Torchwood". Ace!

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Yay! It was brilliant. Even the DNA-Time-Travel-Psychic-Projection-Bicycle-Helmet rubbish wasn't enough to ruin it!

Given how harsh I'm being on Torchwood, I think this one was a cracker.

[SiHart]

What a wonderful episode this was. It was moving, gave Tosh a chance to shine and was an intriguing and different premise for an episode. Small, human scale stories seem to suit the series a lot better than the big epic ones. All the best episodes so have concentrated on this theme I think.
I particularly liked Owen looking out for Tosh, after seeing that way it might for her and Tommy would be similar to what happened to him and that woman in Out of Time last year. That was a lovely piece of continuity.

I also felt that Tommy was sympathetically played too, which helped a great deal. The whole relationship between Tosh and Tommy was touchingly done and seemed real. It seemed very in character for Tosh to obsess about someone who was nigh on untouchable.

Shame they never had kids though cos they could have called them Toshy and Tomiko.

Great stuff.

Si xx

[duncan]

Another cracking episode. It reminded my of The Doctor and Madame De Pompadour in The Girl in the Fireplace. Tosh really shone in this episode as did the actor playing the Soldier in 1918.

[Si Hunt]

Shame they never had kids though cos they could have called them Toshy and Tomiko.

Am I the only one who's wondered if this might be the twist? It would be very "Torchwood" for one of them to have kids fathered by a time anomaly!

Si.

[SiHart]

I hadn't thought of that Si, but it does sound like the kind of thing they might consider...
I can just hear RTD saying "Well, we've never had a member of Torchwood get pregnant before..."

I also predict that Tosh and Owen will get it together before the end of the season...

Si xx

[cyberchris35]

I like this episode because it gave another member of the team a chance to shine. I think everything about this episode was great and it was well acted by Tosh and Tommy (Anthony Lewis). The fact that there was no monsters in it was a plus because it shows that you can still do good Torchwood without all the monsters and blood and guts.
Before I end this I will give one point to the first person who can name the soap that Antony Lewis was on.

[Perry Vale]

Much better than the previous two, with some good acting from Anthony Lewis. Wasn't too keen on the story though, to be honest, as there didn't actually seem to be one when you strip it down. Unless as suggested, it's to get her pregnant.

[Si Hunt]

Before I end this I will give one point to the first person who can name the soap that Antony Lewis was on.

Emmerdale! He played Mark, the brother of the character played by Vicky Binns (Ollie), who of course also went onto nice things in Corrie.

Si.

[Jason Thompson]

Wasn't too keen on the story though, to be honest, as there didn't actually seem to be one when you strip it down.

The simple answer then is not to strip it down and to just enjoy all the elements that were presented on the screen. It's one of those episodes where the point isn't so much the plot as the characters and their actions/reactions, much like School Reunion not being about the Krillitane invasion but about Sarah, Rose, the Doctor and Mickey. It's a character piece. I rather enjoyed it.

And Owen and Tosh are definitely being set up for a romantic pairing off somewhere along the line....

[Si Hunt]

Didn't actually seem to be a story? Surely the story was the mysterious message from the future recieved in 1918 leading to Torchwood freezing the young soldier and waiting to find out what his destiny was, which was revealed when the time breaks started occuring and present day Torchwood realising that his presence in the present was what stopped the past breaking through and that he had to be sent back to complete the circle. That was the story.

Si.

[Perry Vale]

That was the story.

Indeed it was, but I couldn't see the point. To me it was a rather contrived plot device to set up the Toshiko falls in love with man out of time shenanigans. Why couldn't Torchwood 2009 team have simply given the Rift Manipulator to one of the 1918 Torchwood team, when the time zones converged? Surely they'd have had a better idea what to do with it anyway?

I know you shouldn't dissect time paradox stories too closely, but this one just didn't grab me. I couldn't help thinking they had an ending, and came up with a story to get them to it.

[Wayne]

Radio Times says it's the best episode of this series so far.

They were right.
I really enjoyed this one. Some really nice performances. Especially from Naoko Mori & Anthony Holmes, obviously.
I tend to like character driven stuff, so i couldn't give a monkeys about the story or science or whatever. It worked for me. Great stuff!

[Larry]

best of the series so far just would of liked to of seen a bit more of the 1918 Torchwood.

[Jason Thompson]

[QUOTE=Perry Vale;90800]Indeed it was, but I couldn't see the point. To me it was a rather contrived plot device to set up the Toshiko falls in love with man out of time shenanigans.[quote]

And why not? That's better than Out Of Time, in which a random rift event caused three people from the 50s to end up in 2008... and that's it. The rest of the episode is about the characters, just like the focus of this one.

Why couldn't Torchwood 2009 team have simply given the Rift Manipulator to one of the 1918 Torchwood team, when the time zones converged? Surely they'd have had a better idea what to do with it anyway?

The point was to 'stitch' time with someone who existed in both time streams at the same time, so they had to take someone from 1918 and freeze him so he also exists 'properly' in 2009. He is then the only one who can stitch the rift together.

I couldn't help thinking they had an ending, and came up with a story to get them to it.

Does something make that an invalid way of writing a story? Read some of the stuff about how writers came up with some Doctor Who stories. There's always a seed of an idea, whether its an ending, an image or whatever.

[Perry Vale]

And why not? That's better than Out Of Time....

I didn't like that one much either.

The point was to 'stitch' time with someone who existed in both time streams at the same time, so they had to take someone from 1918 and freeze him so he also exists 'properly' in 2009. He is then the only one who can stitch the rift together.

Yes I get that, but it's just silly. How did they know that? Have they tried stitching it another way? No. Maybe they looked it up on Page 43 of Torchwood's "How to fix time anomolies" manual? It showcases exactly my point (imo), the story manoeuvred to fit the ending.

Does something make that an invalid way of writing a story?

Invalid? That's up to the individual. For me though, it doesn't make for a great story. Last nights just seemed very unoriginal to me, and I knew from the first couple of minutes, what the ending would be. There were no twists, and no surprises within.

[Si Hunt]

How did they know that?

Because they saw the future before it happened when Tommy and Tosh appeared in 1918, that was the whole point!

Si.

[Antony Cox]

I've just watched this and rather enjoyed it!

[Dirk Gently]

I really liked this one. It was character driven & likable. I loved the start, Torchwood 1918 sounded like the Famous Five with the way they were talking & that made me smile.

I found the fact that they were knocking down the Hospital & yet left the electricity on distracting to be honest & I don't expect anyone else to have noticed but I did immediately, they just wouldn't. They also tend to Blow up large buildings, not take a sledge hammer to them. So it wasn't perfect but very enjoyable, the best one yet.