Episodes 12 & 13: Captain Jack Harkness/End of Days

[Larry]

I started to have my doubts, we hear a TARDIS but do we hear the TARDIS. Granted the Doctors hand in the jar starts reacting, but what is it reacting to? The machinery it's hooked up could be keyed to decting the Doctors DNA, but it could also be looking for Time Lord DNA. Or just Arton energy in general.

What I saying is, it may not be the Doctor in his TARDIS that has come and taken Jack away.

On the other hand I may just be overthinking this.

ah but now your suggesting that the Time Lords are not all dead - but do we really want to open that can of worms - trust me it was The Doctor,

[Doctor Vendetta]

How like the beast from Satan Pit was that thing though. Come on writers, a little bit more originality there would have been good.

Isn't Abbadon the Son of the Beast though? I imagine they'd look a bit alike...

[Milky Tears]

The Bad Wolf graffiti, "BIG GAY AGENDA!!" and another bloody "Saxon" reference (see also Love & Monsters, The Runaway Bride) stuck in my throat. Is Saxon going to be all over Who Series Three?

"OMG! Jack left in the Master's TARDIS at the end of the episode. Billis was clearly the Master."

[WhiteCrow]

For some reason I thought Saxon was supposed to = BNP???

As in "white anglo-saxons only".

[Wayne]

I stayed up & watched these in the end. Blimey! Pretty intense stuff! Great performances. Especially Myles & Barrowman.
Too tired to say much now, Just a couple of quick comments. I thought the end of Captain Jack Harkness was quite touching, although as Andrew says; a little unlikely for 1941.
'End of Days' was a bloody cracking ep! Definitely preferred it to 'CJH', (though i liked both a lot) but i definitely need to watch it again, 'coz i didn't quite get it all.
Brilliant finale, that's all i can say! And a totally intriguing ending!

Edited to add: And yes, Bilis was excellent!

[Rob McCow]

OK - get the negatives out of the way first. Torchwood seems to dance a fine line between being cool and being silly. For me, the appearance of a giant space Godzilla demon at the end was out of proportion to the rest of the episode and rather silly. And having Gwen kiss Jack to wake him up was also... not cool.

That aside, these two episodes of Torchwood were fantastic. Captain Jack Harkness is (imo) by far the best episode of the season. Romantic and touching without being silly at all, it was spot on. Nice to see an unusual pairing of characters as well, with Tosh and Jack carrying the action in the 1940's.

I hope we get to see Mr.Billis again I didn't think he was going to be the Master. No, I thought he was going to be the latest William Hartnell impersonator to be the first Doctor Who. Old guy, slicked back hair, quite obstreporous - isn't it obvious?

Perhaps not.

[Trudi G]

But hay the best bit bits were at the end when Jack said "the right kind of Doctor" followed by the sound of the TARDIS. I had all ways hoped and wondered if The Doctor would appear in sum way at the final episode and I think the way it was done just hearing but not seeing the TARDIS was a perfect way of ending it.

I actually squealed out loud when i heard the TARDIS!

[SiHart]

These two episodes were a good end to what's been a patchy series. I think they really need to up their game for next year though. There are many aspects of the series that could do with tightening up.

Si xx

[Trudi G]

I think the series has got better as it went along, and as far as British sci fi is concerned, i think it's fantastic!

[Andrew Curnow]

I have enjoyed it, and maybe it's because it's Doctor Who (sort of) that I'm putting it under the microscope a bit more, I don't know. But just comparing it to, say, "Life on Mars" which was probably the only other BBC venture into any slightly fantasy territory in 2006, and it pales in comparison. "Torchwood" is OK, it's sometimes been very good, but I don't think it has that 'wow' factor. Not yet...

[Anthony Williams]

well, the finale was fantastic!

I really enjoyed both episodes, and Bilis Manger was a fantastic villain.

and the closing moments of End of Days.... ooooooh!

I'll post a proper review once i've had some proper sleep and can think straight!

Ant x

[WhiteCrow]

"Torchwood" is OK, it's sometimes been very good, but I don't think it has that 'wow' factor. Not yet...

Well put. So far it's lacked it's own unique flavour which makes it Torchwood and not X-Files: Cardiff. Here's hoping Season 2 keeps the progress going.

[Perry Vale]

Finally showed some great potential, best episodes of the series, bar 'Small Worlds'. However each episode managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, I thought. I have a bit more hope for S2 now.

[Si Hunt]

I really enjoyed the final two episodes, and overall I think this series has been fantastic! I've really enjoyed it.

Lots wasn't explained in the last episodes - why did Bilis want to summon the beast? for example (and actually, the sudden appearance of a big machine for opening the rift was such a huge contrivance that it was just totally able to be overlooked!) - but for once it didn't seem to matter. Jack said the creature would find him "indigestable", so I took from that that it was trying to kill him over and over again, and eventually he managed to turn its power back on it and destroy it. I took "son of the beast" quite literally, and assumed this was a creature similar to the one we saw in "The Satan Pit". They are probably Chronovores, as they seem to exist outside of time.

I wish these two episodes had been given a night each, as the first one was lovely and poignant and also very clever, and deserved a chance to shine on its own. Bilis was fantastic - what a weird, funny little actor! I dearly hope he comes back as he was so watchable.

I'd have preferred it if Gwen's b/f had stayed dead though. Just why did closing the rift bring him back to life? But that aside, the communication accross time, the romance of the two Jack's, the explosive climax... who'd have thought five years ago that we'd get a monster as good as Abadon? What an incredible nights viewing!

Si.

[Perry Vale]

If Bilis wanted them to open the Time Rift, why did he scribble out the last three digits?

[Si Hunt]

Opening the rift with Sato's equation would have been "safe", hence the scrabble to do so. She'd worked out the exact part that needed to be open to get them back, rather like knowing the coordinates of a small door. Without her calculations, they needed to open the entire rift, letting God knows what through, which is what Bilis wanted and why he obscured the codes.

Si.

[Perry Vale]

Opening the rift with Sato's equation would have been "safe", hence the scrabble to do so. She'd worked out the exact part that needed to be open to get them back, rather like knowing the coordinates of a small door. Without her calculations, they needed to open the entire rift, letting God knows what through, which is what Bilis wanted and why he obscured the codes.

I know what you're saying, it sort of makes sense, but not quite. They DID open the entire rift to get them back, didn't they? So why did Bilis need them to reopen it again in the next episode? I'm still missing part of the reason, maybe I need to watch it again.

[Si Hunt]

With regard to why it had to be opened twice, perhaps it had to stay open for a certain amount of time for Abadon to come through? Certainly there was a risk portrayed in Owen opening the rift the first time, but the fact they got through safely suggests the danger didn't happen - they DID sneak back through without any harm, apart from the 'splintering'. So the rift needed to be open again, for longer, to let Abadon through.

Alternatively, we don't really know if Bilis was simply a human who aquired his 'time walking' gift when the rift first developed or opened, or something more sinister. If the former, perhaps he hadn't worked out how to summon Abadon, or communicated with him, by the time the rift was closed after Jack went through (it's difficult to remember that there was supposed to be a week gap between the episodes). Perhaps when the rift opened the first time, it awoke Abandon, and when it opened the second time, he came to Earth.

It's still not clear why Bilis wanted to wreak such havoc on the Earth though.

Si.

[Nicky74]

I liked both the epsidoes, Torchwood has ended on a high.

[Anthony Williams]

I know what you're saying, it sort of makes sense, but not quite. They DID open the entire rift to get them back, didn't they? So why did Bilis need them to reopen it again in the next episode? I'm still missing part of the reason, maybe I need to watch it again.

previously, they opened the rift with most of Tosh's equation, so the damage was minimal, and obviously it wasn't opened in a way to let the demon through.

however, the second time, the rift was just opened in its entirity, allowing Abaddon through.

Ant x

[Rob McCow]

I thought the first time they used the rift manipulator, which delicatly opens a small and precise surgical cut in the Time Rift, but in the second case they blew it wide open.

[Andrew Curnow]

When it finally got switched on, did anybody else think that the rift manipulator going up and down was a bit TARDIS console-y?

[Alex]

I did. And liked the subtle nod. Unless it's just us two being mad, of course!

Anyway, I just thought I'd chime in with a "Yep, liked this a lot" style post, the series really ended on a high, and I finally got the big epic story that I'd been waiting for.

I've a feeling Jack won't be back for S.2, and Gwen will take command...though I've read no spoilers so have no idea whether this is the case or not...The way the series developed, it would make sense though...

[Dave Lewis]

I've not read anyone else's posts about these two episodes, because I don't want them to prejudice my initial thoughts having watched them with a blinding hangover this lunchtime... but maybe that will have prejudiced my thoughts. Maybe I should follow Jack's advice and stick to the water next time.

Captain Jack Harkness

This was, in places, a stunning episode. It felt a bit rushed, rather in the way that some new Doctor Who does, just because there was so much to do and say in such a short space of time. But that's only a minor gripe, really. It was well written, and the moment we met the real Captain Jack was brilliant... in fact, the best bit of Combat was the "next time" teaser and the moment when the two Jacks met. Seeing it in its proper place was even better, and all the stuff in 1941, particularly the real Jack's struggle with his sexual identity, and the final, wonderful, kiss, was excellent. Matt Rippy was a great Captain Jack, and we saw the person that "our" Captain Jack is always trying to be, the person he aspires to be, the hero that he doesn't perceive himself as able to live up to. This was possibly John Barrowman's finest forty five minutes of the series yet, by the way... you just wanted to give him a hug at the end, and not let go for a long time.

What let this episode down a bit was the stuff back in 2006... Owen and Ianto have obviously never got on, and while this should have made their arguing about opening the rift all the more convincing, it didn't... it was uncomfortable to watch, although Owen's riposte about Ianto being Jack's "part time shag" was quite amusing. However, when Ianto shot him, I was quite impressed. Let's be fair, over the past couple of episodes, I've been wanting to do that myself. All the scientific bits about using equations to open the rift safely were completely incomprehensible techno-babble. Was this ever explained anywhere or anywhen? It doesn't really matter, I suppose, but it was bit of an irritant.

In summary? Captain Jack Harkness was a great episode, but not quite perfect. If I was marking this story I'd give it nine equations written in blood out of ten.



P.S. I forgot to mention Murray Melvin, as Bilis Manger, was excellent... mysterious, enigmatic, and chilling. Except when we see them in close up (as we do in End Of Days), for some reason his eyes look completely black, even the corneas! He's a scary man and no mistake... More of him in a moment.

The other big guest actor, Matt Rippy, as the real Captain Jack Harkness

[Dave Lewis]

And so, onto the final episode of the series...

End Of Days

So many good things, and a few bad ones, too. Let's get my main bugbear out of the wayfirst. The plot! THE PLOT! What a load of crap it was... more holes than a hole convention. I don't pretend to understand how killing the beast closed the rift, nor how the rift's closure rewound time so that Rhys was still alive. Did Diane come back? Did Cybergirl come back to life? Was Tosh's mum back from the dead? What were those visions that they saw, anyway? A product of the rift spewing time? Or the manipulations of the evil Mr Manger? What was the beast doing buried under the rift? Why did Jack stay dead so long? Why did Owen weep like a big girlie? The rift, and all the flaws and cracks in it, was clearly a metaphor for the script.

But in spite of that, and in spite of a second sighting of Rhys' arse, I really enjoyed End Of Days. It had a big, epic, blockbuster feel to it, which while it was a world away from the intimacy of Captain Jack Harkness or the chilling evocations of They Keep Killing Suzie, kept me throughly engrossed. The big alien beastie, son of that other big demonic before-the-dawn-of-time nasty, was a great bit of Mill special effects, and the cravat-sporting evil of Bilis Manger was a joy to behold - he must come back next series, he must!

John Barrowman was brilliant, and I loved the moment when he metaphorically shot down the rest of the team as they united against him - even if there didn't really seem to be much point in him doing so. Owen's literal shooting of Captain Jack was a great moment for Burn Gorman... "I am sick of people putting me down!" Eve Myles was, for the first time since God knows when, excellent. The scene after Rhys was stabbed, where she starts off in control but not in control, smiling coldly at Tosh - "you never even met him" - before erupting into a fury at Jack "F**ing" Harkness' inability to do anything about it, was great. I also realised at some point in this episode that I've grown to like Tosh quite a lot... I dont' know when this happened, but she was great here. I even found Ianto quite tolerable. I must be mellowing with age, or something.

The end of the episode? Well, I don't know. The "another kind of Doctor" bit was one thing, but the arrival of the TARDIS to spirit Cap'n Jack off, presumably to episode ten (or whatever) of the next series of Doctor Who, was a bit of a letdown. I don't know why, but maybe it's because I've come to think of Torchwood as the separate entity RTD claims it is, and I don't really want to see the two worlds collide. I certainly don't want to see Jack in Doctor Who - he's too strong a character to play second fiddle to David Tennant's Doctor, for one thing, so either he, or the Doctor, or both, will have to be diluted or toned down. Either way, it's not going to be very impressive. Or will it? Maybe it'll be brilliant. I just hope we don't start series two of Torchwood with an off-screen wheezing and groaning, and Jack saying, "boy, that was a blast!" before taking the coffee from Tosh's hand and ignoring Gwen's "But Jack, what happened then?".

Still, that's speculation for another place, another time. If I was marking the finale of the first series of Torchwood, I'd give it seven and a half fake BBC News 24 clips out of ten.