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

[Anthony Williams]

they're on this Monday!

excited? I am!

Ant x

[Milky Tears]

It clashes with The Vicar of Dibley.



I know what I'll be watching...





Suranne Jones not getting her baps out in Dead Clever.

[Larry]

i've only seen the trailers to episode 12 and I have to say it looks pretty good i'm certainly looking forward to it...

[Milky Tears]

I'll be watching the Vicar of Dibley:

Dibley Spoiler Below!

CLICK

[WhiteCrow]

I hear we finally have revealled what's waiting in the Darkness trying to seek out Jack ... Eamonn Andrews!!!



"Captain Jack Harkness, this is your life!"

[Paul Clement]

I'm really looking forward to this. Hopefully, some answers about how Jack got to the 21st century will be explained.

[Larry]

Hopefully, some answers about how Jack got to the 21st century will be explained.

I wonder if it will or will we have to wait untill series 3 of Doctor Who to find out.

[Jonno]

I like the look of the big bad thing in the trailer!

[Milky Tears]

Kitten Kong with ALIEN TECHNOLOGY!

[Andrew Curnow]

I think I enjoyed all that! I always like to have a moan before going to bed, so I will just say that the dancing & then the kiss between the two Captains didn't really work, for me - not for any anti-gay kissing or anything like that, but simply because it didn't for a minute convince me that in 1941 the only reaction would have been one bloke saying, "What's he doing?" and then everybody would quieten down to watch and go "Awww!" I think it would have just generally been much more powerful if just as the real Captain Jack finally decided to go for it, and got up from the wall, and walked across towards our Jack, just at that moment the rift opened and Jack and Tosh went. Unrequited love, and unspoken emotion, always works far better I think. Maybe it's just me - Zel thought it was lovely (maybe she's just an old romantic at heart).

That minor gripe aside though, I enjoyed episode 12 (although Tosh's hiding places for 65 years were a bit rubbish!) and even though we didn't actually learn very much new about Jack, John Barrowman really conveyed the sickening sensation of socialising with a man whose immediate fate you know, and whose identity you've casually stolen.

Episode 13 was just bizarre, and I'm still not 100% sure whether it was the slimmest of plots padded out with set-pieces, or whether it was all good stuff. The ending when it came seemed very rushed - one minute, what's that coming over the hill; next, it's gone. It makes the rather rushed ending to "The Satan Pit" seem positively sedentary in comparison! And the final twist - unexpected, delightful, bizarre for a series which more than anything needs to establish an identity all its own, and sure to keep us all speculating about Jack's series 3 (of Who) appearance(s?) for months to come!

I still don't think exec prod Chris Chibnall is all that great a writer, either in structure or writing (although that said, I did find some dust or something in my eye when Jack hugged Owen at the end); certainly I'm glad we've got RTD on Who!

Acting-wise they were all good, even the creepy guy who gave the part of Bilis such spookiness. John Barrowman was as good as ever, but Eve Myles was superb, in the scenes around Rhys' death - when she lost it, you really believed she had just lost it.

So I think that's a cautious, Hurrah!

[Jonno]

I'm feeling a bit breathless right now after 90 mins of EE (Revealed) leading straight into 90 mins of Torchwood - which I assumed would give me a minute between episodes to make a cup of coffee but didn't so I missed a couple of minutes at the start of End of Days.

I'd largely agree with everything that you've said, Andrew - and I did love that familiar wheezing, groaning sound at the end! Quite where we go from here, Who knows?!

The beast thing certainly looked impressive, even if he ultimately only made a cameo.

[Andrew Curnow]

As the TARDIS noise started up, I said to Zel that they certainly kept that quiet! Just for a moment, I was expecting Tennant to pop up and ask if there was any chance of a cup of tea, but I suppose that would have been too much.

Forgot to say how much we enjoyed Rhys' arse!

[WhiteCrow]

Nice to see someone else do something really stupid apart from Gwen. That said, once again Torchwood seems to be causing more trouble than they're worth!

Raising the beast at the end made it feel not only a bit Buffy-esque, but it felt kind of hurried and tacked on. That said I enjoyed both episodes, probably Captain Jack ep more because it had a little more emotional depth, and had a certain Saphire and Steel atmosphere to it ...

[Jonno]

Yes, I was very much reminded of Adventure Two in particular.

When we first met Captain Jack, I was thinking to myself "But he doesn't even look like Captain Jack?" Doh!

I was a bit confused by the properties of the time rift, particularly how Rhys was suddenly all OK again. It rather goes against the grain of what we're used to in the Whoniverse with the Doctor always insistent on never going back and changing things, e.g. saving Adric.

[Andrew Curnow]

Temporal Orbit? What's a Temporal Orbit?!

[WhiteCrow]

I was a bit confused by the properties of the time rift, particularly how Rhys was suddenly all OK again.

Did you not see the convenient "reset reality" button in red? Yeah it's a bit annoying that one and a bit too convenient. Maybe it's like Code Lyoko when they return to the past? Actually the Hub even shares some characteristics with the Factory!!!

[Larry]

really enjoyed both these episodes and supprisingly so did my mum who was watching Torchwood for the first time - loved Murray Melvin, who played the character of Billis in a wonderful creepy way.

As for how Jack killed the monster perhaps that was some thing to do with the energy of the time vortex and it was this that caused the TARDIS to come back for him though Gwen bringing him back to life with a kiss was a little cheesey.

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 enfing it.

[WhiteCrow]

As for how Jack killed the monster perhaps that was some thing to do with the energy of the time vortex and it was this that caused the TARDIS to come back for him though Gwen bringing him back to life with a kiss was a little cheesey.

The whole bringing back to life with a kiss is a bit childrens story.

I thought Torchwood was all edgy and adult, he should have been brought back with a blow job??? (Kidding, although with this series ...)

If it was me I'd have put him in there (body locker) with a mobile phone in case he returned.

Was nice to see the team challenging him finally!

[Jonno]

Did you not see the convenient "reset reality" button in red?

Nope, I definitely missed that! Too much to take in in one hit - it's why I don't normally watch more than one episode of shows back to back - I think I have a fairly limited attention span!

[Paul Clement]

I really enjoyed that, although I think Captain Jack Harkness made for a better episode overall than End of Days did.
How like the beast from Satan Pit was that thing though. Come on writers, a little bit more originality there would have been good.
When Rhys' cell door opened, I expected him to get killed by one of the Weevils, who you would have assumed would have been released at the same time. I loved the Bilis Manger character, very spookily played by the actor. The ending, with the sound of the TARDIS was superb, and just for a moment I actually thought you might see the Doctor appear, but in the end, it was better they way it was done. It does make you wonder where they go from here, both in Torchwood and in Doctor Who though.

[WhiteCrow]

Nope, I definitely missed that! Too much to take in in one hit - it's why I don't normally watch more than one episode of shows back to back - I think I have a fairly limited attention span!

No, that was be being a little sarcastic. Eeek, looks like I was a bit sarcastic to a mod, is my membership safe??? [Oops, and that's more sarcasm, I'd better stop whilst ...]

[Larry]

Did you not see the convenient "reset reality" button in red? !!!

can't say I noticed it either..

[Jonno]

Aha, don't worry about sarcasm Mr Crow, I often use it myself!

I also agree with Paul about the Weevils, which I was fully expecting to attack Rhys.

[Larry]

I. It does make you wonder where they go from here, both in Torchwood and in Doctor Who though.

has Torchwood had a 2nd series commisioned yet - as for Doctor Who, Jack is supposed to be appearing in the last 3 episodes of series 3 so I suspect the ending will probably tie in with the ending of episode 10 of series 3.

[Doctor Vendetta]

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.