Written by Chris Chibnall
Directed by Johnathan Fox Bassett
SPOILER ALERT!
I'd like to warn readers of my blog in advance, that I tend to like to do in-depth reviews of films and TV episodes, so if you haven't watched the episode in question and don't want your enjoyment of the story spoiled, please don't read on. Avoid spoilers, stay surprised! I know it's hard in this day and age to resist finding out what happens, especially with the rise of Internet leeks and rumour mills, but do try! I did think about putting spoiler warnings on these posts, but then I realised I'd probably be doing this for every review I upload, so excuse my lack of net etiquette , but you'll have to be careful to avoid any reviews of shows you haven't seen. Don't let that stop you from enjoying other features of the blog though.
Basic Plot (may contain Spoilers):
The episode opens dramatically on another action-packed day at the office for the Torchwood team. The black van rolls in, boots are placed on the ground - this is the team in action, firm and business-like. We pan up to an abandoned factory where the team have been sent to investigate an alien signal. Ianto Jones and Owen Harper search the upper floors whilst Toshiko Sato and Jack Harkness scout out the building. They discovered something unexpected - bombs timed and planted to go off as the team enter. It's a trap. Cue an almighty explosion.
Gwen Cooper, the only team member still at home, wakes up in bed to a call. Realising that something has gone terribly wrong, it's up to herself and her husband Rhys to rescue each of the team members in succession, pulling them out of the rubble one by one. As the rescue continues, the camera focuses on each of the trapped team members in turn and tells the story of how they came to join Torchwood Three.
Jack's Story:
We cut to 19th Century Cardiff where Jack lies sprawled on an alley floor with a bottle through his chest. Two women beat him up and menace him. It turns out they're from the earliest version of the Torchwood Organisation. They drug him and interrogate him, continuing to kill him repeatedly to figure out how he works. He informs them he's waiting for the Doctor to return to fix him, as the Tardis refuels from the Cardiff time rift, he knows he'll be back someday. Jack reluctantly takes a small assignment for Torchwood, bringing in a Blowfish, whom the female operative then shoots. Seeing Torchwood's brutality, Jack refuses their attempt to bribe him with money and a job offer. He goes to a tavern to think it over, where a young girl reads him fortune and tells him it will 100 years before he will see the Doctor again. He agrees to join Torchwood to pass the time.
1999: A whole century has passed and Jack has remained part of the Torchwood team. He comes back to the Hub to discover teammate Alex has shot and killed all the other six team members. Having discovered a horrifying view of the future, he describes his actions as mercy killings in the face of horrors to come. He tells Jack the 21st Century is where it all changes, echoing the series' tag-line. He shoots himself and leaves Jack alone, in charge of the Hub.
Toshiko's Story:
Workaholic Tosh is working late at the Government Intelligence Agency she works for. Her boss praises her dedication on the way out. Once he leaves, she dashes to retrieve and crack a security code and ducks around cameras to retrieve and steal some plans from a secure room in the basement. Taking the plans home, she uses them to build a sonic modulator as a bargaining tool to release her mother, who is being held hostage by a terrorist organisation. She is captured by UNIT and imprisoned without trial, lonely and devoid of hope until Jack comes to free her, on the proviso that she joins the Torchwood team. She will not be allowed contact with her mother. Jack reveals that the plans were faulty and it would be impossible for a normal person to construct it - proof that Tosh is a scientific genius and that's why he needs her.
Ianto's Story:
We see Jack wrestling with a Weevil in some Welsh woods. He's helped by Ianto, whose capable calmness in the face of an alien pegs him as a previous London Torchwood operative to Jack. Despite pleading for a job at Torchwood Cardiff and complimenting his coat, Jack rejects him. Ianto doesn't give up and greets Jack with coffee outside the Hub. He is desperate to prove himself and he flirts some more. Stepping into the path of the Torchwood van, Ianto won't take know for an answer. Jack is angered until he agrees to help Ianto capture a pterodactyl that has escaped from the Rift. comedy running and shouting ensues, as well as Ianto's secret weapon:chocolate. I'm not even kidding! The dinosaur picks up Jack, who with Ianto's help subdues the beast, but not before Jack lands awkwardly on top of Ianto. The tension and attraction between them and his capableness in the field, convince Jack to hire him.
Owen's Story:
We are surprised to flashback to see Owen happy with a lovely fiancee Kate, a nice home and a promising medical career. He's busy planning his wedding to Kate, but there's one problem: there's something seriously wrong with Kate's memory, she can barely remember anything, even simple tasks like making a cup of tea. Owen begs his supervisor to run some more brain scans. They believe its early on-set Alzheimers, until they discover a brain tumour. Owen and Kate part tearfully and Owen waits devotedly for the results of the Operation. Suddenly Jack appears telling him it was too late for Kate, they go into the operating room and all the surgeons are dead. Kate's brain has been hijacked by an alien parasite, Owen cannot accept this and tries to fight Jack, before blacking out. His visions of a Jack are brushed away as post-truamatic stress, but Owen is sure he existed. He takes time off work and Jack appears to him when he visits Kate's grave. His first reponse when he realises jack is real is to punch him. Owen agrees to remain a doctor, working on aliens and making a difference with Torchwood. This proves Owen's capacity to fully love and explains his cynicism.
With all the team now safe and sound and out of harms way, they get themselves out of the collapsed building with Tosh nursing a broken arm. Their peace is short-lived as a holographic message sudden springs to life from Jack's wrist-band. It's Captain John (played by the fabulous James Marsters), he's behind the bomb attack and he's back - and this time he's brought familiar company: Jack's estranged brother Grey. He issues Captain Jack a warning, he will tear his world apart and everyone he cares about will die. Starting now.
Initial Thoughts:
Ever since Torchwood began, as an adult spin-off of flagship UK SF show "Doctor Who", it's detractors have had one big criticism: the two-dimensional characters. Viewers could not connect with the characters who primitively slept with any alien or human going (gender optional) and swore just because they could. Adults were turned off at Russell and Co's attempt at "adult" material, viewing it as simplistic and lacking in the narrative depth they had hoped for. Thankfully, Torchwood seemed to overcome these difficulties this year, upping the characterisation, toning down the sex and swearing and upping the action and humour.
This episode functions as a four-part play, consisting of character flashbacks and I found it very refreshing to see sides of the characters that we haven't seen before, filling the gaps in viewer's knowledge. Jack's story was entertaining - particularly its revealing of how Jack spent his time waiting for the Doctor. Tosh and Owen's stories really moved me. Toshiko's incarceration really reminded me strongly of Burmese freedom fighter/leader An Song Kyi, the President of Burma who has been wrongfully imprisoned for years for speaking out against the Junta. I know the political elements weren't overtly there, but I made that connection. I think it might be the red uniforms. You really got a sense of her intelligence and loneliness.
However, I still feel that this was simply a bridge episode pointing towards the finale, despite its strong character-driven tone. Still it was worth the watch alone for Ianto's goading of a pterodactyl with chocolate! Do you think dinosaurs like plain or dark?
The Femme Factor:
Tosh and Gwen are both given good screen time here. With Gwen having to act calm under pressure and get her friends out of the building safely. Toshiko's making of the sonic modulator from faulty plans shows what a genius she is and I wish she wasn't so under-valued by the team. She's so smart and capable, I love her! I think it's really important for audiences to see a woman of the colour on the team. It keeps things from getting too aggressively White!
I liked the two female Victorian Torchwood operatives, they were pretty prim and menacing. It's interesting to see women of the era having active roles, as they weren't allowed much autonomy at that period in time. It makes sense that a job at Torchwood might offer them the freedom they desired to take charge. Having said that, they're pretty ruthless for killing that Blowfish alien. So not all good then.
Did anyone else love the creepy little Tarot girl warning Jack that the Doctor would return for him in 200 years time? She was great and it answered a lot of hanging continuity questions across both shows. Maybe I'm just a big fan of fortune telling...
Best Lines:
Captain Jack: "Guess I got a little out of control. *points at his chest* Flesh wound!"
A hilariously subtle Monty Python reference from Jack that made me laugh out loud.
Tosh: "Who are you?"
Captain Jack: "Nobody. I don't exist. Which for a man of my charisma is quite an achievement."
The classically modest Captain Jack, explains all to an incarcerated Tosh. Very funny in a smug way.
Ianto: "No. I've got a secret weapon. *pulls a bar out of his pocket* Chocolate! *approaches pterodactyl gingerly* It's erm..good for your seretonin levels, if you err, have seretonin levels."
Ianto's hilarious plan - I love that they give him so many funny lines. This one was a classic.
John: "Okay, here's what's going to happen. Everything you love, everything you treasured will die. I'm going to tear your world apart, Captain Jack Harkness, piece by piece. Starting now. Maybe now you'll want to spend some time with me."
Captain John issues his villainous ultimatum- cue obligatory ominous cliffhanger.
Favourite Scenes:
Ianto and Jack's comedy chase and capture of the pterodactyl gets my vote entirely. It totally stole the episode. His suggestion to chase the dinosaur using chocolate made me laugh out loud. I particularly liked the subtle flirtation between the two of them in the "I like your coat" "I like your suit" lines and the way Ianto woos his way in through his extraordinary powers of dry-cleaning and making a fabulous cup of coffee. He's pretty persistent. I'll be taking my post-University job hunting tips from him. Works every time!
Owen's scene where he tries to help his fiancee Kate remember things was very touching. Especially when she later remarks that she cannot remember his name. I have a grandmother who suffers severely from Alzheimers and Dementia and it's not something I'd wish on anyone and they portrayed it very sympathetically. The coldness Jack shows as Owen grieves over his fiancee's body is absolutely chilling. He treats her as just another alien creature to be put down. It just shows how joining Torchwood can seriously affect your morals. His narrow escape from the falling pane of glass was pretty scary - I seriously thought they were about to kill him off.
Speculation:
We've know Grey would return to haunt Jack from the moment Captain John mentioned his name at the end of the season opener: Kiss,Kiss,Bang Bang. The flashbacks to Jack's past and over the course of the Season have also all led us this way.
I have a feeling Captain John and Grey are in league with each other. It seems too simple for it to be a standard hostage situation. By the sounds of John's threat that those Jack cares about will die, things do not look good for the Torchwood team at all and I wouldn't be surprised if someone bites the dust in the finale. Having Owen die, might be too obvious as he's living on borrowed time anyway. I adore Toshiko as the smartest, sexiest woman on the team and hope they'll keep her around for next year. I hope nothing happens to Ianto as he's become my highlight of the series, they've given him some fantastically funny lines this year and I adore his romance with Jack. They're breaking a lot of watershed taboos with that one and I say good for them!
Methinks something terribly catastrophic and intensely personal is coming Captain Jack's way and he's not going to like the outcome. Someone won't survive - that's for certain.
Nit-Picks: I hate to say it BUT:
- Surely Torchwood equipment would have been sophisticated enough to tell the difference between an alien organic lifeform and a series of mechanical bombs? If they deal with alien technology all the time, you'd think they wouldn't have fallen into such a simplistic trap. It felt like too much of an easy plot device. Whilst I know the whole episode centered around the telling of the flashbacks, I think the writers could have been a bit more inventive in framing them - plot-wise.
- The entire team must be as indestructable as Captain Scarlett to have all survived those bomb blasts relatively unscathed. Lucky break or a writing ploy? You decide.
- Owen's story, whilst being very touching, felt a bit like an apologist tagged-on story to please and placate many of the viewers who disliked his character's treatment of women (the aphrodisiac spray particularly), his sleeping with Gwen, shooting of Jack and who generally disliked his character full stop. The fact that his fiancee died explains a lot of his behaviour, but it feels too late in the day for these revelations to truly deepen his character. I've said it before,but I feel it's true - Owen became a much more interesting character once they killed him off. Which really doesn't say much for him before that does it?
I'm really glad the writers decided to tell us more about the characters through this episode. I'm a big fan of character-driven drama. No matter how high the stakes are, if the viewers don't know and love the characters deeply, they're not going to care about the out-come. I really loved Tosh and Ianto's stories and I liked getting more perspective on them as people. I hope we'll see them both shine in the season finale. I hope Owen's story gets resolved in a satisfying way too.
However despite the attempt of "Fragments" to raise the emotional depth of the characters for the viewers, I still don't feel totally connected to the team. This episode, whilst illuminating, feels more like a build-up episode to the finale. I felt that the framing device of the bombs was somewhat contrived and somehow - no matter how much I try to get into Torchwood, I can't quite put my hand on my heart and say I love it. It's very slickly put together, but sometimes it lacks soul. You can tell Russell T. Davies is a Buffy/Angel fanboy as Torchwood tries so hard to capture the dark adult qualities of the Buffy spin-off Angel, even down to the billowing leather coats and the team's heroic slow-motion shots. If the writing was sharper and the plot held a few more surprises, I'd give this a higher mark, but nevertheless it was an entertaining bridge episode. I hope the Torchwood finale will exceed my current expectations.
6/10 - A good effort at characterisation with some great dramatic moments, but ultimately it feels like darkly entertaining filler.
