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torchwood: children of earth. Overall view

It’s been odd being a fan of something that is non anime, torchwood was my 1st fandom in to real life sci fi. I joined about 2 years ago now and the main reason was for two people and their relationship: jack and ianto, mainly because it was different and unusual plus the chemistry around the two actors was great.

So after over a year of waiting, waiting and waiting. The mini series (aka season 3) children of earth finally aired 6-10 of July, I was excited from all the hype it was getting on the ianto and jack side of their relationship with all the interviews and promo pictures. I couldn't WAIT! .It also helped that the current anime summer season is really slow and disappointing practically the return of the goddess haruhi who just wants to show 5 variations of the SAME EPIDOSE (kyoani make it STOP please!)

Now it is the end of an eventful week, and I come out depressed. Don’t get me wrong this mini series has been amazing, heart racing, gripping, tense and a complete facelift from the past two seasons. But I am really torn if I should carry on with this series or not

So I am going to do a quick overview of this mini series starting from day 1, then the plot , my  views and characters. spoilers ahead

Day 1 did a good and fast introduction to the series. The characters were introduced nicely and given more dept and background. In particular jack and ianto, from the get go their problems with them as a couple begins. Jack daughter and grandson introduced, Ianto’s sister and brother in law, gwen and rhys looking for a house, gwen having a baby (how?!). The original characters (aka OCs) were introduced as well, even though there’s god damn so many. Already there are twists and the BEST cliff hanger of all episode. It really ended on a bang. The highlight event for me was ianto confessing to his sister that he is gay, it felt so natural and not angst.

Day 2 was not as good as day 1, but still had it’s moments. For me there was too much Gwen, Rhys and OCs mixed in with action and government talk, I never really like politics. But there was lots of action, and Ianto really saved the day and kicked ass with that JCB tractor. And naked jack is always a bonus ^_^

Day 3 was for me my favourite episode, for the sheer amount of tension and suspense. The team together again and slowly building their plan to stop the government and the 456. There were some great jack and ianto moments, along with the comedy with gwen and rhys while Lois was undercover.

So far I was really happy and interested in the direction they were going at, that was until day 4 and 5 came along. I had a bad feeling on day 4, plus spoilers were ALREADY out from people who got the DVDs too early (BAD BBC). But then day 4 came and while like any other fans broke my hopes, dream and my heart. I always have a odd obsession with the number 4 since it’s my lucky number, even though it is death’s number (for japan and china).

Day 4 was both amazing and heart breaking at the same time, just when we finally get to see jack and ianto relationship opening, along with their plan to blackmail the government and declare war on the 456,  then it all come tumbling down.. tumbling down..(like evangelion but on a less dramatic effect). Ianto’s death was really beautiful and well done, and I’ve have seen it so many times. At the end of the episode I felt emotionally drained and just thinking how the hell this is going to end.

I was really deciding if I should watch day 5 or not, knowing Ianto was NOT going to come back. But I pressed on and I did.

I didn't know if I should of cared for the events of day 5 or not, so they killed the 456 by using jack’s grandson to save the world very typical way of doing things wow. The ending was very simple and left me hanging if another season can be done. But it was logical to do knowing how much jack has gone though. Ianto was mentioned but not in a good way.

The plot in the beginning was interesting, building up on the arrival of the 456, the government business, characters relationship building. But near the end it was rushed in why the 456 wanted the kids (DRUGS? REALLY COME ON!) and how they got killed with a lot of plot holes. In fact through out this season there are so many plot holes I can list and wonder about. For a mini series there are so many OCs some get even more screen time then the main characters, some of the OC fate were unexplained in the end.

This season of torchwood really did split the audience reactions into two in my view. So we have existing long term fans and new comers. For fans like me it slowly changed what we loved about torchwood and left us with an ending that spelt the end of torchwood open ended (like evangelion in a way). For new comers they probably loved it and can’t wait for a new season. For me I don’t know where I lie here, half of me wants to give up and move on to a new fandom. But another side of me want to see if there is a season 4 if the new team or tone of new torchwood is likeable or not.

For an anime fan it’s really been an eye opener. Never before have I’ve been affected by a character’s death so much. In anime characters do die (but rarely) but I really couldn't give a damn about them or forget about them soon, well at least the anime I enjoy and watch don’t have characters dying off too often. Plus characters who die in anime are usually brought back to life (ie higurashi  where characters die and come back in many different arcs) or really deserve it.

So on to the characters

Jack: Oh I loved this fun flirty but dark character in season 1-2, the chemistry between his team was wonderful in particular with Ianto. Here we didn't really get to see that much in this season( thanks to OCs and government hogging the screen time). The events in this season really really broke him mentally and resulted in him running away. I can’t blame him for his actions and I can understand how he’s feeling. He’s turned from a hero in to a pitiful character (reminds me of shinji in evangelion). I must admit john barrowman acting really has improve and I give him phase here (And that’s why I still love him XD). I really hope he’s comes back fixed because I do love him, he’s my 2nd fav character after Ianto.

Gwen: I really didn't like her in season 1-2, for so many reasons. This time I am starting to like her and she has changed and gone thought a lot, but I still can’t bring myself to like her fully I don’t know why (maybe it’s just me). But Eve Myles really brings her character out so well, it feels so real, her tears, her rage and even her comedy is great.

Ianto: My dear coffee boy, from being in the back ground for the first half of season 1 to being a full member in season 2. His witty comments, facial expressions and still is mysterious without the typical characteristics.  I’ve seen him change, grow and develop though these seasons, still I want to know more about him. Never before have I’ve been attached to a fictional character like that before. He is so different, mysterious yet most normal character ever, just how many skills does he has?. No other character has his name. I still can’t get over the fact that he is now dead. To me that really did it kill off a fandom paring (janto) and the attaching factor in torchwood. He was the character I cared about and loved about the most. Gareth is an amazing actor and I really hope that this is the beginning of a career for him, because I do want to see him more in television. Sometimes I think his performance is over shadowed by the other actors and still is.

Rhys: Awwww he is so sweet, I really feel sorry for him in season 1-2. This time he has supported Gwen and did his bit for the team. I actually really like their relationship, it’s soo cute. He is a anchor to Gwen like ianto is to jack

Andy: So under used! I like Andy, he is the 2nd most funny to ianto.  Although I really wanted to hit him in day 5 on that joke on Ianto, I was cheering for him when he went to fight. Just WHAT THE HELL happened to him in the end? They just showed him being pinned down by the army! I hope he’s ok

OCs: There so many but there were a few that stood out, John Frobisher was the one I really liked, I really felt for him and his end was so tragic. Lois was another I liked and felt her future/fate should should of been shown, Clem was ok nothing much, Alice along with Steven was too under developed to care about. Rhiannon Davies though is my fav, for a made up sister of Ianto’s she really did cared for him and supported him all the way though. It was lovely to see people other then his team care for him.

And that’s it, I am off to watch some anime hoping it can drown my sadness for the loss of Ianto jones..