(no subject)

[catslash]

Okay then!



Dear Torchwood,

Are you or are you not a show about aliens? Because what with the demons, zombies, and now ghosts, I'M GETTING A LITTLE CONFUSED.

If I want the supernatural I'll watch Supernatural,
Cathryn



Though, to be fair, this episode sucked so hard that maybe it WAS about aliens. Lord knows the MotW didn't make any sense. They are images that were trapped on film! And they were always evil! And they appeared out of nowhere - no, wait, sorry, out of the rain! And the one chick is a mermaid!

And okay, if they were apparitions that appeared during rainstorms to collect souls or whatever in the guise of travelling performers, and then video killed the radio star cinema killed the travelling show, what happened? If they were apparitions, why wouldn't they keep appearing anyway? If they were something a little less ethereal, did they just fail to adapt? I can work with the idea of images on old film being like ghosts (I think I first saw it in an Animaniacs or possibly Tiny Toons parody of Field of Dreams actually), but not if the subjects of the images were already ghosts. Pick a story, Torchwood!

Either way, though, they could be killed by filming them and exposing the film. Fine, okay. Except then they tried to make it science-y and I just don't know, this episode sucked out loud. I hardly expect Torchwood to make sense, because it, like, doesn't, but it is capable of sufficient storytelling logic to keep me from going, "Wait, what?" every two minutes.

I don't even feel like dissecting character stuff because the episode was too dumb. I won't even get on Jack for his continued douchery in re: Owen. I will, however, laugh at the show for going from Jack hating the idea of sending Owen into a physically dangerous situation, to Jack grudgingly allowing Owen to volunteer for a physically dangerous situation, to Jack sending him into one without a second thought within the space of three episodes. I thought it would take at least four. (One could argue that Jack sent Owen up because of Owen's whole not having a last breath of life to steal thing. To which I say that Owen still could have gotten hurt, and he was limping down the stairs as it was, and OH MY GOD THIS EPISODE SUCKED AND MADE NO SENSE. This is why I wasn't going to get into character choices. Because they all sucked and made no sense.)

This is only the third episode that I've found unwatchable on the first viewing, which, for a show of such dubious quality, is pretty damn good. The other two were "Cyberwoman," which actually proved to be pretty damn funny when I made myself sit through it again, and "Adam," though I seem to be in the minority there. Appropriately enough, I do believe that the nurse or whatever in this episode was played by the pizza girl from "Cyberwoman."

Brief aside - why the fuck does all the good canon backstory come from shitty episodes with this show? "Cyberwoman" remains Ianto's only major (onscreen) character development. "Small Worlds," which was okay on the first viewing but bored me to death on the second, had Estelle, one of the few substantial parts of Jack's history that this show has gone into. And now we have "From Out of the Rain," which, incoherent as it was, managed to dole out another solid piece of information about Jack's past. Why is the show making me choose between learning about the characters' lives or watching enjoyable television?

In conclusion, a show like this is a crapshoot and sometimes you lose big.

Comments

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reminding me yet again how much I adore her.

Martha makes everything awesome.

"What happened after 1.04 to make Jack stop being enraged with Ianto".

Yeah, speaking of which, I read the latest one while I was half-asleep before going to bed, and then I had zappy torture dreams. Congratulations, you have written the first fic that has ever made its way into my dreams. I suppose in a way the praise doesn't get much higher than that.

And as everyone knows, Ianto Jones is the backbone of Torchwood Three. It will go collapseyboom without him. D:

It so will. I wonder how it even functioned before it had a Ianto. He won't be alone, though, Tosh and Owen will see it coming and be all, "Cheers, it's been fun," and follow him out the door. Jack and Gwen will be too busy shagging to attend to the Rift, and the Doctor will eventually have to show up and save the world in a much put-upon manner.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Bwah! I don't know whether to thank you or apologise profusely!

I like that version of events in a sort of spiteful and melancholy fashion. If the finale turns out to be a damp squib or destroys my faith in humanity (again) I may write that damn fic just to get it out of my system.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Heh. I thought you might like that.

I've got my fingers crossed for something completely insane that just makes fandom implode, like Ianto turning out to be evil or something. That would be eighteen shades of awesome.

NO WAIT EVEN BETTER. Ianto should turn out to be GRAY. :D

I need to stop with the wild speculation (of the spoiler-free variety still; I am determined to avoid them until the finale) because I'm just going to end up bitterly disappointed.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

As long as Ianto doesn't *die* or get crap lines ...

OMG YES HE SHOULD. THAT WOULD MAKE ALL FIC RETROSPECTIVELY INCEST FIC AND THEREFORE 90000% TIMES HOTTER. *cough*

You know they'rwe going to manage to screw it up somehow. Vive la Torchwood writing team.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

OMG I KNOW. And there's no need to cough at me, dude, I watch Supernatural. Brothercest is positively VANILLA to me. God, it would be so much fun to watch all the fluffy Janto (I use the portmanteau to mock!) shippers implode and explode simultaneously. That would make my entire MONTH.

But - yeah. What I want: Glorious scifi cheese and Evil!Gray!Ianto. What I expect: Melodrama that inspires John Barrowman to new heights of Overfucking Doing It, permanently!dead!Owen, and probably ditto!Rhys. So I guess I better have my fun while I can.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Oh gods bless SPN. I may not be able to get into it, but it does seem to be spreading the 'cest disease faster than Jack dissappating syphillis through the centuries. And that would be *awesome*. We'd find out that Ianto was adopted when he was a little boy and had suppressed all the memories of being missing after blah blah and Jack'd be all "nooooo, I've been fucking my broth - oh well, 51st Century standards apply. SEXYTIEMS". And Ianto would have an identity crisis which lasted all the way up to the blowjob.

Melodrama that inspires John Barrowman to new heights of Overfucking Doing It, permanently!dead!Owen, and probably ditto!Rhys.

Let's not forget Gwen Gets Captured For Really Stupid Reasons and Tosh Is Criminally Underused. Also the probability of a pointless Deus Ex Machina, a failed plot twist, or anything else from the Whoniverse drinking game.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

I loved finding SPN fandom in part because it was nice to know for a fact that my father/son incest-fic kink would only be slightly unusual instead a perversion requiring heavy warnings and disclaimers. YAY. Of course, the price to be paid for this is having to tread very, very carefully in a fandom that makes Torchwood fandom look a sane and serene place of love and brotherhood.

oh well, 51st Century standards apply. SEXYTIEMS

And the others are just like, ". . . we have the weirdest boss ever." And it never really comes up again.

The pointless Deus Ex Machina will probably have something to do with the DW series arc, too, so let's not forget to throw an incomprehensible cliffhanger into the mix. Sigh. Obviously you and I should write our version of the finale and ignore whatever happens onscreen.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

*uses filial incest icon* Hah, I remember derryderrydown telling me that in a fandom where incest was the norm she *still* managed to annoy people by being in favour of the "niche" pairing.

And that's one of the reasons I try to remain OUT of fandoms where possible - because no matter how small and reasonable they seem at first, they become BATSHIT. Even Band of Brothers fandom manages to be batshit.

Obviously you and I should write our version of the finale and ignore whatever happens onscreen.

I second this motion. Ours will almost certainly be better.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Heh. I have, like, four of her fics in my memories for that very reason. Well-written John/Dean is heartbreakingly rare, so you gotta grab it when you can find it. I was delighted when I got into Torchwood and discovered she'd written a bit for that, as well.

because no matter how small and reasonable they seem at first, they become BATSHIT

I KNOW. One of the happiest, most harmonious fandoms I've ever been in? Harry Potter slash fandom when it was just, JUST starting out circa 2000. I'm not even kidding. I think I got distracted by a shiny object and wandered off about five minutes before the batshit hit the fan. I haven't gone near it for years. It terrifies me.

Ours will almost certainly be better.

It is about two-thirty in the morning here, I am in that state of fuzzy consciousness where you can't type and don't know why the fuck you're trying because it's okay if you go to BED, and we could still bang something out right now in the comments that would be almost certainly be better. Except we won't, because I really should go to bed.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

What do you look for in a John/Dean fic? A friend of mine, knowing I'm into filial incest almost as whole-heartedly as fraternal, has taken to reccing John/Dean and John/Sam fics to me, most of which I haven't been reading because I don't know the fandom, and she can generally be relied upon to have good taste in these matters.

Hah, I discovered Harry Potter slash fandom just after the first film came out in the UK - so about early 2002 - and it was already exploding. *I* stayed out of it, and indeed pretty much most fandoms except BmB (which was quite insular), but I lived with a girl who was much more involved and OY the drama, the drama.

Except we won't, because I really should go to bed.

I do rather hope you *went* to sleep at this juncture. Although if you didn't and ended up scrawling something on the ceiling in chicken blood or something, it'd probably still be a better episode of Torchwood than the finale's going to be.

:D Such an optimist.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

What do you look for in a John/Dean fic?

Oh, god. This is such a complicated question. (Because the fandom is batshit, that's why.) The thing is that John is a very divisive character - he's a good man, but not the kindest father by a long shot, and there's a tendency by a rather substantial chunk of fandom to vilify him, with the end result being that the majority of John/Dean (there is very, very little John/Sam) is non-con horribleness. I am not a fan. What I look for is fic that acknowledges John as a man who does the best he can by his sons, while all the while being a very fucked up individual because of how his wife died and probably also a nice case of PTSD from fighting in the Vietnam war. I put together a supernatural fic rec post (http://catslash.livejournal.com/352345.html#cutid2) a while back that includes some of my favorite John/Dean, plus there's more in my memories under "fic" if you care though plow through. I really should organize those.

I do rather hope you *went* to sleep at this juncture.

I did! Eventually. And it's late again, but I don't have to get up so early and I'm trying to fit in "The Sound of Drums"/"The Last of the Time Lords" before the premiere, which my work schedule is making complicated, so here I am. Not quite as fuzzy as before. Or something.

I am going to savor every moment of anticipation tomorrow, because it's totally going to be the best part plus I'm hoping that the more I trash talk the finale in advance, the more the universe will decide to prove me wrong.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Oh Torchwood. D:

[catslash.livejournal.com]

My reaction (http://catslash.livejournal.com/368313.html#cutid1) summarized: HAHAHAHAHA what.