Torchwood Miracle day ep 3

It seems that I do have an opinion every week on the show I wasn't sure that I would have so here we go.

Firstly minor squee here, Jane Espenson one of my favourite writers (wrote most famously for Buffy and has written some Battlestar Galactica co-created Warehouse 13) put pen to paper for this episode and I really wanted to embrace it and love it because this woman wrote some of my favourite telly moments and you know what?

I'm feeling back to square one in not feeling this new Torchwood.

First off, BBC you've cut some of the naughty scenes, really in this day and age do you have to?

Right back to the plot, still loving Jilly the evil PR woman she is deliciously devious and we've learned that she's working for the EVIL big pharma company Phicor. Also she's managed to win over the horrendous Oswald Danes.

The 'team' Jack is having a bit of a mid life crisis it seems, coming to terms with being mortal is a big thing, and he tackled it the way that most people tackle things that they find hard to handle and sought solace at the bottle of a glass and with a cute (male) bar tender. Gwen is Gwen and I don't think that her character has changed at all, her world has got bigger but she's the rock of this series.  When Jack calls her, clearly not coping in the middle of the night Gwen has managed to speak to Rhys and Annwyn which obviously shows where her priority lies.

I like Esther, I do even though I feel that they are just pushing her into the role that was vacated by Tosh and characteristically they are similar. I still feel like Rex is meant to be Owen Harper mark II and no sorry he does not work in the sarky role because he doesn't appear to be able to be sarcastic. Though props to the makeup team, his chest wound was quite disturbing.  I find the doctor too a little bit of a non entity and again it feels like the tropes of series one Torchwood with what happens when Tosh found out that Owen was having an affair with Gwen.

I liked the bit in the warehouse "its bigger on the inside" oh lol. Also the contact lenses that we first saw in Children of Earth. I also liked the soulless, those masks are disconcertingly creepy.

So what about the plot? Well it seems that EVOL!BIG!PHARMACOMPANY is EVOL! They have been stockpiling drugs for a long time which implies that they knew that this was coming. Dun dun dun. With the Oswald thing, who is using who? I'm not sure yet.

So we've got a bunch of questions to which more will be added next week, at least according to the trailer we will, I'm wondering if I'll reach saturation point for the Questions.  An answer or two would be nice.  

Oh by the way, if you are missing Owen Harper all the more by Rex being a Fail!Owen!Replacement! you can catch Burn Gorman, being awesome in the Hour.

This blog post was brought to you by the music of Bear McCreary and Jon Bon Jovi and The Next ten minutes from The last 5 Years.

What I've been watching

A number of things actually, my chap and I have worked our way steadily through Treme which is a superbly crafted piece of television. The pacing of the show is glacial but it certainly rewards those of us who stuck with it.  Some TV can be mainlined you need to watch many episodes to get your fill, Treme doesn't work like that.  I found that one episode is enough, it is almost as though the show is so dense and rich that you have to give your brain time to digest what it has seen. I've not seen a show that's made me want to stop and think so much since the first time of watching Battlestar Galactica, though Game of Thrones has its moments.

We're following it up by embarking on The Wire.  This is my second attempt at watching the wire, I tried to follow it on the BBC when they showed it late night every night on BBC2, this did not end well. This time I'm going to do it right and not be tired when I'm watching, I'm also going to be unplugged as I know its a show that will demand my concentration.

In the meantime we're watching Episodes which we are loving and is something that we've been able to mainline. I never thought I would say this but I'm loving Matt Le Blanc, he's playing a version of himself which seems to us to be completely plausible.  It also stars Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Grieg and it is a very funny show.  I'm a bit of a sucker for shows which are meta like this one.

I've also  literally inhaled the whole of season 2 of Nurse Jackie, its one of those shows that has got me on the edge of my seat, I love how the viewer roots for Jackie, even when she's one of those dubious protagonists that seem to be incredibly fashionable right now.  That isn't meant to be disparaging, Nurse Jackie is original and very funny and the drama derives from the situations that Jackie get's into with a great supporting cast.

I'll have to book another day off so that I can do the same with series 3.

Over the weekend we had a house guest and she's reignited my love affair with Sherlock and Studio 60 on the sunset strip.  Rewatching Sherlock is a joy because it is so sexy and put together so perfectly. The art direction and the casting and the writing especially on A Study in Pink and The Great Game is just perfection. Studio 60 also has one of the best pilot episodes I've ever seen, I love the writing and the banter in that show and I still feel raw that the show got cancelled after only one season.

Torchwood Miracle Day Ep 2

On the whole I disliked episode one, it had moments but ultimately I felt that the show wasn't mine any more and I wasn't sure that it worked.

That said I wasn't prepared to give up on it straight away. Episode 2 felt much stronger. That's not to say things are back completely on track but I'd say it was several steps in the right direction.

Oswald Danes is creepy as hell. Everytime I see Bill Pullman on the screen I have to reach for my cushion to hide behind he creeps me out completely. You can see his character suffering from being constantly poisoned and his logic is beyond reason yet you get why he reaches some of his conclusions.

It was ace to see Dichen Lachman as an evil CIA agent and her faceoff with Gwen is awesome. I loved the not gay air steward.

I like that Jack has got to get used to a new set of circumstances and that Gwen is very much the dynamic protector.

I'm still not keen on Rex at all but Esther is kind of sweet. They feel like Tosh and Owen mk II respectively but I'm not convinced.

Lauren Ambrose as Jilly is great, she seems to be everywhere and she seems to be in on things.

For that matter, I was left speculating as to how much does Oswald know, I think its more than we currently think we do, also Jilly, she has to know more.

So overall a big improvement, but still nowhere near as good as Torchwood at its very best.

Torchwood Miracle Day

As usual I am not setting out to spoiler anyone, these are just my thoughts about the first episode of Miracle Day.

I have to confess that when I heard Torchwood was going big budget and to the USA I was sceptical, mainly because I thought although many Americans get and like what Torchwood is about they are going to bring a completely different tone to the show. Even when I heard that one of my favourite writers Jane Epsenson was involved I still had my reservations.

So last night I sat down to watch I was hoping for something better but realistically expecting something at about the level of what happened.

First off I really didn't like Rex, I didn't like him in the first scene and then I certainly despised him afterwards.  There was nothing likable about the character at all.He was arogant, he was a pretty piss poor CIA agent even if I do say so myself even after going through what his character went through.

Also shoes people! The American girl in the insane heels, you cannot run in those seriously, its not going to happen. IT threw me out of the story a little but because no one can run in those shoes. They might look nice but in that context....

Scenes that worked for me, the scenes that took place in Wales. Scenes between Jack and Gwen and any time PC Andy turned up, although make that Sergeant Andy now. Rhys was a little bit annoying. Though Gwen still has the ability to give me rage, there was so much different with the show I kind of forgave the overacting because at least it was familiar. Also Bill Pullman's character Oswald was wonderfully evil and I almost couldn't bare to watch him on screen because he made my skin crawl.

What went wrong, Rex is completely horrible, it felt too American. Too much focus on ACTION! at the expense of what are the more normal Torchwood tropes. I liked Torchwood when it was a bit silly, when there were sex aliens and ressurection gloves and hot gay 1940s servicemen. I know the game changed when we had children of Earth which was a brilliant piece of grown up sci fi. It worked I even felt that Ianto's death was a perfect piece of drama, but so far Miracle day hasn't hit my squee spot and it despite the money that's obviously been thrown at it, this feels like a game change too far.

I'll tune in next week, and probably the week after that but I hope that this episode was just a blip.

And I'll leave you with one final image which did make me laugh rather a lot.

Well that and the line, "Yes mam, I'm feeding her lard."

~Updates

Well let me see...

I've been a bit absent of late, blame it on the tonsilitis and the fact that work has been insane. If you've been reading then you'll know I've done a couple of book reviews recently but if you're more interested in what I've been reading the whole list from the last 18 months is here.  There is even a tab for you to give me some suggestions on what I should be reading in the future.

Creatively I've bitten a bullet and I've signed up to do a short course in October on creative writing.

The upside to the tonsilitis was that I caught up on a few bits and pieces. Firstly I mainlined season one of Nurse Jackie, it is one excellent show and I have enjoyed watching it muchly. I like that it is short and I love the level of insight into Jackie's character. I also adore the supporting cast with much love going to Merrit Weaver as Zoey and Stephen Wallem as Thor.

I've also been watching the BBC adaptations of the Jackson Brodie series of novels: Case Histories, When Will There be Good News and One Good Turn. All brilliantly adapted and starring Jason (Lucius Malfoy) Isaacs.  It has been Sunday night telly, but its been good sunday night telly.

We're catching up with Treme which is a great piece of television but not the easiest watch in the world.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand has also been part of the mix, have to admit a few weeks ago one of the episodes went too far for me. It went too far and I was actually tempted to drop it but after giving it a rest and letting it settle I've gone back and actually since that one off the scale gruesome episode, the rest have been much better experiences.

Haven is another series we're trying and yay. Love. It has elements of some shows I loved in the past. American Gothic and the X files and its a weird and fun little show.

I was less impressed with Bored to death, the central character is, if I'm honest a bit of a douche. The concept is good and it was beginning to improve so I'll probably stick with it.

I am mourning in my heart for the end of the first season of A Game of Thrones, I love this show so much I broke my book buying ban in a huge and not cheap way. I kind of want spring 2012 to be sooner please so that there will be more.  The show is too good. If you haven't seen it I urge you to give it a go, it is a very rewarding watch.

There is a little squee in my heart True Blood has returned and so has Dexter one of these shows I've waited paitently to be be on FX the other I haven't.

I'll try and do more regular posts. And to vary them a little bit more than I have been.

Killing Kiss

I picked up all three Vampire Gene novels at a convention I recently attended and as such I got to meet Sam Stone we got to talking about how vampires have been defanged somewhat, she reassured me that her vampires didn't sparkle and so I bought the books and have been looking forward to reading them.

And I have made a start, I've read killing kiss and it is enjoyable. First off I think this is probably one of the few urban fantasy novels that I've read that is set in the UK so that immediately gets bonus points from me. Secondly Gabriele is definitely a predator, the reader is left with no misconception that he's a pretty efficient killer.

That said, I found the character fairly easy to empathise with, as the novel fills in his backstory alternating with the contemporary one.

Lilly is a really likeable character, she's strong willed and really doesn't take any vampire crap.

The story rattles along at a good pace and is both fiercely enjoyable and rather sexy, even if I do say so myself.

I am really looking forward to reading the sequels.

Book review: Blueeyedboy by Joanne Harris

First my declaimer, I've read most of Joanne Harris' novels and there isn't one I haven't thoroughly enjoyed.  Blueeyedboy, is one of her finest works to date.

The theme of the novel is about the fluidity of identity and putting fingers to keyboard right now, its always been one of her signature themes.  This novel has a darker tone, it is still a playful novel, but there is a dark side to the psyches that are presented here.  As with her previous work language is used in both a skilful and playful way. The protagonist's voice, Blueeyed boy himself revels in the language that he uses. Meanings are layered and words are chopped up to subvert and enhance their meaning.

There are two narrators and the strands of story twist and knot and provide a non linear structure. The novel is also written in the form of journal entries like Live Journal and Dream Width and some of the many copies that are out there. The narrators contradict each other and as a reader you cannot trust that anything you are told is truth even in the 'private' entries. The ending is not big on closure and not everyone copes well with books like this and if you don't get on with this style of writing then move on you probably won't get much from this novel.

What I love about Blueeyedboy and Harris' work in general is her descriptive writing. Much of the narrators' ideas are explained in the language of colours and taste. I also love that as a reader you experience the same event multiple times throughout the novel from different perspectives so there isn't any one Truth but a plurality of truths.

I've seen reviewers complain that they have trouble keeping up with the changes in narrators and who don't like the fluidity of the narrative. To be honest I've got little time for these people, I don't like being spoon fed as a reader and enjoy the challenges of working things out and actively enjoy being surprised by an author.  I like that Joanne Harris is leading me up the garden path with parts of the narrative, she's so beguiling with her words that I'm happy to be lead.

The novel also resonates with me because I'm one of those users of  those journaling sites not the murky depths of  badguysrock but I understand these sites and her portrayal of them is refreshingly accurate and completely recognisable.

Awesome book.