Torchwood #5 [spoilers]

[ewx]

A bit more substance than last week: mystery and action rather than action and, um, padding.

The Cottingley fairy pictures are fairly famous - the picture mostly used is this one. They are indeed an acknowledged fake so Estelle really ought to have known better l-) Then again she didn't twig about Jack (who gets distinctly poetic after seeing his old flame again, I notice) despite having a photo of him to hand and presumably having got to know him quite well in the past. I think we can forgive her the horror-film mistake of going out in the dark to get the cat, though, given the fairies are supposed to be able to get anywhere and everywhere anyway.

The petals gushing from the mouth seems a fairly clear Witches Of Eastwick reference. I'm detecting, though, a fascination with a the nastier side of human behavior that I suspect is going to lead to the same kind of observation as made about East Enders that it suffers considerably more violent crime than real life. The point that humans are horrible enough to one another without the assistance of aliens and monsters is fair enough, though.

I think I preferred the fairies when they were only half-seen; fairly threatening monsters let down by bad CGI. The traditional completely amoral nature of fairies is brought out well though, not only in the moral spread among their victims but also their reported willingness to wreak arbitrary levels of destruction in order to get their way.

Life lesson: don't hold a BBQ when you're up against weather-controlling monsters. It will not end well.

Comments

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

It sounds older than The Witches of Eastwick. Dickens uses "they stuffed his mouth full of flowering annuals to prewent his crying out" in Great Expectations, and there's something about symbolism of rose petals lurking in the back of my head but I can't recall it now. Too late at night.


Life lesson: don't hold a BBQ when you're up against weather-controlling monsters. It will not end well.
Heh. That would be every barbecue ever, then?

Roses

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Interesting. The staggering around with petals spewing from his mouth did seem very Witches though.

[sparrowsion]

Not sure whether the telegraphed "monsters controlling the (classical) elements" + BBQ => flamb&eacutre;ed step-dad failing to materialise was a good thing or not. Maybe it was written that way and then decided that burning someone to death was too horrific.

I hope they've got a proper series bible for Jack's back-story, because it's looking quite a confusing mess right now.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was expecting crispy fried stepdad for a bit too. Jack spent a while with a time machine, remember, though, so you might well expect his past to be a little convoluted...

[rmc28]

So Jack does sleep then?

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Well, he lies down and has bad memories...
I thought his eyes were open at that point, BICBW.