Review: Torchwood 1.2: Day One

Carys is possessed.

I reviewed Torchwood's pilot just under a year ago and decided that I would lay off Torchwood until I had new material to work with. My reviews of Miracle Day have brought me to a low ebb, and so I've decided that I'll revisit the first series via DVD and see if I can have any more fun here. Day One is The Second Episode and thus has to stand of representative of what the "average" episode of the show will be like. The episode does this, but the image we're given isn't all that attractive...
      Before I get to the plot, I have to talk about the elephant in the room. Day One is a perfect example of what is wrong with Torchwood Series One, in that it attempts to be more adult by throwing in plenty of over-eighteen sillyness and not by treating things more seriously. I'm not averse to the odd bit of childhood silliness, and indeed, my ten-year-old mind was intrigued by the series at the time, but there is a limit to what is acceptable before it becomes a parody. Torchwood crosses that limit. When I think of a more adult outing in the Whoniverse, I'm looking for high-concepts and serious drama - not sex monsters and masturbating security guards.
     A meteor falls while Gwen and boyfriend Rhys are on a night-out. Torchwood calls her in. They head to the meteor in their SUV, which is covered in Computers linked to the police. At the site she throws a tool to Owen that splits the asteroid open, releasing a purple cloud. The cloud  posesses a girl in an alleyway called Carys. She goes into a nightclub and has sex with a random punter, but upon orgasm he explodes into dust. Back at the Hub, and Gwen is chastised by the other members of her team. The team get the news about the death and head to the nightclub.
     After discovering the circumstances of the death they plan the coverup and then look for traces of the meteorite. More CCTV reveals Carys' possession. At home, we see that Carys doesn't remember. They track her down and stop her from killing a postman and take her back to the base. There she's locked up, and alternates between her personality and that of the entity. The entity explains to Gwen that it lives of "orgasmic energy" and needs it to survive. When the entity moves back, pheromones it's emitting mean that Gwen starts making out with Carys, until she claims that the entity needs a man.

Gwen talks with The Entity.

     The team eat Chinese and Gwen claims that the team should be running more than scientific tests. She creates a character profile of Carys. They examine the cell's air and discover the aphrodisiac pheromones, then finding Owen locked up her stead. Carys fights with Jack and then escapes after threatening to drop The Doctor's severed hand. Owen reveals the results of a practical test on a rat, showing the results of prolonged posession by the gas - the host explodes. Carys goes round to her ex-boyfriend's and kills him before heading to her workplace.
     Following from that lead, they trace her to her workplace, which is a Sperm Bank. With Carys cornered, she collapses. Jack "breathes" his excess life into her. Gwen prepares to let the gas posess her instead, but Jack captures it with a forcefield and it dies. Carys is retconned and returned home, as Gwen returns to a lasagne and her boyfriend.
     I'm speaking in hindsight, of course, and the things most noticeable to me are the characterisations in relation to the modern series. Gwen, being new, has a much more amiable personality - she cares for humanity and feels like an identifiable human figure instead of the shrill, ridiculous parody we see now. The characters in this series are really fun because they have a wide range of well-written characters that sometimes make the silly scenes worth it. Particularly strong for me at this stage is Burn Gorman as Dr. Owen Harper, and it's a shame that I can't talk about his brilliant trilogy of episodes in Series Two.
     I think upon reflection that Day One was spoilt by its ridiculous premise and childish way of dealing with these things, but it does present a set of great characters and a lead pair, in Gwen and Jack, that are compelling to follow. I'm not saying that I haven't written this just to complain about Miracle Day, but I do think that one should look back on a series to test its quality. Torchwood is no exception.

Thanks.