Tomorrow is here — Torchwood ToE, Day Three
Torchwood: Children of Earth continues to pick up steam with major revelations tonight, and new mysteries to be resolved in the last two evenings. Balanced between humor and jaw dropping plot twists issues of family and security continue to play out.
As the plot continues the emphasis on family, and need for it, becomes more apparent. Rhys is integrated into the Torchwood team as the group finds new digs and takes on creative approaches to furnishing it. The warm and fuzzies don’t last though, in a tongue and cheek way when Rhys realizes Jack knew before himself about Gwen’s pregnancy. He storms off with Gwen chasing, a metaphor for the strengths and trials of family life.
Ianto cements this by saying ruefully to Jack, “All together, the old team.”
The humor and bonding continues for about the first half of the third day as a montage plays out of team Torchwood actually breaking laws.
“If they are going to treat us like criminals, lets be criminals,” Gwen says as they all go on a pick-pocket and grafting spree.
Another touching moment is played out between Jack and Ianto to soften Jack’s character for a stiff slap to what the viewer thinks they know of Jack later.
As Ianto muses about Jack’s immortality (and his own mortality) he concludes, “”You best make the best of it then.”
And, as the show progresses Jack really should have because his daughter and grandson we are introduced to in Day One are taken in by the government, who in turn give us some more backstory about Jack’s little family unit, and the 456 arrive.
What we can see of the 456 show them to be a grossly tentacled and slimy mess within their glass tank. Government squabbling and the inane behavior of elected politicians ensue, with an even more damning meta-commentary on the civil servants, as seen by Frobisher, who keep it going.
Basically, a lot of sweeping exposition and action that move the actual mystery forward take place in Day Three, compared to Day Two. Torchwood quite literally is reminded it operates outside the law, with a hint that this may not have always been so as is revealed with the introduction of Jack to Clem MacDonald, the sole boy to escape the 1965 event that introduced the British Empire to the 456.
We learn just how far Jack is willing to go for a mission, but why that mission was is still rather vague. In the end what we are left with is an episode, the center point for the whole mini-series that propels us forward. Into what we are not sure. What perhaps should have been the lowest point for the team, the destruction of Torchwood base has passed. The teams been reunited. They have their own space again. And it looks as if they are racing to save the universe with the helps of Lois and those with a conscious. And the very real theme of family, and what would a person do for it is emphasized family by the demands of the 456.
The question is, how much worse can it get for the team in two days?
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