Mini Review: Torchwood

Call me the last person on Earth to have even heard of Torchwood. (I really need to get out more.) Anyway, we found it on Netflix so we put it on the queue and started watching while Greg was with me for a rare extended visit.

Torchwood is a secret organization that hunts aliens and is based in Cardiff, Wales. It's headed by Captain Jack Harkness, a man who can't die, which as I learn along the way, can be a cruel punishment in itself. 

The rest of the team is comprised of: Gwen, a policewoman who didn't let anything as feeble as an amnesia pill make her forget Torchwood when she discovers it accidentally. Ianto, driver, errand boy, and apparently Jack's quick squeeze when he has the need. Toshiko, computer genius, and Owen, the doctor.

It took me a while to like them. Gwen was likeable from the start as was her ever-patient boyfriend. But Jack irritated me through most of the first season. Slowly, and I don't know when, they started to feel like family, albeit a dysfunctional family. By the end, the writers had me caring about what happened to each of them.

But...the one thing that really annoyed me was the way the characters were forced to fall in and out love lust so quickly. In one episode Ianto tries to save the love of his life, and in the next, he's humping Jack. I don't care that they're bisexual, but if you're going to write a relationship, people can't go bouncing from one person to the next without some context.

I really felt they were sensationalizing bisexuality rather than treating it like a real relationship. It cheapened it. They didn't get their act together until Torchwood: Children of Earth mini series that followed.

Aside from the terrible plot holes and lapses in logic and scientific fact, Torchwood had one redeeming factor that kept me watching. The stories. There were little nuggets of gold in the stories. While the relationships were 'meh', the premises were fantastic. Episodes like Ghost Machine, Out of Time, and End of Days were haunting and intriguing. 

While I tended to find fault with parts, it was the whole that kept me hooked.

I recommend this series for science fiction and fantasy buffs.

***

And to prove my total ignorance of television history, we had watched nearly the whole series before I discovered that Torchwood was a spinoff of Dr. Who. (I  wondered why Jack kept saying the Doctor will fix things.)

I've never watched Dr. Who, though Greg did, back in the early days of Who. We've put it on the queue for the next time he's in town. I don't know that I'll like it because while I've known about Dr. Who for decades, it always looked a little cheesy in the promos. But since I like Torchwood, I'm willing to give it a try.

Have you watched Torchwood or Dr. Who? What did you think?

Is Dr. Who similar in flavor to Torchwood?