Torchwood: Children of Earth Day One

By Lisa Fary

I was all excited to see Torchwood: Children of Earth on my big flatscreen on the new BBC America HD. Only there was no BBC America HD and my regular BBC America seemed to have a worse picture than usual, even after cleaning my glasses (that could have been me just being dramatic). Anyway, thanks, Comcast. Just when I think you can’t suck more, you do.

Disclosure: I’ve already seen Torchwood: COE in its entirety, but will be addressing it on an episode by episode basis, rather than as a single entity. I’m rewatching it on BBC America this week and want to be considerate to people who haven’t seen it. As a viewer, there is nothing I hate more than a spoiler, so I’ll refrain from writing about events in upcoming eps.

It’s garden variety Torchwood going into Children of Earth. The set up begins in 1965 with a busload of kids walking into a bright light in the middle of the country. Cut to present day, specifically present day, 8:40 AM GMT. Every child in sight comes to a standstill for a few minutes, frustrating their parents, crossing guards, and drivers.

People are going into work, including Gwen Cooper, who says good morning to a photo of Tosh and Owen (Tosh and Owen. Sigh). In London, Lois Habiba is late for her first day of work in Mr. Frobisher’s civil service office. In a Welsh hospital, Captain Jack and Ianto are taking care of an alien growth in a dead guy while scoping out a possible replacement for Owen (although, there is really no replacement for Owen), Dr. Rupesh Patanjali.

For most of Torchwood: Children of Earth Day One, it seems the focus is going to be the alien threat and rebuilding the team with Dr. Rupesh and Lois. Rupesh seems a little too  earnest, but I’m so used to Owen’s brash arseholery. Lois seems skittish, but she does remind me of Tosh. They’d be decent additions to the team.

At 10:40 GMT, the kids stop again, let out a wail, then chant what we’ve seen on the promos: We are coming.

All the kids in the world. . . and one old man in a rest home. After visiting with him and learning his name (Clemont McDonald) and where he’s from (Scotland, something to do with Holly Tree), Gwen and Ianto report to Jack. It’s only for a moment, but Jack get this look. This look that says he knows something. . .

It’s Rhys who first suggests that the transmissions are speaking directly to Great Britain and shortly after, that gets corroborated by Mr. Dekker, the science guy who works alone in a forgotten closet of Thames House, and the Prime Minister. The culprit is a species called only The 456, and they’ve dealt with the British before. However, the rest of the world doesn’t know this, so the British government takes steps to erase their side of history.

A side that Captain Jack was part of. His name is on the kill order, which is intercepted by Lois. We know Captain Jack can’t be killed, so extreme measures are taken: he’s lured into a trap and, while dead, a bomb is placed in his stomach. A bomb that’s detonated when he’s in the belly of the Hub.

That entire sequence with the bomb, the kids chanting again, reactions from parents, finally ending with the explosion knocking Gwen away and the kids ending with “We are coming. . . back,” was perfectly timed and executed. Heart racing, finger biting, perfect.

Holy crap.

This show. . .

Frigging brilliant.

Family is an important aspect in this series in a way it’s never been on Torchwood before. From the team members to their relations to side characters we’ve never seen before. We’re getting to know them all in a far more intimate way.

We see Ianto’s family in a working class flat complex. His sister has two kids and a loudmouth husband, but they have a kind of brash family love for one another.

Gwen and Rhys (I love you, Rhys. You were the best boyfriend ever, and are now the best husband) are house hunting (anyone notice the realty company? Frost Lynch) and Rhys wants something with an extra room for a nursery. Then, of course, Gwen turns up three weeks pregnant.

Then, there’s Captain Jack. After the second frozen child display, he decides they need a child to figure out what frequency is being used. He shows up at the home of Alice, a single mother. They seem to know each other well, but are clearly not friends.

When she called Captain Jack “Dad”, I dribbled a bit of Pepsi Max, my mouth fell open. Dad? Captain Jack. . . Dad?

Even with the civil service people, the notion of family is brought up. Frobisher has a wife and children, who we saw chanting. Mr. Dekker doesn’t and says it’s better that way.

Ianto and Captain Jack form their own unit, which could be called family. Jack is resistant to calling themselves a couple, even though Ianto can’t help but notice everyone who does call them such. Naming what they have is a big deal for Ianto; Jack knows they’re a couple, but hates the word.

Torchwood: Children of Earth also introduces two horribly cold, hateful characters in this series: the Prime Minister and the Hitwoman.

The Prime Minister wants his hands clean, that much is clear. When it’s time for the kill order, he outright says his name can’t be on it. Frobisher has to do it to keep the PM clean. He wants the power, but not the responsibility, not the dirty work. That much is obvious. I already hate him.

The Hitwoman. . . she’s. . . well, she’s something else. Cold and hateful, but cruel, too.

What’s so cruel about her is that she gave Rupesh time to figure out his fate instead of just killing him. She could have done it, she had the gun. She watched his face turn to realization, then fear, let him understand she was going to kill him, then let him run. Hitwoman let him get to the end of the hall before calmly pulling her weapon and shooting him in the back.

Owen’s potential replacement dead. The Hub destroyed. Jack blowed up. It doesn’t look good for the Torchwood team.

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Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.

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