On First View: Torchwood: Children of Earth
Guest contributor Harpal Khambay shares his views on the 3rd series of the spin-off.
So, the first series of Torchwood I actually watched when it first aired was the third, and luckily I didn’t have to watch Series 1 and 2 to understand it. I was quite young at the time, and I found ‘Children of Earth’ to be a thrilling and scary series. I had ‘learnt’ about Torchwood through Doctor Who, mainly Series 4, and when I sat down to watch Children of Earth, I really didn’t know what to expect. The reason I watched it was because the notion of every child being possessed by aliens intrigued and scared me.
When I watched the series I realised that Torchwood were more than alien hunters, they were detectives, with all this technology in their secret base underground, and this realistic aspect offered something different to Doctor Who, and it took a while to think like Torchwood. If the Doctor was present, the entire series of Torchwood would probably have been reduced to one episode!
‘Day One’ I felt was quite a slow start to the series, and I must admit it wasn’t what I was expecting, but looking back on it it’s obvious that the aim of the first episode was to gradually set the foundations for the next five days, allowing the remaining four episodes to be more action-packed and faster paced. Seeing the children being used as alien puppets was truly terrifying, and as I was a child myself at the time it really scared me. The questions posed contributed to the great mystery surrounding the ‘456’ radio frequency, and I think the first episode acted successfully as hour-long narrative hook.
When the bomb was planted in Jack’s stomach, at the time I remember my interest in the episode rose dramatically, as the pace suddenly sped up. Upon hearing Gwen was pregnant, as I didn’t know the character well enough, I was slightly indifferent. The only reason I regretted not watching Series 1 and 2 before 3 was that I had to get to know the characters, and I feel if I knew them already the events of Series 3 would’ve been more shocking, and I would’ve cared a lot more about them. The ending of the episode happened so fast, and although it was inevitable the hub would be destroyed, I didn’t quite believe it until it when with a bang. Frobisher’s screaming added to the rising tension and it was apparent the next five days were going to be massively difficult for him. In the last few seconds of the episode the mystery deepened further, with the revelation that the aliens were coming ‘back.’ In short, I was hooked.
The second episode, ‘Day Two’ showcased how intelligent the Torchwood team were, and proved to be a thrilling ride… some of which took place in an ambulance. I was pleased to see Ianto had survived and was eager to see how Jack would. The construction of the 456’s tank was an interesting idea, and added to the ominous mystery of the 456. This episode also expanded on the character of Lois, and she proved to be a worthy addition to the Torchwood team. I felt she was quite relatable as the events, and Torchwood, were as new to her as they were to me. This episode also made me love the character of Gwen, as she appeared adaptable and clever. The most shocking aspect of the episode was that Jack ended up in a slab of concrete. I wasn’t sure whether to applaud Johnson, another fantastic character, for her initiative or feel sorry for Jack. I felt both, and the scenes in which Gwen and Ianto broke Jack out of the slab were crazy and exciting. The tension rose as the arm of the truck extended over the cliff, and I held my breath as it fell, crashing to the ground. This was probably the most exciting episode for me, because of the action and revelation that the aliens were coming to Earth the next day.
The thing that stuck in my mind most about ‘Day Three’ was the 456’s demand. As a child, I felt sick thinking about it, and it did not help that my mum teased me she was going to give me to the aliens! When the 456, in their chilling voice, announced this, I felt that the heart of the series was now based around this moral dilemma, and therefore based on humanity more than the alien, as from this point, the 456 didn’t do much else, and we were allowed to see the government unravel. I was even more surprised upon finding out that Jack had given children to this alien before. This made me question his character a lot, and provided the foundations for episode 5.
The government’s actions were beyond shocking during “Day Four“, and I was appalled and disgusted they were considering giving the low-ability children to this alien so they can get a ‘hit.’ I found this to be a very dark story. When Torchwood came storming in through Lois, who was absolutely fantastic during the episode, my hopes rose. It was here, I believe that the 456 proved to be a fearsome adversary, as its act of war acted as an eye opener for Torchwood, telling them, and the audience that this may be too much to deal with. I was astonished that Ianto died, as this cemented my previous point further. Davies did a very successful job placing Torchwood in position where the viewer had no idea how they would escape it, and the episode ended differently to the others, with the very simple scene of two people grieving. I was quite sad that Ianto died, but I think if I had seen the previous series,’ I would’ve cared that bit more.
‘Day Five’ was a very different episode to its predecessors. It was not action-packed, I feel, and it wasn’t as epic as the other episodes. It was quite a low-key finale, but it worked very well. It focused on the human response to the 456’s commands, and for most of the episode, carried the feeling that Torchwood had lost. It turned out to be a very emotional finale, which ended in the way I didn’t expect, and in the way I didn’t want it to. Looking back on it, I feel only a few events were shown on screen, but these events effectively tied up lose ends, developed characters and gave us an image of a world at war. Firstly, lets talk about Frobisher (played by a pre-Doctor Peter Capaldi). The poor man had been crushed to pieces in the space of five days, and was now pushed to his limits. I think he deserved peace, and in an odd way, that’s what he got. He gave himself the authority to take control of his situation, and protect his children from the 456. I see it as quite heroic, and the whole scene, with Spears’ narration proved to be quite touching for me. Later it was good to see Spear’s come to her senses against villainous Green.
Next, Gwen. You could see she was truly desperate to fight until the last possible minute, and her determination was more than admirable. Her chilling monologue signified the utter turmoil the world was in, and was another emotional scene in the episode. Now to address two characters I haven’t talked about much. Alice and Steven were a great way to see the story through new eyes and explore Jack’s past. I couldn’t quite believe he had a daughter for obvious reasons. I found Alice to be a strong and independent character, and I respected her for standing up to Jack and his sudden interest in Steven. Lucy Cohu played her fantastically, and upon re-watching, it was clear her character was destined for heartbreak, but I was nowhere near prepared for what she suffered. The resolution to the story was one that was hidden in plain sight, but made a great deal of sense, I believe. I learnt more about Jack in this episode more than any other, and the horror of Steven’s death was quite disturbing and traumatic, juxtaposing with the relief of the 456’s demise. Considering this was one of the few times Alice let Jack into their lives, it was massively unfair that she had to pay the price.
I felt the end to the series was incredibly sad. I didn’t want it to conclude that way, as I wanted to see Torchwood pull through. However, on re-watch it’s clear that ‘Children of Earth’ could only end this way, or it would disrespect the massive loss, and losses, Jack has suffered. Of course, at the time I had no idea who Suzie, Tosh and Owen were…
All in all, I found Series 3 to be dark, exciting and thrilling. It was great to see humanity being pushed right to their limits, and the drama didn’t stop. It made me want to watch Series 4, which turned out to be my favourite series…
