DAY THREE Original Transmission
Cast Captain Jack John Barrowman
Written by Russell T Davies (episodes 1, 3,
5)
Plot Outline from Wikipedia The team sets up base at the remains of what had been a Torchwood One warehouse in London, furnishing it with stolen laptops and other hardware bought with stolen credit cards. In researching the people targeted for assassination, Jack recognises them and leaves the base in a hurry. At the same time Alice contacts the police in an attempt to discover if her father is alive which alerts Agent Johnson to her identity. As Johnson and her soldiers arrive to take Alice and her son hostage, Steven joins every other child in the world in pointing to the centre of London — the 456 have arrived. A member or members of the 456 race enters the enclosed tank, through a column of light, with the gases masking its form and a built in speaker translating its words into English. At Frobisher's request, the 456 agrees to hide the knowledge of the species's previous meeting with Britain's rulers and to talk with an ambassador.
Meeting again at the cafe with Lois, Gwen recruits her to use hidden cameras inside a pair of contact lenses in order to report on Frobisher's communication with the 456. Gwen then bails Clement from a local police station. In a meeting with representatives from the US military and UNIT, the prime minister makes Frobisher a scapegoat ambassador to the 456. As he prepares for his first official meeting with the alien, he is called by Jack using his wife's stolen mobile phone. Jack demands answers under threat of going public with the knowledge of the first contact with the 456. Frobisher tells him that his daughter and grandson are held hostage and will be killed should he act. Frobisher begins diplomatic talks with the 456, with
Torchwood watching by way of Lois's contact lens camera. Although
the creature appears to mock him, it keeps to its agreement by refusing
to say why the 456 are in Britain. The 456 then demand a gift: 10%
of Earth's children. Back at base, Jack returns and is recognised
by Clement as the man who in 1965 gave 12 children to the 456, "as
a gift."
Analysis by Cuisle The pace slowed down a bit in this episode. It had to in order to get a heck of a lot of information across. So there is no point in the begrudgers on various half-baked science fiction blog websites moaning because there wasn’t as much high-adrenaline action as the last two episodes. Nor am I particularly sympathetic to the complaints of those who didn’t like the moment when Captain Jack came ‘back’ in his full five inch action figure outfit, complete with RAF coat. Apparently that whole ensemble can be bought in any army surplus store. I was almost tempted to find out this morning. Anyway, even if it did slow down the plot, this moment was necessary. We had to know that Captain Jack was himself again. It was a morale boost not only for his team, but for his fans after the trauma of Tuesday. It was a moment much like when The Doctor in his pyjamas stepped out of the TARDIS in the Christmas Invasion. And we needed it.
The convolutions of Mr Frobisher, the government and the 456 were hard going, it must be admitted. And just what sort of aliens they are, I’m not even going to speculate. My other half reckons it’s the Macra, and that’s actually a more intelligent guess than the ‘Ambassadors of Death’ suggested by one website. Presumably all will be revealed very soon.
I noticed a newspaper article that criticised John Barrowman’s acting. There seems to be two distinct camps among television watchers. Those who like John Barrowman and those who don’t. There is also a nasty little subset who just hate that he’s gay, and I’ll ignore them altogether. The ones who don’t like him are never going to admit that he is a good actor. They will never look at the scene where he realised the 456 were connected to something he did over forty years ago, seeing the acting he did with his eyes and facial muscles, and realise how wrong they are. This was possibly his finest moment in the whole series, and he did it well. So begrudgers just to on back to ITV and leave something as sophisticated as Torchwood alone. Peter Capaldi as Mr Frobisher is playing a blinder. I am still not sure if he is going to ultimately turn out to be a good guy after all. I think it is just possible he will. Some of his dialogue in this episode was dull stuff. But he is playing a Home Office civil servant. They are meant to be dull, even in the presence of aliens. He’s doing it right. And, frankly, if anyone hasn’t got the attention span to cope with his parts of the episode, then sorry, but it’s your problem. Sit still, sit quiet and pay attention and it will all make sense.
Lois is still coming along nicely as a Torchwood ally. U.N.I.T., which always used to be friendly to British interests under the old Brigadier, seem to be turning into tools of the ‘furious’ American President. They’re no help to anyone. Bear in mind, this series was made in August/September 2008, a couple of months before Obama took office. It’s possible that British relations with the USA in Torchwood and Doctor Who might soften in future. But this is a last reminder of how Russell T. Davies thinks about Bush-led American politics.
The biggest shock, of course, is that Jack was involved
in the handing over of the children to the aliens in 1965. Actually,
it’s probably not really a shock. I was starting to suspect
as much. Why else did they want him dead? But it does feel slightly
wrong that Jack Harkness did something so morally repugnant in his
past. Gwen and Ianto both looked as if their faith in him was shaken.
I hope they get it back.
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