An Hour of Who a Day: 03/01/15

March 1: "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" (TW)

...so tempting to say that Torchwood series 2 starts with a bang...

But it does, both literally (Jack announces his return from Doctor Who by shooting an alien in the head) and figuratively, as this is an episode that's surprisingly energetic and fun, without all the baggage that series 1 had accumulated. It's as if Chris Chibnall and the other showrunners looked at all the feedback and made changes accordingly. It's a welcome move.

One does wonder a bit what people who watched Torchwood and not Doctor Who made of the Captain Jack stuff (admittedly likely to be a very small percentage of the viewing public; that said, I know at least two people who have done just that), as "End of Days" left on something of a cliffhanger, and then this picks up after Jack returns, and the episode refuses to do more than just hint at where he's been (references about how Jack "found my Doctor", and that he'd seen the end of the world, and that's about it -- so hope you saw "Utopia" / "The Sound of Drums" / "Last of the Time Lords").

But what's great about "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" is that, by moving events along in Jack's absence, they've been able to get rid of some of the unwanted problems they had. So Gwen is engaged to Rhys, Owen doesn't seem like a tosser anymore, and Tosh seems more like a proper member of the team than she had been. Even Ianto gets some personality, avoiding Jack's advances (sort of) and rescuing the rest of the team. This means that when Jack's old partner Captain John Hart¹⁹² shows up, the Torchwood Three team seems to be a much more coherent unit than they had been.

Let's be honest, though; this episode is successful in large part because James Marsters (as John Hart) is so watchable. He's unpredictable and funny, with a devil-may-care attitude that makes him more like the rogue that Jack was in series 1 of Doctor Who -- albeit a psychopathic rogue (lest you be in any doubt after he throws a man off a building, he mentions to Jack that he was in "murder rehab"). He seems like he might be a good guy and he might not, but the best part is that he keeps you guessing -- and even when he's working against the team it's still fascinating to watch him in action. Hart also works because of all the hints he drops about Jack's past. It's neat to finally see another Time Agent -- even if this one is also a rogue -- and the stuff he mentions about Jack's past is intriguing. Much of it is stuff Doctor Who viewers would know (like Jack being a Time Agent in the first place), and some of it isn't -- such as Hart's parting shot to Jack that he "found Gray", which clearly means something to Jack even if he tries to hide it. Really, the only real problem with Hart is that, as someone who's meant to be like Jack but completely amoral, it's hard not to think of John Simm's Master -- but that's because both characters are fulfilling the same basic plot function: apparently the Doctor and Captain Jack are more alike than you might initially think.

It's energetic, it's fun, and it's even got sex and violence that doesn't feel tawdry. It also manages not to be breathtakingly stupid; the worst offender in this category is probably the "mixed blood injected into Hart will confuse the DNA bomb", which is all right in theory but not with the small dose Hart gets -- and that's nowhere near "Evolution of the Daleks" levels of DNA stupidity. And, happily, Hart is still alive at the end and able to return for a sequel; he's easily the best character Torchwood has come up with yet, and he deserves a repeat engagement or two. If the rest of series 2 is like this episode, Torchwood is in surprisingly good shape.

¹⁹² Remember that "Captain Jack Harkness" is the name of someone who died and then had their identity taken by "our" Captain Jack. Then note the name of the officer in charge of the HMS Seaspite naval base in The Sea Devils, and start to worry about his fate...