TORCHWOOD 2.1 – "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"

Writer: Chris Chibnall
Director: Ashley Way

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), James Marsters (Captain John Hart), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams),Tom Price (PC Andy Davidson), Menna Trussler (Elspeth Morgan), Paul Kasey (Blowfish), Crispin Layfield (Mugger), Nathan Ryan (Victim), Inika Leigh Wright (Hologram Woman) & Sarah Whyte (Miss Styles)

A face from Jack's past arrives through the Rift and immediately begins to cause trouble for Torchwood, and the city...

"Excuse me, have you seen a blowfish driving a sports car?"

-- Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles)

10 minutes. That's how long it took for Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) to lock lips with another man in season 2's opener. Mind you, there was a bar room brawl immediately after to help any uncomfortable straight men reassert their masculinity.

Chris Chibnall takes over as the series' show-runner, penning this premiere, which starts on a note of Darin Morgan-style comedy when an old lady sees an "alien-blowfish" driving a red sports car -- law-abiding enough to stop at a pedestrian crossing, despite being in the midst of a pursuit by Torchwood...

We're quickly brought up to speed with the situation: Jack has been AWOL since the season 1 finale (having gone on a three-episode adventure on Doctor Who), but has now returned to reclaim his mantle as leader. This ruffles the feathers of acting-leader Gwen (Eve Myles) – although every character on Torchwood is obsessed with Jack, so it's minutes before the old team dynamic returns.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang concerns the arrival of a face from Jack's past: a fellow Time Agent called Captain John Hart (Buffy's James Marsters), who arrives through the Rift with a cavalier attitude, array of weapons, and zero-tolerance (within seconds he's pushed a mugger off a multi-storey car park to his death.)

Jack gets reacquainted with his old friend/lover at a nightclub, and it's clear from Jack's cowboy-style entrance, that "this town ain't big enough for the both of them." After the aforementioned smooch and bar room brawl, John is introduced to team Torchwood and tells them about several radiation cluster bombs that have come through the Rift and now threaten Cardiff's safety.

For awhile, John seems to be helping Torchwood and enjoying the catch-up with his old pal. As Jack's a narcissist, John is the closest he'll ever come to bedding himself, as he's written to be Jack's (evil) twin brother. Oh, and does this Time Agency only recruit handsome, bisexual dandies with J.H as their initials?

Gwen is a sidelined for the most part, with the series perhaps moving away from Torchwood being "her" story. While she served as the ideal way to introduce us to Torchwood's universe last season, the show is undoubtedly more engaging with Barrowman as top dog. Here, Gwen huffs about for awhile over Jack's return, reveals she's engaged to drippy boyfriend Rhys (Kai Owen) to provoke a reaction from him, but quickly falls into line and starts cooing over how great Jack is...

Eventually, of course, Captain John turns nasty and systematically disables team Torchwood one-by-one, most notably leaving Gwen locked up in a shipment container (after paralyzing her with special lip-gloss!), and proceeds to push old-friend Jack off a tall building. Is that John's favourite method of execution, or what?

It turns out John's after Arcadian diamonds, as the storyline suddenly lurches into a succession of developments in the last 15 minutes, which don't all make sense. The retrieved radiation canisters, when connected, project a hologram of a woman John killed, and a booby-trap attaches itself to John's chest – having targeted the DNA of her killer -- and is now set to detonate in 10 minutes, destroying Cardiff. As posthumous paybacks from scorned women go, it seems a bit harsh to me!

Of course, Torchwood have quickly reassembled, rescued Gwen from paralysis, and Jack has resurrected from his fatal fall (he can't die, remember?) This forces John to take Gwen as a hostage and, oddly, allow himself to be dragged to the Rift so the imminent explosion can be contained inside. Still at Torchwood, Jack and Owen (Burn Gorman) concoct a mix of the team's blood, rush to the Rift, and inject John with the cocktail – confusing the booby-trap, which detaches itself, and is thrown into the Rift to explode safely.

While this wasn't a massive reinvention of the show, it was easily one of Torchwood's more enjoyable episodes, thanks mainly to its fast pace and a standout performance from the charismatic James Marsters.

But there are still far too many clunking moments for my taste: jokes that fail (horny John fancies a poodle?) and blunt foreshadowing (Owen and Tosh are both after lovers they have "something in common with" -- wink-wink). The show's obsession with gay/bisexual characters also remains present in season 2, with no sign of it being toned down...

It's not that I'm prejudiced, but the way Torchwood deals with its sexual angle is often irritating, with Jack coming across as little more than a sexual predator sometimes. A scene where Jack propositions Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) during an office search gave me the uncomfortable feeling of watching a confident, experienced older man use his magnetism to tempt an inexperienced underling.

For me, Jack Harkness works far better on Doctor Who -- where his sexual preferences are obvious, but subtly touched on. On Torchwood, the frankness about everyone's sexuality just has a deadening effect on me. I have no problem with a character being gay, but I think the writing needs to reflect reality more – instead of using Torchwood's fantasy trappings and just exaggerating everyone's sexual preferences. Barely 5 minutes goes by without some misplaced allusion to sex.

And if there was a bisexual man working in a pressured environment like Torchwood, I don't think they'd be sleeping with half the staff! This just pushes the myth that gay people are more hormonal and predatory than heterosexual people. But, okay, if you prefer to think of Torchwood as rollicking hyperbole in every respect, that's fine. I just prefer more texture and subtlety.

The actual episode was more controlled than most Torchwood episodes last year, although Chibnall's plot began to strain under the weight of new information towards the end. That made for a slightly confused rush to the climax, which was disappointing after a well-judged ratcheting of the story. Despite the dramatic potential of radiation bombs scattered across Cardiff being totally squandered, there was enough breathless energy and sense of fun to keep everything together.

So, not a total rethink in response to season 1 criticism, but the quality level certainly took a nudge upwards. The extended trailer for the rest of season 2 looked more invigorating than season 1's entire output, while the late-mention of someone called "Gray" by John, just before he disappeared back through the Rift, will doubtless play a major part in the 12 episodes to come...


16 January 2008
BBC2, 9.00 pm