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Sometimes a fumble has to be congratulated, if only for the effort put forth. This is the case with Small Worlds, the fifth episode in the love it or hate it Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood.
The idea that Torchwood not only deals with alien nasties but more terrestial--but still unearthly threats--is an interesting idea. Falling into the trap of 'The Alien of The Week!' is to revisit one of the reasons The X-Files ran itself into the ground. The choice of using faeries as a threat is actually both very bold--('What? You mean fairies? Gimme a frickin' break!') and very apt.
Even a cursory knowledge of folklore will show you that faerie stories are rarely comforting. This approach is one that Susannah Moore takes with her excellent novel Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, and it's one apparently shared by Small World's writer, Peter J. Hammond.
Hammond knows strange, being the creator of Sapphire and Steel, easily one of the strangest series to grace British television. Yet still Small Worlds falls a little flat.
The story centres around faeries attempting to recruit a new member, called the 'Chosen One': a young school age girl. Torchwood gets wind of this when an child molester attempts to kidnap her, which leads the faeries to deliver their own brand of judgment. The rest of the episode deals with Jack explaining the power of faeries to both the other Torchwood members and the viewers, while attempting to find this 'Chosen One'.
Small Worlds, while doing its best, doesn't build up the threat of the faeries enough. Sure, I know how bad things can get, but I'm a geek: the average viewer will just wonder what all the fuss is about. Jack's fear and resignation in dealing with them comes across as a bit hollow--even his dramatic moments of helplessness come across empty, courtesy of some bad sound recording. In the end, we're left with an episode that satisfies neither the geek nor the casual yob who'se tuned in to see the sexy bits. It tries, bless it's Torchwood soul, but ultimately drops the narrative ball. But oh, did it try.
Still, there are some nice bits, other than Gwen's sweater. The final shot of the 'Chosen One' being integrated into the famous Cottingly fairy photos was nice. But I'm a geek--I adore things like that.
Rating: *** (three stars for effort, lads!)
4 comments:
Wait a second, there's a "Gwen"... in a sweater... and you decided to grace us with that photo for your first review??!!? Argh!
OK, just kidding... very nice write-up, and welcome to the crew! (You've already equalled the output of one of the founders...)
Care to assign a star rating for this nice try of an episode?
yes, Welcome Sean!
I remember asking Matt if he ever liked Dr Who and the answer was too quick out of mouth. Something like 'Childish plots, dumbest villains ever conceived, terrible acting and a foppy English hero'. I'm now realizing that he was just replaying some conversation/drag 'em out argument that you two must have had.
(it's best if you replay the 'Childish plot, dumbest villains...' in comic book guy voice)
LOL!
Keep it up, Timmie... I know where you live! Too bad you fight like such a girl, though...
I'd almost forgotten this episode (since I saw the series earlier this year courtesy of someone at work). Torchwood as a whole definitely has potential; I'd put its best episodes on par with the best of Doctor Who, and the worst parts of both are about the same level of badness.
For various non-spoiled reasons, you'll wish that both series had run concurrently here, or at least that T had been shown before the most recent season of DW as it did in the UK.
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