Torchwood Countrycide episode (Spoilers)

B5B7 · Post by **B5B7** » 2007-07-24 05:47am

Short dialogue extract from Torchwood episode 6 Countrycide:

“What about Tosh and Ianto? Should we go after them?” – Owen
“Not till we know what we’re dealing with.” – Jack
“What if it’s too late!” – Owen
“They’re not children. They know what to do. – Jack

No, they don’t.
The Cardiff bunch of the Torchwood organization are supposed to be elite, but they make raw recruits look good in this episode.

I watched this episode last night; I didn’t tape it (I don’t tape Torchwood, just watch it), so I will not mention too many specific incidents.

A lot of people on the net actually liked this episode!! [if you Google torchwood criticism countrycide you can easily find them]. Indeed, many of these fans think this particular episode is really good.

In a Welsh rural district 17 (!) people have been reported missing in this one particular district. Torchwood arrives to investigate – it should have been easily solvable by Welsh police because there are no aliens involved [despite several times audience being shown a humanoid figure moving at superhuman speed – typical camera trick, with no relationship to reality of episode]. It is more suitable to be an episode of Midsummer Murders.

The Torchwood personnel have no personal body armor, no transponders, no communicators, no motion detectors, no night vision goggles, no sense.
They [5 of them] split up into 3 groups to search a village.
This village every ten years engages in a “harvest” – feasting on any visitors/passersby, and no one seems to have noticed all the missing people in previous decades disappearing in same location [and it seems that Torchwood wasn’t briefed about this].

This group is defeated and almost killed (except villagers kept them alive) by a bunch of Welsh country hick cannibals.
Their car has no security and no remote control [convenient to plot as when it is stolen it leads them to the village].

ELITE ELITE ELITE - NOT NOT NOT NOT DEFINITELY NOT

Query – why are they limited to only 5 people in their branch of Torchwood?
It only makes sense in terms of making an inferior TV drama show.

What do other SDers think of this crap?

Lord Woodlouse · Post by **Lord Woodlouse** » 2007-07-24 07:37am

Torchwood 3 as a rule seems generally incompetent, this episode was not anything new. It showed that the "alien menace" was actually human though, which gained in some kudos from me for trying something a little different even if the execution was, as always, poor.

I like Torchwood, I don't know why, but I do. It's flawed as fuck, but I still keep watching it. But all the same I really really hope they improve things for the second season.

Old Plympto · Post by **Old Plympto** » 2007-07-24 08:11am

During the Cyberwoman episode, it seemed that Captain Jack has to yell his orders three times almost every time there's a crisis to get people moving. But yeah, there is potential in the show. I hope series two is much better.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2007-07-24 08:21am

Branch? That's it, now. The half dozen of them are it.

The stupid, how it burns.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-07-24 08:25am

NecronLord wrote:Branch? That's it, now. The half dozen of them are it.

The stupid, how it burns.

The later DW eps even make it sound like Jack is PROUD of his 'elite' squad of childish ignorant psychopaths. It's just awful, so awful.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2007-07-24 08:49am

Stark wrote:The later DW eps even make it sound like Jack is PROUD of his 'elite' squad of childish ignorant psychopaths. It's just awful, so awful.

I'm rationalising it by thinking desperately that he's only got them around for ablative shielding and comedy. Okay, no I'm not, but it's the only reason other than stupidity...

I wish I could make them watch La Femme Nikita. Behold, you can have a competant, well run organisation and still have the characters deal with challenges themselves.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-07-24 06:02pm

Stark wrote:
NecronLord wrote:Branch? That's it, now. The half dozen of them are it.

The stupid, how it burns.
The later DW eps even make it sound like Jack is PROUD of his 'elite' squad of childish ignorant psychopaths. It's just awful, so awful.

You know, Stark, I thought exactly that, when Captain Jack was boasting about "his" small Torchwood team; what was there to boast about?! He made a complete pig's breakfest of things, his team were irredeemably inept or untrustworthy and innocent people died as a direct consequence. through Torchwood Three's murderous criminal negligence.

I also agree with NecronLord that a massive organization like the Torchwood Institute would be whittled away to less than eight people is intrinsically stupid, even after a disaster like the Battle of Canary Wharf. There was no explanation about what finally happened to Torchwood One, why there was no recruitment drive to fill in the major losses and nothing about the relocation of surviving R&D assets being sent to places like the Cardiff facility.

However Torchwoood still had a couple of genuinely good episodes and handful of passable episodes, the potential for a vast better show is still there after a patchy first season - lets hope the writers take the fucking hint and iron out most of the bugs come the second season.

Hillary · Post by **Hillary** » 2007-07-26 05:35am

Totally agree with the OP - this was the episode that pissed me off the most (beating off some strong opposition).

The first half saw them battling against creatures with super-human speed and strength. The second half showed these people to be old country hicks.

The episode's moral - that the humans are more depraved than any alien species (despite killing relatively few people compared to pretty much any alien attack) - seems to have gained it some sort of standing with fans of the show for reasons which escape me.

File under "fail".

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-07-26 10:00am

Hillary wrote: The episode's moral - that the humans are more depraved than any alien species (despite killing relatively few people compared to pretty much any alien attack) - seems to have gained it some sort of standing with fans of the show for reasons which escape me.

That is not a bad concept in itself, it is infact a rather decent concept but I do agree that "Coutrycide" was mostly poorly executed (I also wonder why they didn't call in police SWAT back up, but then again in "They Keep Killing Suzie" even the Cardiff police mock Torchwood Three).

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2007-07-26 12:39pm

"why they didn't call in police SWAT back up"

Because police in the UK don't have SWAT units?

South Wales Police armed response unit was probably busy. Not to mention, the local officer was in on the whole thing.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-07-26 12:55pm

andrewgpaul wrote:"why they didn't call in police SWAT back up"

Because police in the UK don't have SWAT units? South Wales Police armed response unit was probably busy. Not to mention, the local officer was in on the whole thing.

I know "Special Weapons and Tactics" is not the official designation for armed British police in tactical gear, but why didn't a field team from a supposedly elite agency call in major armed back up? Or better yet Torchwood Three should've have had their own tactical squad, if it wasn't for the retarded writer's fiat of the Torchwood Institute being reduced to less than six unqualified loonies in a Cardiff sewer...

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2007-07-26 01:05pm

Because it was an initial research trip, which escalated too quickly for them to do anything. Besides, they're not as good as the MiB at covering this stuff up; they didn't want the rozzers seeing something they shouldn't, I assume.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-07-26 01:17pm

But how can Torchwood Three run a convincing MIB operation if there's only four or five of them and they're chronically incompetent? The Torchwood Institute might as well not exist with surving elements of that organization either absorbed into UNIT permanently or demobilised altogether...

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2007-07-26 01:53pm

Er, that's precisely my point; "they're not as good as the MiB at covering this stuff up", ergo, the fewer people they need to call in, the better.

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2007-07-26 01:54pm

And as for being abvsorbed into UNIT, what makes you think that either Harriet Jones or Mr Saxon would ever consider handing Torchwood over to an external agency?

B5B7 · Post by **B5B7** » 2007-07-26 10:30pm

UNIT wouldn't want them - it has standards. Also, incompatible objectives - Torchwood's loyalty is to GB, UNIT's is to Earth.
Torchwood is hardly incognito - they have on the side of their vehicle in big letters the word Torchwood. When a policeman comes along the first thing they say to him is that they're from Torchwood. This seems to imply they think every policeman would recognise the word (or at least be impressed enough to check with their own senior officer). With so many police officers knowing about them, the whole country would know about them.

If I was a British police officer in the Torchwood universe I would consider them a half-joke. Only a half-joke because the police often encounter Torchwood at end of a successful operation, so for instance, at the end of this particular episode when police came to arrest villagers, they would see it as five Torchwood operatives successfully uncovering and apprehending some villains without casualties, UNLESS they question the surviing villains and get full details of operation.

There probably is a rule in the police that only specially assigned police officers with a specific clearance level are allowed to question suspects linked to a Torchwood operation to maintain some dignity and credibility for Torchwood.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-07-27 05:59am

andrewgpaul wrote:And as for being abvsorbed into UNIT, what makes you think that either Harriet Jones or Mr Saxon would ever consider handing Torchwood over to an external agency?

B5B7 wrote: UNIT wouldn't want them - it has standards. Also, incompatible objectives - Torchwood's loyalty is to GB, UNIT's is to Earth.

With the command structure of the Torchwood Institute destroyed beyond repair after the Canary Wharf debacle, the UK/UN authorities wouldn't want all that alien technology, military hardware and sensitive facilities to be completely unaccounted for, despite Torchwood being a different organization with their own aims (although important Torchwood assets falling into the wrong hands essentially happened if the dregs of Torchwood set up shop in the Cardiff branch and the Racnoss Queen took over a sub-Torchwood One complex beneath the Thames Barrier).

Hillary · Post by **Hillary** » 2007-07-27 06:28am

Big Orange wrote:
Hillary wrote: The episode's moral - that the humans are more depraved than any alien species (despite killing relatively few people compared to pretty much any alien attack) - seems to have gained it some sort of standing with fans of the show for reasons which escape me.
That is not a bad concept in itself, it is infact a rather decent concept but I do agree that "Coutrycide" was mostly poorly executed (I also wonder why they didn't call in police SWAT back up, but then again in "They Keep Killing Suzie" even the Cardiff police mock Torchwood Three).

It's hardly a new one, though. The fact that humans are a pretty darn violent race (and just as bad, if not worse, than the nasty aliens) has been rather thoroughly explored in sci fi in general and several times in Doctor Who (the Christmas invasion covered this quite recently and I can remember it being a feature as far back as early Pertwee).

For some reason (probably because of the cannibal angle which somehow makes it worse in people's minds), this theme is being treated as if it is something new and groundbreaking when it isn't. More unforgiveably, it is resulting in Countrycide being looked at as a great piece of sci fi rather than the piece of shit it is.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-07-27 07:05am

Hillary wrote: For some reason (probably because of the cannibal angle which somehow makes it worse in people's minds), this theme is being treated as if it is something new and groundbreaking when it isn't. More unforgiveably, it is resulting in Countrycide being looked at as a great piece of sci fi rather than the piece of shit it is.

I too am puzzled at the fan praise heaped on the rather mediocre "Countrycide" - I also think "Captain Jack Harkness" is a highly overrated episode as well, even though it was not so turgid as "Countrycide", a rather dull slash fest loaded down with writer's fiat and plot holes. I still think "Ghost Machine" and "Out of Time" were both genuinely excellent Torchwood episodes, inspite of TW's thoroughly unlikable main characters and a genuinely interesting show premise pissed away within three or four episodes.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-07-29 09:09am

This is how I rate Torchwood overall as a show and it's individual episodes, with their very random quality:

Torchwood

Overall Show Rating - 3/5

Season One

"Everything Changes" - 3/5
"Day One" - 1/5
"Ghost Machine" - 4/5
"Cyberwoman" - 1/5
"Small Worlds" - 3/5
"Coutrycide" - 2/5
"Greeks Baring Gifts" - 2/5
"They Keep Killing Suzie" - 3/5
"Random Shoes" - N/A
"Out of Time" - 4/5
"Combat" - 3/5
"Captain Jack Harkness" - 3/5
"End of Days" - 2/5