Doctor Who Club of Australia

[dave]

I'm not sure what to say about this one: on the one hand, it was an excellent exploration of an interesting idea, on the other hand, way too much sadness for me at the moment.

Someone's been examining the idea, obviously, that memory defines identity, something that Philip K. Dick often wrote about. Whilst this is true of everyone, and we see the effects on the team when their memories are tampered with, it's most true in this story, almost paradoxically, about Adam. It seems he can't exist unless someone remembers him. This raises questions about where he came from/how he started, and whether or not, if he's an alien (which I think was s'posed to be the case) anyone else in the universe remembers him. Or maybe he needs those locally to remember him, and that's what he feeds off, I'm not sure.

Gwen's rejection of Rhys affected me viscerally. The very idea of facing that kind of...in a way... betrayal by someone you're so close to is frightening. Ianto's torment at being forced to believe he had committed terrible acts he'd never done was also powerful, but I was impressed by Jack's faith in the person he knew, despite what the lie detector was telling him. That faith in Ianto's character was what turned the whole thing around for the team. I guess it just shows how much you should cherish those who know you intimately; those who wouldn't doubt your character no matter what they were told about you. Even if it was you doing the telling.

Tosh continues to get hotter as time goes by, although that impression is probably a function of her smiling a great deal, being happy and wearing that top. The writers do seem to like breaking her heart though. Owen as nerd was hilarious at first, but despite my general dislike for the character, I had to feel for him when he admitted his love for Tosh. I thought that was a great scene.

The 'confession' scene with the team recounting early/formative/important memories and Jack handing out retcon pills was a bit tawdry to me. Possibly the only part of the enitre episode that I wasn't completely sold on.

I found this episode compelling, for all sorts of reasons. Not only did it explore quite a cool idea, but it did so by focusing on the effects these events had on the characters of the team. It relied on examining personal relationships, and not just mindless action (not that I've anything against action ~ that's a large part of what I liked so much about Sleeper). Memory modification has some very frightening implications, but I think this is the first time I've seen such an in-depth exploration of how such modification might change the personality of the target, and not just change their recollections of certain events.

Torchwood continues to improve and impress, which is fantastic to see. Can't wait for the next episode and Martha!

[Greg]

Another not coming home at lunchtime week for, so later than Dave again.

Stories in which characters are fundamentally changed help to showcase the actors' abilities - seeing them play (at least) two variations of the same character tells you quite a lot about how good they actually are. Are they cruising through on the one role they can play well, or do they have the skills to convince us that the other version is also real?

The actor who benefited least from this regard was Burn Gorman, because the nerd-Owen was so far removed from the one we are used to that he really might as well have been a different character.

However, everyone else was quite well served by the script - a happy and confident Tosh; Gwen suddenly forgetting an important part of her life and having to deal with it being there, without her remembering it; Ianto forced to believe himself something truly repugnant; and Jack coming face to face with his childhood.

From the first episode of this series, it was plain that we'd be learning a lot more about Jack's past this time round, and here's the second installment. It'll be interesting to watch this develop, and whether it evolves into something that makes Jack more real or if they fumble it. I'm counting on the former!

Another good episode, probably the best this season - so far.

For those of you tuning your space/time visualisers in to this episode - don't forget (as I did) that there were two episodes of Torchwood shown this week!

[meglos]

My favourite episode until the next one "Reset" topped it. I loved the almost personality reversals of Owen and Tosh and it was good to get some more info on Jack's past

[Panecea]

An interesting concept indeed, the pace of this episode is the most intriguing, though. It seems to be a sort of awkward middle ground in comparison to what we've already had. To use an analogy, it was a slow motion replay of a high action scene.

I would have have to disagree with Greg about Owen, I do not believe it was meant to show the actors' versatility. Although by extension this is what occurs, I believe this was done to show how much Toshiko and Owen have in common. Whether it was the foreign nature of Owen's underlying character or over acting on Gorman's part I can't really say, because I haven't seen him in anything else. However, it was refreshing to see a confident Toshiko.

Solid performances from the other actors though even Rhys was better this week and I agree with Meglos, it was good to see some of Jack's past.

[Theta Sigma]

We finally know that Grey is Jack's brother and the episode beautifully played out the flashbacks to Jack's past.
Adam is a very intriguing and sneaky character.
Poor old Rhys being forgotten by Gwen. However this raises the question about whether Rhys still remembers Adam as there is no way that he could have gotten an amnesia pill before the Torchwood team took theirs.
The team knowing that they lost three days but don't know why, I find to be more convincing than with the plot of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Clues which also dealt with characters forgetting what went on before.
It is too bad that Jack loses his good memory of his young days in the process of killing Adam.

Very good script.

[Davros]