I tried to watch Small Worlds, but it didn't want to be watched. So I gave up.

Small Worlds

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

I was so looking forward to watching this story. And not just to get the awful stench of Cyberwoman out of my brain. This is the first story that digs into Jack's past, and begins to explain how he went from being the happy-go-lucky rogue in Doctor Who to the dark, brooding head of Torchwood (well, Torchwood Three, Cardiff Edition). Clearly he used his vortex manipulator in order to jump back in time, and clearly he is hanging around the Rift in Cardiff on the theory that the Doctor is bound to show up eventually, but in this story it is revealed that he has been hanging around for at least a century. Specifically Small Worlds includes flashbacks to 1909 with Jack in command of a group of soldiers - who all wind up dead via suffocation from rose petals - and also features strongly an elderly woman who was Jack's girlfriend decades earlier.

So, really some meaty world building stuff going on here.

It is also a fairly imaginative take on the whole idea of faeries, with a specific focus on the Cottingly fairy photos. The notion is that the fairies are ancient creatures who periodically pick a young human girl as their Chosen One, taking murderous revenge on anyone who dares to threaten or harm her, and whom they eventually transform into a fairy. It's a solid concept, and well written.

Unfortunately, my DVD of this episode has some radial scratches on it that made the episode stop working about halfway through. It was extremely frustrating. I tried to polish the disc, but that did no good. Eventually I had to give up and walk away only halfway through my workout.

Which is a real shame, because this episode ends with a brutally dark decision. After the fairies have killed a pedophile who tried to abduct the Chosen One (dude deserved it, no tears shed), and then Jack's ex-girlfriend (tragic), and then the Chosen One's stepfather (dude deserved it, no tears shed), Jack ultimately hands her over to the fairies in order to prevent further bloodshed. Whereas you know the Doctor would have found some way to save the little girl, Jack just chalks up the loss and walks away. His teammates are Not Impressed.

I really think this is the story where Torchwood finally found its footing. I really enjoyed it when it first aired, and on this viewing I enjoyed as much as I was able to watch.

Just a side note: this episode was directed by Alice Troughton (yay for more female directors!), but she is in no way related to Second Doctor Patrick Troughton. She also directed The Doctor's Daughter and Midnight over on the Doctor Who side of things, both excellent episodes, and I am looking forward to the several episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures that she directed and which I have not yet seen.

So that's it for this one.

STATS:

Featuring: Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Ianto Jones
Episode(s): Small Worlds
Steps Walked: 3,693 today, 3,743,952 total
Distance Walked: 1.99 miles today, 1,957.18 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 0 today, 6,995 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 1,029 total
Weight: 256.96 lbs (five day moving average), net change -50.34 lbs