Today was an excellent day on the treadmill, clocking a further distance in a 55 minute workout than I have done since July. There is no question that since I completed Phase One of this ridiculous project, I have backslid some. I took a lot if days off in August, and I am only just starting to get back into a groove. So it's nice to be making progress again.

Combat

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Today's story is noteworthy for being unique as the only episode to be written by someone who also played a major ongoing role in Doctor Who having been penned by Micky himself, Noel Clarke. On the whole it is a good episode, particularly for the character development of both Gwen and Owen, but it does borrow heavily from Fight Club.

The story involves a series of injuries and deaths around Cardiff that have clearly been caused by Weevils, which of course Torchwood Three investigates. Owen is still reeling from the events of the previous story, and has turned back into a brooding and violent dick. Meanwhile Gwen is struggling with her relationship with Rhys, mostly because he is a genuinely decent guy and doesn't deserve the way she has consistently lied to him since the start of the series. She's all broken up about having had an affair with Owen, and is terrified that Rhys will leave her if he finds out. Which, he should. She deserves it.

So it turns out that the Weevils are actually being captured by local DudeBros, who are staging cage matches in order to prove their masculinity or some such macho bullshit. It was a load of crap when Chuck Palahniuk wrote it, and it's still a load of crap now. Honestly, I have never understood the attraction of Fight Club. But anyway, Owen gets to work out his aggression and dominance in the ring with a Weevil. Gwen gets to confess to Rhys, but not suffer the consequences because she doses him with Retcon immediately before. And at the end, Jack just lets a Weevil eat the Wannabe Tyler Durden of the story. Basically none of the main characters are likable in this story at all. Which I guess is fine, since almost all of them end up dead by the time the show gets canceled  (spoilers!)

STATS:

Featuring: Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Ianto Jones
Episode(s): Combat
Steps Walked: 7,672 today, 3,789,583 total
Distance Walked: 4.17 miles today, 1,981.71 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 0 today, 7,116 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 1,029 total
Weight: 256.24 lbs (five day moving average), net change -51.06 lbs