Chapter 20: The Forest of Fear

DOCTOR WHO GAP YEAR UPDATE: Torchwood: Extra Wow.

So the finale of Children of Earth aired. It was fantastic. I'm gonna have spoilers so if theres actually anyone reading this (which I doubt) who cares (which I doubt) I'm gonna talk.

So in the end Captain Jack is forced to kill his own grandson in order to save every other child alive, kill the 456 and save the earth from total meltdown. He does so, uses his grandson to send the signal, which kills the 456.

This is been one bad week for Captain Jack. One hell of a week for television. Russel T. Davies made Torchwood what he claimed it was going to be 3 years ago. Adult Science Fiction Drama. It was more like the new Battlestar Galactica in terms of dark/ adult tone and themes. Things you can't be a kid to appreciate.

For Jack, in one week his mistakes of the past came back to haunt him...the mistake of giving 12 children to some aliens to save the world. The aliens came back and wanted more, as a drug, and Jack is forced to outright deal with something he has had to live with for years. Not to mention hes been shot dead 3 times, blown to smithereens when a bomb was planted inside him, and killed by poison gas. Things suck when you are incapable of dying...and must live forever. Not only that, as he told Ianto - he can feel all of it when it happens. So being blown to pieces? It hurts! Then he must wake up and remember the pain forever. And by forever I mean forever...he can never ever die. Being poisoned would've been bad enough...but having to slowly die while watching your lover (in Jack's case Ianto) die as well, knowing fool well that you are coming back and he is not...thats gotta hurt.

So Jack comes back to life yet again, and Ianto is dead for good. Leaving Torchwood with only Jack and Gwen left as members. Jack eventually is put in the poistion of his grandsons life. Killing his grandson...literally forced to kill him and watch it happen was harsh. So now he's not only lost his grandson by death, but lost his daughter through complete and utter alienation. He is left with no family...except Torchwood.

But Davies doesn't make it that easy. Since Jack has been in Torchwood he has lost man people. It goes with the job, and when you are employed for 150 years you are gonna see many come and go. His last crew was killed by the former leader, who at the millineum killed every member and then himself. Leaving Jack to live on and carry the Torchwood....uh...torch. With himself in charge and Other torchwoods crumbling, he rebuilt Torchwood 3: Cardiff in the Doctor's honor. Hoping to impress him in a way....but of everybody he recruited: Susie, Owen, Tosh, Ianto, and Gwen...every single one of them has died, with the exception of Gwen. Susie in the first episode, Owen mid-series 2, and again at the end of series 2 after being resurected, and Tosh dies shortly after Owen in the Series 2 finale. Ianto dying, as well as his grandson and the loss of his daughter personally...Jack isn't too keen on Earth now. So he meets Gwen and tells her to live her life without him or Torchwood, and take care of her family - Rhys and the incoming child.

Jack leaves Earth.

Is this the end of Torchwood as a series? After such a great week of television I'm slightly torn. In the end I have to say: I hope so. As much as I loved this past series, I think it would be too hard to top. Going out on a high seems better to me, rather than continuing on because there is money to be had. Jack leaving made sense, coming back would not. Gwen taking over would also make little sense to me as she is having a child and she shouldn't be running around fighting aliens with a family...plus shes never been my favorite, and even though this series made me like her oh so much more...I don't think she could carry the series herself. And the fact that the car was stolen, everybodies dead of left and the Torchwood Hub was destroyed when Jack exploded...I just don't see another series coming, or being all that great. This ended Torchwood as we know it. if it were to come back, I think it wouldn't ever be the shining beacon it was this past week.

If it does come back, being th Who dork I am, I will watch...but if it isn't upto snuff I will feel sad about it, it could've ended logically here. Plus I hear Davies is moving to America, and seeing as he is supposedly going to continue to oversee production of Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures even after he leaves Doctor Who I find it more likely he is going to at least close down one of these shows...and I think Torchwood is more his baby than SJA, and if he is closing up shop: Way to go out with a bang.

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