ed_rex

The Categories of Idiot Plots

Why am I writing this? Why am I even still watching?

At the half-way mark of Torchwood's miraculously boring 2011 series, there are two answers to both questions.

The first is that I said I would and that I am trying to develop a reputation for reliability. The second is that there is some morbid fascination in watching to see just how bad this thing can get.

Contrary to a prediction made in an early draft of my my review of last week's Escape to L.A., the return of Jane Espenson, whose keyboard was behind the best episode in the series so far, didn't make for any improvement after all.

The Categories of Life is so slow moving and so driven by idiot plot devices that it's tempting to imagine Russell T Davies is playing some sort of Zen game of Patience with his audience, but on reflection, the evidence doesn't support that hypothesis.

A far more plausible explanation for the ineptness on display is that Davies was so excited about the huge sums of American money at his disposal, that he was so distracted by fantasies of crane shots and exploding helicopters, that he forgot to write a story in which to blow his toys up until mere days before shooting was scheduled to start.

Click here to read about the Miracle of the Legislatures and the Parliaments. Yes, there are lots of spoilers behind the link, but click away! I've watched it so you don't have to.

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