Unsuccessfully upping the odds in Torchwood

Why I’m not enthusiastic about Miracle Day and probably won’t watch.

I know no one likes having their show dumped on, and I have noticed myself doing a bit of that in my Torchwood-meme. I think it's fair to talk about why I don't really feel tempted to watch Torchwood anymore - and it does not all have to do with Ianto. (Even if I might have kept watching for the sheer brilliance of the character if they hadn’t killed him off..)

I loved Captain Jack when he was introduced in Doctor Who. Living in Norway I came a bit late to the series of Doctor Who, and by the time I watched it (2009), I could just go to imdb to check if Jack would be back. Seeing he would return made me look forward to his next episodes in season 3.
 It is safe to say I considered him a great character - quite unlike anything I had ever seen before. I loved his charm and his humor and his flirtatious behavior and that core of bravery within him.

I tuned into Torchwood entirely for him after having finished watching ‘The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End’. Only I had not yet clued into what a dystopian writer RTD is. He might even seem to have a degree of obsession with angst. Joss Whedon has nothing on him. Instead of a show about Captain Jack, the wise-cracking alien-fighter, I got a show about guilt-ridden Jack who was now really scarred by unknown past events.

This was not really a problem. The show's premise might have been done to death. A secret group who fights aliens is a very old, very tired idea. However, I was willing to look past that for the characters and the oddities. As it turned out, I’m really glad I did so, because Torchwood rapidly turned into my favourite show. It was fun and funny, quirky and queer. RTD managed to make this old idea into something new by setting it in Wales, by the brilliance of his characters and by the slight oddness of his storylines.

I instantly disliked Gwen, and had some issues with the show trying to convince me how awesome she was. She seemed to whine about her pointless difficulties adjusting to Torchwood, while the other characters were having to face life-shattering events on a weekly basis. Luckily this got a lot better, and season 2 transformed Gwen into a great character. I liked Tosh and Ianto, but we barely got to see them at first. So glad this improved as the series progressed! Owen wasn't really able to pull of the bad boy well enough to begin with, but halfway into series 1, he started to grow on me.By the middle of series 2 the show had grown into something great. An alien-fighting organization with history, in-jokes and (not-so) brilliant agents.

Then RTD got himself hobby: "Smash Jack's psyche into a million pieces." 
Again 
And again 
And again
 I hated the way Jack lead his team, his decision-making was horrible, and I started disliking what Jack had become. There is a lot of wasted potential in this great character!

By the time I had watched Children of Earth, I really thought the character ought to be called Jack Bauer and join the cast of 24. There was so much potential in that storyline and some very interesting moral dilemmas. Alas RTD overdid it, and all my sympathy for Captain Jack was lost. When I heard about Miracle Day, I just didn't want to put myself through watching something so sad and angsty again. 

RTD has also exhausted all of my sympathy. His obnoxious attitude makes me not want to support the series at all. Fans making death-threats on account of a character’s death is of course sick and extreme, but what about all the other fans who just expressed their disappointment in a civil way? He is not just blatantly ignoring them – he seems to be walking all over them just because he can.

There were so many things I liked about the show that aren’t there anymore. There was the British-ness, the strange and wonderful Hub, the strange and wonderful creatures living in the Hub, Cardiff - a city not so unlike my own, the team-feeling, Owen, Tosh, Ianto, the humour. These are just some of the things I can mention.

What is left that I actually like? Gwen, Rhys and PC Andy are all characters I enjoyed watching. They just weren’t my favourites and aren’t enough to keep med watching. So to get back to where I started – maybe I might have kept watching if RTD hadn’t killed off Ianto. Not because I cannot handle a character being killed off, but because he was one of the factors that kept me watching the show. I would be equally curious to watch if the show was to go back to its original format or if Tosh or Owen were to return somehow.
My problem is simply that RTD has gotten rid of everything that kept my interest in the show. Without all that, it just won’t be the same.

It really sucks to lose a show you love, and this one was my favourite. But for me, the show was over in 2009 – they should have kept it that way!