Thursday, February 28, 2008

Torchwood S02E08-A Day in the Death

Dr. Owen Harper has been having one hell of a week. He's died, been ressurected, faced death, lost all feeling and his job. Plus, he's officially a walking, talking undead. Unable to cope with his new perdicament, Owen contemplates ending everything once and for all. Will he ever be human again and can he still do his job and save a life? Will anything be normal for him ever again?

A Day in the Death stands as one of the best shows I have ever seen for this series. Owen, like most of the cast this season, has undergone a drastic reboot from season 1. And now that he is in a similar boat as Jack, the unable to die aspect, this episode gave us more of an insight into one of the shows deepest themes, the fine line between human and unhuman, life and death etc. Owen has now become one of my favorite characters in this show. He's no longer the arrogant ass that he was in Season 1, he's funny, more social, more open, more human (pun intended).

This episode is also the finale for Martha Jones's tenure on Torchwood. Oddly enough, this episode features Martha the least, giving the episode focus to Owen rather than her. This being said, her departure wasn't played very well. I mean, even though Owen decides to remain with the team in the end, it would have been nice for them to keep Martha on. Was she called back to UNIT or what? I mean, she just leaves all of a sudden with no explination. This was my only real gripe about the episode.

I'm sure we'll see Martha again eventually as a main cast member. But for now, we will just have to wait for Doctor Who Series 4 to see her in action with UNIT.

And major props to Christine Bottomley, who played the suicidal Maggie who is listening to Owen's story. She was a great foil to Owen and it was nice to see her evolve along with Owen as his story went on. Well done indeed.

Rating-9/10

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