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TARDIS Guide

Overview

First aired

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Production Code

2.8

Written by

Joseph Lidster

Directed by

Andy Goddard

Runtime

50 minutes

Time Travel

Present

Tropes (Potential Spoilers!)

LGBTQA+

Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!)

Owen's death

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Cardiff, Earth, Wales

UK Viewers

4.26 million

Synopsis

Owen chats with a suicidal woman on a rooftop, reflecting on his adjustment (or lack thereof) to his new life (or lack thereof). Will a mission with Torchwood assist in his salvation or bring about the end of the world?

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Reviews

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4 reviews

A strong story, let down by a couple of things. Firstly: I Don't Care About Owen Harper. I see what they're doing with his character, I can even respect it, but ever since his first appearance he has not been written in a way that has ever appealed to me. (This is a purely personal issue, I acknowledge)

The second is a perfect example of the truism "aged practical effects look charming, aged CGI looks Bad." The CGI looks bad, to the extent it undercuts all tension. I'm a Doctor Who fan, I'm used to bad effects, but this was pretty low


This review contains spoilers!

 

An absolutely outstanding story; I think this may be my favourite Torchwood episode so far.

 

It's such a deep and powerful exploration of depression, and suicidal thoughts, and finally we get a decent acknowledgement that Owen is a bit of a prick. And despite the fact that he treats Tosh like dirt and continues to flirt with Martha despite her lack of interest (both which the people in question call him out on), we still really feel for Owen with his depression. I was genuinely rooting for him not to jump with the woman who had tragically lost her husband, which made the twist at the end even more satisfying.

 

Such expert screenwriting throughout, and phenomenally acted by all involved. Totally sublime.


This review contains spoilers!

This episode that it is pretty well regarded by Torchwood fans and while it did get my attention on initial viewing, it hardly blew me away, either. I never really had that reaction to this episode much, but agree it does hold up pretty well. In my initial viewing of the series, I was so burnt out and uninterested in Owen's character by this point that this trilogy kind of threw me off. I do like the content, it's just a little hard to ignore how dark of a place they started Owen with in this series. It's hard for me to really feel as much sympathy for Owen as I should, but at least here, to Torchwood's credit, that's kind of the point. Owen doesn't really deserve this resurrection and it is far from a pleasant experience. I was impressed by the show's willingness to change one of their characters so severely and they don't really walk it back, which was cool. To the show's credit, I really had no idea how far they'd be willing to go for the rest of Series 2.

It feels like Martha wasn't very well used here, but her appearance was still welcome enough. I wish she was used more or just joined the team here though. That would have been fun. I don't really like the effects much and the way it was filmed was just kind of okay for me.


This review contains spoilers!

A Day in the Death struck me. Owen deals probingly with his depression and “undead” status. It in turn leads him to save a life. It’s worth noting how good the ensemble cast are in this - including Martha. I’d have to do proper individual reviews to adequately explain what makes each character tick but it’s the thing that holds this show together.


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AVG. Rating259 members
3.87 / 5

Trakt.tv

AVG. Rating289 votes
3.92 / 5

The Time Scales

AVG. Rating56 votes
4.35 / 5

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Transcript Needs checking

OWEN [OC]: My name is Doctor Owen Harper and this is my life. A life that is full of action and violence and work, wonder. Secrets, sex and love and heartbreak and death. My death. The death I survived, the death I am now living through. Except, this isn't living. Every day is the same. I get up, get ready for work, the same as everyone else. The thing is, I'm not the same. I get to work and everyone's doing the same old thing. Babbling away about aliens and weddings. I'm not real. Three days ago, I died. And they think I'm fine, but they're wrong.

(We see Owen is discovering that he cannot drown.)

[Rooftop]

(Sitting on the ledge, next to a young woman.)

OWEN: So, are you ready to jump?
MAGGIE: Would you just piss off. Get off my roof.
OWEN: Your roof?
MAGGIE: I'm going to jump, so just leave me alone.
OWEN: Look, darling, you know, I'm not here to stop you. Seriously. You think you've got problems? What, did your man dump you?
MAGGIE: Sorry, love. Were you talking to me? It's just, you know, I'm a bit busy right now. I'm not really interested in listening


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