Torchwood (TV Series) Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2008) User Reviews

"Torchwood" returns with a vengeance, bigger and better than before!

[DVD_Connoisseur · 8/10 · 16 January 2008]

The new series of "Torchwood" sets out its stall early. With a bigger production budget now that the show has won a place on BBC2, the scale of the series has been increased. However, what will impress most fans is the introduction of new series regular, the one and only James Marsters.

With an amusing, if slightly illogical, car-chase opening, we are reintroduced to the "Torchwood" cast and it's great to see them back in action. I was slightly concerned when I read comments that there'd be a re-cut PG version as I expected the adult content of the show to be toned down in the evening slot. Thankfully, this isn't the case. There's violence and the air of debauchery throughout the show and it's genuinely difficult to see how this could be re-cut in a pre-watershed sanitised version.

8 out of 10. Great fun but I'm setting the bar here for this installment as I'm expecting much more from future episodes, judging from the tasty clips at the end of the show.

Fast-paced and fun

[LaFeeChartreuse · 9/10 · 9 July 2008]

This was an outstanding episode - a perfect mix of action and wit, tension and humour. The opening sequence with the blowfish and the old lady was just perfect - especially the "Bloody Torchwood!" comment.

James Marsters is great as Captain John Hart, and right from the start manages to be equal parts despicable and weirdly likable, though perhaps personality-wise a little too reminiscent of a certain other character he's well known for playing, who had that same style of friendly amorality. The interaction between him and Jack is highly entertaining, especially in the scene where they first meet.

Only two things annoyed me a bit: First, Jack's persistent refusal to open up at all to the other characters about his past or his reasons for doing anything, which is understandable to a point, but starting to get to a level where you really want to smack him. He makes such a point of how he values the Torchwood team and how they're so important to them, but he can't get it together to trust them enough to say anything whatsoever about his past? Despite the fact that they deal with weirder stuff than that on a daily basis? It's really kind of aggravating...

Second, the odd and sort of random way that his relationship with Ianto seems to be developing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not objecting in the slightest to the two of them getting involved. I actually get really annoyed with people who complain about the gay/bi elements of Torchwood - in case they haven't figured it out yet, that's one of the show's major themes and one of the reasons a lot of us watch it! Anyone who can't handle that should probably stick to watching Doctor Who.

But I just think the development of this particular relationship hasn't been handled as well as it could be. First it seemed like Ianto hated Jack (in Cyberwoman), and then just a few episodes later (in They Keep Killing Suzie), you have that odd little innuendo about the stopwatch which seemed to just come out of nowhere, at a time when you'd still expect Ianto to be grieving for Lisa. And now in this one you have Jack kissing Ianto when he first reappears, which suggests they already have some level of romantic involvement, but then the exchange while searching the office sounds like they don't yet and Jack's still testing the waters. It's all kind of confusing and hard to follow, and you don't really get any sense of a relationship naturally evolving the way you did with Gwen and Owen in the first season.

However, those are only small complaints about an otherwise great show and episode.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang -- Great ep!

[redconky · 8/10 · 28 January 2008]

I have to disagree with the comments thus far. I thought this was an extremely entertaining hour of escapist television. We got to see a blowfish driving a stolen sports car who -- despite being higher than a kite -- allowed a cranky old lady cross the street. In addition, we saw Owen shoot at said sports car WHILE hanging out of the Torchwoodmobile (yes, I just made that up) during a high-speed chase, and Jack returning just in time to stop the bad guy -- or fish, in this case -- all in the first five minutes! As if all that isn't enough, we get some serious making out action and loads of quotable quips. Personally, I think it was the best episode yet. P.S. -- To all you homophobes out there -- alternative sexuality (gay, bi, lesbian, etc.) has been one of the themes of the show from the beginning, so get used to it or change the channel!

Scifi Reality

[oberon495 · 10/10 · 5 April 2008]

Actually, printed science fiction and fantasy have a long history of being more accepting of sexual orientations other than heterosexuality... unlike some of the general public. Even on television, "Star Trek" tackled such issues as inter-racial relationships way back in the 1960's. It's like most things in life, if you don't like something then don't do it... but don't try to make the entire world conform to your narrow little viewpoint. So, now 40 years later we are finally dealing with sexual orientation. I say it's about time. If we had done this earlier, we might have spared a great many people a great deal of pain... even saving a life or two (actually, many more) along the way. Rock on, Torchwood!

The Buffy Episode

[strangeframe · 8/10 · 28 July 2010]

The writers of Torchwood must be Buffy fans. They wrote the episode like a Season Six when Buffy and Spike (James Marsters) fall into a love / hate, trust / distrust thing just like Captain Jack Harkness (playing the part of Buffy) and John Hart. They even have to keep Captain James Marsters out in front as Xander had to in BtVS. Come to think of it:

CaptainJackHarkness......................Buffy

GwenCooper...................................Willow

OwenHarper...................................Giles

ToshikoSato....................................Anya

IantoJones.......................................Xander

CaptainJohnHart..............................Spike

A good start to a series

[thomasgouldsbrough · 7/10 · 29 March 2022]

This episode is, alright. It features John Hart, who just feels like a less charismatic, creepy sex pest of Captain Jack, almost like a parody of the character. There's not really too much to analysis, it's a pretty standard story. The trailer at the end of the episode for the series looks fantastic, and really sets the scene for quite Torchwood story arcs, ones which include actual, real stakes........

Dull and Predictable

[tryptych · 3/10 · 23 January 2008]

Well, as it seems virtually all the main characters have had some kind of homosexual relationship, let's bring in a new one from some other fantasy show, and Jack can snog him too.

Sorry, but Russell T. Davies needs to get off this whole gay aspect. It's unrealistic and BORING. We don't want sex, we don't want swashbuckling. We want thrills and chills and interesting characters and plots, and not some vehicle for RTD's sexual fantasies. Get Steven Moffat to write. He wrote "Blink" and "The Empty Child" for Dr Who and scared the pants off everyone at tea time, without so much as a profanity. RTD should take a leaf out of his book, stick to producing and leave the writing to writers.

Dull

[hgwsavage · 4/10 · 20 August 2020]

I had to skip this. Just so dull. That guy from Jack's past is so dull and uninteresting.

What lies beneath...

[sinceverona · 5 September 2009]

The Torchwood team is looking for a creature who has stolen a sports car and looks like a blowfish. After they catch him, he takes a girl for a hostage and threatens to kill her. In the last minute he is shot by no one else but Jack Harkness. While Jack is getting used to cold vibrations the team is projecting on him, and old friend arrives. His name is Captain John Hart and he claims he is searching for a three radioactive canisters that fell through a rift. Jack agrees to help him. What to say about John Hart. We didn't really had time to know anything more about the character than the first impressions. He was a liar, killer and manipulating person. Except the fact he revealed to the team that he and Jack were time agents who worked together for five years, everything else was a mystery. Interesting enough the plot was quite intriguing but the end was just another enigma. About relationship between Ianto and Jack, well it seemed like Jack was doing him a favor, by asking to take him out on a date. And after that he grinned witch i did not like at all. Gwen looked pathetic, it seemed that in her case ruled applied, happy at work, unlucky in love. Owen seemed disappointed in life, all he wanted was to find his true love. Toshiko looked stupid by saying how she finds John Hart handsome, specially since just seconds before he kissed Jack. The good plot was over shadowed by past romances and a start of knew ones. The action scenes would be enough.