TV is the New Reading

Names don't make the show

So, after traveling to the end of the universe with the Doctor, living through the 20th century a couple of times, defeating the Armageddon beastie and several ne’er-do-wells on a time-space rift in Cardiff, of all places, he gets a blast from the past in the form of aliens that travel on an electromagnetic frequency of 4-5-6. They made first contact with Torchwood -- an extragovernmental foundation established by Queen Victoria studying extraterrestrial cultures and technology -- in 1965 when they handed off 12 children to stave off a virus the 4-5-6 would otherwise release upon the entire world. Now they’re back, they want 10 percent off all children on the planet on threat once again of destroying all life on the planet.

The aliens appear to operate without a base of support, they seem strung-out on children and behaving exactly like junkies in need of a fix. But because they released a virus in Thames House where their ambassador ... appeared ... and the fact that you can be right near a transmitter and nearly any electromagnetic disturbance can disrupt the signal -- and oh yeah, back in the mid-60s, how did this species happen upon human children as being a source of yummies? And how did they all come to get addicted to them? What were they addicted to before? Where is this alien species coming in from? How are they communicating through all human children simultaneously, and no one can identify a source and nothing can disrupt it? Roiiiiight.

None of this matters because despite the government rounding up 10 percent of all the children to merrily hand them off to the aliens -- all the slow, stupid children that will never amount to anything, you understand -- all that’s actually needed is for Jack to sacrifice one child -- heartbreakingly, his own grandchild, with a feedback loop that connects with all the children and through them, the aliens.

Again, this whole sacrifice the one to save the many is such a hamfisted trope in the tradition of science fiction, married to the British aversion to appeasement. Really, it’s simply more efficient warfare. Humans vs. aliens, even junkie alien child-addicts, the government identified that the 10 percent of the least-advantaged children would be conscripted to save the remainder of the human race -- right up until the aliens returned and made further demands.

Jack was simply shrewder, identifying the connection the aliens already had to the children, focusing his feedback loop through the one child available -- his own -- and thereby, if it worked (no idea, sorry -- it certainly destroyed the alien ambassador but the others might have switched off -- again, wherever they were beaming in from to collect the children in the first place) and merely destroying one child to perhaps save the (larger) remainder of the human race, potentially for even longer. Now, ha ha, if the 4-5-6, whoever they are, want their kiddie fix they have to come here themselves and try to take one physically. And with alien junkies, who’s to say that wouldn’t happen, and with much greater disruption?

Jack’s not hanging around to find out, however. He made his goodbyes to Gwen, the most senior member of Torchwood and potentially the only remaining member. Their organization suffered a significant setback in the loss of all three other members -- Owen and Tosh were killed off in the last season and Ianto was killed off in this miniseries event by the 4-5-6, and I didn’t see new recruit Lois at the end hanging about anywhere, Jack walking away and their operations center destroyed. Jack hitched a ride with a transport vessel leaving the solar system.

While it sounded like Torchwood creator Russel T. Davies wanted to start fresh, Lord knows what he could possibly have in mind. It seems like he wants to start fresh as in from a blank sheet of paper.

In any event, while there were significant problems, fans of the Doctor Who series reboot and the past couple of seasons of Torchwood were given much to love in this miniseries event, some fun backstory and a new set of adventures that despite the shaky premise were well written and well played.

Names

As for names not making the show, I can’t tell you how excited I was to see Dylan McDermott returning to television. As the square-jawed Bobby Donnell in "The Practice" he could exude significance and intensity without a word. I thought that as head of an LAPD covert ops squad, he could bring that level of significance and intensity to a new role in “Dark Blue” on TNT.

However, I misjudged the impact of a second name. Jerry Bruckheimer is indeed responsible for some of the most popular cop dramas on television, not least of which all the “CSIs” and “Cold Case,” shows I’m looking forward to like “The Forgotten” this fall, and less popular shows I enjoyed like “Close to Home” -- though honestly I was giving that show about a suburban lawyer more of a chance because lead Jennifer Finnigan as Annabeth Chase was freakishly beautiful and I enjoyed the occasional appearance of “Angel” alum Christian Kane as her husband.

“Dark Blue” is not one of his better projects, mainly because it doesn’t work as a concept. McDermott as Carter Shaw is meant to work such deep cover his operation doesn’t exist, and yet he’s brought down enough organized crime he should have a prison named for him. He’s meant to infiltrate operations and bring them down from the inside, but honestly that’s not believeable in 42 minute segments. The communication between him and his team in the pilot episode was sketchy, there’s no good reason any of them are still alive -- a crime boss like Franzine would kill any new or even sort-of-suspicious operative on sight -- and in the end it relied on one of his lieutenants turning on him.

The standard might be a little lower because it’s on TNT and not CBS, but with all the quality summer shows it’s competing against on cable these days, this kind of writing won’t keep it on my DVR, Dylan McDermott or no.

I mentioned enjoying Christian Kane in the short-lived “Close to Home,” and his character was actually killed off at the end of the first season. Fortunately I can continue to enjoy Kane’s work with Timothy Hutton in “Leverage,” which also returned recently.

“Leverage” is one I’ve talked about before with a gang of high-tech and talented grifters who use their various arts to bring down corporate thugs. Hutton plays Nathan Ford, a former insurance investigator who turned on his own company when they denied payment for an experimental treatment that could have saved his son, who ultimately died in his arms.

As his team encounters ordinary people being screwed by the system, they come up with entertaining scams to bring down the corporate despots. In an age of Enron and AIG, it’s a satisfying fiction.

“Torchwood: Children of Earth” will re-air in a block starting at 1/12c on BBC America Sunday, July 26. Otherwise, check BBCAmerica.com for more information.

Also, “Leverage” airs Wednesday at 9/8c, and “Dark Blue” airs Wednesdays at 10/9c, both on TNT. 

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