I've thought a lot about this final blog. After 100 days I still have a lot I can write about but nothing seems quite right. I'm actually kind of over-stimulated. In the last 24 hours I've done nothing but talk about Torchwood: MIracle Day. I've also just re-watched AGAIN Torchwood episodes from Adrift - Day Five. There have been ads everywhere, articles, promotional events and I found the first episode online (US only). I am actually going to watch it again right now. I am so excited I am at a lack for words. I love Torchwood I LOVED Miracle Day (see my blog about attending the screening) and tomorrow I am having people over to watch the official premier. it's going to be brilliant. I hope you all enjoyed reading these blogs half as much as I have enjoyed writing them. With any luck it helped pass the time. I know that this is really only a countdown to the US premier but everyone will follow shortly. I'm sure you'll see more blogs from me, just not every day. Below I am posting my mugshow, something I've been working on from the start, a picture a day that accompany my blogs. 100 days, we did it! Love you all and John Barrowman. Thanks for sticking with me. Are you ready???xx

<3Dana

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2 days left and it's the last day of my countdown to Miracle Day, Torchwood re-watch! Today we watched Children of Earth: Day Five. If you've been keeping up, you know I got into a format with the episode blogs. I wanted to have a standard sort of break down of each episode, but as I said last episode COE doesn't fit the mold. I gave the first three episodes the regular treatment, but it was forced and really hard to evaluate on an episode by episode basis. Yesterday, Day Four crushed my blogging spirit and I decided on pictures and whining in lieu of my normal wordy ways.  Today I am less broken but still unprepared to blog as normal.

*SPOILERS THROUGH CHILDREN OF EARTH, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED*

It's a weird expeirence I had this time around with Day Five because at episode start I was in a very good mood. I had had a spectacular day and I was so happy that the episode really couldn't get me down. I know from my past experiences with this episode I am usually slightly less depressed than the previous episode after watching. I don't want to just go on about the faults of COE, but I do want to look back and think about the good points and the bad points about it as a whole.

How about we make a list? You can read the previous blogs for my detailed praises and critiques but let's do bullet points, shall we?

(in no particular order, seriously, this is just the order it's coming to me and  this is only a handful)

Pros:

The whole Davies family. Rhiannon, Johnny, Mica and David. I love Ianto's family. They are without a doubt the best thing to come out of Children of Earth in my opinion. I wish we could see more of these characters in the future. I love each individually (well maybe not David, he was a bit dull) and I simply adore Ianto and Rhi's relationship.

Ianto and Jack, the good bits. I assure you Ianto and Jack's moments in COE, and there were many, fall equally on the side of Pro and Con for lots of reasons. One of the best parts was that they really gave the relationship a good amount of screen time. Lovely to see more of their development as a couple. I also liked that they made them more real in a way. Instead of just seeing little scenes here and there we saw a full arch of their relationship and we saw a struggle that is not uncommon in real couples. Their story felt authentic in that way and if it were an isolated story it would have been rather well done. Stay tuned for the cons for why it didn't work out quite right. Also, points for Janto kisses. Never a bad thing.

Lois Habiba. What a great, brave character played by the wonderful Cush Jumbo. She was a bright spot in all the depression. I know I'm not the only one that was hoping she'd join the team after COE was over.

Jack the family man. I am being very careful not to put Alice and Steven specifically because Steven was neither here nor there and Alice upset me a bit. I did however like seeing Jack have that familial connection. I loved that it really took me by surprise and it was very moving seeing him so vulnerable. And of course the events of Day Five were soul crushing but I really thought Jack's impossible choice at the end was a positive highlight of the whole series. Of course I didn't want that to happen, but it was a really well forced decision with heartbreaking consequences no matter what. Whether Jack did the right thing or not is a whole blog in itself but it sure was compelling story and so effective in devastating the fans.

Related to that is the softer side of Jack. We saw Jack fall apart. He lashed out and he was vulnerable and he cried more than once. Of course we never want to see our Captain suffer,  but there were some touching moments and seeing the conflict in Jack throughout was really phenomenal. Of course John Barrowman brought so much to that and his man crying was spot on. If I had to name a Most Valuable Actor for the whole series I might have to give it to John.

I might also have to give it to Gareth. I refuse to actually choose. The acting in this by our main cast as well as the new additions was amazing. Particularly John, Gareth, Eve and Kai, just flawless. I believed every minute. The true test of an actor is if they can make you forget they're acting, if you believe they really are Jack, Ianto, Gwen and Rhys. I find myself often lost in the episodes and so invested in the characters. If we didn't buy into their performances we wouldn't care nearly as much. We end up caring about characters as if they were actual people. See the Ianto wall if you doubt that.

Cons:

They killed Ianto!! Whether you agree it was good story telling or not, or if the death was plausible (again, a whole blog topic in itself) at the end of the day, we're down a suit wearing, coffee brewing, quick witted, Jack loving Welshman. No matter what you think of anything else, not having Ianto anymore is FIRMLY in the con category. Complaint number one with a bullet.

#CaptainAssHat. While I am all for believable conflict I am not for forcing a story on characters. I'm not saying any conversation that happened during COE with Jack and Ianto couldn't have come up in their relationship, what I am saying is it felt forced. Like my issue with their relationship as a whole we keep seeming to miss things. Defining moments, game changing relationship steps are happening off screen. I don't see a smooth transition from Jack and Ianto series 2 to Jack and Ianto in COE. It doesn't make sense and everyone was sort of blind-sided I think. It was just a very drastic change rather suddenly and it made it seem out of character because we didn't see the progression.

The 456. This might be a debatable issue but it is an issue I had. The 456 as a threat were interesting, I liked the ties to the past, I liked the suspense and I liked that it wasn't so out there that it was a joke. What I didn't like, which is why it's in the cons overall was the actual 456. When Frobisher was negotiating with them, I was..so...bored. Just me? I think those scenes maybe needed to be shorter because 456 speech puts me to sleep. On a related note all the government debates, too much talking in a dull way. I don't know how to criticize this properly. I think everything they said was interesting and we needed to know it, but watching the scenes themselves they dragged.

The all around negative vibes. Whether or not you can pick out individual moments or character traits that upset you in Children of Earth it's generally agreed that it's upsetting. For me the majority makes me angry and depressed. I acknowledge that strong fan reactions are to some extent a sign of good story telling. If we're that upset we must be that invested.I went over this in one of the earlier blogs, but in a nutshell, if these episodes are so upsetting that at the end of them we're more annoyed or sad than entertained, something isn't right. The fact that I had people watching every episode with me for the re-watch and almost all stepped away during COE, the fact that fans consider it hard to watch and don't want to, THAT IS A FLAW. If you ask me that is the biggest flaw. They did a great job of telling a sad story that really resonated but left us with a bad taste at the end. Which brings us to my final con...

The ending. The fact that they though this could be the end of Torchwood forever makes the miserable ending of this series all the worse. What a shitty way to go down! I am glad that the deaths of Ianto and Steven affected Jack but this was too much. If this was the end of a series and it was coming back, a cliffhanger, something to fix it would be fine. The fact is, they scripted this episode thinking it might well be the end. They were prepared to end Jack's story having him, give up and Torchwood die. I have been through some pretty unsatisfying endings with shows I have loved, more than one courtesy of Russell T Davies and each time it irks me so. Shows that I have invested series after series of viewing on that wrap up in a terrible way. I cannot tell you how glad I am that Miracle Day is a reality. I don't need a perfectly happy ending, that's not very Torchwood either, but I'm hoping when it really is the end, it's a satisfying story closer. I'm also hoping it's not for another 7 series.

I was really hoping that at the end of Children of Earth I could step back and say definitively, "I liked it" or "I hated it" and explain why. It's not black and white though. There are good points and there are bad. If I had the choice to erase it, so that neither good nor bad happened, I don't know if I would. I mean, I probably would, because at the end of the day I'd get Ianto back. That seems to be my bottom line. All other pros and cons aside. Children of Earth killed Ianto and I wish it hadn't. I think all this reflection had done is confused my feelings more, but I hope it was interesting enough to read. I realize my Day Five blog turned into Day One - Day Five but it made more sense to talk about it overall. Tomorrow is the last blog in my 100 day countdown to Miracle Day, I'm not sure exactly what that will be like yet but I'll try to make it a suitable finish. I hope you enjoyed the re-watch portion of these blogs, I know I really got a lot out of watching everything again with you.  I'll be back tomorrow, until then what did you think of Children of Earth? Of Torchwood as a whole? Any thoughts at the end of the re-watch? xx

<3Dana

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THIS BLOG DISCUSSES TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF EARTH: DAY FOUR, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, STOP READING.

Hey Guys.

So I know usually we have a bit of a format to these blogs, at least we have since we started the re-watch portion. I watched today's episode which was Children of Earth: Day Four and after it was over I kept trying to figure out how to blog about it as I would any other. The truth of the matter is I can't. It's not just any episode, it's probably the most controversial episode of the whole series. Fans, myself included, have been very vocal about how it upset them that Ianto dies as well as the events surrounding his death. I don't want to get into that really.

If I start to dissect my displeasure this will quickly turn into an angry blog and I just don't have it in me. If you guys really want to know maybe I'll blog about it some other day. I did angry, when I watched the episode this morning, I found I was angry for most of the time and of course sad at the end. Now I am just sad, because of the episode and because of something else Torchwood related on my mind, doesn't matter. The bottom line is I don't think I have the words for this episode. What I do have is a picture, and if a picture's worth a thousand words this blog should be just long enough.

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Here's me on my visit to Cardiff at the Ianto wall.
 I miss Ianto. That is how I feel about this episode. I can't be objective, I can't grade it. I can only watch it, cry and hope to never have to do it again.

Even with my deep sadness I want to be clear. I am not the sort of fan to take my displeasure to the bad place. The online campaigns to get Ianto back are for the most part fine, more power to them. If you can see the little green bag above me in the picture, those are my favorite coffee beans I brought along. I am all for Ianto coming back but what I do not support is turning the sadness towards anger and directing it towards the creators in a personal way. It's an episode of a show, a piece of fiction, that was written to include a character death. I am sure a lot of thing went into that decision but at the end of the day the worst thing we can say, if we don't like the episode or the consequences of it. The people out there wishing RTD or John Fay ill because they don't like their work is just silly.

I had a chance to meet John Fay actually, he signed a picture for me. I've told this story before, it goes like this. 2 years ago at the "Gallifrey One" convention I got to meet John Fay, writer or Day Four. I got in line for his autograph and I devised a plot (in good fun) that played out like this:

I handed him a picture to sign, it was a picture of Ianto. Once I had his attention I asked him why Jack didn't say 'I love you' back, as that was one of my most agonizing moments from COE. His response was a joking. 'he didn't?'

I'm sure he gets a lot of negative feedback from fans, but it's unfortunate, he really was a nice guy. He also had a sense of humor about the whole thing, he signed the picture and drew in Ianto saying 'Take this Fay you Bastard!'. It was the perfect response I think to a photo of a character he helped kill, which in all likelihood wasn't his decision but RTD's, he just wrote the episode. Anyway, I'm posting that picture below for that this blog is at least two thousand words long and then some.
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John Fay's signature on my Ianto photo. For the record he asked if he could do that.
Tomorrow's EpisodeDay Five (Series 3, Episode 5). Remember I'll be live tweeting my re-watch on the @BarrowmanDay twitter at 12:00am PST (US - West coast) and 8:00am GMT (UK). Hope you all can watch with me and chat. We're at the last episode of this re-watch, which is nuts. I'll do my best to have words tomorrow. Wish me luck!

I hope this was a sufficient blog substitute I really just don't know what else to say. Maybe one day when I haven't just watched the episode I'll be able to write about it more. What about you guys? Do you have anything to say about this episode or Ianto? Feel free to comment below but let's keep the attacks against creators or fellow fans out of it, yea? xx

<3Dana

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4 days left and we're continuing on my countdown to Miracle Day, Torchwood re-watch! I'll be watching an episode a day and blogging bits and thoughts. With any luck this is going to read like an episode guide and commentary. Let's dive right in!

Episode: Day Three (Series 3 Episode 3)

Written By: Russell T Davies and James Moran

Original Air Date: 8 July 2009

Sentence Sum-Up: The 456  arrive and demand 10% of the Earth's children.

Notable New Characters:

None

Favorite Quote:

Ianto: "So, one day you'll see me die... of old age... and just keep going?"
Jack: "Yeah..."
Ianto: "We'd better make the most of it then."
Jack: "Suppose..."
Ianto: "Like right now?"
Jack: "Ianto, the world could be ending."
Ianto: "World's always ending. And I have missed that coat."

Never Noticed:

During the famous "bloody beans" scene, there is a cup to Jack's right...with a yellow toothbrush in it. I guess i never thought about it but good for Ianto for thinking of hygiene when he brought the essentials. It's such a random little prop, I wonder how that came up in the production meeting. James Moran: "I think we need to show Jack's toothbrush to the side just before the propositioning scene, that way people know his kisses are still minty fresh."  RTD: "Yes and it should be yellow, to express Jack's hidden fears." I think that's exactly how that went.

There are numbers on each pane of glass on the 456 tank. Looks to be the same numbers but I couldn't get a good enough look. Wonder what they were and if they meant anything. I've come to believe that nothing is without purpose in Film and Television. Unlikely that they just happened to have glass with numbers on it, it was a decision to place them so I have to assume there is a significance.

WTF Moments:

When Alice is trying to reach Jack she goes up to a girl in the street and asks to borrow her phone, knowing she can't use her own or she's be traced, or something to that effect. Why is Alice perfectly OK putting this girl in danger? Leading someone to her phone? That's a little shady, not cool Alice.

Random Rants:

When the 456 demand the children the government warns the public to mind their children, specifically they put into action "a temporary curfew for everyone under the age of 18.". This makes me wonder and then confuses me. It makes me wonder if that is the ages that the 456 distinguish as children. Without giving next episode away, their desire seems to be specific to children so does age matter? Are the younger one's better? It's hard to say. What confused me is why it was under the age of 18. Not living in the UK I was under the impression you are only considered a minor until 16. I looked it up just now an I guess it's not the case, there are less restrictions once you are 16 but you are still a minor until you are 18. I suppose I accept that, but I wonder if that was just the government guessing or the 456 where specific. I don't know, these are the things I think about.

MVC (Most Valuable Character):

It's fine if you'd like to call me biased, we know by now my two favorite character's in Torchwood are Jack and Ianto. But they are my favorite because they are awesome and so rightfully belong to constantly be in this category. Today I am giving to Ianto again, not just because of why you think. One of the big things I've noticed upon re-watch of Children of Earth so far is how big a rle Ianto plays in saving the day. Every episode he's exceptionally clever, keeping the team together and solving problems. The team didn't make an awful lot of progress this episode, but Ianto helped them along. He found them a new base of operations, he went out to get the essentials, including clothes in everyone's sizes and a new coat and outfit for Jack, which is close to miraculous. He also pulled out of nowhere his ability to read shorthand, which came in handy when Lois was feeding them information. Granted Gwen came up with how to get them money, but I think overall Ianto was a bigger help. Also, Ianto's discussions with Jack always get to me, he's always asking about Jack something not many people think to do. I don't know how to explain it, most people seem to treat Jack as a mystery and a leader more than a friend, Ianto more often considers his feelings. I love that about their relationship.

MVA (Most Valuable Actor):

John Barrowman I think gets this one. I feel like Jack didn't do an awful lot in this episode other than sit back and let his team work, except for that call he put into Frobisher. That being said, even sort of static which one or two moments, big moments, he really caught my attention. The call with Frobisher, concern for his family, realization of his connection to this whole mess...It was all quick moments but at the end of the day, in an entirely extraordinary episode, those moments stand out the most. John is very good and showing a lot of emotion even if Jack's not doing very much, he's very expressive and it reads. Love him.

Episode Grade:

C+
I seem to be having difficulty grading these episodes on their own. It seems that the episodes when separated are not as upsetting as the overall series and I think that is for the obvious reasons. Whether the episodes are particularly good or not is beside the point really, the major complaints come from specific moments in each episode and specifically two moments in the two. But as I've said before, the dread of what's to come seems to taint the episodes before, which are not without issues. This episode didn't have #CaptainAssHat and it had a couple of nice moments but really I was terribly bored for the most part. While the 456 are a great concept and scary in theory, all the mediation is soooooooo boring. All the talks within the government is sooooooo boring and I just got sleepy most of the episode. That's an issue even if their were good moments, like the thieving spree, the beans scene the clever but cruel way they foreshadow the events of the last two days. It's not enough to keep me interested. This was slow for me. I think it was more boring but less depressing than the prior one for some reason. I'm just going to give it the same grade I had a hard time with both for different reasons but to about the same extent.

Tomorrow's EpisodeDay Four (Series 3, Episode 4). Remember I'll be live tweeting my re-watch on the @BarrowmanDay twitter at 12:00am PST (US - West coast) and 8:00am GMT (UK). Hope you all can watch with me and chat. Fair warning, it's Day Four, so I am cracking a bottle of wine and the tweets and emotional wreck I become might reflect that. Wish me luck!

That's it for today! Hope you enjoyed my run down of this episode. What did you all think of this episode? Did you notice anything new? What grade would you give it? xx

<3Dana

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5 days left and we're continuing on my countdown to Miracle Day, Torchwood re-watch! I'll be watching an episode a day and blogging bits and thoughts. With any luck this is going to read like an episode guide and commentary. Let's dive right in!

A NOTE about Children of Earth Blogs:

It's hard. Very hard to blog about Children of Earth one episode at a time. It's like discussing just one part of a movie. 1 episode affects every other and they blur together. Even though I am re-watching each episode on it's own it's hard to separate them, my complaints and my rants. It's also really hard not to spoil later episodes.I'll do my best but I might not always repeat myself. Some issues span the whole series and I'd hate to blog about the same annoyance 5 times. Best to read all the blogs so you get the full picture. I imagine my last blog or another will have some sort of overall impression and thoughts.

Episode: Day Two (Series 3 Episode 2)

Written By: John Fay

Original Air Date: 7 July 2009

Sentence Sum-Up: After the Hub is destroyed Ianto and Gwen and Rhys go on the run, trying to escape the government and rescue Jack.

Notable New Characters:

Dekker (Ian Gelder) - I must have missed him yesterday. He's a tech guy for the government. He kept tabs on the 456 frequency and noticed their return.

Favorite Quote:

Rhys: "How are you, love?"
Gwen: "My best friend's belly had a bomb go off in it last night. Someone's been trying to kill us ever since. I'm traveling at 70 miles an hour on top of a bed of potatoes and I think I'm going to be sick."

Never Noticed:

When Alice called Jack they showed his number (0770900578) on her phone!  I wonder how many people tried to call it and if it worked. Not worked like it got through to Jack, obviously, but I wonder if it did tie to the show. I don't know if they do stuff like that in the UK but sometimes they pull promotional stunts like that in the US. The most recent example I can recall was an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Barney, played by Neil Patrick Harris, held up a sign with his number. When people called it they got his voice mail with a hilarious outgoing message. I called a bunch of times, genius move. Did anyone try calling Jack? 

I somehow missed a great moment in the scene with Ianto and Rhi in the park. The kids go alien again and after Ianto walks up to one of them and tries to question her. The face that Ianto makes is hilarious, he very convincingly looks like a pedo and is swiftly swatted away by the girl's Mum. I love that look so much because I think it's exactly the look Ianto would make trying to be child friendly but not having a lot of experience talking to kids. It was really funny and he was trying way too hard. Hold on now I have to post it.

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WTF Moments:

When Gwen and Lois are on the phone B. Spears is right next to Lois at her desk. Like, a matter of inches and Lois is talking for a long time to someone in a suspicious way. She doesn't know anything to tell a caller so that immediately should have raised a red flag. Really there is no way she wouldn't have overheard something. She was close enough that she may have heard Gwen on the other end.

OK I definitely don't remember the ending of this episode! What the hell is going on!? Dekker walks up to the 456's tank and smiles, then breaths on it. What!? What does that mean? What is he doing? And what kind of an ending is that? JUST WHAT?! If someone gets it and I am just missing it, please fill me in. Went right over my head.

Random Rants:

You know how I love Andy? Well, in case you didn't I do. And I adore Andy at the start of this episode. I love him overhearing and sticking up for Gwen. I love him getting forced into helping them and complaining about it. He's hilarious and such a welcome bit of humor in the wrist-slitting depression that the majority of Children of Earth flings you into. Also, he says "Sometimes there's no substitute for a little local knowledge" which is so funny for me because it made me think of the moment in "From Out of the Rain" where Gwen suggests "local knowledge" is code for Jack and Ianto sex. I am about 95% certain it wasn't intentional, rather just where my mind wanders, but that doesn't stop it being funny.

This series whether you love it, hate it or are undecided like me is decidedly depressing. In talking to our followers on twitter, my friends in real life or random people at conventions the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that it is emotionally taxing to watch Children of Earth. Even if you like a sad story and even if we decide that COE is brilliant, flawless perfect story, there is something to be said about a series that fans have to force themselves to re-watch. Even the fans that like it tell me they hardly ever re-watch it because it's just too depressing. There has to be a line, they DO have comedic moments to cut the tension but maybe it's not enough. Or maybe the events of Day Four are so devastating that it is impossible to enjoy the series knowing it's coming. I don't know for sure but it's just hard to watch. I've had depressing dreams every night of the COE re-watch so far and I can't imagine days 3,4 or 5 will yield anything different. If nothing else, this, is a serious flaw, in my opinion with this series as a whole. Even this blog is depressing me.

Do you guys wonder about Jack regenerating from the explosion? Johnson made it a point to have them collect all the pieces (which really they must have missed some chunks) of Jack and watch him. He regenerates, the pieces pull themselves together so what I'm wondering is, what would have happened if she didn't grab all the pieces? Which pieces would have regenerated?   What if the pieces she took remained dead flesh and a separate chunk regenerated. Someone suggested that maybe we would end up with two Jack's which did cross my mind. I think the reason that wouldn't be the case is because Jack is a Fixed Point, he's a fact, he cannot not exist and in the same way he cannot exist double. Fixed. In my mind that defeats that possibility. That being said, I had a dream a while back about a scene in Miracle Day and it involved two Jack's. I don't think it would ever happen, but if it does..

I know I said I would not be repeating myself much, but, I LOVE RHI! I love Rhi and I love every second of her on screen. Moments with her kids and husband, moments with Ianto it's all great. I especially love her and Ianto's relationship, he treats her unlike anyone else. He's sort of instantly open with her and he trusts her. I just love the hell out of this character and I want to watch the Rhi and Ianto show forever. Spin-off? No?  And Mica is the cutest child ever. Although Anwen is a pretty close second.

MVC (Most Valuable Character):

Ianto without a doubt. He did everything to help the team regroup. He contacted Gwen, he got a computer and car from Rhi, he rescued Jack almost single handedly. He started the episode in a it of a panic which is alarming because Ianto is pretty cool in a crisis. Bit he only allowed himself that bit really then he got to work. His tracking down and rescuing Jack alone makes him beyond worthy of the title. Let's review. He tracks the bad guys finding where they held Jack with a computer program he knew about on a computer he got off his sister. Then he barges in on a forklift (and in appropriate construction work attire - I wonder if he had that handy or he got it off the original operator of the forklift) and grabs Jack alone with the cement block he's in and drops him off a cliff releasing him. Not to mention he somehow knows how to operate a forklift! Ianto never fails to impress, he really does know everything. This is not the first or last time Ianto saves the day with his brilliance. I love him, he's the hero of this episode for sure. No competition. 

Need to give honorable mention to Lois though. She really went out of her way to try to do the right thing and warn Torchwood. I anticipate one of thee episodes she'll take the title but she's a great character and a great asset throughout.

MVA (Most Valuable Actor):

Gareth. Know why? Because I love him, he is brilliant, his performance made all the stuff the character did great and most importantly the genius that was pedo-face. I am getting repetitive with my praise of Gareth but I really just think he's an amazing actor and one of the best things about Torchwood through every series. And the faces he makes!! Ok I'm done.

Episode Grade:

C+
This is the toughest part. It's so hard to grade COE and it's even harder to grade an episode on it's own. I think I have to consider all the positives and negatives, let's recap. Things I love: Rhi, Ianto, Andy and Lois. Things I hate: The overall tone of the series and this episode, it's all just too depressing. You know Jack wasn't #CaptainAssHat in this particular episode but I think it's because he didn't have the chance really. It's hard. Even if the most offensive thing about this episode was how depressing it is, it's a big issue and it really makes me think less of the episode. Not to mention even with the good bits I don't look back on this episode and think, I enjoyed that. I can't. The depression was looming the whole time and the fun moments were fleeting. I'm going to give it a C+. It's not so bad that is a C which is average, which no episode of Torchwood should be. It's not up to snuff in my book. It's just not.

Tomorrow's EpisodeDay Three (Series 3, Episode 3). Remember I'll be live tweeting my re-watch on the @BarrowmanDay twitter at 12:00am PST (US - West coast) and 8:00am GMT (UK). Hope you all can watch with me and chat.

That's it for today! Hope you enjoyed my run down of this episode. What did you all think of this episode? Did you notice anything new? What grade would you give it? xx

<3Dana

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6 days left and we're continuing on my countdown to Miracle Day, Torchwood re-watch! I'll be watching an episode a day and blogging bits and thoughts. With any luck this is going to read like an episode guide and commentary. Let's dive right in!

Episode: Day One (Series 3 Episode 1) 

Written By: Russell T Davies


Original Air Date: 6 July 2009

Sentence Sum-Up: The children of earth start behaving weird and Torchwood investigates.

Notable New Characters

Dr. Rupesh Patanjali (Rik Makarem) - A Doctor who was working for the government and planning to infiltrate Torchwood 3. It didn't go quite to plan.

Agent Johnson (Liz May Brice) - Government agent leading the investigation of Torchwood 3. She becomes a real issue in later episodes.

Lois Habiba (Cush Jumbo) - New employee for the Home Office. Finds herself caught up in a fight with Torchwood and uncovering the mystery of the 456. 

Bridget Spears (Susan Brown) - Works for the Home Office. Lois' boss and secretary to John Frobisher.

John Frobisher (Peter Capaldi) - Home Office Secretary. He becomes a key player in the crisis with the 456. 

Colonel Augustus Oduya (Charles Abomeli) The face of UNIT in this series and throughout the crisis.

Clement MacDonald aka "Timothy White" (Paul Copley) - Mental patient with unique abilities. He seems to be involved in the crisis with the 456 but his exact role is unclear. So far.

The 456 - The villains of this story. That's all I'll say, since it's all we know so far. Aliens, duh.

Brian Green (Nicholas Farrell) - Prime Minister. He know's the situation as well as the details of a past encounter with the 456. He places all the responsibility on Frobisher so he can keep his hands clean

Alice Carter aka "Melissa Moretti" aka "Alice Sangster" (Lucy Cohu) - Technically Melissa Moretti is her real name, but she's had it changed twice and currently goes by Alice Carter. She's Jack's daughter with former Torchwood operative Lucia Moretti. I don't remember if that's covered in this episode or later, just something I know. She's estranged from Jack. She holds a grudge against him for not aging and thinks he's a danger to her son Steven.

Steven Carter (Bear McCausland) - Alices' son, Jack's Grandson. 

Rhiannon Davies, maiden name Jones (Katy Wix) - Ianto's sister, who he rarely sees. My favorite character to come out of Children of Earth. She's marvelous.

Mica Davies (Aimee Davies) - Rhiannon's daughter, Ianto's niece. Maybe not so notable but I love this little girl so I'm mentioning her.

David Davies (Luke Perry) - Just realized how cruel that character name is and how hilarious his real name is, well to some. Rhiannon's son, Ianto's nephew.

Johnny Davies (Rhodri Lewis) - Rhiannon's husband, Ianto's brother-in-law.

Favorite Quote

Ianto: "He thought we were together. Like a couple. He said, "You two." The way he said it, huh. "You two.""
 Jack: "Well, we are. Does it matter?"

Never Noticed

Didn't pick up anything new this viewing.

WTF Moments:

Jack has a stick up his ass this episode and for the rest of the series. He spends the majority of his encounters with Ianto being irritable and mean to him. Ianto his struggling with there relationship, trying to figure out where they stand and what it means that he's in love with his boss who is also a man. Ianto is having normal human emotions and Jack is just stomping on him instead of being supportive or discussing it. He's a total AssHat for the majority of the series and it's an issue. Not to say that it's not a realistic reaction someone, or even Jack, might have to some of these tests of a relationship, but it's upsetting. 

A lot of fans list this amongst their chief issues with Children of Earth not just because they are defensive of Ianto but because it seems sudden and out of character for Jack. I have mixed feelings about the out of character bit but it's definitely out of nowhere. This as well as other perceived and actual character flaws I really think could have been resolved if we got more stories and less things happening off screen. Ianto and Jack were not at this point at the end of the last series and it seems to have been a rather crucial developmental period for their relationship. It's just jarring for the most part. We're used to Jack from series 1 and 2 and this is not that Jack. I've started a tag on Twitter for the live-tweets. Each time jack displays this behavior I will complain and mark the tweet with #CaptainAssHat.

Day One is pick on Ianto day! In addition to #CaptainAssHat Ianto deals with Gwen brushing him off when he's trying to tell her about the car and his sister digging into him for never being around. Although the later is justified I had to feel bad for Ianto, at every turn people are expecting things of him and not considering his feelings. I think the idea is that Ianto is still a bit under appreciated and those closest to him are used to getting help from him without him wanting anything in return. As a result and a result of their close relationships, people are mistreating him. I also think maybe RTD planned to have people be mean to Ianto so that they can later regret it. If you know what I mean.                                                                                   

                                         A Note About Spoilers

***Speaking of Ianto, we all know there is a major character development with Ianto come Day Four. Until my blog for Day Four and for the foreseeable future on twitter I don't want to spoil anyone. So if you'd like to comment on it and if I need to allude to it I am going to say "Ianto eats that pizza". Why? Because it's the first thing I thought of when I was trying to be discreet on twitter. So that's the big Day Four spoiler Ianto eats that pizza and gets food poisoning, it's not a pleasant day for him really. Note the code, I may need it in future blogs.*** 

Do you all wonder how Lois ended up at that job? Day One is her first day and she doesn't seem to know anything that's going on or about the day to day work in the office. And she really doesn't do much, she answers one or two phone calls that she just transfers because she doesn't know the answer to any questions. She doesn't even know who Torchwood are. It's not that I think she incapable or unqualified just that she hasn't been taught and seems a bit green to the scene. I love Lois, I think she's brilliant but maybe someone should train her. I guess the crisis may take priority.

I can't stand how Jack's family and lovers constantly hold his immortality against him. It's stupid. First of all it's stupid because who cares what he looks like. Alice and her Mum are really so petty and vain that they would resent Jack, their family for not aging and looking better than them? That seems so absurd to me. Apparently this happens to Jack a lot and I just don't get it, I would not push away someone I love because of something so trivial as appearances and I certainly wouldn't hold it against him. After all it's not his fault and he can't change it. Plus most of the people knew about Jack's situation before they got close to him, seems ridiculous that they would hold it against him after the fact. 

I don't doubt that there are people who would react like this but it makes me angry, I wouldn't. Conditional love, especially conditional on something as silly as physical appearances, and something out of anyone's control, is unfair and I cannot even begin to relate to it.I really don't understand the TIm thing. Even in later episodes when we find out his connection to the 456 I do not understand why he's psychic and can smell pregnancy and is effected as the other children. It doesn't make sense. It seems to me it was probably a really good explanation that is a bit complicated and they just didn't give us enough information to connect the dots. I just don't understand it. Tell me if you do.


Random Rants:

One thing I really liked about Children of Earth and particularly about this episode, as they introduce the crisis is how scary it is. I don't mean scary in the blood and gore, monsters jumping out at you way either. I mean truly bone-chilling in nature. If you think about a world where this scenario really happened it would be seriously horrifying.  It's something that a lot of people fear and can imagine. Not the 456 or the talking through children but fear of the unknown, fear of our children being used and fear of alien invasion. They really made it terrifying. 

I loved learning more about Jack and Ianto. Learning about their families and seeing them interact as well as learning how their relationship is developing. I love the families and I have mixed feelings about Jack and Ianto's relationship. I touched on it before with the #CaptainAssHat moment but I really am conflicted. On the one hand I liked that they gave their relationship more screen time and it was started to develop to the point where it is becoming meaningful and the questions normal couples ask are being asked. It seemed honest in that sense and I kept waiting to see where it would go. On the other hand there really are a lot of missing plot points, there is a jump between the last series and this as well as missing scene in their entire relationship. 

I found myself this series more than the others peeved and being out of the loop and feeling blindsided but the progress we didn't see. And then in Day Four Ianto eats that terrible pizza and the tension building comes to a very unsatisfying end for me. I think I'll talk more about this as the series goes on but it's an issue. I am hoping to resolve my feelings about this as well as all of my troubles with Children of Earth on this watching. I am hoping that with the reflection of these blogs and with consideration I can decide what issues really stand up, how much of it is really good and why that pizza upsets me as much as it does, aside from the obvious.

MVC (Most Valuable Character):

This is always a funny category. I keep flip-flopping about what this means. Sometimes I award it to the character who was most important to saving the day, sometime to the character who was the focus of the episode and sometimes to the character who just stands out to me. Today is the last sort and I'm sure a lot of you will have a different MVC.  This episode I am giving MVC to Rhiannon 'Rhi' Davies. Why? Because I love her. She's a brilliant character and easily the best thing, for me, to come out of Children of Earth. We saw her on screen for maybe 10 minutes in this episode and already I was a huge fan. She's also the character I mist relate to in all of Torchwood. I. Love. Her. I could try to explain why, maybe I will sometime but, she's the MVC in my book. Well, in my blog.

MVA (Most Valuable Actor):

This is a tough one. I don't know. First I think maybe John for being such a convincing AssHat then I think maybe Gareth for making us feel the emotional slip-and-slide Ianto is going through. One very successfully makes us angry and the other one makes us feel very conflicted and unsure like the character. But both come down to feelings of fondness towards Ianto and caring for the character and that's because of Gareth. So I will give it to Gareth by a small margin. I could tell how great I think Gareth is but you've all heard it before. I am just going to say, for me, Ianto's struggle was very relatable and touching. Not because I have ever been in that situation per se but because he plays the character in a way that makes you feel for the character. To the point where you feel like the emotions he's feeling are your own and anyone harming him is a harm to you. That is so intense and I don't quite know how he does it. It certainly helps that the character is wonderfully written throughout each series but Gareth makes Ianto the loved character he is. In my opinion. Which this is. My blog. I love him.

Episode Grade:

A-
As a stand-alone episode I really don't dislike it. In fact I was surprised by how much i enjoyed it. My overall issues with Children of Earth do not effect my enjoyment of this episode for the most part. It was well paced and clever and really emotionally effective. I can't give it a perfect score just because of it's involvement in the the #CaptainAssHat mess but it's very well done. I suspect later episodes will not have such positive reviews. Unless my opinion changes. 

Tomorrow's EpisodeDay Two (Series 3, Episode 2). Remember I'll be live tweeting my re-watch on the @BarrowmanDay twitter at 12:00am PST (US - West coast) and 8:00am GMT (UK). Hope you all can watch with me and chat.

That's it for today! Hope you enjoyed my run down of this episode. What did you all think of this episode? Did you notice anything new? What grade would you give it? xx

<3Dana

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7 days left and we're continuing on my countdown to Miracle Day, Torchwood re-watch! I'll be watching an episode a day and blogging bits and thoughts. With any luck this is going to read like an episode guide and commentary.

NOTE: Dear blog readers. You know I love you and you know I do to writing this blog but due to a concert I have tickets to I just don't think this blog is going to be up to snuff instead of  rushing through I propose a compromise. I will post what I have of the blog. It's a complete blog outline and I will flush it out when I am home, which may or may not be by midnight. Please please forgive me, I went straight home from work and had to do the re-watch of tomorrows episode and now I have to leave. Here you go.

SPOILER WARNING FOR THIS EPISODE There is some rather big stuff, if you haven't seen it, maybe wait to read this blog.

Episode: Exit Wounds (Series 3 Episode 13)

Written By: Chris Chibnall

Original Air Date: 4 April 2008

Sentence Sum-Up: John Hart  and Jack's brother Grey wage ware on Cardiff and Torchwood.

Notable New Characters:

Gray (Lachlan Nieboer) - Jack's brother. Jack lost him in an alien attack on his home colony and has been looking for him since. John finds him and Gray is looking for revenge against Jack for letting him be lost.

Favorite Quote:

Jack: "Now we carry on."
Gwen: "I don't think I can. Not after this."
Jack: "You can. We all can. The end is where we start from."


Never Noticed:

John had Jack not only hanging but dangling. "Suddenly you're anti-bondage?" The question and the position Jack is in is a nod to "The Year That Never Was". Clever Chris.

It's so obvious on re-watch that John doesn't want to hurt Jack and he's trying to warn him. James is so good at being subtle.

Jack's #003 in the Morgue. I wonder if there is any significance in that number.

Gwen and Jack are sobbing over Tosh's body while Ianto hangs to the side, bracing himself on the medical tray. Somehow even more sad seeing him like that than their obvious displays of emotion.

WTF Moments:

I understand killing Jack to restrain him, but why did John have to do it with such flair?

Ianto and Tosh battle the reapers. What? I mean it was awesome, but, WHAT?!

Simply the chloroform conundrum. So much to say, stay tuned.

Random Rants:

King of the Weevils, best thing ever.

Ha! Ianto takes out the Weevils then aims for John! "If we don't find him I'll kill you, very slowly" Angry Ianto is amazing. Especially when he gets protective.

jack's dramatic entrance when he returns from the past. Knocking. Drums in the deep.  Jack always was one for the theatrical. Like John. There's a lot of John in Jack. *resisting next sentence*

I love the explanation of Naoko's appearance in Doctor Who, I totally thought FanFic made that up. Re-watching is good.

Impossible not to cry! You feel like part of the team and like you've lost a team member. How does Torchwood do that to you!?

MVC (Most Valuable Character):

Owen. If for no other reason than he's King of the Weevils and he stopped a nuclear meltdown from destroying the city. Kind of a big win.

MVA (Most Valuable Actor):

Naoko Mori. She killed it.


Episode Grade:

A
Near perfection. Minus the shenanigans of the chloroform conundrum. Also, not a favorite or very re-watchable, mostly because it's sad. It's can't get the plus, because it's not happy enough! It's a blog, my opinion.Chris Chibnall stop being so talented. Why didn't her write for Children of Earth or Miracle Day again?

Tomorrow's Episode: Day One (Series 3, Episode 1). We actually already did the live-tweet of that cause of my sticky schedule today. The blog for it will be there tomorrow, which is later today in the UK. Time differences are all very confusing.

That's it for today! Hope you enjoyed my run down. What did you all think of this episode? Did you notice anything new? What grade would you give it? xx

<3Dana

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8 days left and we're continuing on my countdown to Miracle Day, Torchwood re-watch! I'll be watching an episode a day and blogging bits and thoughts. With any luck this is going to read like an episode guide and commentary. Let's dive right in!

Episode: Fragments (Series 2 Episode 12)

Written By: Chris Chibnall

Original Air Date: 21 March 2008

Sentence Sum-Up: When the team is caught in an explosion, the members recall how they first came to join Torchwood.

Notable New Characters:

Katie Russell (Andrea Lowe) - Owen's fiance. She's ill and Owen is trying to figure out what's wrong. We love her instantly and we grieve alongside Owen when she doesn't last the episode.

Toshiko's Mother (Noriko Aida) - It's all there in the name. Tosh's Mum, she gets in a bit of trouble and Tosh has to get her out.

Alice Guppy (Amy Manson )/Emily Holroyd (Heather Craney)/Alex Hopkins (Julian Lewis Jones) - All three former Torchwood agents Jack has worked with. The two gals are sort of sadistic and Alex is a bit of a downer. Not much else to say really.

Favorite Quote:

Jack: "You made this, right?"
Tosh: "I just followed the plans."
Jack: "The plans don't work."
Tosh: "What?"
Jack: "The technical plans you followed, they were wrong. They had mistakes in them. That's why the plans were shelved. But you, Toshiko Sato, you automatically fixed things as you went along. What I'm trying to say is, "Aw, baby! You're good.""

Never Noticed:

When Gwen and Rhys first find Jack he's dead. They watch him revive and Rhys, who missed the memo shouts "He was dead! I checked his pulse! He was dead!" It's a perfect little side moment that I never caught before. Rhys is very good about being shocked, vocal and then moving on rather quickly. It's really fun watching him find out more about Torchwood and Jack.

WTF Moments:

When Jack takes the blowfish back to Torchwood he's pleading with him and he says. "I said sorry, you can't lock me up". What?? I mean, I love that line and I'm sure Chris put it in because it's exactly the sort of ludicrous thing a scared kid would say when facing incarceration or worse. And they did establish that he was young. WTF adolescent alien blowfish? That being said it wsn't so bad you deserved a bullet to the brain. He was so young...

OK I get that  a normal person, faceing a bomb with 6 seconds left on the counter might panic, freeze and resign themselves to being blown up, but Torchwood? They're nothing if not prepared to deal with danger and surprise so why did they all go still and not even try to move away just a little? Could be the difference between getting caught in debris and having your face blown off, seems worth it to take a few steps that way. Right? Or how about the idea of Jack taking that 6 seconds to grab Toshiko and cover her? He can't die, she can, think Harkness!

Even though I actually think this was a good idea and their attention to keeping continuity is admirable, I cannot put this damned waistcoat anywhere other than WTF-land. Why Jack, why?

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That's not acting, John is horrified by "Safari Jack"
Random Rants:

Not really much to say. You have to understand how many times I have seen this episode. I love every second of it. It's the genius Chris Chibnall at his best. Because I loved it I have noting to rant about. This episode stands up to even my ridiculous nitpicking, it's top notch. It's so much easier to go on about things wrong with an episode, this is pretty damn near perfection, what else is there to say?

MVC (Most Valuable Character)/MVA (Most Valuable Actor):

Nope. You can't make me. I won't do it. There is NO WAY to chose a stand out in this episode. This is a complete team episode and there isn't a week link amongst the bunch. If anything I can narrow it down to Tosh/Jack/Ianto/Owen and the actors that play them. That's not to say Gwen/Eve wasn't good, just that she was hardly there. It's a four way tie, everyone was amazing, I love them all. The end.

Episode Grade:

A+
This episode is amazing. I'm out of words. Not that I had many to begin with. It's the episode I cannot even comment on because words don't do it justice. It's brilliant. Funny, Heart-breaking and very clever. Not to mention ever other line was in the running for my favorite quote. It's just insanely good. I can't say anything...I just...A+

Tomorrow's Episode: Exit Wounds (Series 2, Episode 13). Remember I'll be live tweeting my re-watch on the @BarrowmanDay twitter at 12:00am PST (US - West coast) and 8:00am GMT (UK). Hope you all can watch with me and chat.

That's it for today! Hope you enjoyed my run down of this episode. What did you all think of this episode? Did you notice anything new? What grade would you give it? xx

<3Dana

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9 days left and we're continuing on my countdown to Miracle Day, Torchwood re-watch! I'll be watching an episode a day and blogging bits and thoughts. With any luck this is going to read like an episode guide and commentary. Let's dive right in!

Episode: Adrift (Series 2 Episode 11)

Written By: Chris Chibnall

Original Air Date: 19 March 2008

Sentence Sum-Up: Gwen becomes obsessed with trying to return victims of the Rift and helping the families they left behind.

Notable New Characters:

Jonah Bevan (Robert Pugh) - Victim of the Rift. Looked into the heart of a Dark Star which messed him up. Now he screams a lot.

Nikki Bevan (Ruth Jones) - Jonah's Mum. Becomes obsessed with finding him after he disappears. 

Favorite Quote:

Gwen: "Ianto, hi. I'm sorry. I didn't realize—"
Ianto: "Doesn't matter."
Gwen: "I wouldn't have come in if I'd known—"
Jack: "Always room for one more. We could have used you an hour ago for naked hide-and-seek."
Ianto: "He cheats. He always cheats"

Never Noticed:

Gwen gets the team together in the boardroom to tell her theory about the negative rift spikes. When she announces this there's a look from Ianto to Jack, a knowing look. I never saw it but it turned me to a believer! There's a lot that I just didn't pay attention to in the "Ianto's-in-on-it-and-tipped-off-Gwen" conspiracy!  I get it. It happened. He knew and he told her. If you doubt, watch this episode again. Clever, clever Chris Chibnall. I just wish we saw the fallout of that between Ianto and Jack. Oh well, plenty of fanfic about it.

WTF Moments:

Where is Owen? It's the weirdest thing, it's like Owen doesn't exist for an episode. He's not in any of the scenes and they never mention him. He's not in the boardroom when Gwen gets the team together. When Gwen asks Jack to let her investigate on her own she says "Tosh has her projects, so does Ianto, why can't I?" So Owen doesn't have projects? Or he just doesn't exist. Seriously, where did Owen go? Did they mention it and I missed it? Did Burn have some other commitment during filming? What?

Old Jonah looks nothing like young Jonah. It bothers me. I get that looks aren't the first consideration with casting but young Jonah had 1 10 seconds scene with little or no lines. Young Jonah could have been anyone, they look nothing  alike, look at their face shapes. It's probably just me, but I'm bothered.

Nikki. I just hate her honestly. She's ridiculous. First of all she goes completely batty when her son disappears, which is understandable, but the tapes thing is completely crazy. And then when she finds answers she's horrible to him, she cannot accept the truth and so she's horrible to Jonah. She's ungrateful and she gets upset at Gwen for killing her hope. I want to slap her, suck it up. This is not about you it's about your son, be there for him. Sure this is extreme but a lot of parents deal with their children being damages, scarred, gone crazy, killed and they step up and support them. I hate her, really I do.

I may be missing the obvious explanation but what's the story with the Rift returning victims? I don't get it. They always say the Rift is random and it takes randomly. So how is it that it randomly takes the same people? And it randomly delivers them back to their time? Even only part of the time it makes no sense. What about Out of Time? The 3 fall through the Rift to our time but Owen says that Diane can't go back, it doesn't work that way even if she could go back through the RIft she wouldn't end up where she started. It makes more sense to me that it's random, I don't buy the convenience this episode suggests.

Random Rants:

Gwen is going off about how they have to help the families of the Rift victim and Jack comes back at her with "Seriously Gwen. practically, tell me what we should do". Finally! Someone calling her out about it! It's all well and good to want to help people but there's only so much they can do and she needs to know her place. She's all problems, no solutions, quit bringing me down Gwen! I actually think Chris Chibnall did a clever thing with Gwen in this episode, she is her usual naive self and she has to learn the hard way that good intentions don't solve problems and somethings cannot be fixed. Here's a slice of reality. Eat up.

I'm not going to lie, other than the one scene, you know the one, this has never really been my favorite episode. When we started watching I was sort of dreading the deed and then I saw it in big letters : "Adrift: by Chris Chibnall". The second I said that I wasn't a fan of the episode it wound up being by my very favorite Torchwood writer (MD not included). So I went into this episode expecting to dislike it and hoping against hope to have my mind changed. I wanted to love it like I love all of Chris' episodes! I'll let you know what I thought in the episode grade.

MVC (Most Valuable Character):

You'd think I would say Gwen. It was a very Gween-centric episode and it was all about indulging her little girl fits. But no. I am saying MVC is Ianto. Gwen caused trouble and made no progress on her own, Ianto moved the story forward and made the decision that finally shut her up. He's the hero of the story, even if he ends up in the doghouse with Jack. Gareth as always played it phenomenally. I'm getting sick of saying how brilliant Gareth is.

MVA (Most Valuable Actor):

Tom Price! Don't look at me like that! Tom is the king of making a small part a big star. He's a scene stealer. He's adorable and charming and you just want to see more of him. I am hoping for tons of Andy in Miracle Day. I just can't get enough, a truly standout performance.

Episode Grade:

B
I'm giving it a B because it's got as many positive points as it does negative for me and it sort of evens out. Gwen frustrates me as usual but I love how clever the subplot with Ianto is. I don't understand Owen's disappearance and I hate Nicky. Plot points aside it was a well written episode. I have no grievance with the dialogue and I certainly cannot fault Chris for giving us a moment of Jack and Ianto action. I think upon reflection there is a lot that is good and bad that I hadn't previously considered. B sounds about right.

Tomorrow's Episode:Fragments (Series 2, Episode 12). Remember, I'll be live tweeting my re-watch on the @BarrowmanDay twitter at 12:00am PST (US - West coast) and 8:00am GMT (UK). Hope you all can watch with me and chat.

That's it for today! Hope you enjoyed my run down. What did you all think of this episode? Did you notice anything new? What grade would you give it? xx

<3Dana

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