Torchwood: Ghost Machine (S1,E3)

"Since when did we care about courts?"

Ghost Machine (Season One, Episode Three) ("An alien shows visions of the past to the Torchwood team, bringing a long-buried crime to the surface.")

What I Liked

* After the rest of Torchwood busies themselves looking for someone by a variety of hi-tech means, Owen finds him in about ten seconds by looking at the phonebook.

* Gwen and Rhys' flashbacks--clearly a couple very much in love.

* Jack bitching the team out when they get lazy and stop looking for Bernie Harris.

* The scenes with young Ed Morgan--a very effective and scary portrayal of a rapist/murderer.

What I'm Not Sure About

* When Jack and Gwen are at the shooting range, they don custom-embossed Torchwood ear protection. Does Torchwood really set aside part of the budget for corporate branding? Do they have their own ballpoint pens and coffee mugs? And aren't they supposed to be a "secret" organization anyway?

What I Didn't Like

* Near the end, when old Ed Morgan is about to impale himself on Gwen's knife, Jack gets a really cheesy slow-motion "Nooooooo!"

Commentary

By: Burn Gorman (actor), Helen Raynor (writer), Colin Teague (director)

Tone: Amiable, though Colin Teague talks way too much and leaves little room for Helen Raynor and Burn Gorman to get a word in.

Interesting Tidbits:

* Burn Gorman joking that Eve Myles is difficult to work with--that she does yoga on set and takes two hours to get into character.

* The Bernie Harris character was based on an old boyfriend of the episode's writer.

Deleted Scenes

* A slightly longer intro to the beginning chase scene--Tosh temporarily loses the signal, leading Jack to suggest they go see a Charlotte Church concert.

* A boardroom scene in which Jack figures out the purpose of the alien device--it's a sort of "G.P.S." for "transdimensional beings" so they can orient themselves through space and time. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but that's okay.

Torchwood Declassified: "Living History"

* Interviews with the cast and crew about Owen's character--variously labelled, in very British fashion, as "boozy", a "geezer", "cocksure", and a "Jack the Lad"

* Discussion of the virtues of Cardiff as a site for filming and a little backstory on the big Owen/Bernie garden chase scene.