Talk Back: Season Finale of "Torchwood"

Okay, now that the second season finale of Torchwood has aired on BBC America, we can finally get down to what I've been wanting to talk about for the last week or so: that ending!

If you read my original review of the sophomore season ender of Torchwood ("Exit Wounds") the other day, you know that I was kind enough to dance around a few issues rather than spoil the entire episode, but the spoiler warnings are off now, so beware!

Sniffle.

I was completely heartbroken by Toshiko's death. We all knew that not everyone from Torchwood 3 would make it out of this episode alive but I didn't really expect them to kill off both Tosh and Owen in the same episode.

I understand that Owen's story has really come full-circle at this point--dying, being brought back and discovering he can't truly die, and then, well, disintegrating--and there really wasn't anywhere else for the series' writers to take his character. His "King of the Weevils" status played off quite nicely in the season finale and his undead status allowed him to get into the heart of the nuclear power plant without feeling any effects of radiation poisoning, etc. He died as he lived, saving the world, but did so with a dignity that I didn't think we'd really ever get to see in the callous team medic. I'll miss him.

While Owen's death was sad, Toshiko's was absolutely painful. Shot from behind by Jack's psychopathic brother Gray, Tosh managed to keep herself alive long enough to stop the nuclear plant from obliterating the city of Cardiff and finally got to have a heart-to-heart with Owen. They never did get their date and I'm actually glad that the writers didn't cop to an episode where Owen and Tosh try their hand at love and discover that they have absolutely nothing in common. No, keeping these star-crossed lovers apart lends their demise an aura of resolute sadness, of felicity thwarted, and of an requited love that went to the grave.

There's also a sense of permanence to these deaths. Jack has now tried twice to revive fallen members of his team. The first time, he brought Suzie back to life with horrific consequences and then resurrected Owen... out of guilt? duty? Jack has a problem saying goodbye, especially to people under his command who die on his watch. Still, there's no going back from these deaths, which are as final as possible. There will be no glove-induced resurrection for Tosh or Owen.

Which is a good thing. MI-5 (aka Spooks) succeeded at raising its stakes because the audience never knew which characters were "safe" from being killed off at any time. They were all expendable and, in such a dangerous line of work, at high risk for death, dismemberment, or all of the above. In killing Tosh and Owen, Torchwood has succeeded in making the danger very real for Gwen and Ianto... while making the immortal Jack Harkness again feel the curse of his longevity in every iota of his very being.

And perhaps that's what Gray wanted all along.

What did you think of the Torchwood season finale? Talk back here.