Written by Matt Jones
Directed by Andy Goddard
“You’ve stopped flirting with me. I mean, it’s all right…I wouldn’t flirt with me in my condition either. Is it still necrophilia when I’m conscious?”
Own Harper is dead. But death isn’t the end of the story…
Dead Man Walking is the weakest episode of the season…which is a pity, because it’s the episode that could have been the greatest.
All the ingredients are present. The return of the resurrection gauntlet, the aching sadness over Owen’s death…and surprising return…the horrific consequences that follow…this could have been a dark, epic masterpiece that should have shot off the squee scale…
…instead, it’s a vast, underwhelming lump. It has no idea what it wants to be, and the elements are all fighting against each other.
The biggest crime seems to be that everything is aimless & without explanation. Why does death hitch a ride back with Owen? Why is Owen a living corpse? Why is death determined to exact its pound of flesh at this particular moment?
It’s compounded by the fact that many of the story elements are mysterious and terrifying in their own right: Owen’s possessed speaking in tongues, the freaky child-tarot reader (you know she’ll be back), the church full of Weevils, Martha nearly aging to death - all of them work brilliantly in isolation, but stitched together, they’re a total mess. Mind you, I do appreciate the fabulous Doctor Who continuity (as established in 1977’s Image of the Fendahl) that death is tied to the number 13.
Dead Man Walking is stunning to look at, but hollow on the inside, despite its ambitions at being something dark and profound — a Cadbury cream egg without the sweet centre. It can probably be summed up by the image of death itself: a shambling skeleton with a shuffle, that alternates between fascinating and downright ridiculous. It’s as unsure of its own purpose as the episode itself.
Written by Joseph Lidster
Directed by Andy Goddard
“You know…you get to live forever. I get to die forever…funny that.”
A Day in the Death is better, but I’m not the fan that others seem to be. It’s a nice twist on the flashback story, and it could be Burn Gorman’s finest ever performance as Owen…but many of the same problems that plagued Dead Man Walking persist.
What raises it above the previous episode are the moments showcasing what being dead(ish) feels like for poor Owen: the boredom, the lack of sensation, and — in the most brilliant scene of the episode — his tuning out of the world, particularly Toshiko. This is followed by the second most brilliant scene of the episode: Owen’s attempted drowning, and Jack timing him.
But the remainder of the episode doesn’t do it for me. The plight of the woman on the roof, about to jump, is sad…but only in a general way that doesn’t impact the audience half as much as it should. The mission into the house of the eccentric billionaire has moments of cool, and a wonderful twist when Owen realizes he can’t provide mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But overall, it seems very much same-old, same-old. Again, there should have been something more. More moments of drama and profound insight, but not this rather bland concoction.
Another disappointment is the sidelining of Martha in this episode - she really doesn’t have much to do, and her only moment of glory is her lovely departure, walking off into the Cardiff distance. I hope we get to see her again on Torchwood, but with a much meatier role.
The Owen-is-dead/Martha-comes-to-Torchwood arc ends as it began: so much promise, and so many great moments in isolation. But together, it is (sadly) less than the sum of its parts. It should have been so much greater, but let’s not worry too much. We get more Rhys and Gwen shenanigans next week… :D
Dead Man Walking…5
A Day in the Death…7
