Torchwood: Children of Earth

I just finished watching the latest installment of Torchwood. As MM put it in her comments for episode 4, intense!

One thing Torchwood has never done is shy away from difficult issues. One can say that it deliberately takes on the most difficult problems. "Children of Earth" takes this to a new high. As MM put it in her comments on her torrent for episode four, "Intense!".

In previous seasons, Torchwood has touched on the idea that there is no absolute good or absolute evil. Is it better for a mother to know nothing of the fate of her son if knowing the fate would destroy her emotionally? Is it better to know what goes bump in the night or continue in blissful ignorance? But this latest entry trumps everything to date.

Would you sacrifice a dozen children who would not be missed to save the world from a fatal pandemic? Is it right to cover up such an action? Would you kill to keep that dark a secret? Now what if it is not a dozen children who would be missed, but rather ten percent of the children of the Earth? What if failure to provide the children would signal the total destruction of humanity? Is it evil to agree to demands in such a circumstance, or is it unavoidable if survival is to be ensured?

Indeed, "Children of Earth" deals with the classic no-win scenario. Torchwood is persecuted (to the point of murder) by the powers that be to cover up a dark secret from the past, yet Torchwood is the only hope for the future. Even when the remnants of Torchwood play all their cards, they are still stymied, both by the invader and the powers that be. Indeed, right up to the last ten minutes of the final episode, it looks like the invaders will win.

Then, at the absolute last moment, a solution presents itself. But there is a catch. Jack Harkness will have to sacrifice one child to save the entire planet. Will he do it? That one child is his grandson! Can he do it? Can he do it with the child’s mother (his daughter) watching in terror? Does that make him an evil man or a good man caught with no options? In the end, he chooses to sacrifice his grandson to save the children of the Earth, though the emotional price is clear to see on his face.

Then, after the world is saved, we see the Prime Minister of the UK in conference. He agreed to the ten percent sacrifice. He agreed with the coverup. He agreed with the murder of Torchwood. But all through the events, he is constantly arranging events to cover his own ass. He is arranging, where possible, to take no responsibility for anything. To blame his underlings, or the Americans, or any other handy scapegoat. He shows no remorse at the end.

Throughout, there is the person of John Frobisher. Frobisher is a civil servant. A bureaucrat. But he is dedicated to his job. He is the one who suggests the cover-up. He serves as the representative to the invaders. But he makes a side deal to further the cover-up. He is horrified at the demands of the invaders but sees no alternative. In the end, to save his children from the fate he knows is coming, he murders them, their mother, and then commits suicide.

There are many other characters, major and minor, who come alive on screen during this emotional rollercoaster. Some act out of rational fear. Some act out of greed. Others act out of a desire for self-preservation. Some are baffled while others understand the full import of their actions. Some are clearly evil while others are clearly not. Most simply are.

Was John Frobisher an evil man for doing what he did? Or was he trapped by events that occured when he was a child? Unlike the Prime Minister, he does not mention that he could hardly be responsible for the events that were covered up. He merely does his job. He does not attempt to deflect responsibility. Indeed, his longtime assistant goes to great pains to convince a prisoner that John was a good man.

Was not the Prime Minister also trapped by events he could hardly be responsible for? Yet he is clearly intended as a villain, perhaps the true villain, of this story. His lack of remorse and consistent attempts to deflect responsibility show through. His character is the polar opposite of Frobisher’s. Frobisher’s assistant goes to great lengths to trap him, to make his true character show through. He is an evil man.

Both Frobisher and the Prime Minister agree that the demands of the invader must be met, the former with horror, the latter merely looking for someone else to be responsbile. The same action but at a different internal cost.

Harkness’s choice is both easier and harder. On the one hand, there is no choice if the sacrifice of one will save all. On the other hand, it is his own descendent he must sacrifice. For the Prime Minister, and Frobisher until near the end, the price is abstract, someone else’s children. Harkness makes the very hard choice and pays a crippling price for it. But he pays it where Frobisher bows out. Is it evil for Jack to make that sacrifice? Is he stronger than Frobisher for having done it? Braver? Colder?

"Children of Earth" examines these dilemmas and many more less weighty ones on many levels over the course of five hours. Like an onion, every layer examined reveals layers beneath. All the key players and many of the minor ones have layers which show upon close scrutiny, as do their choices.

All told, this latest entry in the Torchwood saga feels real, and its effect is all the more chilling for that.