Torchwood Children of Earth finale WARNINGS

[tzikeh]

In the wake of fandom's most recent discussion about warnings, I feel I should post this. I'm doing it in the very least spoilery way I possibly can for those who don't want warnings. I think that, if you watch Torchwood, and you are watching (or dl-ing) this current minseries, then you know that I'm warning for something regarding the subject. If it's something you feel you need warnings about, click on the cut tag.

In tonight's episode, one of the main characters of the miniseries kills his own children, and then his wife, and then himself.

During the episode, there is a lot of emotional horror w/r/t children and their safety.

There are some VERY ugly moments regarding what "kind" of children will be best to sacrifice.

In the climax, Jack will save all of the children of Earth except one: he will choose the child closest to him to be the one child who must die in order for the counter-attack on the 456 to succeed.

So there you go.

ETA: edited to make it even less spoilerly, but equally as clear for those needing the warning.

Comments

[kirbyfest.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. I'd been saving all four (five) eps to watch this weekend, but it sounds like perhaps another time would be better.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I think that you are right. I do not recommend this miniseries for you this weekend *at all*, for more than just the reasons stated above.

I'm insane with school right now, but I want to visit with you when you feel up to it, so don't let me get away with flaking out. :) *hug*

[kirbyfest.livejournal.com]

I will be stern! You will not get away with anything!

[suaine.livejournal.com]

I found the BBC announcer's little "this is violent and chilling, do not let your kids watch it" woefully inadequate, especially with his chipper tone. I only wish this had come with the type of warnings fandom has worked out to be essential.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Huh. And here in the U.S. we get kind of the opposite; the voice-over before potentially upsetting episodes of television simply says "viewer discretion is advised" - but the intonation sounds like he should be saying "YOUR DEATH IS AT HAND; PREPARE."

At least with time-shifting, we can depend on fandom to help us out more specifically before we dive into something.

[suaine.livejournal.com]

I kind of love the way the announcer says "viewers discretion is advised" in the US. It's so growly and doom-y.

[lamardeuse.livejournal.com]

Ugh, thanks for the heads up. This would be one of the main reasons I got sick of watching Torchwood - I'm just not interested in that level of violence and horror.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.

There are, of course, other equally HORRIBLE things that happened in this mini-series, but they are not pertinent to the specific warning at hand. (And I think you probably know what I mean, since one can hardly avoid it at this point.)

[klia.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this! I hadn't been reading anyone's reactions, and was planning to watch them on BBC America next week, but now? I think I'll dl and save them for another time. There's been too much of that sort of thing happening in RL for me to deal with a fictional version right now.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. There are also one or two other HUGE AND UNPLEASANT turns of events that make me very wary of anyone who isn't in a really, really good headspace choosing to watch this now. Hell, even in a good place, balanced, and ready for serious shit, people are coming out the other end of this miniseries emotionally and mentally drained. There's a trending movement on twitter organizing a Giant Post-Torchwood Group Hug to take place at Wembley Stadium. I doubt it'll come to fruition, but that should give you an idea.

[50mm.livejournal.com]

Hello, here via friendsfriends, hope you don't mind a random commenter! I stopped watching Torchwood in S1 (too much horror for me), but thought about watching this series since lots of my flist are. However, your warning tells me I should *not* watch, at all. Children in peril isn't a trigger for me, but I do get pretty upset, so thank you for this post!

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

You are of course welcome -- no such thing as a random commenter! And I'm glad I could help out. I thought it might be useful.

[bkwyrm.livejournal.com]

thanks for this - I was thinking of watching it and didn't know much about the plotline. I think I'll be skipping it, at least for a while.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

:nod: If you want spoilers, I have them.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for spoiling me last night. This episode was horrible, but I think I'm at least a little bit less upset than if I'd gone into it not knowing.

I can't imagine what this must be like for people with children.

I'm glad it's over with.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine what this must be like for people with children.

That's why I chose to make this post.

Did you watch tonight's?

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

Quite frankly, I'm shaken enough by just having read the spoilers (not this post, btw; I'd seen them elsewhere). I'm glad I did, though, because there is no way in hell I can handle actually watching any of this.

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

May I have the summary by email? Thank you: tearfall1 (at) yahoo.com

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

sending now :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_abulafia/]

Just to express a contrary opinion, can I say that I really wish I hadn't read this post before watching the episode? I clicked through the cut-text absentmindedly, because I misunderstood the nature of the spoiler warning: I thought the ETA meant that I'd be looking at minor spoilers that wouldn't seriously interfere with my viewing experience. I clicked away after reading that first line (with the big huge extremely major experience-ruining spoiler), but I still spent the whole episode waiting for the spoiled event to take place.

If it spared some people some pain, then the post was worthwhile; on the other hand, I wonder why those people are watching Torchwood in the first place if they're sensitive to images (in the first case, not even images) of death, and I wonder why reading about the deaths is better than hearing gunshots behind a closed door, and, to a lesser extent, I wonder if the fact that there's such a lot of hullabaloo about this new series of Torchwood potentially being capable of disturbing people might actually be making the situation worse. I see that people who haven't actually watched the episode are now warning others off the episode.

Also, the biggest reason that the new episode of Torchwood was more disturbing than previous episodes (in which way more people actually died, and actually onscreen!) is that it was better-written than previous of episodes of Torchwood and therefore potentially had the power to resonate with people, and I question a morality that warns for fictional death when the fictional death is powerful rather than cartoonish. The deaths were supposed to be disturbing, rather than forgettable and silly. That is actually less disturbing to me; it's a demonstration of a greater degree of moral responsibility on the part of the writers. Death has significance in these episodes, it isn't easy and frivolous, the viewer can't watch the episode and be unconflictedly entertained by these deaths and then carry on with the business of the day without thinking about what they've seen. These episodes of Torchwood actually, god help me for saying this, make people think. Embedded in all of the horror is a trenchant and timely criticism of some popular ideas in Britain about yobs, and the horror is just the repercussions of following those ideas to their natural conclusions in extreme science-fiction circumstances.

I might be saying this out of spite, because I resent being spoiled even though I acknowledge that it was my own fault, because I resent paternalistic warnings for content (I am such a fragile flower that I need to be spoiled for my own good? I need to be warned that an episode designed to make me think disturbing thoughts in the interest of illuminating the noxious implications of the real-life pervasive prejudice against lower-class British children might hurt me by making me think disturbing thoughts?), but I think reading the spoiler and waiting for stuff to go down was more upsetting than watching the story unfold and seeing events in a context that gave them meaning and purpose. I don't see how reading about a disembodied horrible thing ("in this episode, a husband kills his wife and his children and then commits suicide") is better for anyone than listening to gunshots behind a closed door, it just makes the experience of waiting for those things to happen more suspenseful.

In conclusion, I guess I need to be more careful about clicking on links.

[klia.livejournal.com]

In conclusion, I guess I need to be more careful about clicking on links.

Good idea, if you don't actually want to be spoiled.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

on the other hand, I wonder why those people are watching Torchwood in the first place if they're sensitive to images (in the first case, not even images) of death

You know what? As one of the people who asked for feedback on this episode, I can only say: Go pound sand.

Death I can handle. Angst I can handle. In a week when I'm dealing with the fact that I have to shut down my reproductive system for good, no, I can't handle the death of a child. Or more to the point, I don't want to handle it.

No one told you to click the link. No one said you needed to be spoiled. I did, and my fragile flower self is doesn't particularly think your need to be protected from your own inability to avoid actively clicking on links is more important than my appreciation for a friend looking out for me.

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

Speaking as someone for whom accounts of harm to children are pure nightmare-fuel, I'm glad that I found out what happened before I even started watching the mini. This way, while I do know what happened, I never "met" most of these characters and the disturbance is less vivid. Now, I know not to even bother starting.

Quite frankly, I would be incredibly insulted if someone told me that I needed Russell T. Davies to educate me about the horrors of classism by serving up child-death as entertainment, and that my lack of desire to watch that is a problem.

I do understand your desire not to be spoiled -- I hate character death warnings in fic, for instance. But if people who feel they need warnings can get them without others being spoiled (and I get that you were spoiled, but, well, there was a cut-tag), I just don't see what the problem is.

[lamardeuse.livejournal.com]

I'm curious: have you read anything at all about the latest warnings debate and the discussions of triggers? If you haven't, you may want to take a step back and read some of it, because your comments here are insulting to people who have survived some pretty horrific events and need considerate posts like this so that they can avoid *more* pain. Hopefully you're just unaware of the issues, but that's still no excuse for wading in and pronouncing on "paternalistic" warnings. This post, and the warnings contained therein, weren't meant for you, and they are performing a service that is written by a woman, for (mainly) other women.

[(Anonymous)]

There is a difference between - reading "children are killed in this" - and actually watching/hearing it happen even if it's off screen. Especially when you're caught up in the emotions of the characters and what is happening to them.

Anyone who has lost a child or would otherwise be triggered by watching/hearing a child being hurt/killed are better off be warned away from this episode. Yes the wording is a bit blunt but like I said there's a difference between being told something will happen and actually seeing it happen.