Illuminating Torchwood

Illuminating Torchwood: essays on narrative, character and sexuality in the BBC series (Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy, 21). 241 p.

Since I'm a big fan of the TV show Torchwood, as well as a former English major, I thought I'd enjoy these essays. A couple of them were quite good, and at least one of them was abysmally overblown--I'm sorry, but every time a male character disagrees with the female lead and doesn't do what she tells him, it's not symbolically rape--but many of the essays were either dull or arguing in bad faith, selectively ignoring text to make the argument work. I was particularly annoyed by one essay discussing the heroine's journey that acted as if team Torchwood had only one female member rather than two. Granted, the Gwen character gets a lot more screen time than the Toshiko character, but you don't get to pretend she doesn't exist if you're discussing women and their roles. The other thing that really bothered me is that a number of essays incorrectly quoted characters, got their names wrong, or mixed up the order in which actions occurred. That's just sloppy work, and if you're getting details wrong about the primary text you're discussing, I'm much less likely to believe you when you discuss other critical theories and such. Overall I was disappointed by this book.