David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. “Arming the human race against the future”
Tomorrow night’s episode of “Torchwood” is pretty ordinary by its standards. After being spotted at a crime scene involving a skeleton a couple centuries old, Toshiko (Naoki Mori), the workaholic (well, one of the workaholics at Torchwood), is approached by a comely woman named Mary (Daniela Denby-Ashe) at a bar. She offers her a mysterious-looking (because everything on “Torchwood” is mysterious-looking) pendant.
Said pendant enables the wearer to read the minds of others in close proximity. Of course, if there are a lot of people around, that can be pretty maddening (but can lead to saving some lives); on the other hand, in the relatively sparse confines of Torchwood, Toshiko learns precisely what her colleagues think of her. Needless to say, she’s none too happy about what she learns.
This series being a product of the military-entertainment complex, Toshiko and Mary manage to engage in some frisky girl-on-girl action. This being a sci-fi show, Mary naturally has a few secrets. To say more would require a big SPOILER ALERT sign and ruin it for you.
The episode aspires to pathos on Toshiko’s behalf, but I wasn’t feeling it. The men and women of Torchwood are supposed to be urgently saving the world, not messing about with childish things like emotions. But watch closely and you might detect a clue into the mystery that is Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman).
- “Torchwood:” 9 p.m. Saturday, BBC America.