Fragments

I liked Fragments a lot more the first time I saw it than I did later. This was because I had only seen about four earlier Torchwood episodes at the time, and was not as familiar with the characters. The difference between Fragments and its Firefly counterpart, Out of Gas, is that Out of Gas has a plot. The flashbacks in Out of Gas do not have to be stories in and of themselves, so characterization comes first. Unfortunately, in Fragments, because the episode itself has only a bare bones plot, the backstories all have to be complete stories in and of themselves, and if this means that characterization goes by the wayside, then so be it.

But the first time I saw Fragments, I really liked it. I really liked Owen’s backstory, which I later came to feel did not fit his characterization. I really liked Tosh’s backstory, which I later felt was following a pattern of having bad things happen to Tosh to an extent which was overkill. Ianto’s backstory was a little confusing without knowing the backstory from earlier Torchwood episodes and Doctor Who, but I enjoyed it. And if anything, I appreciated it more once becoming familiar with the backstory. I also quite liked Jack’s backstory. That is the one that I changed my mind the least about after becoming familiar with the characters. I still thought it was good.