Suspension of disbelief

[bunn]

I reckon I'm normally pretty good at dangling my disbelief on the most spiderweblike of threads, but tonight's episode of Torchwood broke it.

I kept thinking: "but if he can't inhale or exhale air, how can he talk?" And: "why do his eyes work if he has no sense of touch?". And: "why does the skin not just wear off his feet?". And: if he can't feel anything, why does't he fall over when he tries to run?" and "with no blood circulation, what's the point of warning him not to get bruises? His whole lower body will be a bruise". In fact, basically: why doesn't he GO OFF?

All things that kind of bothered me about some vampire dramas, but there are usually less key to the plot.

Comments

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I can't see the sustaining of Owen in this state as a long-term proposition, really; even some babble about something repairing a basic level of damage would have been acceptable. The dialogue indicated that Owen can feel at some level; again psychology is being pulled over into physiology.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Something that strikes me about Torchwood/Who in this context: they are full of the joy and wonder of life, but the basic understanding of what life actually *is* : just not there!

It bugged me on the 'reset to factory settings' thing too. Living organisms don't *have* factory settings! They just have a range of working/nonworkingness to operate in!

It appears I have not just failed to suspend my disbelief on this occasion, I have actually dropped it...