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Touch 2.06 "Broken" TV REVIEW
THE ONE WHERE Lucy holds Calvin hostage and tortures him to find out where Amelia is. After lots of to-ing and fro-ing, and with some help from a radio tower, she and Martin finally storm the house – to find that Calvin's mum is dead and Amelia is gone...
VERDICT If there's one thing Touch has downplayed this season, it's the mental anguish of a woman whose daughter has been kidnapped. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, mind you – if Lucy spent every episode wailing, snotty-nosed, in the foetal position, it would get old really fast. We've had to wait until now to see just how desperate she is to find her daughter... and boy, is she desperate.
The moment when Lucy punches Calvin's broken ribs is absolutely extraordinary, and really surprising in the context of this usually sweet show. Despite the cruelty of the action, it's hard not to cheer – this guy stole her daughter, so frankly he deserves everything he gets. Although, as Calvin tries to explain, he did it to help map the human brain and hopefully cure a plethora of diseases and injuries. Still, WHAM! Go Lucy! Perhaps we should start calling her Sarah Connor...
There's also a great showdown between Martin and Lucy at the end: nobody messes with Jake, and he doesn't let her forget it. But then she wins him round by reminding him that she's lost a child – and what would he have done in her situation? You can see him thinking, “There for the grace of God go I...” and she's forgiven. (Well, after 40 minutes of sulking, anyway.) I'm glad these two haven't fallen out for good, and I'm still thrilled that the writers haven't gone the “Hollywood” route and have them fall in love – they're both very different people and it would feel horribly false.
One thing that is worrying, though, is how long they can string out the hunt for Amelia. It's only been six episodes and already the storyline is feeling a little stretched; if Lucy misses her chance to grab her daughter yet again, it’s going to be scream-worthy.
NUMBERS GAME This might hold a record as being the episode which attaches the least importance to numbers. 892 turns up only three times: once as a radio station, once as a license plate, and once as a keypad code (random guess: was Calvin using his brother's birthday, assuming he was born in August 1992?).
MMM, CHEWY... Last week we were faced with a priest having a moral quandary over whether he should break confession or not – a meaty topic to chew over. This week, Ortiz thinks he's failing in his God-given quest, but saves a man's life and redeems himself. The moral quandary comes from the guy actually wanting to die – he's a surgeon who was hungover and killed a child in surgery. Ortiz counsels him out of his funk and they all live happily ever after. This show's a bit like therapy at times, isn’t it?
CONFUSED.COM Why does Lucy take Jake out to the meeting point so she can swap him for Amelia, but still ring Martin to come and meet her? What was she expecting him to do – turn up in a tank and blast Calvin to pieces? And then she acts offended when Martin yells at her for taking his son. Crazy logic wins the day, clearly.
HIS... er... HER NAME'S BAUER... JACK BAUER Forget Kiefer Sutherland pulling some 24 -esque Jack Bauer moves this week: Lucy steals his crown, torturing Calvin like a professional.
LEARNING CURVE In season one, Jake would repeatedly draw attention to things and Martin would brush him off, then later in the episode he'd realise that those things had a purpose. Which is why it's lovely to see a moment in this episode that shows he's been learning: Jake switches the radio to station 89.2, and Martin notices the numbers and assures his son that he's seen them. If Jake were capable of looking smug, he should. It must be confusing being Martin, though: what if Jake was just watching TV and Martin thought the channel he was viewing was significant? Red herrings everywhere!
DID YOU SPOT? The credits for this episode didn't start until 11 minutes had passed, with the names finally finishing scrolling at the 15-minute point. Hence they took up exactly one-quarter of the show's runtime. This happens on a lot of shows these days, and always strikes me as curious – doesn't it make sense to get them over with as quickly as possible, so you're not distracted?
DID YOU SPOT? #2 Star Trek 's infamous Vasquez Rocks form the backdrop to Ortiz's storyline. Also, Ortiz laughs in the face of “Hazardous Conditions”!
CLIFFHANGER FROM HELL! Who shot Frances and took Amelia? All we know is that they shot a kindly librarian and stole a child. Clearly they are nasty. Aster Corp, perhaps?
BEST LINE
Lucy: [stepping on Calvin's hand] “Feel that, Calvin? Whatever pain you are feeling right now amounts to nothing compared to what you put me through for the last three years. Now where is Amelia?”
Jayne Nelson
Touch season 2 will air in the UK shortly on Sky
