![\"\"](\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/__v16ajx69Mw\/R4VlQnEtz3I\/AAAAAAAABLs\/jVK9PM5G9kw\/s400\/End+Of+Days+showdown.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThis last episode of the first season of Torchwood, \u201cEnd of Days,\u201d focuses on precisely what it sounds like: the strange things that have been happening as a result of the rift in space and time becoming more active are being interpreted by religious groups as portents of \u201cjudgment day.\u201d Ianto reads from Daniel, and it is suggested that it seems to fit pretty closely what has been happening, but Jack calls the Bible \u201csuperstition\u201d and is confident that this isn\u2019t the end of the world (after all, he has seen the future, being from there himself).<\/p>\n
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I thought about perhaps giving this post the subtitle \u201cMy God, It\u2019s Full Of Gods!\u201d \u2013 echoing the famous line from 2001. In \u201cEnd of Days,\u201d Torchwood reveals that the fictional universe it offers us is one that is full of demons, such as Abaddon, a creature that has been imprisoned beneath the rift in time and space that crosses Cardiff. The name of the creature is of course derived from Revelation. Bilis Manger refers to the entity as his \u201cgod.\u201d But surely apart from such entities that remind us more of the demonic than the divine (assuming one makes such distinctions), there must be other opposing entities that are at least slightly more powerful, whoever they might be that imprisoned such a creature in the first place. Like most science fiction universes, Torchwood\u2019s contains godlike entities.<\/p>\n
If we can echo the phrase of 2001\u2019s Dave Bowman in reference to the monolith, we can also echo Christian theology\u2019s phrase and refer to \u201cHarkness Victor.\u201d The creature Abaddon feeds on life and brings death wherever its shadow falls. Jack Harkness kills it by overpowering it with his undying life. Jack dies, seemingly for good this time. Gwen waits for days (perhaps three?) by his body in the morgue, confident that he will \u201crise,\u201d saying \u201cI believe in him.\u201d The echoes of Christian ideas associated with the death and resurrection of Jesus are surely intentional, as Jack\u2019s undying life proves more powerful than a creature whose very essence seems to be death, a veritable \u201cangel of death\u201d \u2013 or perhaps \u201cdemon of death\u201d would be more apt.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the episode ends with Jack seeing his \u201cDoctor detector\u201d indicate that he is around, and run off and disappear, connecting the events in this episode directly to the Doctor Who episode \u201cUtopia,\u201d in which Jack will get to see farther into the future of the universe than any known time traveler has before.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This last episode of the first season of Torchwood, \u201cEnd of Days,\u201d focuses on precisely what it sounds like: the strange things that have been happening as a result of the rift in space and time becoming more active are being interpreted by religious groups as portents of \u201cjudgment day.\u201d Ianto reads from Daniel, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,128,131,135,80,101,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afterlife-theology","category-atonement-theology","category-christianity-religion","category-eschatology-theology","category-religion","category-theology","category-torchwood-science-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\n