I’m not sure what to say.

It wasn’t exactly good was it?

What did we get?

Quarter of an hour into it, we get the best Captain Jack moment. The conversation between Danes and was the sort of nice moment we needed more weeks ago.

Well. The CIA, were almost useful. They almost go all CTU on us. They are almost fantastic. They then get blown up. Dear Russell T Davies, by blowing up Q you killed one of your more interesting characters.

Whilst we’re at it. Esther was possibly the most developed character. She was interesting. She also got dead. Seriously… You then made Rex immortal!!! Why??!?

Thinking about it. How is he immortal? Please don’t say it has something to do with Jacks blood?

On the subject of the closing scenes at the funeral, why I’m surprised at the lack of emotion? Watching it again tonight, I was reminded of the funeral scene at the end of a classic Doctor Who… Even that was more emotional then this “epic ending”.

Look… It’s been nice. Maybe some Torchwood is better then no Torchwood… But I’m going to go and watch The Children of Earth now…

Well that sucks… It sounds like it went mad between this and the last episode. May have been interesting to watch…

The thing is. It’s two months later. Things have changed, and it feels like a different story, set in the same universe. Rex and Q are in charge of the CIA, Jack and Esther are hiding, and Gwen’s stealing drugs.

Then scary child killer turns up, and offers information… Question. Why did it take so long to get here?

Sadly it feels like we missed an story or two. Or at least a conversation or two, it just felt like I missed something every know and then.

Let’s talk it up for a moment. The scenes in the small Welsh kitchen while questioning Danes, it almost felt like Torchwood.

In fact. While I’m at it. Why did we spend so long in America?

Because this was better. It felt like there was a plot… That there was a story which was going somewhere. And it ends next week…

Should we take bets on who dies next week?

Do we keep watching because it can’t get any worse?

Well we get to see the guy from last week as an old man… But it seems that he’s not to blame… This is episode 8 for crying out loud! Get on with it!!

Talking about getting on with it, it seems that even Gwen was struggling to comprehend why last weeks episode existed.

We get some explanation… But its sooo dull!!! For some reason, even the non-CIA attack bored me.

Rubbish. Dull.
Then we get Q. Actually an interesting character! He actually seems to almost command the respect of the other characters! On the subject of the other characters – they’re likeable!!! Where have they been hidden? Shame we’ve not had a decent chance to get to know these new characters? A bit more time would have made the reveal of a mole a bit more interesting.

We also get some decent tech! Well a brief view of Jacks wrist strap in action anyway…

On the subject of Jack. He chose to keep secrets, have a sulk, and seem to spend a proportion of the episode being fairly useless. I can’t help but feel that Q (at least based on this episode), filled the position of lead character at points better then Jack.

So what do we get? An interesting character. A bored Jack, and Gwen being chucked back to Wales – mostly because Jack didn’t say anything.

I suppose we’re getting to the good stuff… Maybe.. Just such a shame Jack is being rubbish…
2 more episodes left… Will Rex settle on a personalty? Will we find out why Gwens family were kidnapped? Will Gwen stay in one country? Will Jack be useful?

Will the story get good?

Yey!

We get our first flashback of the series… Nooooo… It’s really dull!!!

Why are we presented with all of this now? Why couldn’t the flashbacks have been taking place over the last few episodes? Why is this all been presented to us now? If nothing else having all of this presented at once made the whole thing feel rather obvious.

Well it’s kinda slow…

But at least we have our first monster moment, our first ‘doctor’ reference, as well as another monster reference. With that in mind, having the Trickster behind all of this would make sense.

Look let’s have some positives. The Captain Jack / Gwen stuff was decent, but it should have come sooner in the series.

I’m waiting for someone to post a three minute version of the episode on YouTube. That would be an improvement over this.

So yeah… Rubbish!

The end of the last weeks we were given what looked like an excellent preview of tonights episode. It made tonights episode look amazing.

We get to tonights episode… and for the first 20 minutes… We get nothing.

Again.

Then 3 treats.

Then for some reason. Captain Jack becomes useful. He somehow shifts himself from what ever miracle day show that was featured at the end of last weeks, to stalking the Ghostbusters girlfriend. At this point we get the epsiodes first treat. A sensible mature conversation between two old men of the sci-fi universe discussing the nature of “the system”.

The action is switched back to the camp in America, following Rex and Esther as a series of wrong choices lead to Rex being tortured in an amazingly intense scene, quickly followed between THAT fight between Esther and Colin Maloney – That finger / eye move! Great stuff!

The third treat… THAT explosion! Good Stuff.

Kudos also needs to be given to John Shiban, the writer of tonights episode. For including a steady theme throughout the episode, of the difference between the middlemen of this world – and those who say no. So arguably the best of the series so far. Shame we had to sit through the first half of the episode to get to the good stuff… again.

“”Torchwood’s gone – its just a name these days”

Well. The Good.

We’re back in the good old UK.

The bad news. It didn’t stay in the UK… or lets face it – Wales.

I cant help but think this just helps to remind how much I miss the “Welsh Torchwood”. On one side we seem to have – what look liked fairly big budget drama, on the other side – we had people talking under the nice American sunshine.

For the first 35 minutes or so anyway. Ar least the action seemed to pick up again towards the end. It seems to be a staple of this series to only be interesting during the last half of the episode.

Well lets face it. It might be getting interesting. Sure they brought the doctor in, just to get rid of her – but did anyone really care?

Hopefully its set up for it to get better next week.

So a mixed bag. Again. but hey. Doctor Who is coming back

So Torchwood Part 4… And after three weeks worth of non caring Russell T Davies pulls out his trump card. The precredit sequence manages to include an unfolding human tragedy with Esther’s sister, and weird Triangle Stalker man; setting up a unique event in this series.
An episode that is interesting from the start.

We seem to have plot movements throughout the episode. Oswald Danes becomes some sort of messiah figure, Rex starts to become likeable, and we get a good old fashioned Torchwood sequence with the break into Phicorp.

This episode is an award for the people that have stuck with it so far.

Just remember;
“The Families Will Raise”

What have we got? It still feels slow, it still feels Americanised, and Rex still doesn’t have a personality.

Well we have some form of character development, in form of Rex having a strop, Esther having a a good cry, and weird child killer dude having a bad time… Shame it’s just not that interesting…

…Until the end… Again they save the interesting stuff until the last 5 minutes… Again… But I suppose over all… It is getting better…

In fits and bursts anyway…

And I suppose this episode was fun in fits and bursts as well.

That poisoning stunt was probably the best thing so far.

Yes we have some sort of plot being progressed, but the CIA stuff feels like Xfiles on a slow bad day… And that health stuff also feels kinda dull.

Now those last five minutes… We have weird lady in red, we had fights, and we have broken neck ladies… We had to sit though two very dull episodes. But Torchwood… Might be back…

Where to start?

Well it starts of with two people that should have ended up dead, and rumours about something called Torchwood.

The action shifts over to Wales briefly shows where the budget has gone, with long sweeping shots of the Welsh coast line. It looks pretty, but it’s a long distance from the British beginnings…

And I suppose that my first problem. For the first twenty minutes there seems to be a lot of style, but mostly with characters that aren’t really that likeable. Twenty minutes in, it all changes and

we get to meet Captain Jack again. Gwen and Rhys are reassuring faces in a sea of new characters, but Torchwood is still the John Barrowman show.

The action doesn’t really kick in until the last five minutes, with Gwen and

Jack reunited, and an explanation as to why the Torchwood team end up in America. But why did PC Andy help out the CIA so easily, when during the Children of Earth he at least seemed unwilling?

Look it’s not all bad. It’s nice to see the Torchwood characters, nods to older stories, nods to old characters… I just hope it gets better…