I seems to be in a distinct minority on my f-list in continuing to find Torchwood entertaining and watchable, better than most X-Files, as good as most Doctor Who, and while not up to Buffy at her best still something I look forward to watching whenever my first free evening of the week after Sunday happens to be. (Which was Friday this week. Ooogh.) However. I make no excuses.

Countrycide

OK, we have to be honest and admit that there were two serious plot problems this week – the implausibility of a village getting away consistently with regular bouts of mass murder over the decades, and Jack’s arrival to save the day at the end, not so much deus ex machina as Harkness super machina. But the mood of tension throughout was, I thought, brilliant – both the physical fear of the killers, especially in a way when they turn out not to be rubber suited monsters but ordinary country folk, and the sexual tension between Owen and Gwen – I know, we’ve seen it coming, it’s a huge mistake, she must surely end up with Jack, but there you go.

Greeks Bearing Gifts

As Cyberwoman was Ianto’s story, this was Toshiko’s; and she came out of it well, succumbing to the temptations of the lusty alien – less fatal than the previous sex-possession in the series – and of course hearing voices rather like Buffy in Earshot, which was one of my favourite Buffy episodes. As points out, however, Torchwood did different things with it, though, in particular underlining Jack’s differences with the rest of humanity. Again, I felt Jack’s solution – sending the villain to the heart of the Sun, rather than, say, immobilising her or even returning her to her home planet – wasn’t quite right, but I enjoyed the ride.

We’ve been re-watching last year’s Doctor Who and were surprised to see Toshiko pop up in Aliens of London, though I’m sure I must have seen references to that elsewhere.

They Keep Killing Suzie

Was the amnesia pill called “retcon” in the previous episode where it was used? Glorious. Also, in a superb piece of pedantry, reveals that the script quotes the wrong ISBN. (Hat-tip to for that.)

Suzie’s plan is ever-so-slightly convoluted – she risked being locked into Torchwood with everyone else, surely, when Max started his recital; and all this just so that she could kill her father, a few weeks before the cancer would have got him anyway? But entertaining stories are often made of unlikely sets of events, and we were duly entertained. And the return of Yasmin Bannerman, from living tree to policewoman, was very welcome.

Finally, is there any decent livejournal search engine out there any more? Because I am frustrated by being unable to easily search my f-list for Torchwood-related entries. LJseek is pretty erratic, currently giving me only one link less than three weeks old, and I know some of you have been writing about it since then. I suppose I should simply add the relevant posts to my memories as I see them – but doesn’t that risk reading spoilers?