Torchwood - Season 2

Second season of Torchwood, and I thought that the episodes might get a lot better. But we had mostly a repeat of Season 1. However, the beginning of the season is quite good, because James Masters (Spike from Buffy) is guest starring as Captain John, a time agent from Jack's past. 

But, after the first episode, we get the same quality as last season; fine but not what was expected, even if we also have Martha Jones for a few episodes in the series, and a very nice twist with the character of Owen Harper.

 

Owen is dead! However, Jack finds the second glove and brings him back from the dead. But that glove is different, and something comes back with Owen, from the eternal darkness. In the end, problem solved, but Owen is still among the living, a different kind of living dead. This twist I liked, but I felt that Owen was underused and underdeveloped, especially with him being a living dead. They could have build a story or a backplot around Owen and his condition, but all we get are sentimental moments and comedy relief!

Okay, we did know that Gwen and Rhys would get married. But did we have to watch another wedding-going-wrong-but-in-the-end-everything-is-fine episode? And of course all wedding cliches were there, and almost every damned series has a similar episode, with max 1-2 having an original twist or something. Gwen is maybe my favorite character for her humanity and strength.

I think that the best episode of the season is Adrift. When Gwen wants to find a 14-year old missing boy, Jack tells her to leave it alone. What is Jack hiding? And is it better to know the truth, or live with hope?

Toshiko is very intelligent and the writers could have used her technical expertise and inventiveness in much better ways, but she always underdeveloped, and mostly in sentimental scenes or episodes, like the soldier of the past needed to save the future stuff... She certainly ahs her own strengths, and the writers could have shown us much more from Toshiko.

Ianto is the only one who did not have his own episode in this season, mainly because he had the worst episode of Torchwood, Cyberwoman, in the last season. There isn't much to say about Ianto, other than he could have been developed better as well, and maybe show us something from the past, as he was working for Torchwood 1, until its destruction in the battle of Canary Wharf (Doctor Who, Doomsday).

Final verdict is that the best episodes of the season, are the episodes with James Masters as Captain John and the episode Adrift.

At the end of season 2, only Jack, Ianto and Gwen are left in Torchwood. Toshiko was killed by Gray, and Owen was disintegrated saving Cardiff from a nuclear explosion (he was dead anyway!) I am currently watching the 3rd season, which is a 5 episode special "Children of Earth", which is much better than the previous seasons.