Look! It's Captain Jack! And he's still frozen in carbonite!

Torchwood: Children Of Earth - Day Two

While exciting in its own way, Day Two is less impressive. Day One was new and shiny, practically a soft reboot of the program. The character dynamic was all new: Gwen telling Jack "There's a computer, do it yourself" leads not to bickering but a soft chuckle from Ianto. Gwen touches a photo of Tosh and Owen and says "good morning" as though it's a time-honored ritual (I'm reminded of the Unknown Soldier photo in the briefing room on the Battlestar Galactica). The introduction of Ianto's family, and especially Jack's, was a pleasant surprise for me. And the destruction of the Hub eliminates the status quo (and, in fact, the core concept of what the Torchwood Institute is all about). It's a different show now.

Day One raised the bar; Day Two merely meets it, and unfair is it may be, that's less impressive. Fay's Day Two functions mainly to connect the dots between Davies' Day One and Day Three, and in that Day Two works marvelously. There's nothing innovative or shocking in this episode; even Jack's resurrection is obvious (it's not a question of whether he'll come back, it's a question of how it works). This episode is mostly a straightforward rehearsing of those time-honored traditions of going on the lam, and staging a rescue. I'm surprised they didn't employ the Wookiee Gambit while rescuing the Jack. With Gwen as the Wookiee, of course, odd as that sounds.

That fairly standard plot is made to shine because of Euros Lyn's consistently inspired direction and the script's focus on character. Gwen and Rhys's conversation while surrounded by potatoes has the Davies touch. Whether Fay successfully channeled Davies, or Davies had an uncredited hand in this script, the entire episode still has the flavor of RTD's better qualities. And, unfortunately, some of his worse ones as well, with occasional lapses in logic designed to eliminate digressions that could detract from plot and character. As I said, it's forgivable, because it keeps things moving and allows for exciting moments like Jack's rescue and Ianto's family swarming the car.

That's where the heart and the narrative thrust is, but the mystery and intrigue is elsewhere, in the subplot involving the Home Office. Watching Capaldi's harrowed Frobisher try to cope it all, it's easy to feel for him like a protagonist, which he's not. Cush Jumbo rather good as Lois, and while I'm not sure whether I buy her as a permanent addition to the team, I'm looking forward to seeing where her character goes in the coming days. What's exciting me is that I can't guess what's going to happen next. Lois's role in all of this is a mystery, as is the nature of the alien threat, and I can't imagine what will happen when the team finally confronts Frobisher. It's all so murky.

It's sad to see so little development for two other unpredictable elements in the plot: Jack's daughter, Alice, and poor old Clement. Obviously, however, I won't have long to wait before I see them again, as the new episode is on in just a couple of hours. I have a feeling that these characters are going to be important, and with Day Three being one of the dots being connected by this episode, I wouldn't be surprised if the both have prominent roles on that dot.

Torchwood has always been about a "team," but so far Children of Earth has focused more on individual characterization than showing any actual teamwork. That's a deliberate structural feature of this episode, with the destruction of the hub corresponding to a decentralization that splinters the group. Splitting the characters up, giving them separate journeys and having them come back together is a time-honored storytelling tactic that's been done in Doctor Who hundreds of times, but I'm not sure it's what Torchwood needed right now. In any case, the team's back together now for the start of Day Three, so tonight we should get a glimpse of Torchwood in action. And hopefully we'll see them deal with the 456, instead of seeing them deal with the government while the government deals with the 456. That may get old fairly soon, and I desperately want not to be left down by this new, better Torchwood.

And give us a bit more PC Andy tonight. Please?