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Starting up the new thread for #3.

That target session...whew...just thinking about it makes me need a shower.

Think I might rewatch it a few thousand times before next weeks episode. The best part about it was watching her reaction to things that he did. At one point when he said focus, it was obvious she wasn't even looking in the direction of the targets. I thought it was great, because he seemed damn oblvious to it. Even though I have a suspicion that he knew damn well what he was doing.

I liked the way this episode seemed to largely focus on peoples' reactions to what the device showed them. Looking at the trailer I'd expected it to be some kind of creepy haunting story, and I think this is what they were probably aiming for (with the trailer that is, not the episode). Thus far this series has done a rather good job of keeping me relatively in the dark as to what's actually happening, but without me realising just how little I know.

Corpse_Marker and i are both excited about next week. All I needed to see was Ianto pinned to the wall by Jack and I was all like...YAYS!!!

I'm glad there going into his character more though, seriously. He's gotta be more then just a nice suit and good coffee.

As for this weeks ep, I really did enjoy it. Gives me hope for the future. Someone said they'd heard that Gwen was gonna hook up with someone on the team soon, and I know the obvious choice is Jack, but seriously...that sexual tension MAKES the show for me. I'd hate to see it die this early on. I'd like to see her jump either of the other boys though. Owen might not be that attractive to me, but after seeing him break down in this episode, he gained quite a few adoration points in my book. He's a human being in there, and humans deserve good sex lol.

I love Doctor Who with all my heart, I do I do! I feel the need to reiterate this before beginning what I am starting to feel will become a weekly occurence. Namely my rant against its moronic, sloppily written and hopefully soon-to-be bastardised offspring. Yes, Torchwood continues to underwhelm with this episode serving up an extended foray into the realms of triteness. The team (minus wax-faced butler type Ianob who apparently only appears at the very start and end of an episode to deliver a pithy one-liner. Get ch'your character development 'ere. Cough.) find a device which lets them see apparently arbitrary scenes from the past that have no real connection to anything other than the fact they can be used by some lazy writer to weave a plot out of thin air. Despite being charged with the weighty job of gathering the world's alien artefacts to their cause they completely fail to investigate the lock-up a whole host of martian bounty was found in and instead focus their attentions on playing the very vigilante law-types they had previously denied having any association with. Gwen shrugs off the helpless female sterotype by learning to fire a gun. Which is only possible after a very cliched five minutes or so of swooning in alpha male Jack Harkness' arms. Owen develops an unnatural hatred for a man and tries to kill him-only to rush to resusciate him moments later when the lardy fool blunders into Gwen who apparently mortally stabs him through the gall bladder. Or something.

I guess my main 'issues' with this episode can be boiled down to these 3 points.

1. The plot was lazy. Cool as alien technology is, it shouldn't be used as an excuse to avoid genuine creative thought.

2. The team were stupid. First Gwen messed about with the ghost machine. Then Owen. Then Gwen did it again, twice. And took it home with her. Jack failed to stop any of this despite getting REALLY angry and glowering plenty, but then he did have his hands full with his SUDDEN AND UNFATHOMABLE BELIEF THAT BURNIE MUST BE EVIL AND THEY ALL HAVE TO GO OVER TO HIS HOUSE RIGHT NOW TO SAVE GWEN (which conveniently gets them where they need to be for the final act. See point one about plots being built on nothing.)

3. The secondary characters were worse. You'd think Burnie, who sees an image of his own death on the VERY STREET outside his house, would take pains to stay off it. Or at least not go rushing out to meet murderers there in the middle of the night. Speaking of which, in my experience paranoid depressives rarely rush to hug anyone, least of all the women they two seconds earlier thought had come to arbitrate their final judgement and who happen to be wielding kitchen knives.

Oher than that there was lots to love here. Cash in the Attic got a mention and there was hilarious footage of one man's struggle with a domestic appliance.

If next week turns out to be anything other than a rehash of Dalek with some swears thrown in I'd be genuinely surprised.

Cow Demon, that made me jump too!! Mind you, I would have loved to have been Gwen in that scene where Jack's teaching her how to use guns... heart

I'd rather have Billie Piper whee

Yes, yes, I agree with you.