I think it's fair to say that I'm not a big fan of the first series of Torchwood. It has it's moments and there are a couple of genuinely good episodes, but on the whole it isn't for me. If I had to say what my biggest complaint with the series as a whole is, it would probably be Owen Harper.

This show seems to be in love with Owen Harper, it certainly appears that every woman on this show is apparently in love with Owen Harper. He's given so much focus throughout the series, whilst Tosh & Ianto get almost nothing to do in most episodes. I don't mind a show pushing a character to the forefront, or having a standout character, but usually these characters are likeable. Owen's edgy cynicism isn't nearly as cool as the show thinks it is, often I find it actively unpleasant in fact.

So this episode is mostly focused on Owen, who after Diane left him last episode has turned to drinking and fighting in bars. There are also people who have been kidnapping Weevils, and Owen has to try and infiltrate this gang of Weevil kidnappers. He discovers that this is the doing of a group of frustrated men, who kidnap the Weevils so that they can fight them in a cage. This episode is basically just Alien Fight Club then, only it doesn't really have much to say about masculinity.

Everything regarding the main plotline of this episode I find to be generally nasty and cynical. From Owen, who has wants to fight and feel pain to distract him from his heartbreak. The edgelord, manosphere antagonist who keeps banging on about man's rage, as though he's got some profound truth (he doesn't). The entire plot, where aliens are being tortured and used for entertainment by angry idiots. Many of these angry idiots literally get mauled, even killed by the Weevils that they fight in the cage. Everything about this episode screams 'Edgy!', but I don't think it has any real substance. It ultimately just adds up to men punching things in grubby rooms. This whole story seems to be designed to be as uninteresting to me as possible. I couldn't care about any of it.

The only other part of this episode that is really worth mentioning, is the scene where Gwen confesses to Rhys, telling him of her affair with Owen. This looks like it's going to be a good scene, but unfortunately the episode immediately undoes things by having Gwen give Rhys the retcon amnesia drug, so he forgets the entire confession. This is not only morally dubious of Gwen, but it undercuts the scene dramatically by immediately removing any consequences for Gwen's actions. So even the B plot isn't as interesting as it thinks it is. A very underwhelming episode all in all.