The first two episodes broadcast at the launch of the series have their qualities, but unfortunately they also have their faults, which detract from the enjoyment of the series. So, a week later, how does Torchwood fare?

Well, the whole aspect of Gwen is still very well handled here. Discovering that her private life is impacted by her work brings a new dimension to the series as well as some interesting issues given that we're attached to Gwen. Like her, the viewer feels the dilemma: Torchwood or private life? This allows the episode to deal with several emotions in the same episode, bringing in passages where we feel sad for Gwen and making us feel some very touching moments in her intimate life with Rhys.

As for the story, I have to admit that I got really invested in the plot, which didn't involve an alien villain. It's great to establish from the third episode that Torchwood also means having to deal with cases where there isn't really a bad guy who can come out of the woodwork to cause trouble, but that a simple alien object in contact with humans is also capable of causing panic. As for the object that revives scenes from the past, here again it's interesting, because it reuses the feeling of déjà-vu, so it's part of the everyday life that everyone knows and it also allows the characters to feel very powerful emotions that modify their actions. It's a pretty strong concept that doesn't shy away from showing horrors that made a huge impression on me.

Owen, Owen, Owen... I don't like this character and I think that's going to come up in all my reviews of the first season. Here, even if his reaction fits in well with his character, I don't think it's the best idea to put a sexual abuser in a revenge situation because of a feminicide he witnessed. I might have liked it if it had allowed Owen to question himself, but I think we're dealing here with a writing problem from his era when we could tolerate very inappropriate behaviour from the main characters.

I don't have much else to say, unfortunately. While I enjoy the episode and it has some good ideas, it's not the most fleshed-out story in the whole series. However, I do have to mention the final scene, which for me totally wraps up the arc of Gwen discovering Torchwood. I won't spoil what happens at the end, but for me, this is when she stops being the new girl in the group and becomes a real member of Torchwood. Narratively, we see her enter the darkness of what Torchwood is and we're faced with a mix between the Gwen we know and the harsh reality of the field. A milestone is reached, so in my opinion this is where the introduction to the series ends, because Gwen becomes a fully-fledged member.

While there's still one big negative in the story, Owen's character once again, the story here manages to tell what it wants to tell to the end while bringing a new vision of Torchwood. For its treatment of Gwen and the power of the emotions delivered to the viewer, this episode is undeniably better than the previous two and I'm pleased to see an evolution in the quality of the series. Now I suppose we'll just have to wait for a story without Owen to get the first episode close to perfection.