This episode is pretty good, but honestly I expected to like it more. It feels like this episode has a reputation as one of the better episodes in Season 1. Plus I like Indira Varma as an actor. So maybe I went in with too high an expectation here. It's not bad, but it's definitely not great either.

The major issue I have with this episode is that the story is complete nonsense. Not in a fun way, but in an absurdly convulated way. So just to recap, Suzie had been working against Torchwood for at least 2 years, as she's been messing with some dude for at least that long. Her plan is to brainwash some random dude into becoming a sleeper agent. Then in the event of her death, his actions would force the Torchwood team would  to resurrect her with the resurrection glove from episode 1.

Let's just look over this plan. If Suzie dies and isn't able to visit the dude she's been brainwashing for 2 years, he will activate and become a crazy killer who leaves the word 'Torchwood' at the crime scenes. This will get Torchwood's attention, and then through some other clues (basically involving the amnesia drug Torchwood have, and talking to the deceased victims) Torchwood will realise they need Suzie's help. They'll use the resurrection glove on Suzie, but unlike the other people they've used the glove on, Suzie knows how to make the resurrection permanent. She'll steal the lifeforce of the person who used the glove and get her life back, at the cost of this person's life (this happens gradually over time). She'll then help them catch the sleeper cell, who will repeat a poem in his cell which when said enough times will cause a lock down of Torchwood as Suzie escapes.

Besides the fact that doesn't seem like the same Suzie as we saw in the first episode. That Suzie seemed to be a good member of Torchwood, who was unfortunately corrupted by the power of the Resurrection Glove. Now she's become this evil mastermind, who has been preparing an intricate plan for 2 years, just in case she dies. That's not the worst reveal in the world to be fair, and the episode does get some fun out of Suzie as a machiavellian supervillain. But, she is now just a villain, and a pretty thinly drawn one. Besides a desire to not be dead, there's not really anything to explain why/how she's been lying to and betraying Torchwood for years. The episode does give her some interesting moments, and Varma gives a fun performance so I'll let it pass. But, it doesn't excuse the fact that her plan is so incredibly dumb.

Besides the fact that it took her years of planning, the actual plan itself is bad. Firstly she needs a member of Torchwood to be able to use the glove, something that non of the team could do at the time of her death. Secondly they need to resurrect the victims and get enough clues to realise they need Suzie's help. If the victims just cried upon hearing they were dead and said nothing useful (you know like in episode 1, the only time we've actually seen the glove in action) then the plan fails. Then once she's been resurrected Torchwood will just lock her in a cell. I guess being alive in a cell is better than dead, but unless someone decides to go against Torchwood protocol, that's as far as her plan takes her. Luckily for her it's Gwen's turn to be bad at her job this week, and so Gwen releases her just at the perfect time for the lockdown to happen and trap the rest of Torchwood inside. If that lockdown happened a little earlier, the plan would've been revealed too early and she'd still be in her cell, where she would stay locked up. If it happened too late, then it wouldn't have really achieved anything, except be very annoying for Torchwood. Oh, and all the team have to do to stop her it turns out, is destroy the glove, which takes literally one bullet to do. But Suzie leaves the Glove with the team and they realise they have to destroy it at the climactic moment.

I've just written an essay just on Suzie's 'Masterplan' and not much else. In my defense, it's a ridiculously convoluted plan, with so many inconsistencies. I find it baffling on any kind of storytelling basis, that this is the plot here. The reason I think this episode didn't connect with me quite as I'd hoped, is because I kept watching what was happening and thinking "What? Really?"

Which is a shame because despite the plot, I did sorta like this. There's some nice character moments here. Despite criticising Gwen for releasing Suzie (it was an obviously bad idea), it does make sense for her character(ish). She's the heart and humanity of the team. Between her guilt for replacing Suzie, Suzie apparently saving her life earlier in the episode, and Suzie's father dying, I can buy Gwen doing this. She's still a bit of an idiot for doing it, but we're all a bit of an idiot sometimes. Plus it leads to some nice Gwen & Suzie interactions.

So ultimately I think this episode is a complete mess. But, it's not without it's charms.