Day One

Sex gas episode. What more is there to say?

Oh dear. This episode is an embarrassment for the Whoniverse. The first ten/fifteen minutes are great, as you see something zooming across the sky and Gwen accidentally release alien gas, but soon as it's revealed to be a sex alien it just becomes laughable.

It's basically just a fifty minute excuse to shout 'Hey, we're an adult show! We can do adult things that Doctor Who can't!', when in actuality how adult a show appears comes from how mature it is rather than because it explores adult topics.

S1E2

Day One

4/10

This is where I could see a lot of people turning off Torchwood after this episode. It's not very good. I like the bits with it being Gwen's first day on the job. But the alien and their motivation? Ugh... Kind of painful to sit through. It's honestly not that interesting to follow either, feels like a waste of a plot for the 2nd episode. Though the Doctor Who spinoff can now be "mature", this is more juvenile if anything. Skip this one.

This one is pretty rough in certain regards, but I don't know if it fully deserves the infamous reputation it gets.

It isn't the best story in the world but it is made competently enough and I actually really like the "Day One" aspects of Day One. When we're dealing with Gwen getting to know Torchwood and the types of adventures ahead of her, all while she gets to know the team a bit more, I'm having fun. The sex gas stuff definitely comes across as Torchwood showing off how adult it can be in relation to Doctor Who, but I find it more underwhelming than anything else. I don't doubt that the subject matter doesn't come across as weird though, and sets the tone of the series in a rather unfortunate way.  Not a great episode overall but it does vaguely have its moments.