Torchwood: The Best of Torchwood....

Just a few thoughts about what I love (and a few things I don't love) about Torchwood.

1. Best character: Captain Jack Harkness. This being said, every one of the main characters was generally interesting, internally consistent, convincing and gave food for thought. Sometimes they made me want to scream at them, but that's good.

2. Best minor character: Detective Swanson. I hope she reappears in series two.

3. Best prop: The hand.

4. Best episode: "Captain Jack Harkness", and not just because of the dance and the kiss. It was also a tightly-written story of romantic suspense - the best written of the series, I think, for its characterization and pacing.

5. Scariest episode: "Countrycide".

6. Best surprise: The revelation about Captain Jack in "Everything Changes". This totally took me by surprise, but fit smoothly into previous continuity.

7. Best ideas:

• The rift. A good source of goodness-knows-what.


• Taking away the quaint categories of sexual orientation that other shows depend on; or, put differently, making all the main characters bisexual.


• Making the Weevils more than bestial monsters.


• Captain Jack's style of dressing. Vintage military. Impressive.


• The pterodactyl.


• The physical appearance of the Hub - somewhere between heaven and hell, order and chaos, now and then.


• Canonical slash.

8. Best scene: The final scene of "End of Days".

9. Best subplot: The relationship between Owen and Diane.

10. Best character development: Owen, much as I hate to say it. I don't like Burn Gorman in the least and I wish there'd been another actor in the role, but the good writing and good acting and good concept of this character caught my interest and kept it.

11. Best villain: Bilis.

12. Best symbol: The stopwatch.

rivier was writing today about how good the kissing is in Torchwood. And I have to agree. I'll even quote her (you don't mind, do you rivier?) - "The way that women and men kiss, and men and men and women and women, and Weevils eat your face off, and sometimes the kisses are erotic, sometimes they're all about the spark of life, sometimes they're tender, sometimes they're inexplicable. And nobody on the show makes the slightest thing about it!" Yes, that last point is really the clincher.

Another thing I like is the way we can't take the situation for granted. Torchwood is "beyond the law" - is that a good thing? The Torchwood team are flawed, they break rules, they flagrantly make mistakes that might destroy the world, and they act like secret police, answerable to no one. Are they a good thing? Well, they're standing between us and the rift, and they're entertaining, and I trust Captain Jack. (God help me.)

In a world where most TV shows are built on cliches, this is a beautiful exception.