I just finished (finally) watching Doctor Who‘s spin-off series, Torchwood. I would not recommend it to anybody except those who (like me) want a greater depth of the Whoniverse, or want to see more of Captain Jack Harkness and can stand a sub-par show. It is essentially, like Doctor Who under Russell T. Davies (Moffat has changed this slightly) a “Monster of the Day” show. It has very few continuities between episodes, and for the most part, each one can stand alone. There were a few good ideas in there – the Sex Gas, Adam, and Billis Manger to name a few – and Captain Jack was as amazing as ever (and so was John Hart, his ex-“wife”), making the show watchable. I mainly watched it to learn more about Jack, which you certainly do. However, None of the other major characters (save Ianto and Rhys to some extent) ever gained my sympathy, and just were not particularly likeable. Gwen Cooper, especially – the audience surrogate – I hated. She was nasty to her fiancee (and later husband) Rhys, and was always doing the wrong things. I don’t know what Jack saw in her.

Stupidity also seemed to be a common theme; Jack was always right, and everyone else was always wrong, and yet the rest of the team still constantly went against Jack’s orders. The other major theme was depression. Davies was needlessly cruel to his characters, killing off almost all of them by the end of Season 3. “Children of Earth” – Season 3 – was much better than the previous two seasons (which for the most part were just average), but was needlessly depressing, and left me feeling unhappy and unsatisfied. All in all, not one of my favorite shows. I am not sure if I’ll be watching Miracle Day or not.