Ummmm, so yeah, as with all my reviews, there’s spoilers here.   If you’ve not seen Day 4 yet, you’re almost certainly going to regret reading this.

What was really nice, was when I logged into Twitter last night, two of the highest trending topics were “Torchwood” and “Ianto”.   It really helped underline just how popular this season has been so far.

After Torchwood being blown up and forced on the run, and then Day 3′s introduction of the 456, it was time for Torchwood to remind everyone that they were there.

“You and who’s army?”

“Torchwood.”

That was a great moment.    The cabinet scenes had been genuinely chilling to watch, with the politicians more interested in how they could spin the loss of 10% of the country’s children to the public and save face, than coming up with any alternative solutions.  Facing facts, the 456 had already proven twice they couldn’t be trusted, first by returning despite the initial deal, and secondly when they told everyone about visiting Britain before.   Yet, the cabinet never even considered this.

These were scenes that have probably only gained weight in  light of the recent expenses scandal.

As the politicians became more and more uncomfortable to watch, it just made the punch-the-air moment of Torchwood saying “No.  You will not do this.” even greater.  And with that footage still stashed on a laptop in Rhys’ safekeeping, it’ll be interesting to see what Jack does with it.  Will he just release it anyway?  Use it to gain leverage over a government that ordered Torchwood destroyed? Use it to force a group of self-interested politicians out of office?  Or will he decide that the footage is better off buried?  While discussion on this episode will inevitably focus on what happened next, these cabinet scenes were for me the real highpoint of the episode.

And so, Jack and co swoop in to save the day.  And its not long before he’s confronting the 456.  Except it becomes quickly obvious that Jack doesn’t really seem to have a concrete plan to deal with the threat.  He doesn’t really have much he can threaten them with, beyond a mob with pitchforks and torches, and its a bluff that backfires on him in the worst way.

To an extent, Jack’s bluff really surprised me.  The minute he started talking about humanity taking arms against the 456, my immediate thought was “is that it?”.  Obviously with the Hub destroyed, any real power Jack had is gone, and even so he doesn’t really know enough about the 456 to know how to stop them.   Jack’s ultimatum was very reminiscent of the kind of thing the Doctor would do, however with the Doctor its usually more “Leave or I’ll stop you”.  There’s a confidence in his abilities and experience as a Time Lord, that the threat of a planet full of humans just can’t replicate, and its no surprise its laughed off by the 456.

And so to prove how much of a joke the 456 think they are, they wipe out everyone in Thames House.  A virus is released that kills everyone, which sadly included Ianto.   Its a loss that’s even more powerful for the smarter writing this year.  If Ianto had died last year, it would’ve been sad, as it was the loss of a good character, however this year, they’ve really built up his relationship with Jack, and portrayed them more and more as a proper couple.  Ianto’s final fear that Jack will live so long he’ll eventually forget him is moving stuff.

If there’s one thing that’s abundantly clear from the last two seasons of Torchwood, its that no one is safe.  Just because you’re in the main credits doesn’t mean you’ll be back  next year.  I had presumed that with the cast reduced this year, the focus would be more on building the team back up, however they’ve done exactly the opposite.  Lois has obviously been introduced as a new team member, however realistically, when you think about her skillset, its obvious the job she’d fill would be Ianto’s.

And so tonight we’ll have the finale.  At this point, its hard to see how exactly things will be resolved.  Torchwood desperately need to figure out something about these aliens to give them the edge they need, but they’ve also got to do so before the Government turn over the kids.

Again, this Torchwood event is proving just how good the show can be.  However, last night, it wasn’t particularly down to the actions of anyone actually in the main team.  Yes, we had the twist with Jack, which was largely predictible, but still played out well (the trailers have shown us clips for weeks hinting that Jack had already been involved with 456′s previous visit).

However for me, the real meat in the episode was Peter Capaldi as John Frobisher.  The civil servant who’s been at the heart of events, and who clearly knows more about the 456 than most of the others.  However, he’s still terrified of them, but gets put in the position of Earth’s ambassador by a Prime Minister determined to keep his hands clean during this whole mess (I wonder how Harriet Jones’ Government handled this before The Doctor changed everything).

Peter Capaldi has been superb throughout this story so far.  He’s brilliantly played Frobisher as a layered individual, who’s both shown as manipulated by the Prime Minister as a fallguy, terrified for what 456 are doing to his children, but at the same time, willing to go to ruthless extremes, authorising the deaths of those involved in 1965, and capturing Jack’s daughter and Grandson to gain leverage over him.  He’s maybe not going to sleep at night because of what he’s done, but he’s still willing to do it.

The 456 themselves remain mysterious.  The disembodied voice coming from the speakers connected to the smoke-filled tank is suitably ominous.  Exactly what they’re up to remains to be seen, and why they keep thrashing against the tank could turn out to be significant.

Great stuff.  Is it 9pm yet?

Again, I’m very impressed by how good this is.  I’d been slightly worried that after the cracking opener, subsequent episodes would be a let down, but this continued to deliver great TV.   There were some great moments, whether it was Gwen and Rhys discussing calling their baby Edward if it was a boy, the horror of Jack’s resurrection and entombment, or the punch the air moment of Ianto ripping Jack’s entire concrete-filled cell out through the wall of the Government compound.

The mystery still continues to build nicely.  We know the Government’s done dealings with these aliens in the past, resulting in them targetting Britain (it seems kind of obvious that the children in 1965 were sacrificed to the aliens somehow to get rid of them), and the environmental box that’s been built, containing their poisonous atmosphere was suitably foreboding.

The only minor niggle I’d make from last night’s episode, was I thought it was a bit too convenient for Gwen that the PA, who was in a moral quandry over her boss’s kill orders, and had only just decided to betray him to Gwen, had also had the foresight to bring along all the detailed information Gwen needed to get into the Government facility.  That didn’t quite ring true, for a character who was supposed to be torn by what she was doing.

Overall though, this is definitely a show that’s stepped out of the shadow of its parent show.  I’m not watching the show thinking of it as a Doctor Who spin-off anymore.   This season of Torchwood very much is standing on its own two feet.

I think this was the show most people probably had in mind when Torchwood was first announced.  Very much an adult Sci-Fi drama, without the adolescent undertones that resulted in such criticism of Torchwood’s first season.   The second season had obviously taken a long, hard look at those criticisms and addressed them, and with this third season opener, Torchwood comes across as a far more confident show.

Taking a pinch of Spooks and adding it into the mix, we get a lot more Government intrigue this time around, no doubt partly due to the extended format, allowing for a deeper plot to be told.  Likewise the glimpses into Ianto and Jack’s private lives were welcome after the first two seasons focused almost exclusively on Gwen and Rhys.

There was a great atmosphere to the episode as well.  The stuff with the kids was very spooky, and the Government plot added a tonne of mystery.  Clearly they know what’s going on, while Torchwood and UNIT don’t.

This was a brilliant opening episode.  If it can keep up this level of quality for the rest of the week, then we’re in for a treat.