You may have been wondering what happened to my usual habit of commenting on each episode of Torchwood. Well, I found I just wanted to watch and enjoy rather than taking notes, which would have made writing anything other than vague or incoherent babblings quite impossible.[1]

Anyway, Series Two of Torchwood has just finished, and err, well, wow! Throughout the last 13 episodes, we’ve got to know the characters much better, and seen them all grow much closer together – the friction that was something of a feature of the first series was much less in evidence this time, and everyone got a chance to develop.

Jack, having “found his Doctor” has been a lot more relaxed and able to accept his inability to die. We learned more about his past – how he lost his brother when he was a child, and met his old partner from the Time Agency. His old partner, John, turned out to be a very naughty boy, and Jack wasn’t pleased to see him.

Gwen, having taken charge of the team while Jack was away, has grown in confidence and is much more likely to argue with Jack, and to make him change his mind. A little matter of being impregnated by a very nasty alien didn’t stop her marrying Rhys, and she managed to persuade Jack that wiping Rhys’s memory wasn’t a good idea after he became involved in a Torchwood operation.

Ianto seems to have recovered from being upset over the death of his Cybergirlfriend, and has grown closer to Jack. Much closer. Really, really, closer. Though not so close as to stop him from giving Gwen some information Jack didn’t want her to have. And he’s still got a lovely dry sense of humour.

Owen mellowed quite a lot, and began to be a lot less obnoxious. A little matter of dying and being brought back to life by the other glove didn’t stop him from being a valuable member of the team, and made him appreciate life (or whatever it was) a lot more.

Toshiko came out of her geeky shell a lot more, and her general brilliance was always an asset.

Lots of fun stuff happened: Martha paid a visit, some nasty people stepped out of a black and white movie, we learned that the rift takes as well as gives, and it was all good stuff.

Then last week, it started to get really interesting. Jack, Ianto, Tosh and Owen went to a building where something odd seemed to be happening. But instead of aliens, they found bombs. Buried under rubble, they all suffered severe flashbacks in which we learned how they came to join Torchwood, which went a long way to explain Owen’s earlier attitude and Tosh’s nervousness. And we got to see what happened to Jack after he overshot when aiming for the 21st century and ended up in the late 19th instead. And we got a very silly dose of that ever-popular romantic comedy When Ianto met Jack.

Once Gwen and Rhys managed to rescue everyone, Jack got a message on his bracelet – the bombs were a not so friendly greeting from John, who’s still a bit miffed about the rude reception he got last time he appeared. Oh, and he’s found Jack’s brother Gray…

All of which set things up nicely for tonight’s Big Finale. And as some people may not have seen it yet, I’ll refrain from going into too much detail at this point[2]. However, the episode did feature:

• Lots of Weevils!
• Big explosions in Cardiff!
• A family reunion!
• Things not necessarily being as they seem!

And some quite surprising, if not shocking events for some of the team. If there’s a third series of Torchwood (and I’d be surprised if there isn’t), it’s going to be somewhat different…

So Series Two managed to have a lighter touch, brought us closer to the characters, put them through hell and high water, and at the end changed things quite drastically. Overall, a major step forward, and things can only get bigger and better from here on.

[1] OK, that doesn’t normally stop me, but never mind…
[2] Maybe later…