Torchwood: Children of Earth - Day Five

WARNING: There Be Spoilers Ahead!

And THAT is why Russell T Davies is the King Of The Whoniverse. Bookending Children of Earth, his two solo episodes, Day One and Day Five, are the finest two hours of Torchwood we have seen.

From the leftfield revelation of what the 456 actually wanted the children for to Jack's past involvement with the creatures karmically catching up with him when he - the man who can't die - had to pay the ultimate price to defeat them, this was some of RTD's strongest writing.

The defeat of the 456 took a quite clichéd gimmick (of turning an enemy's weapon back on them) and gave it a very dark, Torchwood spin.

If nothing else RTD demonstrated that you can have great dramatic moments without the necessity for long - albeit well-written - monologues. RTD is the master of "show, don't tell"; Rule Number One in the "scripwriter's handbook".

Day Five was full of strong, harrowing moments (possibly some of the most gut-wrenching of the week), but where the start of Children Of Earth focused more on Gwen, by the end of the week that focus had shifted firmly to Jack - with Gwen and Rhys being more concerned with the secondary story of protecting Ianto's family back in Wales.

Not enough credit is given to John Barrowman for his acting chops, but you couldn't help but feel for Captain Jack in this episode, whatever your reaction to his past "crimes".

Jack started off a broken and defeated man and as events unfolded, and he realised the sacrifice he would have to make to stop the 456, the audience could see Jack's heart being ripped out through his chest. An amazing synthesis of an actor and a writer who really knows his characters and what buttons to press.

There was so much to tie up in the Children Of Earth plot, after the four-day build-up, and only an hour to do it, but RTD succeeded in style.

Around the main action, the supporting characters had their moments to shine, like Frobisher's loyal secretary Bridget Spear (Susan Brown) finally, and cunningly, striking back at the Prime Minister and PC Andy (Tom Price) getting in on the fisticuffs when the army came for the children on the estate.

I'm also wondering if Johnson (Liz May Brice), the sultry black ops leader, might be being lined up as a future member of Torchwood (as well as Lois Habiba, who must be a shoo-in by now), after her change of heart when she discovered what the Government had been up to?

Where this leaves Torchwood for the future I can't say, but ratings wise (when unofficially it's been netting a quarter of the viewing population every evening) the BBC would be foolish not to recommission the series.

Storywise though, Team Torchwood is going to need to launch a recruitment drive!