I’m probably tempting fate, but after a wobbly start, Torchwood series two seems to be shaping up quite well.
True, episode three was a bit of a sci-fi staple in terms of plot, with your classic temporal paradox, and there was one point where we were getting all the stereotypical ghost story clichés (didn’t you just know when Gwen turned on the light that the fluorescent tube would be faulty and flicker… 
) however much as with last weeks episode, To The Last Man was just generally pretty well executed.
Again at the heart of the story was a character piece, this time focusing in on Toshiko, aside from Jack the only character to have crossed over from Doctor Who, and who quite often doesn’t seem to do much except come out with techno-babble to move the plot forward.
Here she is the main focus of the episode as she looks after a World War One solider that Torchwood has had in suspended animation for ninety years. Every year they wake him up to make sure he is still healthy, as files from the Torchwood team at the time say that he will be needed. Here though is the paradox in that they only know to take him as a result of his future self telling them to do so – something he knows because he’s been told to say that as a result of files left by the past Torchwood team for their future colleagues!
However, having spent time with Tommy, the solider, Toshiko falls for him – only to find out that in order to save the world he must go back in time to his death. In this respect it explores similar themes to Out of Time, the episode in the previous season where Owen falls for Diane a pilot whose plane appears through the rift, but who ultimately decides to leave. The big difference here is that Toshiko ends up having to persuade Tommy to go through with what has to be done.
Being a temporal paradox it seems as though the story is being told in flashback, as it opens with Tommy and Tosh appearing to the 1918 Torchwood team, and then you see how they get to that point during the rest of the story.
Much as with last weeks episode, without flashy guest stars, the episode seems to work pretty well. Alongside this things seem to be moving along with Jack and Ianto, and it does seem that in 1918 at least, Torchwood recruited all their operatives from public schools…
