While there is a sense that the final two episodes of Torchwood were connected (by the last denouement scene of the first), in reality they are (NO SPOILERS) worlds apart in terms of beginnings and endings.
"Fragments" is, oddly enough, an origins show. Though Torchwood started off with introducing Gwen as the "grounded human" ingredient to the team and how she came to join them, the joining of the others into Torchwood Cardiff / Torchwood III has never been fully explained. Through an odd and artificial (but aren't they always?) set of circumstances, we get lengthy flashbacks in this ep of how Jack, Owen, Tosh, and Ianto joined. Needless to say, it all involved a lot of pain and personality dysfunction.
The Season Finale manages to explore, in an hour, everything that gets implied at the end of the previous episode, including two villains (well, one ... maybe), torture (of course), massive destruction, terrible loss, and a death, or two, or ... well, you get the idea. At the same time, most of the characters rise to the occasion, showing that, despite their more-than-occasional feet of clay, they really are worthy to be protectors of the human race. It's a gut-wrencher, and it leaves the team with as many questions as it does offer answers -- as in, where to they go from here?
Good stuff, if "nasty, brutish, and short."
This has been a mixed bag season for Torchwood. The characters have been much more established than in the first season, but the plot arcs have been uneven. Gwen's marriage -- and her husband, Rhys -- have been spiffy. Owen's death and semi-resurrection were ... less so. Those two, plus Jack, have gotten the lion's share of attention, though Tosh and Ianto had a few good moments. It's still felt as though the show were still trying to find itself, to establish a theme a bit more solid than "How deeply can we screw with our cast and all they hold dear or want to?" That's fine as the occasional bit, but as regular fare it can become a bit much.
That said -- there's a lot there to like. If they can get the tone more consistent while keeping everyone on their toes as they have ...
I have no idea what's ahead for Torchwood -- and, no, I don't want to know, though from what I understand, there's been no official word on a Series 3 from the BBC. If it does come to pass -- I'll be there.
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