New 'Torchwood' - now with added Incredibly Subtle Literary References

1. Damn you, Robin Hood! No sooner do I have a hearty go at the show for being ridiculous, than they turn out a non-sucking episode! Good characters, good drama, no obvious anachronisms (I may simply not have noticed them), very evil plot resolution from the Sheriff - and just for a change the outlaws caper up to Nottingham for Yet Another Heroic Rescue, and achieve nothing. Bwahahaha! Why, it actually started to look interesting. I genuinely didn't expect Guy to have the tattoo - the only problem then being that I just couldn't believe he actually was who Robin thought he was. Credibility got stretched a bit there.
Of course, if they'd been doing the really interesting thing, Marian would have been rumbled about four weeks ago and gone on the run, she would have started suspecting something between Robin and the lady outlaw two weeks ago, and there actually would have been something between them, just for twist value. But perhaps I'm not thinking "family" enough.

2. Torchwood. Sod me, it's the Sex Alien episode again! Only this time it's been spliced with Unbreakable. Of the two Sex Alien episodes, I think I prefer this one. Still, though...
This was one of those episodes that seems pretty damn good at the time, but gets worse the more you think about it. My initial reaction was that this might be the second best episode (to go all Mrs Doyle for a moment) after Small Worlds - the dialogue needed a bit of work (and by "bit" I mean "lot") and the ending was far too abrupt ("Oh, I set it to "plot resolve" - byeeee!"), but overall it came across well. But how did the Sex Alien hide in Cardiff for two hundred years? Where does she live, and how does she buy her abundant supplies of eye make-up? And hasn't anybody noticed there's a heart-plucking serial killer on the loose? "I need hearts to feed this body." What, chips and sausages not good enough for aliens? "Well, I did a survey of how the humans live, and it seemed to me that their natural diet was each other's fresh, beating hearts."
All this and the ongoing horror of Gwen and Owen. Perhaps it's the lingering effect of his pheromone spray from episode 1?
And yet, having thought about it more carefully, I still think this might be the second best episode of the series, because whatever plot holes it has, the other episodes have 'em too, but with less glossy style to hide behind. Cyber-Woman and Countrycide are just a bit too straight-up slam-bang action to really make it past middling on my chart.
Now, next week's episode looks eeeenteresting...