"Let's all have sex."

That was Owen's response to the imminent destruction of London, on last night's Torchwood episode, "Sleeper." Can't say that I blame him, though I wonder if that's a bit of residual influence from last week's Captain John visit.

Overall, the episode was entertaining, and continued last week's trend of taking an "action" premise, and psychologically disturbing story (the poor sleeper agent! Didn't know what was happening to her, or how she would eventually wind up treating her boyfriend) and suffusing it with a fair amount of wit and playfulness. It's only two episodes thus far in S2, but the producers seem to be hewing more closely to the Whedon model this year, challenging the writers and actors to skillfully balance sci-fi adventure, character development, pathos and devilish humor all in one hour. It all makes for an entertaining romp, and I'm in definitely warming to the rest of the team (besides Jack and Gwen, who I already liked) who are showing more shades and more off the cuff funny.

I also like that Torchwood's more adult bent and the English sensibilities treat sexual orientation and interracial relationships like a mundane point of fact, rather than the "dun-dun-DUN" hammer frequently present on US TV.