It perhaps stretches credibility to speculate, as some have, that "Day One" was shown back to back with "Everything Changes" to purposefully overshadow it. Whether it was or it wasn't, I suspect the episode will get somewhat forgotten when the rest of the season kicks in, and it's probably just as well.

There is something very definitely duff about an episode centred around an alien who loves sex. It isn't, as defenders of the show will insist, a prudity or aversion towards scenes where people flash thighs and grunt a lot. In fact, it's tempting to wonder if this episode made it through purely because it boasted a subject matter that Doctor Who wouldn't be able to touch. We can do it, therefore we will, kind of thing.

But an alien that feeds off orgasmic energy is, fundamentally, a silly idea. Practically, it just doesn't work - if you'll pardon me getting personal, such an energy source would be very hard to tap and you wouldn't get much from it anyway! After minutes (for some people seconds) of energy release, your sex-hungry alien would have to trudge off and spend a whole load of time courting another 'donor' while the first lay back and had a smoke and a nice cup of tea. It would be like an alien who fed off the energy of sneezes - it's just impractical.

Which is a shame, because overall this second episode was still almost as enjoyable as the first for largely the same reasons. It's difficult to isolate the two after the BBC gave us not so much as a loo break in between, but "Day One" dropped more intriguing possibilities for future storylines into the mix - the presence of the Doctor's disembodied hand (which seems to be rather precious to Jack) was interesting, although I'm not sure the series needs him displaying lots of angst towards the absent Time Lord because of the events of "Parting of the Ways" - it's a hang-up that "Torchwood" doesn't need to acquire. Also, while I've no objection to the water-cooling debating over Captain Jack's sexuality (Owen thinks he's gay, Sato thinks he's straight, and Ianto doesn't care) it seemed somewhat pointless, a bit like if the scene had revolved around a discussion of whether or not he liked lasagne. The presence of a bisexual companion in Doctor Who was surely there because it could be, and just so happened to be. By now making a mysterious issue of it, "Torchwood" seems to be implying it's conversely freakish and is therefore being slightly homophobic about it.

On the plus side, none of the 'quest for sex' stuff or anything that we learned about the team went back on the promise shown by "Everything Changes", even if the hastily scripted technobabble explanation for why Gwen threw herself into a lesbian clinch with Carys was just shameless. Again, there was a line where freedom and voyeurism collided. No-one is saying the line shouldn't be there, but "Day One" crossed it several times and in the process cheapened itself.

It wasn't a bad episode, it was just a very odd one. Perhaps it's for the best if it does get overshadowed and forgotten - whilst it was worthy, it perhaps stood testament to the fact that just because you CAN do something, it doesn't mean you should.

Barrowman Sit-On-My-Face-O-Meter:

John got nice and wet in this episode....

Torchwood Tally:

But the storyline was similarly a bit of a damp squib of an idea