There's one thing that blemishes "Random Shoes" - just one. And it's called "Love & Monsters". Not that the two bits of TV drama are that similar, but the former broke barriers that the latter shuffled through in its wake. And that's a shame. "Random Shoes" is the innovative, groundbreaking story that someone else did first. It's like me inventing scissors - it would be impressive, if they didn't already exist.

There's the concept of the near regular-less episode for a start. That "Shoes" also features a loner male aged 30-ish, from whose point of view the story is told, begs comparisons to be drawn. Then there's the seventies pop-rock track used to provide a pleasantly melancholy identification point ("Mr Blue Sky" in "Love & Monsters", Bowie's "Starman" here). Finally, there's the least appealing aspect of the story, which also feels slightly cribbed from its across-series cousin - the stomach-turning "aren't human beings wonderful" factor. It even features the line of dialogue "Oh, isn't life amazing?" as if Russell T had poked his head round the door while the writer had nipped off for a wee and filled a bit in the script. In fact, does anyone know who Jaquetta May is? Sounds like a pseudonym to me.

But let's stop. Because if we try and forget that "Love & Monsters" doesn't exist (and many have given it a crack) then what we have here is something slightly weird but also very lovely. The plot, rather oddly, concerns an alien eye whose ultimate destination (spoilers ahead) causes its owner Eugene to stay living after he's been hit by a car. The episode is fraught by all kinds of logistical problems here - if you're the kind of person that worries about these things, then you'll be asking why Torchwood are spending so long investigating something the local constabulary should be handling (was it a quiet week for alien invasions?) and how Eugene can be simultaneously intangible to Gwen and yet also able to climb into her car. But then you'd be a "brain" kind of person, and not a "heart" sort of a guy or girl. "Random Shoes" is a story for the heart.

It's about being able to have a look about, after you've died. As Eugene says at the end, "looking back and seeing your life for what it really was". This point gets rather lost, as in truth Eugene's life wasn't really great after all - his friends were shallow and his Dad was a coward. But the scene where he watches his Mum crying for him (a good performance from Nicola Duffett, turning slowly into Lynda Baron until she'll surely relaunch "Come Outside" with a re-cast Pippin the Dog) is unbearably sad. The episode is compulsive due to the gentle unravelling of Eugene's last hours (which he very conveniently can't recall, another plot blip) which culminates in a scuffle in the "Happy Cook" (ha!) and the audience discovers his story with him. I'm still not completely sure about the meaning of the titular "random shoes" but maybe that's the point. It was just random. There's a metaphor struggling to get out.

And then there's the final scene. Where Eugene, for reasons not remotely feasible, becomes visible to all and rises up in the air like an angel. And you know what I think the point of this scene is? That it doesn't make sense. It doesn't have to. Someone has said "this is my story. I WANT him to say his last goodbyes, and then descend to heaven". And why not? If you are worried about how he can defy gravity then perhaps the magic of the episode is lost on you anyway. He just does it. And it's enough to make you cry because he's said goodbye to his friends and now he's gone.

"Random Shoes" is a strange, illogical, beautiful, occasionally cloying but ultimately rewatchable delight.

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

John's invisible in this episode. But it's a good thing for once!

Torchwood Tally:

An episode to die for!