It’s uncanny how, whenever there’s a show I really love that I keep trying to convince some friend they just have to watch, when they finally do it’s always just about the worst episode imaginable and I wind up lamely pleading, “It’s usually better. Honest.”

So I’m surprised that I hadn’t begged someone to watch Torchwood this week, because it sure felt like one of those episodes that make even devoted fans wonder why they’re bothering. And especially disappointing after the delights of last week’s “Something Borrowed.”

From the start of the episode, it looks like the Torchwood players have dipped into their trunk of old clothes for some old-timey make-believe fun. We see people in immaculately pressed, colorful, dirt-free coats and hats meant to convey they’re living in the past, walking toward a traveling carnival.

We hear a barker/ringmaster type hyping the wonders of the show, and see jugglers, a strong man, and two extremely unhappy clowns. An effort’s been made to make it feel creepy, primarily by having it lit like when you were a kid on a camp-out telling ghost stories and would hold up a flashlight to your chin. If they really wanted to make this scary, they should have hired the performers from Cirque du Soleil, which always totally freaks me out, as does anyone who seriously refers to the “art of clowning.”

A young girl accompanied by a slightly older young woman (her sister? her mother? her sister and her mother?) approach, and the ringmaster guy asks if they want to step inside. Now we get a close-up of him and can see that he looks just like Signor Pirelli, the doomed competing barber from Sweeney Todd. We never get this guy’s name, so I’m just going to continue calling him Pirelli, since it will allow me to keep thinking back on something I actually enjoyed watching.

Anyway, Pirelli tells the young girl that they’ve been waiting for her and offers her a ticket, and it couldn’t be more foreboding if they had a banner saying, “Abandon hope all ye who enter … plus no outside food.” So of course the girl can’t wait to grab the ticket and run in, which is not a criticism of her given it’s basic human nature, just like how people today persist in going on carnival rides everybody knows are held together with shoelaces and carny spunk.

The little girl is off and running, and, hearing a noise, her companion turns around for a split second. When she turns back, the entire carnival has disappeared and she’s standing in an empty field. Oo-ee-oo.

Present day. We see a young guy in front of heavy-duty editing equipment watching old-timey film footage of cars and buses on a busy street. As if that wasn’t thrilling enough, we also cut to Jack at the Hub making himself a cup of coffee, and I don’t know if I’m relieved or concerned that he actually doesn’t need Ianto around to satisfy his every command, itch, or urge.

Meanwhile, the movie kid is surprised to see a clip of Pirelli pop up in the middle of the street scene he’d been watching. This isn’t going to mean anything to you if you weren’t a Veronica Mars fan — I’m guessing many of you were, since I’ve noticed that we Torchwood fans seem to share similar tastes — but this kid totally reminded me of Jason Dohring a.k.a. Logan Echolls. And since he doesn’t have a name either, I’m just going to keep calling him Logan for reasons having to do with my own personal satisfaction/maintenance of sanity while recapping this episode (see Sweeney Todd discussion above).