Six reasons I'm remaining hopeful for Torchwood

I'd mentioned before my disappointment in BBC America's sci fi show Torchwood. I was quickly drawn into Russel T Davies' version of Doctor Who and I had high hopes for this spin-off series which promised to explore more mature themes and stories. More importantly, Torchwood was going to focus on Captain Jack Harkness, easily my favorite part of the first season of Doctor Who... and not just because he was played by my longtime crush John Barrowman.

Unfortunately, after all that waiting Torchwood turned out to be a show that got harder and harder for me to enjoy. Eventually, it became a series that left my partner (who jumped on the Doctor Who love train at the same time as I did) swearing at the TV with frustration in a way I haven't heard since Enterprise was on the air.

Still, I'm planning to watch the second season premiere Torchwood this Saturday. That's partly because Captain Jack is such a great character on Doctor Who who I can't quit easily. However I've also been paying attention to the chatter about Torchwood's second season and there's reason to hope the show will be more satisfying this time around:

Early reviews have been solid

Seeking reviews of the second season premiere, I found a few that give me hope — ones that express disappointment in Torchwood's first season and then praise the second season premiere. For example, SFX Magazine says that the premiere "gives every indication that the production team have identified all of the failings that turned many SF fans against the show, and have fixed them." The Stage said that "there’s a lot more of the humour and subtlety around". Meanwhile, Total SciFi promises "A huge improvement over the previous season, this is arguably the best episode of Torchwood to date."

I'll keep my fingers crossed that they're right.

The show has found its sense of humor

Russel T Davies set the tone for his Doctor Who run perfectly in with one of the first lines we hear from The Doctor, "Nice to meet you Rose. Run for your life!" Christoper Eccleston delivered the line with a mix of flippancy and urgency, foreshadowing a mix of silliness and danger, a balancing act that Torchwood was missing.

However, Davies has promised that Torchwood has found its sense of humor and checking out preview of the second season premiere, there certainly is a bit of silliness to be found. We see Gwen ask an ordinary Cardiff citizen, "Excuse me, have you seen a blowfish driving a sports car?" (And she has.) Another preview clip shows the meeting between Torchwood and Captain John (guest star James Marsters) that deftly mixes snappy banter with melodrama. If Torchwood has more of those kind of moments to offer, it's halfway there to being the show I hoped for.

Captain Jack has also found his sense of humor

For me, the definitive Captain Jack moment comes in a Doctor Who episode where The Doctor, Jack and Rose find humanity oppressed by a television broadcasting satellite where all the programming is deadly. Jack finds himself on a show very much like What Not to Wear (hosted by robotic versions of Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine). "Trine-e" and "Zu-Zana" hit him with their "defabricator", instantly rendering him nude on live television. Jack's response is to grin and boast, "Ladies, your viewing figures have just gone up."

Later, when it becomes clear that this makeover show has a deadly turn, a naked Jack pulls out a laser gun and dispatches the robots. That's the character I hoped to see in Torchwood — unflappable, cocky and someone who responds to danger with a wisecrack and a smirk, instead of the brooding manager who constantly had to clean up his teammates mistakes. A queer maverick character who could be such an action hero was incredibly refreshing sight on Doctor Who and I came to Torchwood seeking more.

From the sounds of this interview with John Barrowman, Captain Jack will return to his irreverent roots, “Jack is different now. He’s come back having resolved all his issues with The Doctor, and he’s much more like the guy we initially met some time ago."

Martha, Martha, Martha

Captain Jack was my favorite part of the first Davies-led Doctor Who season and Martha Jones was my favorite part of the third. For three episodes, the two will work together on Torchwood. Smart, curious and independent, Martha was quick to figure out whatever time period they visited and capable of taking care of herself... those are all traits the Torchwood crew could use. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that her character continues to be as capable as she was on Doctor Who. Not only will her skills be useful, Martha's confidence and ability could make some interesting conflicts when the Torchwood crew make their usual mistakes.

A functional Torchwood team

Easily my biggest frustration with Torchwood is that they all seemed so dysfunctional and incompetent. Gwen tosses a screwdriver at an investigation scene, freeing an alien that'll go on to kill people. Owen leaves the team stranded after leaving the keys in their vehicle. Thankfully, showrunner Chris Chibnall addressed those complaints in an interview with Death Ray Magazine:

DR: I think a lot of us watching series one thought these characters are out of control, that they’re too untrustworthy or flaky to save a cat from a tree, let alone the world…

CC: I think in retrospect you see the mistakes the characters make piling up. There are probably some scenes missing, the scene off screen that we took for granted, where they kiss and make up. We never showed that. We never showed why these people weren’t sacked for some of the stuff they did, or showed strongly enough that these are the perils of working for the organisation. What we wanted was human and fallible heroes; that was crucial to the show. And the only way you can work out how fallible or not you can make them is by trying it. On the other hand, they do some quite extraordinary things on occasion. I think the graphic equaliser balance was a little off on series one, I’d agree with that, but equally it’s not a show where there’s always going to be a happy ending. On series one we were discovering the tone as we went.

I'm fine with them being human and making mistakes, but I don't think we saw enough for what makes them special. It sounds like Chibnall realizes that, so hopefully the Torchwood team won't be so infuriating to watch this time around.

Even more gayness is promised

Last season, it took twelve episodes before Torchwood gave us a male/male kiss so romantic it became an internet sensation. This season, we get a steamy kiss in the first episode. If you've read Michael Jensen's review of the second season premiere , the episode also offers some good melodrama between Jack and Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd), a budding romance that sounds likely to play throughout the season. An interview with David-Lloyd also promises

Their relationship becomes far less ambiguous, especially when you start discovering how Ianto initially got recruited into Torchwood Cardiff. That's touched upon, and Ianto and Jack’s working relationship is touched on. They work together a lot more, you see them on their own a lot more, because Ianto's always the last one to leave the Hub, and Jack lives in the Hub, so you see a lot of their conversation at the end of the day, and you get much more of a sense of the way their working relationship blurs with their personal relationship.”

I had a lot of hopes for Torchwood before it debuted and, unfortunately, the first season disappointed in a lot of ways. Still, the buzz on the second season is promising and, hopefully, Torchwood will become the series I hoped for. Did any of our readers find themselves similarly frustrated with Torchwood, will you be checking out the second season?