Now, I really liked this episode, so don't take this as a criticism as such, but...

...Helen Raynor has so far written three episodes of Torchwood and all three of them have the following plot:

1) Person who was in Cardiff at some point in the twentieth century encounters Torchwood members due to Rift activity; and then
2) one Torchwood member falls in love with the person from (1); and shortly afterwards
3) they have to part under tragic circumstances and it is Very Sad.

It's a good story, don't get me wrong, but doesn't she have any other ones?

Hrmph. Anyway. I really liked getting a glimpse of the 1918 Torchwood people, with their primitive Rift-activity-detector and their teddibly clipped accents. (Spinoff idea: The Torchwood Chronicles, or maybe The Torchwood Archives: period drama with Torchwood teams from the past! Steampunk Torchwood! 1920s Torchwood! Aliens sipping cocktails with Noel Coward! It would be awesome and you know it.)

I think for once, the time travel story actually made sense -- except for the Meanwhile In The Future effect when Tommy was back in 1918 and hadn't activated the Rift key -- except, no, wait, that made sense too: the point was that 1918 and 2008 were co-existing, so that the effects of Tommy not activating the Rift key in 1918 were visible in 2008. Um. I am having trouble describing this in a grammatical manner. Damn time travel. But, yes, I think it actually did make sense and thinking about it does not break my brain.

I am not normally one to complain about gay kisses (oh, my, no!) but in this case I sort of felt the Jack/Ianto kiss went on too long. I was glad it was in there, it wasn't gratuitous or anything, it was just... it could have cut off a second or two earlier and I wouldn't have minded. Still, the context of the kiss was nicely handled. That little conversation between the two of them was a lot more explicit and straightforward than I would have expected. To have Jack ask, quite seriously, "Would you miss me?" and Ianto reply, again, quite seriously, and without hesitating, "Yes," -- it signals a gear change from last series, when everything was hints and allusions and innuendos. Same, too, with Owen's conversation with Tosh: "You've fallen for him... I just don't want you to get hurt, if you have to say goodbye." Of course, he knows exactly what that feels like: when Diane left, he was a wreck. Maybe he has a slight ulterior motive here -- in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" he seemed to be hinting at being interested in Tosh -- but he's not really trying to get between Tosh and Tommy; he's just being a friend.

The difference between series one and series two in a nutshell: now the team are honest with each other. They say what they mean and mean what they say. Jack spilled all their secrets in "End of Days" and now there's no point in pretending they haven't seen each other's worst sides.

Another glimpse of Gwen and Ianto being mates. That was nice.

Slight sharpness there with the "hope we're worth it" and the implication that there's no appreciable difference between Torchwood and Field Marshal Haig. Given the description of the British Army during WWI as "lions led by donkeys", that's... hmm, well, they usually work things out in the end, and in this case the sacrifice was both necessary and sufficient, but is it always? Hard to argue that. Torchwood circa 1918 probably fit the "British establishment" image better than Torchwood circa 2008; nevertheless, that imperialistic strain is still alive in the organisation. We know best; don't question us; we have the right to do what we please because we're the authority and you can't do anything about it. Hmm. I don't know if they're going anywhere with all this or if it's going to be allowed to float there as an unpleasant subtext.