I was bored with Sunday's episode, which was surprising because it was a good concept. I also found it difficult to believe that these people would receive no help to get started, just given fake identities and left to get a job. I'd expect them to be locked up for a bit, too. Then again, maybe The 4400 has just coloured my expectations.

Owen's fling? Not interested. Too quick for me to give a damn. I like Owen, but I just didn't believe that he would fall for her - maybe because I didn't care about her. I can't even remember her name. The only one whose name I remember is John. That's not a good thing, they should have made me remember. The characters should have been interesting enough for me to remember their names.

I didn't care about the Owen plot and wished they'd spent more time on the other two which were much more interesting - the young girl who was so excited about the new possibilities open to her and the sad, friendless man. And you'd never have had his ending in Strar Trek...

Are Ianto and Toshiko ever going to get more than three lines an episode (except in their Special Episodes). Why do the producers think that Gwen and Owen are so much hotter than them anyway?

God knows. Owen may be interesting, and I do like the little sleazeball, but hotter than Ianto he is not. I think I'd rather keep Gwen than bother with Toshiko, who I do not like, but it's a close call.

What's wrong with Toshiko? I really liked her in the only episode where she had anything to do and she hasn't done anything that would make me dislike her.

I just wish the writers didn't think Gwen was more interesting that Captain Jack. I suppose it's part of the whole 'it's not meant to be like Who' thing but frankly it's a bit ridiculous. I just hope they don't think the kid sidekicks are more interesting than Sarah Jane.

She's just...there. So dull. I feel as though she's taking up a space that should have belonged to a character I could like, that instead of her we should have a computer geek who would be sort of cute. Preferably male, but if female someone a bit like Diane in Jake 2.0. Instead we get her. I just find her bland and boring and completely uninteresting. She wasn't even interesting when shagging an alien psycho.

Also, they keep calling her Tosh and that just sounds awful. Everyone else has such nice names. Owen. Ianto. Gwen. Even Jack gets to be Captain Jack. If they'd actually call her Toshiko that would be one thing, but Tosh? Daft name.

But she can't be interesting if she's only allowed 3 lines per episode. Part of the problem is the Doctor Who thing - the writers still expect to be dealing with 2 characters and a bunch of extras. I'm sure if they'd hired writers with a US background, they'd have been able to cope better with a larger cast. Though that would have brought its own problems.

Ianto hardly gets any lines either, though, and I still feel as though he's someone I'd like to get to know better. Toshiko got a whole episode practically to herself and by the end of it, I still didn't care. I'm hoping we see more of Ianto, though. I like his gorgeous Welsh accent and the stupid names he gives things. And his suits.

I think Ianto and Tosh have the potential to be really interesting characters, and yet get totally sidelined. Tosh comes across as just character filler because she's given hardly anything to do, and Ianto is a very frustrating character, because the little glimpses of his personality that we're given shows he's fascinating, but those glimpses never get developed.

Similarly we get told a great deal about how wonderful and amazing Gwen is, but never given anything to back that up with. Mostly she seems to mess up, rather than do anything particularly brilliant. I do like her, but I find my like very strained in the face of all the 'you must love Gwen!' stuff.

Even Jack's character and personality I feel is coasting a lot on the development that he got in Doctor Who. Owen is the only really successful character, he's a bastard and yet I love him. And even then I thought his character was undermined last ep by having him fall in love in the space of a week, completely out of character for the love rat persona he's been given. If he's going to fall in love that fast there should be some other reason than 'this woman is just great!'.

The character relationships frustrate me as well. Gwen and Owen's relationship is totally messed up (and totally hot) and should be excellent story fodder, but seems to have been forgotten. It should definitely have been mentioned again in an episode where Owen falls in love. The tiny glimpse of Jack and Ianto's relationship that we got has similarly been shunted aside, whether it's the animosity between them after Lisa's death or the flirting (over their friend's corpse, so very messed up) between them a couple of episodes ago. Susie's death(s) and her impact on everybody has also been pushed aside, making it very hard for me to buy that she was a vital part of the team for ages.

Sorry for the long rant, but I see so much potential in this show but really feel that someone has dropped the ball on character development.

I just got caught up through the Toshiko-shags-the-alien episode. It was almost enough to make me want to like her character, but then again it also did its damnedest to make me dislike half the rest of the crew. I know we're going for that whole gritty, sexy, darker vibe in the spinoff, but sheesh. Jack's the only one who's consistently enjoyable to watch whether he's being a nice guy, a prick, or just plain chewing scenery, while the others are incredibly uneven in their character appeal.

The others I can forgive because they're essentially "and the rest," but Gwen and Owen both bother me. Until the last ep I saw, I had no idea that Owen was even capable of contributing something to the team besides wiseassed remarks and general asshattery. As for Gwen, our erstwhile leading lady... ugh. I want to like her. The first episode did a good job of setting her up as this humanistic, determined, intelligent lady. Since then, the writers have done their best to squander that left, right and center. (Gwen+Owen annoys me no end. Sure, I know that what's-his-name is bound to get written out of the picture at some point, but this isn't the way to do it, ya know?)

Maybe it's just first-season shakiness. Maybe they'll get their sea legs during the next go-around. I hope so, because there's certainly a lot of potential here.

John Barrowman officially off the market. Because I obviously stood a chance beforehand.

But it's not like it's a real wedding. You just stay in there...

Whee! I think we are all in agreement that both of tonight's episodes ended on 'Moments that make you go 'Hell, Yeah!' '

Now why couldn't every episode have been like that? And am I right in saying Captain Jack wore the same shirt for three months?

Oh my God that was fucking AWESOME!

More later. Brain bouncing.

I was literally bouncing on my seat!

Is it spring yet?

I have to admit I'm not 100% convinced that everyone would have just stood around and watched the ending of the first episode, given that it was 1942 but perhaps they were all distracted by the glowy, rifty thing at the end of the room and only a very carping person would complain because...Squeee!

So many things to go 'Whoo! Whoo!' about. This is going to be the best tv year ever!