YES! Finally, a really good Torchwood. A lot of us agree that it hasn’t quite found its voice yet, but sometimes it gets things right. The season premier was one example and this is definitely another. In fact, it’s probably my favorite single episode yet.

“Something Borrowed” follows Gwen’s last day as a single gal before she marries Rhys, and like all good television marriages, the actual day goes nothing like planned. The episode features a great blend of humor, action, scares, and drama. Read on for spoilery recap and my thoughts on the episode.

In short, Gwen arrives at her bachelorette party and when her friends notice a scratch, she brushes it off as a scratch. Earlier, she was bitten by an alien but killed it, spilling its literally black blood all over the place.

Gwen wakes up the next morning very, very pregnant. The Torchwood team determine that she was infected with an alien baby and Jack recommends she put off the wedding. Gwen won’t hear about it though. Rhys has put up with a lot of crazy stuff thanks to her job with Torchwood, and she doesn’t want to put off the wedding any longer. Rhys actually understands once Gwen explains, though he’s pretty angry with Jack.

Gwen tells her parents she’s pregnant and they are actually pretty happy and excited. Gwen realizes that Rhys’ parents will probably be excited too, but when they don’t actually give them a baby, they’ll be devestated, and even though everything has moved forward, Gwen is ready to call it quits.

However, Jack is determined to give her a good wedding. She has Tosh deliver a new larger wedding gown and keep tabs on Gwen, while Owen researches the baby. Ultimately, they learn that it’s from a Nosferatus alien. They’re shapeshifters who mate for life. That means that the mother is still out there waiting for her baby. Also, the babies tend to eat their way out.

Adding to an already hectic wedding, the Torchwood team hunts down a constantly changing alien, who disguises herself as various wedding guests. Ultimately, Owen is able to use the Singularity Scalpel from three episodes back, and nuke the baby in Gwen’s belly. The team has to battle the pretty terrifying alien, but goes above and beyond to give Gwen a happy wedding. They of course ret-con the guests at the end of the reception.

So what was so great about this? First of all, it was funny. Jack screaming at Rhys’ mother to “Back off, you ugly bitch” with Rhys right there was pretty awesome. Ianto has one of his awesome one-liners when Jack asks why he’s not questioning Owen like usual and he replies, “I was brought up never to speak ill of the dead.”

Speaking of dead, Owen’s still dead, but he does agree to dance with Tosh at the wedding, pretty much just to make her happy. It was cute. I also believed that Gwen and Rhys really loved each other with the various sacrifices they made and the way they defended one another to their parents. Finally, there’s a good moment where Ianto has to take Jack away from Gwen on the dance floor. Poor Ianto.

Jack’s single-minded pursuit of giving Gwen a good wedding was clue enough, but he also looks at a locket, if I’m remembering correctly. I’m guessing Jack was married at some point in his mysterious past.

The special effects on the monster were the best yet. I guess they were CG but they were creepy as anything. Sharp teeth and beady eyes on a normal face and body. Yuck.

Well, this ep moved at a fast clip and kept the surprises and gags coming fast, so I’m going to give it 4 Cardiff Flags out of 5.

photo credit: WardWardWardWard