It worked last night.

The addition of adding James Marsters, who is one of the finest and most underrated actors out there, gave the series some much needed sizzle but John Barrowman’s enigmatic Captain Jack Harkness needed to lighten up. His tenure on Doctor Who was playful and dripped with blind loyalty and he melted the screen with a great deal of unabashed joviality as the morally ambiguous Jack. In the first season of Torchwood, he was depressed obviously needing “the right kind of doctor” to “fix” him which he found when he guest-starred last season on Doctor Who.  It appears the powers-that-be are going to let Barrowman’s character return back to what was beloved about him in the first place. Captain Jack should be allowed to have a bit of fun.

But, if you look back at shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, believable relationships of shows such as this must have the mythology come naturally and had to be built over time.  I believe that by Captain Jack making an active choice of returning to his rag-tag (and not always too bright) team of paranormal and alien investigators will give his character more depth. And there has to be reasons we care about these characters. The bitter anger that seeped from some of the characters (Dr. Owen is an example) made the show tedious at times. It’s much better when we are given more than just one dimensional characters.

There are several little things that made this season’s opener work. Following a blow-fish alien who has stolen a car started the evening off with exuberance. Good-cop Gwen telling Captain Jack that she was marrying Rhys because he was the only one “who would have her” was touching between the two characters and I think they are setting the two up to fall in love, a decision I think will only work as long as it’s unfulfilled quite frankly. (Captain Jack’s pansexuality is a key staple of the show and he’s also an alien if you get right down to it.) The scene between Lanto and Jack in the office building was playful yet had some deeper emotions hidden behind issues of Lanto’s feelings of abandonment.

It goes without saying that Torchwood is devised to shock. Marsters, of Buffy the Vampire fame who played Spike, was an inspired choice as Captain Jack’s nemesis and once again he has created a character that was born to be bad but it wasn’t a redux of Spike Lite. Marsters, an American, spoke once again with an English accent but it wasn’t the Cockney of the platinum-haired vampire. The smirk was still there but it was a different voice and look. I’m still completely flabbergasted that this guy doesn’t have his own show. But he takes chances and his make-out session/bare knuckled brawl with Captain Jack in the opening of the show was fun.When Marsters is on screen, no matter what that show may be, he makes the other actors around him better.

And Torchwood works better when it doesn’t take itself so seriously.  Freema Agyeman is scheduled to make a three-episode arc this season as well as Martha Jones before returning to travel with Doctor Who. And she has proven that she can have fun in the role.

Torchwood appears on Supernatural Saturdays on BBC America.

I’m in the first camp.

Torchwood IS camp in many ways and following the adventures of Captain Jack Harkness and his melodramatic band of misfits can be an undeniable guilty pleasure. The special effects are tight, the drama goes over the top and it’s got a freaky/naughty/sexy vibe that shoots on all cylinders. The first season just ended on BBC America and as its the network’s top show ever it appears we will be getting to see the alien wranglers sooner rather than later.

It was announced last month that the show will return with new episodes on January 26th. This is one of the first times I can recall that a show will run concurrently on the BBC in both countries.

The line-up is pretty snazzy and the show is getting a lot of buzz across the pond. James Marsters, who played Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alan Dale, who most recently appeared in “Ugly Betty” and Freema Agyeman, Doctor Who’s latest companion Martha Jones, will all be making guest appearances in the next season. (Marsters’ character is apparently named Captain John.) Torchwood is incorporating the winning formula Doctor Who uses by bringing in guest stars for one-shots, which in the Doctor Whoverse, has created a new element to the series by creating an online mythology that fans have come to expect.

So, for you Captain Jack fans out there, he’s coming back. You’ll get to see new adventures. aliens with odd sex drives or murderous impulses and Martha Jones from Doctor Who.

And, just to cheer us up, here is a video of John Barrowman singing “Springtime For Hitler” in a clip from The Producers.