At least now I know what Naoko Mori was talking about when she said we'd need another chat after I'd seen how Torchwood's sophomore season ends. The last two episodes, "Fragments" (2x12) and "Exit Wounds" (2x13), essentially constitute a two-parter that sinks itself inside each member of the Torchwood team, underlining their bonds to each other and their commitment to the job – only to have their world literally collapse around them.

Last season ended with the team turning on Jack only to have Jack sacrifice himself for the survival of everyone else, giving up almost more of his inexhaustible life force than he could bear; but now everyone on the team is faced with suffering and loss that only begins with the vendetta announced by returning jackanapes Captain John Hart (played with great attention to nuance by the invaluable James Marsters). Behind Hart is a truly implacable enemy, and the crisis of this confrontation opens up heartbreak for Jack on unexpected levels.

John Barrowman's excellent fit in playing Jack has always been rooted in the naturalness with which he exudes the con-man's slick huckster bravado; but he, like Jack, has deeper depths to plumb, and it adds dimension to an increasingly well-drawn show to allow these progressive revelations not just of Jack's past but of hidden reserves of passion and anguish. The show's budget is minuscule (as is revealed by a barely sketched city-wide crisis); so it's just as well that Torchwood's creators know their strength is in their stories and their people.

Season 3 of Torchwood will have the benefit of a new start with more of the backstory out in the open. We even know where the pterodactyl came into the picture now. This gives the show room to grow and deepen in new directions, but here's a last chance to savor the original enigmatic Torchwood.