These last two episodes of Torchwood have been pretty brilliant about stealthily establishing elements that will be important later. Usually this business is fairly transparent. Here, it’s all so offhanded and apparently pragmatic that you don’t question; it doesn’t occur to you that these items or themes will come up again. The first scene in Cardiff, for instance, is Gwen at the ATM. Ah-ha, yes? That first child-event, each of the scenes they show serves several purposes, not least of which introducing characters. The only arbitrary kids given much screentime are those around Gwen’s ATM and the line not-arbitrarily blocking Rhys’s way.

So far, this is not only well-structured; it’s elegantly done. You’re so distracted by the characters and dialog that you don’t see the gears moving at all. However well-designed the machine, you still lose if it’s obviously mechanical.