The one hundred twenty-fifth TV show: #738 Torchwood
After the modern Doctor Who, Torchwood is a good companion piece to complete the set. Again, I've seen the show before, multiple times, and have felt the urge to keep up with it even as the later special seasons turned into something different.
The first two, billed as a dark, mature Doctor Who succeed well at creating some interesting plots, not forced into the optimistic tone that Doctor Who has but still having an ultimate streak of good at its heart. The dark and edgy side probably goes wrong most often, with some misjudged episodes, but the show's bigger freedom in subject matter works well to have more serious stakes as well - there's no magic wand to fix things, people die and there are - often - consequences.
Sadly, this results in them killing off characters as well - necessary to maintain stakes but getting rid of the strength of the ensemble, which doesn't really have any weak spots. The second season's death of Owen and Tosh is bad enough - something the actors didn't want, but was done to heighten the suspense - but with Ianto having the same thing in the third season means that by that point, the core of the entire show seems lost. The mini series has a good plot, with a great role from Peter Capaldi before he got deeper in the franchise, but it doesn't seem to be the same while the others aren't there. It's certainly flawed, but I still enjoy watching the show.