Watch Torchwood, I cannot stress this enough

It's 11:53 p.m. my time and I just finished watching the Torchwood episode "Countrycide" (BBC America is currently showing all Season 1). At this risk of hyperbole, that was one of the most exciting hours of television I've ever seen: sexy, bloody, violent and wicked scary. I jumped at least twice in my seat and had to cover my eyes three times. For television.

The Torchwood gang is a group of Men In Black-ish government agents whose normal course of work is to track down aliens over there in Wales. This episode takes them out of their comfort zone, away from the city of Cardiff and into the beautiful green fields and rock cliffs of the country ... to investigate people being abducted, butchered and eaten. By what would be too big a spoiler. It rattles the team and it rattled me. Again, I couldn't believe this was television, even British TV (which seems to have fewer constrictions on language and subject matter).

I was losing my crush on this show a couple of episodes back - the badly-acted one with the robot girl - but the last two episodes, and especially this one, have restored my faith. The production values are a little lower than what U.S. television viewers may be used to, but if they keep the shocks and tension up like this, no one will mind. Moonlight (wasted opportunity that it is) should have taken notes. Watch this show.