Two weekend shows Torchwood and Brothers and Sisters tackled that old TV taboo of gay kissing with two distinctly different yet satisfying styles. A few years from now (we hope) the sight of two men kissing in a TV show may not even be newsworthy and we all may wonder what all the fuss was about.

 Last week's episode of Torchwood was exciting and ingenious but it simply lacked the sexual fire of the first episode of the season. Not that you'll see that male-male sexual fire lit right away in "To The Last Man".  The theme of this week's episode was time. It was a remarkably complex story involving time and reality, cryogenics, and a doomed love story between a man from another era and Torchwood's Tosh There's lots of mumbo jumbo exposition here and a little background to the Torchwood Institute before the ultimate resolution. It's all about love and sacrifice blah blah blah.
 
 The big scene was actually a shocker--because it came out of nowhere. Jack is in his office going over some of that complex stuff he goes over every episode and Ianto comes in and subtly flirts. All of a sudden the two are all over each other sucking face. We know it wasn't acting for John Barrowman but we do wonder whether Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto) was expecting such passion.

 There wasn't that kind of passion on Brothers and Sisters, but the kissing between Kevin and Scotty was touching, sweet and free of that discomfort factor that used to accompany affection between two men on network TV. We'll never forget how gay men used to greet each other or express affection with a bug hug. Bleh! As to what happens next, we hope that now that the writers' strike is over that we'll get a couple more episodes of this series.