i have read your post twice now, and all the comments this time (i also linked here from my journal, i hope you don't mind) and while i don't agree with your interpretation, i find i can't argue with it, either

all of the points you've made are sound and make absolute sense and i love the jack/heroism discussion

i think the main problem for me with 'children of earth' was how very different it was from s1 & s2 - not better, not worse, but not at all the same show i'd been watching and not what i had been expecting from torchwood

mostly, it just made me sad that i'd lost my show