The kid who ran away says “there was a man” and I never clocked this when I was watching this as a kid, but re-watching as an adult, it says everything without going into unnecessary graphic detail.

Yes, this was worth pointing out, so thanks for that.

In this episode he comes across as very unlikeable.

I think you really need an actor who’s an 11/10 on the charisma scale to make that work - like, RDJ as Tony Stark charisma - and Barrowman just doesn’t have that.