I thought "brutal torture for the sake of it" was justified by the simple fact that it's Servalan doing it, and we know that canonically she is rather into that. Also it provides a way for Avon to Atone Via Suffering, which I always like, and the person I most want to edn up dead in agony ends up dead in agony in the sequel.

I don't think she's the best writer, certainly not as good as Marian and I'd agree the sequel's better. It so often is with Marian...