Tosh gains the ability to read the minds of those closest to her but as she becomes party to their darkest secrets, she realises not only is this is a powerful curse, but one impossible to break.
Length 49’13”
First Transmitted
10pm, 26th November 2006, BBC Three and BBC HD
9 pm, 29nd November 2006, BBC Two
Guest Cast
Daniela Denby-Ashe (Mary); Tom Robertson (Soldier); Ravin J Ganatra (Neil); Eiry Thomas (Carol); Shaheen Jafargholi (Danny); Weevil (Paul Kasey).
Writer Toby Whithouse
Director Colin Teague
Setting
Cardiff. Over two days, 196 years, 11-11.5 months after the death seen in 1812. This would set the episode in 2008/9, but see Unanswered Questions. Enough time after July for Tosh’s birthday cards being up to be an anomaly.
Did You Spot?
Jack refers to Owen as “Quincy”, a reference to the TV show Quincy, ME that ran from 1976-83, starring Jack Klugman as a coroner who investigated suspicious deaths. Toshiko’s grandfather worked at Bletchley Park, the famous British code centre that cracked German ciphers in World War II, her parents in the RAF, and Toshiko herself has been with Torchwood for three years (which would presumably cover her appearance in Aliens of London (2005). Jack references UNIT, the organisation first seen in The Invasion(1968), and has an argument with the Prime Minister (Harriet Jones’ successor?). Tosh references Alien (1979). The Cybermen also get another mention. Mary quotes a stanza from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘Kubla Khan’. More references to Jack’s death (The Parting of the Ways, 2005) as he reacts uncomfortably to Tosh’s assertion that he feels dead.
Twisted Reality
Philoctetes was a close friend of Hercules and an archer. He had joined the Greek expedition against Troy, but had accidentally wounded his foot with one of his poisoned arrows, and the smell from his wound was so offensive that his companions left him to the isle of Lemnos. Philoctetes was later to rejoin the Greek army after his wounds were healed, and Paris, prince of Troy, was mortally wounded by one of the arrows he carried. This episode also features more than its fair share of pop culture references: The barman wonders if making a joke about “Hammer Time” (a reference to a line from the 1990 single ‘U Can’t Touch This’ by MC Hammer) would have impressed a girl – if it did, we’d be looking at a candidate for Extremely Twisted Reality. A man in Queen Street is quoting the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964) to himself. Gwen does an amazingly accurate impression of the “survey says no” sound effect from Family Fortunes (1980-2002 and 2006). Owen can be seen wearing a Sudaca shirt – a line of clothing that honours Argentinean guerillas from years past.
Love is in the Air
At least one of the characters in the flashback at the start clearly has love on the brain (perhaps the soldier too, depending on his plans when he entered the woods). Gwen and Owen flirt, playfully chiding each other about their respective weights (and sharing a joke about a “mouthful” of something), gaining more jealousy from Tosh (who makes it clear she has a crush on Owen) – it seems they’ve now had two sexual encounters. Gwen once turned down sex because a cat was present. Mary and Tosh had a kiss and then ended up in different (or nonexistent) clothing – whatever happened in between, Tosh blames it on the pendant, but their relationship clearly grows into love by the end. Jack is impressed by the size of Detective Henderson’s hands (and, of course, the size of a man’s hands is directly proportional to the size of his…) And let’s not even get started on the thoughts of the people in the bar!
If it’s Alien, it’s Ours
The artefact the team investigate at the start, revealed to be a transporter, contains ilmonite, peroxine and dark matter (a theoretical type of matter that does not emit enough electromagnetic radiation to be directly detectable by current technology – so Jack’s scanner must be based on alien tech also). Tosh remembers finding an alien letter amongst all the weaponry she’s seen over the years. Mary and her mind-reading pendant are alien.
Captain Jack’s Large Weapon
Jack doesn’t get to do much this week, but Toshiko proves the damage that can be done with a golf club and Mary brandishes a similar knife to that seen in Everything Changes.
Torchwood Shop: Now Open for Business
Information on Torchwood is available deep on the internet… we assume she’s been looking at torchwood.org.uk then.
Cymru am Byth
At the start, more of the unilingual police cars and ambulances, but at least one man has a bilingual reflective jacket. A vital scene takes place in Cardiff’s main shopping area, Queen Street (previously seen at the very end of The End of the World, 2005).
To Live and Die in Cardiff
The man in 1812, Mary (or at least her mind, when the alien inhabits her, and her body at the episode’s end), and nearly a local family who Tosh saves. Owen finds around a dozen victims when he runs computer searches.
Sounds Brilliant
A different pub to the one featured in Everything Changes is also playing Snow Patrol’s ‘Spitting Games’. Playing in the Café is KT Tunstall’s ‘Suddenly I See’, the fourth single from her second album Eye to the Telescope (2005) – appropriately, there have been (denied) rumours of her lesbianism in recent years.
Quotables
“Do whores have prayers?” – Soldier
“Once, just once, I’d like to walk into one of these tents and find it’s a party. You know, with food, and drink, people dancing, a girl crying in the corner.” – Jack
“What happened to the computer?” – Tosh
“Oh, I kicked out the plug.” – Owen
“What! It was running a translation program I’d written. I’d collated every scrap of alien language we’ve got and broken it down into binary threads to see if there was a common derivation.” – Tosh
“That’s a bit of a mouthful.” – Owen
“We found this thing, it was about A4 size, and it had all these symbols on it. And, it took me about three months to translate. It was a letter someone had written to his family. To his children. To say how much he was missing them. It just made me cry because I thought even across these unimaginable distances there are fundamentals that stay exactly the same” – Tosh
“Let me take you to Torchwood. Maybe we can help you. Fix the transporter; get you back home.” – Tosh
“You won’t. You’ll examine me. Access whether or not I’m useful, or whether I’m a danger, and then lock me in a cell. You’re not interested in understanding alien cultures. It’s just as well you haven’t got the technology to reach other planets yet. Yours is a culture of invasion. Do you really think I’m going to walk, hands raised in surrender, into that?” – Mary
“You smell… different to them” – Mary
“That’s nothing. It’s when you compare teeth with British guy – that’s when it’s really scary.” – Jack
“What are you?” – Mary
“I don’t know.” – Jack
“I don’t know where this leaves us.” – Tosh
“Me neither. We can’t really take the moral high ground over this. This thing between me and Owen…” – Gwen
“No, Gwen, what I did was an invasion. I wasn’t in control. I realise that now. Even so, I can’t… I have to live with this. Not what I heard, but what I did to you.” – Tosh
“And, my betrayal?” – Gwen
“What do you mean?” – Tosh
“I’m living with mine. This should be my wake-up call. I should stop. But, I won’t; what does that say about me?” – Gwen
“I’m not really in a position to make judgments.” – Tosh
“That’s what I’m saying, Tosh, neither am I” – Gwen
“Don’t let this put you off. The last couple of days you’ve had a look about you. Love suited you.” – Gwen
Weren’t You In?
Daniela Denby-Ashe appeared in the final episode of the third series of Absolutely Fabulous as Saffy’s daughter in a scene of the future (1995), appeared semi-regularly in EastEnders in 1996-9 as Sarah Hills, and co-starred in the TV series Office Gossip (2001).
Unanswered Questions
Just how is Tosh able to get such an excellent idea of the date of burial at the beginning based purely on the depth? Amazing alien technology aside, how does she know how deep they were buried when they died? Especially since 196 years suggests a setting of 2008-9, when we know that Army of Ghosts (2006) was set in 2007, so Ianto must have been keeping Lisa in the basement for the last year or two! This inconsistency also means Toshiko (born in 1975) could be anywhere between 32 and 34 years old – For the record, Naoko Mori shares a 1975 birth year, and as such was 31 when filming. On a related note, Aliens of London (2005) is set in 2006, and the Toshiko in that seems to have no experience of aliens, suggesting she joined Torchwood shortly after – Mary says she’s been with Torchwood for three years, forcing this to be at least 2009. How do they move such an old skeleton without it falling apart? What is Jack doing for UNIT? Who ate eyeballs, drank blood and had sex with animals in the 19th century? What is Jack trying to do with the transporter while he’s talking to Tosh? Why Mary’s change of heart of the offer of a visit to Torchwood? She could have got the transporter more quickly if she’d taken up Tosh’s initial offer. How did Mary’s body survive for so long (or, for that matter, being shot in 1812)? It’s never made clear if this is part of the alien inhabiting it. Also, where did her physical form get the superhuman ability to puncture people’s chests with her bare hands? And why was the creature sucked into her body in the first place? Why did the alien species create the pendant? Mary demonstrates her telepathic ability without using it, so what’s it for? How is Jack able to reprogram some unknown alien technology so quickly? Why does Jack smell different (is this literal)? Why does Mary want to go home when the same government might still be in place?
Fuck Ups
“How many of there are you?”. There are many basic differences between male and female skulls that Owen (a so-called genius) should have picked up on. When Owen is bouncing the ball while leaving the room, it doesn’t make a sound. When Neil is about to shoot his wife and son, Danny can be heard making whimpering noises, but the actor is not doing so visually. Why does Tosh seem so surprised when Mary closes the door to her apartment? She’s the one that left it open for her to come in! When the alien reveals herself to Tosh, the shadows indicate that the light is coming from the floor, and Tosh’s eyeline is wrong (unless she’s talking to her chest – well, if you discover your girlfriend’s an alien, we suppose their breasts might be of interest to you). During his final lines of the episode, Barrowman’s expression changes considerably with each shot-change: clearly they filmed it with two different approaches and have cut two takes together. The pendant, after being thrown around several times, becomes extremely brittle at the end.
Torchwood: Declassifed Episode 7 (Length: 10”22)
Broadcast BBC Three, Monday 27th November, 1:40am.
A look at episode seven introduced by Richard Stokes, Eve Myles and Naoko Mori.
Russell T Davies and Mori talk about Tosh’s character so far, and specifically the former’s love of very private individuals.
Burn Gorman covers his character’s quiet respect for Tosh and Myles Tosh’s control freak aspect to her personality.
Gorman on his childhood desire for telepathy, Mori on the moral dilemma, Davies on the impossibility of saying no, Myles on getting into trouble with it. Mori also talks about the pain her character goes through and John Barrowman about not using such a pendant.
Davies, Colin Teague and Barrowman talk about Tosh’s vulnerability to Mary. The actress herself, Daniela Denby-Ashe, speaks of her fun playing the character, and Teague and Mori about what attracted Tosh to her.
Davies, Barrowman, Myles and Gorman on Torchwood’s obsession with same-gender sex (which confirms our uncertainty regarding Everything Changes – it seems Owen was indeed keen for a romp with a gentleman and her girlfriend at once).
Davies, Adam Burnett and Teague on the creation of the CG Mary.
Finally, Barrowman and Davies consider what’s next for Toshiko and Davies, Stokes and Gorman preview the next episode.
Site Review by Rob Tizzard
This episode starts with a vibrant and urgent flashback and Daniella Denby-Ashe instantly makes an impression as the mysterious Mary, as her knowing smile at the arrival of the gang teases us before the title begins. And it seems they have saved the best till last as Toshiko finally takes centre stage. And of all the character based episodes, none have been this focused, with the rest of the regulars feeling like just guest artists.
Naoko thrives in this episode and seems to really let go with the insecure Toshiko. On the surface appearing quite confident and cold, but just beneath she is very lonely and like all the others just longs to talk. And talk she does, Mary has picked her target well, but then she can read minds, and she gives Toshiko the ability too. The thoughts of the bar crowd and Toshiko’s reaction to them, all seem very real, but when the same thing happens in the hub, it doesn’t quite gel. What we’re really shown is the others through Tosh’s eyes, and Gwen doesn’t come across well, where did she start to go wrong I wonder. It all just seems to confirm how Toshiko feels about herself all along, and the strength of her heart is clear when she hears Ianto’s thoughts, which are spot on.
So much is uncovered in this episode I really think it might turn the sceptics around. By the climax it feels like Mary has breezed into the hub like a tornado and ripped up everything in her way. For once the over extended coda was welcome and Naoko plays it far better that Eve. I thought for a moment Jack might not even feature, but he does and is important to the story, there was a real thrill when he comes to Tosh’s rescue.
So far the series has got better each week, and I still hold out judgement on all the regulars considering how much they change as we learn more about them. My hopes are high for the rest of the run, and I’m now particularly looking forward to seeing where it goes next.
Reader Reviews
Toby Whithouse, writer of one of the standout episodes of Doctor Who Series 2, School Reunion, pulls at the heart strings once more in the Torchwood tale, Greeks Bearing Gifts. The episode, despite its macguffin of the pendant which allows the wearer to tune in on people’s thoughts, is essentially a character piece which effectively explores the themes of loneliness and the invasion of personal privacy.
While on the surface, Greeks Bearing Gifts presents a belated exploration of the character of Toshiko Sato, the richness of the idea of Toshiko being able to eavesdrop on the innermost thoughts of others allows us to see more deeply into the characters of Gwen and Owen than perhaps it even allows us to see into Toshiko’s own. The fact that she can only hear Jack’s thoughts when he wants her to adds another layer to his mystique. After posing the question, “What would it be like to hear the thoughts of others?”, Whithouse then takes it to another level and explores how the experience causes Toshiko to come to terms with discovering uncomfortable truths about herself, her friends and colleagues and the world at large.
As Torchwood settles into its stride, we are being treated to more character development than we’ve had in forty-odd years of Doctor Who, and frankly it’s a bit of a revelation. There’s also the added bonus that in Torchwood, the character stuff feels real, whereas the Tyler soap opera in Doctor Who always felt rather unconvincing, however entertaining it may have been.
Naoko Mori rises to the challenge of practically carrying this episode, and communicates the angst and hurt of Toshiko’s feelings of isolation within the Torchwood team exceptionally well. A special mention also for Daniela Denby-Ashe, who turns in a memorable, vampish performance as ‘Mary’.
I must mention one thing that struck me as an odd decision while watching the scenes of Toshiko listening in on the thoughts of the general public in the city square… Why is it that in the multi-cultural, multi-lingual Welsh capital city, everyone seems to think in English? I would have thought this would have been an ideal opportunity to show the rich linguistic mix among people in the area.
All told, ‘Greeks Bearing Gifts’ is a thought-provoking, multi-layered piece which at once entertains, disturbs and involves. At the end of it, we know much more about all the main protagonists in the series, except maybe Ianto, who still seems a bit one-note after the events of Cyberwoman. Midway through Torchwood’s first year, the series is really beginning to find its feet after a slightly uneven start, displaying strong plotting, assured production and direction, based on scripts which are challenging not only the actors and crew, but also the viewer.
Alan Hayes
