Captain John and Gray are back… and this time not everyone will escape alive…
Length 48’19”
First Transmitted
In unedited form at 10:30pm on Friday 4th April, BBC Two.
In edited form at 7pm on Thursday 10th April 2008, BBC Two.
Guest Cast
Kai Owen (Rhys Williams); James Marsters (Captain John Hart); Tom Price (PC Andy); Lachlan Nieboer (Gray); Paul Kasey (Weevil); Golda Rosheuvel (Dr Angela Connolly); Syreeta Kumar (Nira Docherty); Cornelius Macarthy (Charles Gaskill); Amy Manson (Alice Guppy)
Writer Chris Chibnall
Director Ashley Way
Setting
Throughout the evening immediately following Fragments, ie late 2008. Sunset occurs around 18:15, which would place this mid-September. There are also sequences in 27AD and 1901, the latter of which confirms the present day as 2008.
Did You Spot?
The Hoix from Love and Monsters reappears – it had not been referred to by name until now, although Hoix had always been Russell T Davies’ unofficial name for it. The building that has doubled regularly for Henrik’s in Doctor Who, Howell’s, is seen to be on fire after John sets off the explosives. Jubilee Pizza logos (see Everything Changes) can be seen during the Weevil attack. Early Torchwood employee Alice Guppy, first seen in Fragments, returns. Aliens of London is referenced, as it transpires that two weeks after Owen joined, he was meant to investigate the space pig but was too hungover, and Tosh stepped in. The first issue of Torchwood Magazine listed birthdates for each of the characters which seemed to largely be guesses – although Owen’s birthdate of 14th February 1980 is confirmed on his file here. Tosh’s birthdate is somewhat more confused, listed as 13th May 1981 here, 18th September 1981 in Torchwood Magazine and 1975 in Greeks Bearing Gifts – the 1981 dates are, however, more consistent with Fragments.
Twisted Reality
The nonexistant St Helen’s Hospital and Turnmill Nuclear Power Station are seen.
Love is in the Air
John professes to love Jack. Andy once more shows his feelings for Gwen. Owen blames himself for never getting together with Tosh.
Captain Jack’s Large Weapon
John brandishes a couple of very nice automatic pistols while Gray prefers a very big knife.
Torchwood Shop: Now Open for Business
Owen’s belongings go into a Torchwood sandwich bag.
To Live and Die in Cardiff
Poor Jack – John pumps him full of bullets, Gray stabs him and then he spends 1900 years repeatedly choking on earth. The Weevils attack the four most senior Police offers at Cardiff HQ and later go on a rampage around Cardiff. An unspecified number of people would likely have died during the terrorist-style explosions in Cardiff. Tosh dies from two gunshot wounds to the stomach and Owen finally (re-)dies as he takes the brunt of a nuclear explosion.
Sounds Brilliant
Captain John listens to gay anthem I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper, by Hot Gossip.
Quotables
Rhys: “Did you just say TIME agency? Don’t tell me that’s based in Cardiff too.”
Andy: “Brilliant secret – I ask, you tell. Well done.”
Ianto: (after shooting the ‘ghosts’ in the city’s central server room) “There we are then.”
Tosh: “Sorted.”
Jack: “This is a little extreme, don’t you think?”
John: “What? Suddenly you’re anti-bondage?”
Rhys: “Bloody impressive.”
Andy: “She is that, yeah. Lucky sod.”
Rhys: “Where’ve they all gone?”
Andy: “Abergavenny?”
Tosh: “Owen, just stay calm.”
Owen: “Why should I do that? Where’s the fun in that? I’m gonna rage my way to oblivion! AAAARGH!”
Tosh: “Please don’t.”
Owen: “Why?! Give me one good bloody reason why I shouldn’t! One good reason why I shouldn’t keep screaming!”
Tosh: “Because you’re breaking my heart.”
Weren’t You In?
Lachlan Nieboer is a relative newcomer to TV, having previously only appeared in Heartland (2007). Golda Rosheuvel has been seen in episodes of The Bill (2005) and Casualty (2006) along with the movies Lava (2002), Coma Girl: The State of Grace (2005) and On the Other Hand (2006). Syreeta Kumar appeared in several TV shows and films over the last fifteen years, including The Buddha of Suburbia (1993), Kavanagh, QC (2001) and Murder in Mind (2002). Cornelius Macarthy took roles in MIT: Murder Investigation Team (2003), Millions (2004), A Touch of Frost (2005), In the Mood (2006), Doctors (2007) and Empathy (2007).
Unanswered Questions
How did John hide all his explosives around Cardiff, seemingly without a single one being found? How do Jack and John make it into Cardiff Castle? Would the twelve (or fifteen) explosions be enough to knock out all of the mobile and landline coverage in the city? How did Gray take control of John in the first place? How did he even know John would be the right person to get to Jack? Just why is Gray so annoyed with Jack? What happened clearly wasn’t his fault. Gray also follows his parents (in the flashbacks seen in Adam) in conspicuously not mentioning Jack’s real name – just what is it? Why does Owen leave prefilled synringes of painkillers kicking around? Did Gwen get some emergency medical training? How did she know what to inject into Tosh? Did Tosh get put into suspended animation like Suzie had been? When will Gray be returning? How many colleagues has Jack had to ‘bury’?
Fuck Ups
We hear twelve explosions (possibly even less than that, as a couple of them sound like they could be echoes) and yet Tosh refers to fifteen later. Really, how DOES Jack recognise Gray, besides the haunting melody? Gray’s voice sounds an awful lot like Barrowman’s – there are even places that the voice sounds deliberately dubbed. An interview with the actor in Torwchood Magazinequotes him as confirming he didn’t base the accent on Barrowman’s but we don’t quite believe that… John tears his skin off with surprising ease and lack of blood. How does Jack stay sane for nineteen centuries? Owen refers to himself as ‘King of the Weevils’ – this was based on the original plotline for series two (in which Ianto would die and Owen would become King of the Weevils) and in fact his power over the Weevils was instead established as being because he was dead, causing them to fear him. Closing someone’s computer account and logging them out are two entirely different things which seem to get confused at the end of the episode. The ‘REC’ icon on Tosh’s goodbye video really shouldn’t be burnt in like that.
Torchwood: Declassified Episode 2.13 (10’57”)
Broadcast BBC Two, Friday 4th April, 9.50pm, immediately after the premier.
James Marsters talks about returning to the character of Captain John, and John Barrowman reminds us of John’s motivation (Chris Chibnall and Richard Stokes also point out the challenges the character goes through – Stokes especially focuses on finding humanity in bad guys).
Ashley Way discusses the reunion between Jack and Gray, and Chibnall and Lachlan Nieboer the root of Gray’s hatred. Barrowman enthuses about Nieboer’s acting ability.
Stokes covers the reasons for killing off Owen and Chibnall and Way remind us of the responsibility of killing off characters. Barrowman tells us how shocked he was when he found out, and Eve Myles how upset she was. Burn Gorman explains his input and Stokes talks about Naoko Mori’s final work on the series. Mori herself then covers her feelings about the final scene.
Site Review by Arthur Penn
And as suddenly as it began… it was over. The first generation of Torchwood is finished. The very first episode, Everything Changes, now feels misnamed – for this is truly the hour of change.
The most obvious endings come with the deaths of Owen and Tosh – arguably the shows two most successful characters, their final moments were undeniably tear-jerking and extremely well handled by cast and crew, and have easily become the most memorable deaths in the Doctor Who universe to date (if you cried when Adric died, don’t even bother responding to this remark, you’re just wrong, OK?)
Gone too was the reason for Jack’s moroseness this season. I’ve been somewhat critical of the decision to suddenly shoehorn in this element of Jack’s past that has never been mentioned before, which appears on the outside to be a weak attempt at replicating Jack’s darkness from last year (in itself ‘cured’ by finding the Doctor in the Utopia three-parter). Unfortunately this climax did nothing to dissuade me from my opinion: the Gray storyline left me cold. Nieboer is clearly a competent actor (although uncertain if he6s meant to be carrying out an impersonation of Barrowman) and Barrowman himself had yet another chance to shine as the flawed hero, but the storyline still felt clichéd and somewhat embarrassing. I have no reason to care about Gray and found his motivation to be somewhat questionable.
Fortunately the focus of this episode remained on Captain John predominantly, who became far more believable than he had been previously – perhaps because we finally understand that rather than just being insane, he actually does have feelings for Jack he’s just unable to express because of Gray’s control… The question is, was he under Gray’s power before, when I was so critical of John’s character?
This week also had much more of an epic feel to it, moreso than End of Days previously, which goes to show where Torchwood is strongest. The last finale featured a global threat, and this one ‘just’ Cardiff – much as the parent show feels bigger when we see a threat to Earth than one to the entire Universe, so Torchwood is better when it is Cardiff at stake. The running legends showing the time throughout is a great little device which aids this, and one that I hope is used (sparingly) again in future…
With talk of a five-part season in 2009, and with the loss of Owen and Tosh, it truly feels like an era of Torchwood has passed, and these first twenty-six episodes will forever be seen as the ‘classic’s era of what I hope will grow and develop into into a long-running classic. For if Torchwood can survive this, its own Tenth Plalanet, it can survive anything…
