Greeks Bearing Gifts (TV story): Difference between revisions

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|season number        = Series 1 (Torchwood)
|season number        = Series 1 (Torchwood)
|series episode number = 7
|series episode number = 7
|main character        = [[Toshiko Sato|Tosh]], [[Jack Harkness|Jack]], [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]], [[Owen Harper|Owen]], [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]]
|main character        = [[Toshiko Sato|Tosh]], [[Jack Harkness|Jack]], [[Owen Harper|Owen]], [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]], [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]]
|enemy                = [[Mary (Arcateenian)|Mary]]
|enemy                = [[Mary (Arcateenian)|Mary]]
|setting              = [[Cardiff]], [[2000s]]
|setting              = [[Cardiff]], [[2000s]]
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|clip3                = Tosh Destroys The Pendant Greeks Bearing Gifts Torchwood
|clip3                = Tosh Destroys The Pendant Greeks Bearing Gifts Torchwood
}}
}}
'''''Greeks Bearing Gifts''''' was the seventh episode in the [[Series 1 (Torchwood)|first series]] of ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]''. It was written by [[Toby Whithouse]], and directed by [[Colin Teague]].
'''''Greeks Bearing Gifts''''' was the seventh episode in the [[Series 1 (Torchwood)|first series]] of ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]''. It was written by [[Toby Whithouse]], directed by [[Colin Teague]], and focused on [[Toshiko Sato]].
 
It focused on [[Toshiko Sato]]. Because Toshiko abused her access to alien [[technology]], it also marked the unwilling reveal of [[Gwen Cooper]]'s [[sex]]ual escapades with Owen Harper to the rest of the team. This created guilty feelings inside of Gwen, crippling the progression of her affair. It also damaged relations between the team members until a breaking point arose [[Captain Jack Harkness (TV story)|near the conclusion]] of series 1.


== Synopsis ==
== Synopsis ==
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== Story notes ==
== Story notes ==
* The episode was repeated on [[BBC Two]], three days later at 9:00pm on Wednesday [[29 November (releases)|29 November]] [[2006 (releases)|2006]].
* The episode was repeated on [[BBC Two]], three days later at 9:00pm on Wednesday [[29 November (releases)|29 November]] [[2006 (releases)|2006]].
* At this point in the series, all the current members of Torchwood Three have had a [[homosexuality|same-sex]] [[kiss]]: [[Owen Harper|Owen]] and [[Colin (Everything Changes)|Colin]] in ''[[Everything Changes (TV story)|Everything Changes]]'', [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]] and [[Carys Fletcher|Carys]] in ''[[Day One (TV story)|Day One]]'', [[Jack Harkness|Jack]] and [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]] in ''[[Cyberwoman (TV story)|Cyberwoman]]'' (although Ianto was apparently dead on that occasion), and [[Toshiko Sato|Tosh]] and [[Mary (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|Mary]] in this episode.
* At this point in the series, all the current members of Torchwood Three have had a [[homosexuality|same-sex]] [[kiss]]: Owen with [[Colin (Everything Changes)|Colin]] in ''[[Everything Changes (TV story)|Everything Changes]]'', Gwen and [[Carys Fletcher]] in ''[[Day One (TV story)|Day One]]'', Jack with Ianto in ''[[Cyberwoman (TV story)|Cyberwoman]]'', and Tosh and [[Mary (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|Mary]] in this episode.
* In this episode, Toshiko identifies the [[Soldier (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|soldier]] from [[1812]] has been dead for 196 years, 11 to 11 and a half months. This would place the episode in [[2009]]. [[Aliens of London dating controversy|This date clashes with and contradicts dates given in several other stories]].
* Tosh identifies the [[Soldier (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|soldier]] from [[1812]] has been dead for 196 years, 11 to 11 and a half months. This would place the episode in [[2009]]. [[Aliens of London dating controversy|This date clashes with and contradicts dates given in several other stories]].
* Tosh refers to actor [[John Hurt]] and his role in the film ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]''. Hurt would later go on to play the [[War Doctor]], a previously unknown [[incarnation]] of [[the Doctor]], starting in ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]''.
* Tosh refers to actor [[John Hurt]] and his role in the film ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]''. Hurt would later go on to play the [[War Doctor]], starting in [[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]''.


=== Ratings ===
=== Ratings ===
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== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
* [[Sarah Jane Smith]] encountered an [[Arcateenian]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Invasion of the Bane (TV story)|Invasion of the Bane]]'')
* Owen mentions someone named [[Michael Hamilton]] is still recovering from what occurred during the [[Battle of Canary Wharf|ghost incident]], saying that he's still seeing Cybermen outside his mother's house. ([[TV]]: ''[[Army of Ghosts (TV story)|Army of Ghosts]]'', ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'')
* Owen mentions someone named [[Michael Hamilton]] is still recovering from what occurred during the [[Battle of Canary Wharf|ghost incident]], saying that he's still seeing Cybermen outside his mother's house. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'')
* Toshiko's observations of Ianto's thoughts reveal he is still in turmoil after the death of [[Lisa Hallett]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cyberwoman (TV story)|Cyberwoman]]'')
* Toshiko's observations of Ianto's thoughts reveal he is still in turmoil after the death of [[Lisa Hallett]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cyberwoman (TV story)|Cyberwoman]]'')
* When Jack and Toshiko discuss her saving the woman and her son, anti-Cyberman guns can be seen in the background. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'')
* When Jack and Toshiko discuss her saving the woman and her son, anti-Cyberman guns can be seen behind them. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'')
* After the former kills Mary, Jack and Ianto enter [[the Ferret]] that night. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Broken (audio story)|Broken]]'')
* Ianto panics at the thought of Tosh dying, privately declaring, ''"Not again."'' ([[TV]]: ''[[Everything Changes (TV story)|Everything Changes]]'')


== Home video releases ==
== Home video releases ==

Revision as of 23:04, 25 March 2021

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Greeks Bearing Gifts was the seventh episode in the first series of Torchwood. It was written by Toby Whithouse, directed by Colin Teague, and focused on Toshiko Sato.

Synopsis

Tosh is given an alien pendant which lets her hear other people's thoughts. As the Torchwood team puzzle over a centuries-old skeleton, the pendant forces Tosh to question her commitment to Torchwood. Is her new-found ability a blessing or a curse?

Plot

In Cardiff, 1812, a talkative prostitute leads a young soldier into the forest. When she provokes him about his virginity, he slaps her twice. A chase ensues. All of a sudden, though, she sees a bright light, and hears a screech. She walks towards the light, but the soldier catches up and shoots her.

Many years later, the Torchwood team is at a construction site where a skeleton was found. Mary, the prostitute from 1812, is there in modern dress looking on amusedly. A strange object is by the skeleton, its function unknown. All is going well at Torchwood until Owen and Gwen accidentally kick out the plug to Tosh's computer, screwing up a translation program she's running.

Feeling dejected, Toshiko goes to a pub, where Mary approaches her. Mary reveals she knows about Torchwood and about her. She is a "scavenger" or "collector" of alien artefacts. Toshiko seems to bond with Mary, and reveals her innermost feelings, despite hundreds of Torchwood protocols disallowing this sort of conversation. Mary offers Toshiko a pendant. When Toshiko puts it on, she begins to hear people's thoughts. Mary asks her to refine this to her thoughts only, and subconsciously allows her desire to kiss her slip. Shocked, Toshiko rips the pendant off her neck. Mary tells her to keep it. Toshiko says she must show it to the other members of Torchwood, Mary predicts she won't.

The next day, Toshiko goes to the Hub and puts the pendant on. She tells Gwen and Owen she has something to show them, but, upon hearing their thoughts, she changes her mind after learning of their affair. Later, when Ianto offers her some coffee, she hears his thoughts, malevolent and bestial. She hears his pain at the loss of Lisa Hallett. Visibly upset, she takes off the pendant.

She finds Mary, whom she tells about Owen and Gwen's thoughts — how they pity her. Mary explains that thoughts are complicated. She puts the pendant on Toshiko again, and both end up thinking of sex together. The two kiss passionately. Later, Toshiko is lying in bed, looking regretful. She tells Mary of her attraction to Owen, and how she was upset by his affair with Gwen. Mary tells her that good can come of the pendant, too. Toshiko asks Mary who she really is. Mary calls herself "Philoctetes".

Toshiko heeds Mary's advice and listens to the thoughts of people in a busy Cardiff street. She hears a man planning to kill his ex-wife and son. She follows him to their house, and saves their lives.

When she returns to the Hub, Owen is being teased by the others for misidentifying the skeleton: it was actually a man — not a woman — who died of an unidentified trauma — not a gunshot wound. Tosh asks Jack about Philoctetes, and he tells her his story: in Greek mythology, the archer was exiled to the island of Lemnos, to be left there alone for ten years.

Mary is teleported into the sun.

Mary tells Toshiko to read Jack's thoughts about the item found with the skeleton. Toshiko tries and fails to read his thoughts; Jack seems to notice when she tries. She tells Mary this, and decides that she must show the pendant to her co-workers. Mary, however, convinces her to change her mind by showing her her true form: she is an alien exiled from her home world. Toshiko offers Torchwood's help, but Mary refuses. Humans' way is invasion, not help. She thinks she will simply be assessed, and then locked up in the base's prison cells.

Mary instead asks Toshiko to sneak her into the Hub to retrieve the artefact, which could finally take her home. The two enter to find Jack holding the transporter. He explains that it is a two-man transporter for a guard and a prisoner. Mary explains that she killed the guard, then took the body of the young prostitute Mary, and has been ripping out people's hearts to feed her human form.

She takes Toshiko at knife point, and demands that they return the transporter. Jack gives it to her. It automatically turns on, and she disappears. Jack had reprogrammed the device to teleport to the centre of the sun. Later, Toshiko is confronted by Owen and Gwen about what she heard. Toshiko says that it was none of her business. Owen storms off. Gwen admits that her affair with Owen is wrong, but that she can't stop. She says that Tosh seemed happier with Mary in her life, and that she should not let everything that has happened bring her down.

Jack and Toshiko sit by the fountain above the Hub and discuss the pendant. Toshiko believes that it may be the most powerful artefact ever found by Torchwood, and asks Jack for his advice. He says it is her choice. She crushes the device with her foot. She asks why she could not read Jack's mind. Jack denies knowing why but admits he could tell she was trying. She tells him that it felt like she was trying to read the mind of a dead man. He doesn't respond. He comforts her about her experiences, wipes away her tears, and silently walks away.

Cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.


References

Science and technology

People

Species

Organisations and companies

Cultural references to the real world

Story notes

Ratings

  • 1.31 million viewers[1]

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

to be added

Continuity

  • Owen mentions someone named Michael Hamilton is still recovering from what occurred during the ghost incident, saying that he's still seeing Cybermen outside his mother's house. (TV: Army of Ghosts, Doomsday)
  • Toshiko's observations of Ianto's thoughts reveal he is still in turmoil after the death of Lisa Hallett. (TV: Cyberwoman)
  • When Jack and Toshiko discuss her saving the woman and her son, anti-Cyberman guns can be seen behind them. (TV: Doomsday)
  • Ianto panics at the thought of Tosh dying, privately declaring, "Not again." (TV: Everything Changes)

Home video releases

Series one, part two DVD cover

DVD releases

  • This episode was first released on DVD, with three other episodes entitled Torchwood: Series 1, part 2 on 26 February 2007.
  • It was later released in Torchwood: The Complete First Series on 19 November 2007.
  • It was also released in the Series 1-4 boxset. (Region 2 release: 14 November 2011)

Blu-ray releases

  • Released in the US with the rest of Series 1 as a Complete First Season set on 16 September 2008.
  • It was released in the Series 1-3 Blu-ray boxset on 26 October 2009 in the UK. The US release was on 19 July 2011.
  • It was also released in the Series 1-4 Blu-ray boxset. (Region 2 release: 14 November 2011)

External links

Footnotes