Greeks Bearing Gifts (TV story): Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Torchwood
{{title dab away}}
|image = [[Image:Greeks bearing gifts 2.jpg|250px]]
{{real world}}
|story name = Greeks Bearing Gifts
{{ImageLinkTV}}
|series = [[Torchwood]] - [[List of Torchwood television stories|TV Stories]]
{{Infobox Story SMW
|series number = [[Series 1 (Torchwood)|Series 1]]
|image                 = Beware greeks bearing gifts main.jpg
|number = 7
|series               = ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]''
|featuring = <ul><li>[[Jack Harkness]]</li><li>[[Gwen Cooper]]</li><li>[[Toshiko Sato]]</li><li>[[Owen Harper]]</li><li>[[Ianto Jones]]</ul>
|season number         = Series 1 (Torchwood)
|enemy = [[Mary (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|Mary]]
|series episode number = 7
|setting = [[Cardiff]], [[2007]]
|scripturl      = https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/documents/torchwood-1-episode-7-greeks-bearing-gifts-draft-3-12042006.pdf
|writer = [[Toby Whithouse]]
|main character        = [[Toshiko Sato|Tosh]], [[Jack Harkness|Jack]], [[Owen Harper|Owen]], [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]], [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]]
|director = [[Colin Teague]]
|enemy                 = [[Mary (Arcateenian)|Mary]]
|producer = [[Richard Stokes]]
|setting               = [[Cardiff]], [[2000s]]{{Note|Episodes 1-10 of the [[Series 1 (Torchwood)|first series]] of ''[[Torchwood (series)|Torchwood]]'' are set anywhere from [[2006]]-[[2009]] as a result of [[Aliens of London dating controversy|conflicting evidence]] shown in the episodes {{cs|Ghost Machine (TV story)}}, ''Greeks Bearing Gifts'', {{cs|Random Shoes (TV story)}}, {{cs|To the Last Man (TV story)}}, {{cs|Reset (TV story)}}, {{cs|Adrift (TV story)}}, {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}, {{cs|Exit Wounds (TV story)}}, and {{cs|The New World (TV story)}}. As episode 10, {{cs|Out of Time (TV story)}}, is set at the end of [[December]], this means that episodes 11-13 are almost certainly set the year after episodes 1-10.}}
|broadcast date = [[26th November]] [[2006]]
|writer               = Toby Whithouse
|previous story = [[Countrycide]]
|director             = [[Colin Teague]]
|next story = [[They Keep Killing Suzie]]
|producer             = [[Richard Stokes]]
}}{{TV stub}}
|network              = BBC Three
'''Greeks Bearing Gifts''' is the seventh episode of the [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Series_1_(Torchwood) first series] of Torchwood.
|broadcast date       = 26 November 2006
==Synopsis==
|prev                  = Countrycide (TV story)
[[Toshiko Sato|Toshiko]] is given an alien pendant which enables her to hear other people's thoughts. As the rest of the [[Torchwood]] team puzzle over a centuries-old skeleton, the pendant forces Toshiko to question her commitment to Torchwood: is her new-found ability a blessing or a curse?
|next                 = They Keep Killing Suzie (TV story)
|clip                  = Tosh held hostage - Torchwood - BBC
|clip2                = Tosh Falls For Mary's Charm Greeks Bearing Gifts Torchwood
|clip3                = Tosh Destroys The Pendant Greeks Bearing Gifts Torchwood
|format                = 1x50-minute episode
}}
'''''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]].


==Plot==
== Synopsis ==
The episode opens in a forest in Cardiff, 1812. A talkative prostitute leads a soldier into the forest, and after the prostitute, Mary, says something the soldier finds offensive, he slaps her twice. In response, Mary scratches his face and runs further into the forest. Mary sees a bright light and hears a screech, after which the soldier catches up, and shoots her. In 2007, the Torchwood team attends a construction site where a skeleton was found. Mary, the prostitute from 1812, is there in modern clothing gazing on amusingly. Next to the skeleton is a strange object, the function of which is uncertain to the members of Torchwood. [[Toshiko Sato|Toshiko]] speculates the skeleton has been there for 196 years, eleven to eleven and a half months. [[Owen Harper|Owen]] says that the skeleton is female and died from a gunshot wound.
[[Toshiko Sato|Tosh]] is given an [[Telepathy pendant|alien pendant]] which lets her hear other people's thoughts. As the [[Torchwood Three|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?


Later, Toshiko is in a bar, when Mary comes over to talk to her. She reveals that she knows everything about her and Torchwood. She says that she is a "scavenger" or a "collector" of alien artifacts. Toshiko appears to bond well with Mary, and reveals her innermost feelings about the universe. Mary shows Toshiko a pendant, and when Toshiko puts it on, she suddenly has the ability to hear people's thoughts. Mary asks her to refine this to just hear her, and Toshiko hears her think that she would like to kiss her. Shocked, Toshiko takes off the pendant. Mary offers for her to keep the pendant, which Toshiko says, she must show to the other members of Torchwood. However, Mary predicts she won't.
== Plot ==
In [[Cardiff]], [[1812]], [[Mary (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|a talkative prostitute]] leads [[Soldier (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|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 [[Firearm|shoots]] her.


The next day, Toshiko goes to the Hub, and puts the pendant on. She tells Gwen and Owen she has something to show them, however, upon hearing their thoughts, she is shocked to hear that Gwen and Owen are having an affair, and also hears that they both pity and disrespect her. Later, she is sitting down, and when Ianto offers her some coffee, she hears his thoughts about the pain caused by the loss of [[Lisa Hallett]]. Toshiko is visibly upset and takes off the pendant.
Many years later, the [[Torchwood Three|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 Cooper|Gwen]] accidentally kick out the plug to Tosh's [[computer]], screwing up a translation program she's running.


She walks to find Mary there. When talking to Mary, she expresses what Owen and Gwen thought about her, while Mary explains that the thoughts Toshiko is hearing are complicated. Mary puts the pendant on Toshiko again, and hears her thinking about having sex with her. Mary and Toshiko kiss passionately, and the scene cuts. Toshiko is lying in bed, looking regretful, and when confronted by Mary, Toshiko reveals her attraction to Owen, and how she was upset by hearing about the affair between Gwen and Owen. Mary tells Toshiko that good can come of wearing the pendant, too. Toshiko confronts Mary and asks who she really is. Mary calls herself "[[Wikipedia:Philoctetes|Philoctetes]]". Toshiko listens to Mary's advice and listens to the thoughts of people in public places, and hears a man planning to kill his ex-wife and son. She follows him and manages to save them both. She returns to the Hub to find that Owen is being teased by the others about misidentifying the skeleton; it was actually that of a man that died of an unidentified trauma. Tosh asks Jack about the name "Philoctetes", and he explains it is a Greek mythology character that was exiled to the island of Lemnos.
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 [[Telepathy pendant|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.
[[Image:Greeks bearing gifts.jpg|150px|thumb|right|Toshiko is ransomed.]]


Mary later tells Toshiko to read [[Jack Harkness|Jack's]] thoughts to find out about the item found with the skeleton. Toshiko finds that she can't read his mind, and Jack seems to notice when she tries. Toshiko tells Mary this, and Mary tells Toshiko that she is an alien in exile from her home world. Toshiko offers Torchwood's help, but Mary refuses, instead requesting that Toshiko sneak her into the Hub to retrieve the artifact. At the Hub, they find Jack holding the artifact, and he explains that it is a two-man prison transporter for a guard and and a prisoner. Mary explains that she took the body of the young prostitute Mary, and has been ripping out people's hearts to feed her human form. Mary takes Toshiko at knife point and demands the transporter back, and when Jack gives it to her, it activates and she disappears. Jack explains that he programmed the device to teleport to the center of the sun. Later, Toshiko apologizes to Owen and Gwen, and then destroys the pendant.
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, which are malevolent and depressed. She hears his pain at the loss of [[Lisa Hallett]]. Visibly upset, she takes off the pendant.


==Cast==
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]]".
*Captain [[Jack Harkness]] - [[John Barrowman]]
*[[Gwen Cooper]] - [[Eve Myles]]
*[[Owen Harper]] - [[Burn Gorman]]
*[[Toshiko Sato]] - [[Naoko Mori]]
*[[Ianto Jones]] - [[Gareth David-Lloyd]]
*[[Mary (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|Mary]] - [[Daniela Denby-Ashe]]
*Soldier - [[Tom Robertson]]
*[[Neil]] - [[Ravin J Ganatra]]
*[[Carol]] - [[Eiry Thomas]]
*[[Danny]] - [[Shaheen Jafargholi]]
*[[Weevil]] - [[Paul Kasey]]


==Crew==
Toshiko heeds Mary's advice and listens to the thoughts of people in a busy Cardiff street. She hears [[Neil (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|a man]] planning to [[kill]] [[Carol (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|his ex-wife]] and [[Danny (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|son]]. She follows him to their house, and saves their lives.
*Writer - [[Toby Whithouse]]
*Director - [[Colin Teague]]
*1st Assistant Director - Nick Rae
*2nd Assistant Director - Lynsey Muir
*3rd Assistant Director - Rhian Salisury
*Executive Producers - [[Russell T Davies]] and [[Julie Gardner]]
*Producer - [[Richard Stokes]]
*Co-Producer - [[Chris Chibnall]]


==References==
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.
*Toshiko is preparing a list for [[UNIT]].
[[File:Mary teleports.jpg|thumb|Mary is teleported into the sun.]]
*When Jack is studying the alien device, he mentions that it has [[nanogenes]] technology.
Mary tells Toshiko to read [[Jack Harkness|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 [[Arcateenian|alien]] exiled from [[Arcateen 5|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.
*A man still sees [[Cybus Cybermen]] outside his house.
===Music===
*''Drag'' - [[Placebo]]
*''Spitting Games'' - [[Snow Patrol]]


==Story notes==
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 ==
* [[Jack Harkness|Captain Jack Harkness]] - [[John Barrowman]]
* [[Gwen Cooper]] - [[Eve Myles]]
* [[Owen Harper]] - [[Burn Gorman]]
* [[Toshiko Sato]] - [[Naoko Mori]]
* [[Ianto Jones]] - [[Gareth David-Lloyd]]
* [[Soldier (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|Soldier]] - [[Tom Robertson]]
* [[Neil (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|Neil]] - [[Ravin J Ganatra]]
* [[Carol (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|Carol]] - [[Eiry Thomas]]
* [[Mary (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|Mary]] - [[Daniela Denby-Ashe]]
* [[Danny (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|Danny]] - [[Shaheen Jafargholi]]
* [[Weevil]] - [[Paul Kasey]]
 
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== Worldbuilding ==
=== Science and technology ===
* When Jack is studying the alien device, he finds traces of [[ilmenite]], [[pyroxene]] and even [[dark matter]].
* The [[x-ray]] of a [[Cybusman|Cybus Cyberman]] is seen behind Owen in the autopsy room.
 
=== People ===
* Detective Inspector [[Henderson (Greeks Bearing Gifts)|Henderson]] handles Neil's case, and passes the info on to Jack.
* Gwen recalls a boy named [[Trevor Kendall]].
* Owen reads about [[Iffy Okoli]]'s case.
 
=== Species ===
* Arcateenians communicate [[telepathic]]ally.
 
=== Organisations and companies ===
* Toshiko is preparing a list for [[UNIT]].
* [[JJB Sports]], [[T.K. Maxx]] and [[Superdrug]] are companies in Cardiff.
 
=== Cultural references to the real world ===
* Tosh compared the hole in the skeleton's chest to "that bit in ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]'' where that thing bursts out of [[John Hurt (in-universe)|John Hurt]]."
* As a cover-up to discover about [[Philoctetes]], Tosh pretends that she participated in a [[pub quiz]]. When naming the [[pub]], ''[[The Prince of Tides]]'' is all that can come to her.
* Gwen called Owen "[[Amanda Burton]]".
* Tosh hears the thoughts of a man pretending to be a [[James Bond]] villain.
* As Mary enters the Torchwood base, she recites the first few lines of ''[[Kubla Khan (poem)|Kubla Khan]]'' by [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]].
 
=== Influences ===
 
* The [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (franchise)|''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'']] episode "[https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/Earshot Earshot]", where [[Buffy Anne Summers|Buffy Summers]] develops telepathy and finding that reading other people's minds comes with a price.
 
== 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]].
* 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.
* 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]], starting in [[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]''.
 
=== Ratings ===
* 1.31 million viewers<ref>[https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-10/ BARB Ratings - October, 2006]</ref>
 
=== Filming locations ===
''to be added''
''to be added''


===Ratings===
=== Broadcasts ===
*BBC3 - 1.3 million viewers
{| class="wikitable sortable"
*BBC2 - 1.9 million viewers
!Date
!Time
!Channel
!class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
|[[Sunday]] [[26 November (releases)|26 November]] [[2006 (releases)|2006]]
|22:00
|[[BBC Three]]
|First broadcast.
|-
|[[Wednesday]] [[29 November (releases)|29 November]] [[2006 (releases)|2006]]
|21:00
|[[BBC Two England]]
|
|-
|[[Monday]] [[19 February (releases)|19 February]] [[2007 (releases)|2007]]
|01:55
|[[BBC Three]]
|
|-
|[[Friday]] [[26 October (releases)|26 October]] [[2007 (releases)|2007]]
|21:00
|[[BBC Three]]
|
|-
|[[Thursday]] [[3 June (releases)|3 June]] [[2010 (releases)|2010]]
|23:55
|[[BBC HD]]
|
|}


===Myths===
=== Production errors ===
{{Torchwood discontinuity}}
''to be added''
''to be added''


===Filming locations===
== Continuity ==
''to be added''
* 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. The Cybermen and the incident happened in [[TV]]: {{cs|Army of Ghosts (TV story)}} and {{cs|Doomsday (TV story)}}.
* Toshiko's observations of Ianto's thoughts reveal he is still in turmoil after the death of [[Lisa Hallett]], who died in [[TV]]: {{cs|Cyberwoman (TV story)}}.
* When Jack and Toshiko discuss her saving the woman and her son, anti-Cyberman guns can be seen behind them. These were first used in [[TV]]: {{cs|Doomsday (TV story)}}.
* Ianto panics at the thought of Tosh dying, privately declaring, ''"Not again."'' given the events of [[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}.
* Owen and Gwen are still having an affair without Rhys knowing. This affair began in [[TV]]: {{cs|Countrycide (TV story)}}.
 
== Home video releases ==
[[File:TWS1Part2.jpg|thumb|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 (releases)|26 February]] [[2007 (releases)|2007]].
* It was later released in ''Torchwood: The Complete First Series'' on [[19 November (releases)|19 November]] 2007.
* It was also released in the Series 1-4 boxset. (Region 2 release: [[14 November (releases)|14 November]] [[2011 (releases)|2011]])


===Production errors===
=== Blu-ray releases ===
''to be added''
* Released in the US with the rest of Series 1 as a Complete First Season set on [[16 September (releases)|16 September]] [[2008 (releases)|2008]].


==Continuity==
* It was released in the Series 1-3 Blu-ray boxset on [[26 October (releases)|26 October]] [[2009 (releases)|2009]] in the UK. The US release was on [[19 July (releases)|19 July]] [[2011 (releases)|2011]].
{{Torchwood discontinuity}}
* It was also released in the Series 1-4 Blu-ray boxset. (Region 2 release: [[14 November (releases)|14 November]] [[2011 (releases)|2011]])
*An [[Arcateenian]] appears in [[SJA]]: ''[[Invasion of the Bane]]''.
*The x-ray of a Cybus Cyberman is seen behind Owen in the autopsy room.
*Owen mentions someone still recovering from the events of ([[DW]]: [[Doomsday]]) saying that he's still seeing Cybermen outside his mother's house


==Home video releases==
== External links ==
This episode was first released on DVD, with three other episodes entitle ''Torchwood: Series 1, part 2'' on 26 [[February]] [[2007]]. It was later released in ''Torchwood:The Complete first series'' on 19th [[November]] [[2007]]
{{dwrefguide|torchwood_07.htm|Greeks Bearing Gifts}}
* {{briefhistory|torchwood/2006g.html|Greeks Bearing Gifts}}
* {{locguide|greeksbearinggifts|Greeks Bearing Gifts}}
* {{whoniverse|tw1_07|Greeks Bearing Gifts}}


==See also==
== Footnotes ==
''to be added''
=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}


==External links==
=== Sources ===
*{{dwrefguide|torchwood_07.htm|Greeks Bearing Gifts}}
{{reflist}}
*{{briefhistory|torchwood/2006g.html|Greeks Bearing Gifts}}
{{TWTV}}
*{{locguide|greeksbearinggifts|Greeks Bearing Gifts}}
{{TitleSort}}
==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}
{{Torchwood series 1}}
[[fr:Greeks Bearing Gifts]]
[[fr:Greeks Bearing Gifts]]
[[Category:Torchwood episodes]]
[[he:יוונים עם מתנות (סיפור טלוויזיה)]]
[[ru:Дары данайцев]]
 
[[Category:Torchwood television stories]]
[[Category:2006 television stories]]
[[Category:Series 1 (Torchwood) stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in Cardiff]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1812]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1812]]
[[Category:Stories set in Cardiff]]
[[Category:Stories set in the 2000s]]
[[Category:Stories set in 2007]]
[[Category:Arcateenian stories]]
[[Category:2006 television stories]]
[[Category:Weevil television stories]]

Latest revision as of 20:35, 3 November 2024

RealWorld.png

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[[edit] | [edit source]]

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[[edit] | [edit source]]

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, which are malevolent and depressed. 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[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

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.


Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Science and technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

People[[edit] | [edit source]]

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

Organisations and companies[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cultural references to the real world[[edit] | [edit source]]

Influences[[edit] | [edit source]]

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 1.31 million viewers[1]

Filming locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Broadcasts[[edit] | [edit source]]

Date Time Channel Notes
Sunday 26 November 2006 22:00 BBC Three First broadcast.
Wednesday 29 November 2006 21:00 BBC Two England
Monday 19 February 2007 01:55 BBC Three
Friday 26 October 2007 21:00 BBC Three
Thursday 3 June 2010 23:55 BBC HD

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

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[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 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. The Cybermen and the incident happened in TV: Army of Ghosts [+]Loading...["Army of Ghosts (TV story)"] and Doomsday [+]Loading...["Doomsday (TV story)"].
  • Toshiko's observations of Ianto's thoughts reveal he is still in turmoil after the death of Lisa Hallett, who died in TV: Cyberwoman [+]Loading...["Cyberwoman (TV story)"].
  • When Jack and Toshiko discuss her saving the woman and her son, anti-Cyberman guns can be seen behind them. These were first used in TV: Doomsday [+]Loading...["Doomsday (TV story)"].
  • Ianto panics at the thought of Tosh dying, privately declaring, "Not again." given the events of TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"].
  • Owen and Gwen are still having an affair without Rhys knowing. This affair began in TV: Countrycide [+]Loading...["Countrycide (TV story)"].

Home video releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

Series one, part two DVD cover

DVD releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 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[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 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[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Episodes 1-10 of the first series of Torchwood are set anywhere from 2006-2009 as a result of conflicting evidence shown in the episodes Ghost Machine [+]Loading...["Ghost Machine (TV story)"], Greeks Bearing Gifts, Random Shoes [+]Loading...["Random Shoes (TV story)"], To the Last Man [+]Loading...["To the Last Man (TV story)"], Reset [+]Loading...["Reset (TV story)"], Adrift [+]Loading...["Adrift (TV story)"], Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"], Exit Wounds [+]Loading...["Exit Wounds (TV story)"], and The New World [+]Loading...["The New World (TV story)"]. As episode 10, Out of Time [+]Loading...["Out of Time (TV story)"], is set at the end of December, this means that episodes 11-13 are almost certainly set the year after episodes 1-10.

Sources[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ BARB Ratings - October, 2006
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Torchwood television stories
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