Immortal Sins (TV story)

Immortal Sins
Main character(s):	Jack, Gwen, Rhys, Rex, Esther
Featuring:	Angelo, Andy, Mary Cooper
Main enemy:	Olivia Colasanto, Trickster's Brigade
Main setting:	New York City, 1927 and 1928 Swansea Bay and Los Angeles, 2011
Key crew
Writer:	Jane Espenson
Director:	Gwyneth Horder-Payton
Producer:	Kelly A Manners
Release details
Premiere broadcast:	19 August 2011
Premiere network:	Starz
Official trailer
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Torchwood
← Previous	The Middle Men
Next →	End of the Road

Immortal Sins was the seventh episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day. For the most part, it consisted of a flashback in Depression era New York City. It importantly introduced the character of Angelo Colasanto, a lover that Jack Harkness met while standing in line at Ellis Island. Colasanto's grandaughter Olivia — played by Star Trek regular, Nana Visitor, also made her debut. Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond were resigned to cameo roles, while Gwen Cooper played an important part in the final acts of the episode. From a continuity standpoint, it was clearly the single episode of Miracle Day which made the most references to the broader DWU, even giving a shout-out to a Sarah Jane Adventures character.

Synopsis

Gwen must fight to protect her family. She takes a terrifying journey covering miles and decades with Jack as the long history of the Miracle is partially revealed.

Plot

Gwen drives Jack through California to bring him to the people holding her family.

Flashbacks are seen of Jack's past. In 1920s New York City, he awaits his visa at Ellis Island. Angelo Colasanto steals it. Jack confronts him, retrieves his visa and visits Angelo in his cell. They talk, and Jack uses technology to create a visa for Angelo.

Angelo is freed and enters a relationship with Jack. At one point, they are retrieving an alien from a base when Jack is shot dead. Angelo is captured and imprisoned. Jack returns to America after Angelo's release. Angelo is terrified by Jack's immortality.

Angelo takes Jack to the butcher shop beneath their room. There are people terrified of Jack. They sadistically attack him with knives, guns and meat hooks to kill him and collect his blood. Three men visit Jack. They seem to know something about his immortality. Angelo, overwhelmed with horror and guilt, eventually lets Jack go. Jack quickly recovers and flees with Angelo to a rooftop, where he explains his immortality before jumping off to his "death". When Angelo reaches the ground, Jack is gone.

As Gwen and Jack arrive, Rex and Esther have contacted Andy Davidson in Wales. He has freed Gwen's family. They train snipers on the three people who want Jack. Jack says he has won, but they say that Jack will come with them anyway. They have the information about the Miracle he wants. Angelo is still alive. He has something to do with the Miracle.

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
• Rex Matheson - Mekhi Phifer
• Esther Drummond - Alexa Havins
• Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
• Mary Cooper - Sharon Morgan
• Olivia Colasanto - Nana Visitor
• Andy Davidson - Tom Price
• Angelo Colasanto - Daniele Favilli
• Inspector - Pat Asanti
• SWAT Member - Michael Chomiak
• Salvatore Maranzano - Cris D'Annunzio
• Young Priest - Will Green
• Costerdane - Paul Hayes
• Ablemarch - Everton Lawrence
• Young Man - Griffin Matthews
• Mr. Giardano - Frank Medrano
• Girl in Crowd - Angelica Montesano
• Frines - Shawn Parsons
• Elderly Woman - Vanna Salviati
• Mrs. Giardano - Jayne Taini
• SWAT leader - Darren Dupree Washington

Crew

Created by Russell T Davies

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter

Co-executive producers   Jane Espenson and Vlad Wolynetz

Written by Jane Espenson	Produced by Kelly A Manners	Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton	Director of Photography Nate Goodman	Production Designer Gregory Melton	Visual Effects Lion Visual Effects, Inc.
Key Make-up Artist Todd McIntosh	Casting by John Frank Levey, CSA and Melanie Burgess	Score Murray Gold assistant composer Stu Kennedy	Costume Designer Shawna Trpcic	Edited by Hunter M. Via, A.C.E.	Key Hair Stylist Susan Boyd
Science Advisor - John Sotos, M.D.

General production staff Production Executive - Shelley Stevens Associate Producer - Skip Schoolnik Location Manager - Brad Bemis Unit Production Manager - Robert D. Nellans Production Accountant - Vince Robinette Transportation Coordinator - Heath Culp Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Jefferson Kibbee 2nd Assistant Director - Matt Buckler Script Supervisor - Anne Melville Camera Operator - Jeff Greeley Key Grip - Isaac Chee Chief Lighting Technician - Don Mosley	Art department Set Decorator - Natali Pope Set Designer - Arthur Chadwick Property Master - Eric Bates Construction Coordinator - Chris Forster Computer Graphics - Twisted Media	Make-up and prosthetics Special Make-up Effects - Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger General post-production staff Post-production Supervisor - Peter M. Tassler High Definition Post-Production - Modern Videofilm, Inc. Special and visual effects Visual FX Supervisor - Michael D. Leone Sound Production Sound Mixer - Julian Howarth Supervising Sound Editor - Walt Newman Co-supervisor - Ken Young Music Editor - Tom Trafalski Re-recording Mixers - Dan Hiland, Gary Rogers Post-Production Sound - Warner Bros.

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.
The Starz broadcast carried a final credit of "Originally Developed and Produced by BBC Cymru Wales". The BBC One broadcast says, instead, "BBC Worldwide Productions for BBC Cymru Wales and STARZ Originals".

References

• Jack mentions Clarke's Law.
• Jack and Angelo Colasanto talk about the Doctor and the role of his companions.
• Jack mentions the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt being Governor of New York and President for at least two terms, World War II and the Trickster's Brigade.
• Jack tells Angelo, "It gets better. And worse again." The year he first meets him in is 1927. Two years later, the Great Depression will hit America, then the country will recover, only to be swept into World War II by the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
• When Esther says that Vera Juarez was from San Antonio, Rex says, "Go, Spurs." The San Antonio Spurs are an NBA team.
• A Firebird is a bird made of fire. It sings and burns bright and only lasts a minute.
• Oswald Danes is mentioned after complete two-episodes of absence.
• It is the Fourth of July when Jack and Angelo become lovers.
• Jack confesses to having sex with triplets, involvement with a naked circus and a sapphic (lesbian) leapfrog jamboree.
• The Volstead Act is mentioned, as 1920-1933 (the flashback being set in 1927) was the period when Prohibition, the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, was in effect before the repeal was passed. It excepted sacramental wine, which is the "blood of Christ."
• Angelo is a Christian. Christianity denounces homosexuality, making Angelo uncomfortable in his relationship with Jack. He also accuses Jack to be the Devil after he learns Jack can resurrect.
• Ammonia refrigeration is being practised in 1927, before refrigeration techniques improved.

Story notes

• Jack explains that the brain parasite would rewrite history by enabling the Third Reich to win the Second World War. One week and a day after this episode was broadcast in the US and only two days after it was broadcast in the UK, the Doctor Who episode Let's Kill Hitler featured Adolf Hitler in a cameo role and was set in Nazi Germany in 1938. In this episode Melody Pond expressed an interest in killing Hitler.
• This is the first time that Jack is killed onscreen during Series 4. He is killed at least seven times in this episode, including being shot, being stabbed, being disembowelled, having his throat slashed, and falling from a high place.

Ratings

• UK: 4.48 million

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.

• The final scene in "The Middle Men" happens a little bit differently from the same scene seen in this episode. It's all a matter of how fast the scenes go, the former going a bit slower than the latter.

Continuity

• The Seventh Doctor, the Fourth Doctor and the Captain also mentioned Clarke's Law. (TV: Battlefield, TV: The Pirate Planet)
• Jack had a dialogue with Angelo similar to the one the Ninth Doctor had with Rose Tyler. (TV: Rose)
• Gwen talks about her first day of joining Torchwood. (TV: Everything Changes, Day One)
• Angelo thinks that Jack has been possessed by the Devil. Jilly Kitzinger and Oswald Danes would later (or earlier, depending on what you mean) reference the Devil. (TV: Rendition) Stuart Owens would also say that Jack seemed to think he was the Devil in suit. (TV: The Middle Men)
  • The Tenth Doctor would also meet the Beast who claimed to be the origins of the Devil/Satan. (TV: The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit)
• The Doctor and his way of travelling with companions is mentioned. (TV: An Unearthly Child et.al.)
• Jack told Angelo that he is a "fixed point in time" (due to the events on Satellite Five). (TV: The Parting of the Ways) Although the Tenth Doctor did not tell him this until Malcassairo, eighty-one years later in his personal timeline, (TV: Utopia) Jack had prior knowledge of temporal theory. (TV: Boom Town, The Parting of the Ways)
• Jack stated to Angelo, "Men like you kill me." This may be a reference to his former lover Captain John Hart. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang; Fragments; Exit Wounds)
• The creature Jack and Angelo found was intended to infect Franklin D. Roosevelt and disrupt history for the Trickster's Brigade. (TV: Turn Left, Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)
• When Esther opens the Eye-5 computer programme, past dialogue can be found. (TV: Escape to LA, The Middle Men)
• A brief video clip was shown of the "death" of Vera Juarez. (TV: The Categories of Life)
• Jack was subjected to similar torture aboard the Valiant, where the Saxon Master killed him repeatedly for fun. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)
• When Angelo asks what other secrets Jack learned from the Doctor, Jack tells him to run. (TV: Rose, The Doctor's Daughter, Amy's Choice, A Good Man Goes to War)

Home video releases

This episode was released worldwide in a box set containing all ten episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day. In the United Kingdom, it was released on Region 2 DVD and Region Free Blu-ray on 14 November 2011. In Australia, it was released in Region 4 DVD and Region B Blu-Ray on 1 December 2011. In New Zealand, the same sets were released on 7 December 2011. In North America, it was released on Region 1 DVD and Region Free Blu-Ray on 3 April 2012.