Esther Drummond
Esther Drummond was a CIA analyst and member of the Torchwood team.
Forced to go on the run because of their investigations into Torchwood, Esther and Rex Matheson worked with Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper to expose the Three Families' plans and end the Miracle. The team succeeded thanks to Esther transfusing Jack's mortal blood into Rex, allowing the Blessing to be reset, but the Cousin shot her and she died.
Biography
Early life
Esther Drummond was of US descent, but her place and date of birth were listed as N/A in her Central Intelligence Agency file. (TV: Rendition) She always had to look after her older sister Sarah, whom she would later remark had never been able to cope with things. (TV: Dead of Night) Their mother died in 2003 (TV: The Categories of Life) and Sarah had two daughters, Melanie and Alice, between 2002 and 2004. (TV: Escape to LA)
Early career
Esther got a job at the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence as an analyst, (TV: Rendition) which involved sitting at her desk all day and reading blogs. Working in Langley, Virginia, she lived in an apartment on 11th Street in Washington DC (TV: Dead of Night) and Sarah lived nearby, but she regretted that her job meant that her family had to come second. (TV: Escape to LA)
Passionate about the subject, Esther once spent six months compiling a list of malware for the CIA. (TV: Rendition) She worked closely with Rex Matheson (TV: The New World) and believed that Broderick, whom Rex once argued with over a mission in Venezuela, was sexually attracted to her. (PROSE: The Men Who Sold the World) She always wanted a job in Clandestine rather than Intelligence. (TV: The Middle Men, The Blood Line)
In 2011, Esther worked with Rex on a mission which he hoped would restore him to favour in the CIA. She correctly believed that rogue members of the S.O.G. killed Oscar Lupé's and, later, his wife Penelope and helped Rex in his investigations by arranging travel and sifting through data. (PROSE: The Men Who Sold the World)
The Miracle
Joining Torchwood
Esther investigated Torchwood after its name was emailed to the East Coast section chiefs and subsequently wiped from the Internet and met Jack Harkness in the archives, but he retconned her to protect Gwen Cooper. The Institute was brought back to her attention by Noah Vickers and she and Rex, who suffered an accident that she felt responsible for, realised that there was a connection between them and the Miracle. Esther successfully tracked Gwen down through Andy Davidson's phone calls and Rex was able to rendition Torchwood to the US. (TV: The New World)
Despite not being part of Clanedestine, Esther asked Brian Friedkin for the opportunity to assist Rex in the Torchwood case and confirmed that she was being kept up to date, unaware that he was working against Rex. She saw two men going through Rex's computer and fled headquarters with Charlotte Wills's ID after being notified of a bank transfer from China, calling Rex to alert him that they were being targeted and picking him, Jack and Gwen up from the airport. (TV: Rendition)
Esther unsuccessfully attempted to locate Friedkin's paymasters through his mobile phone and used Torchwood software to analyse his pattern of behaviour, learning of a warehouse in Washington where PhiCorp were stockpiling painkillers. She struggled with being on the run and worried about Sarah, but Gwen convinced her to carry on by pointing out that she had to prove Rex's doubts about her wrong. The Torchwood team were ultimately forced to flee Washington after Friedkin's mobile phone was traced. (TV: Dead of Night)
The overflow camps
The team relocated to Venice to plan their infiltration of PhiCorp in Los Angeles and Esther used the opportunity to visit Sarah, after which she anonymously reported her to Child Protective Services because of her mental state and was distressed to learn that her call resulted in her nieces being taken to Brayden Long Heights. Her plan for Rex, Jack and Gwen to steal a secure server from PhiCorp's headquarters using Nicolas Frumkin's biometrics was jeopardised by the Gentleman, who followed her after her visit to Sarah's house, but they succeeded and she learnt that PhiCorp were constructing ICU overflow camps. (TV: Escape to LA)
Esther discovered that buildings labelled as "modules" on PhiCorp's plans were hidden from NORAD satellites and joined the San Pedro Overflow Camp's clerical staff to investigate after Vera Juarez decided to go there as an inspector. She recategorised Rex as Category 1 so that he would get access to the module whilst Vera was on a tour of the camp with Colin Maloney and later noticed that Vera had not returned, so she attempted to get in contact with her by phone without success. (TV: The Categories of Life)
Hoping to find Vera, Esther told Maloney that she had been sent to act as his liaison and was kept for a time from continuing her investigation when a lockdown was called. Maloney claimed that Vera had left the camp and she tried to look around for Rex by claiming that Maloney had a phone call from Vera, leading him to attempt to kill her as he had actually burnt Vera to death. She made Maloney a Category 1 and escaped with Rex, after which Torchwood exposed Vera's murder and the existence of ovens at the overflow camps. (TV: The Middle Men)
The Blessing
The video footage of Vera's death led to the overflow camps being paused, which Esther, unlike Rex, believed would lead to their ultimate closure. She discovered that Gwen was being blackmailed through the Eye-5s into kidnapping Jack, so she contacted Andy Davidson to liberate Rhys and Anwen Williams and Mary Cooper, who were being held hostage, and tracked Gwen and Jack down. She and Rex went to save them from Olivia Colasanto, but Olivia told Jack that he would go with her regardless as Angelo Colasanto was waiting for him. (TV: Immortal Sins)
Esther waited outside of the Colasanto residence to maintain an open line as a record and, once Friedkin arrived, she sent his confession about working for the Three Families to Allen Shapiro. She became even more determined to end the Miracle after Sarah told her that she had volunteered herself and her daughters to become Category 1s and brought the null field generator that allowed Angelo to die to Shapiro's attention despite Jack trying to keep her quiet. She regretted her decision because of its possible misuse and got Jack away from the residence with a panel from the generator, but he was shot as they escaped. (TV: End of the Road)
Esther looked after Jack for two months, running with him to the United Kingdom and ending up in hiding in Scotland before reuniting with Gwen in Swansea and being joined by Oswald Danes. Thanks to her knowledge of Harry Bosco, Esther found that blood banks in Shanghai and Buenos Aires were burnt down shortly before the Miracle and that both cities were connected by the Blessing. She met Rex in Buenos Aires (TV: The Gathering) and almost immediately transfused him with Jack's blood as they knew that it would be important. (TV: The Blood Line)
Death
Esther and Rex faked their deaths in an explosion that the Families hoped would destroy the bags of Jack's blood that Esther had taken there, unaware that they had replaced all but one of them with Rex's. Esther was held at gunpoint by the Cousin after reaching the Blessing and was shot in the head in an attempt to keep Jack and Rex from ending the Miracle with their blood, but Gwen convinced Rex to continue and he fed his blood to the Blessing after kissing Esther goodbye. Humanity became mortal again and Esther and Rex were seen to by paramedics, but Esther died of her wound. (TV: The Blood Line)
Legacy
Unlike many, Esther was able to receive a full funeral service which Sarah, Alice, Melanie, Rex, Jack, Gwen, Rhys and Charlotte Wills attended. (TV: The Blood Line)
Gwen, upset by Esther's death, decided that she would give some money from a Torchwood safety deposit box to Sarah for her and her daughters. (AUDIO: Army of One)
On Cotter Paluni's World, Jack remembered Esther's death in the process of saving the world and felt responsible for it. (AUDIO: Red Skies)
Pumped full of drugs, Gwen reminded Jack that he was unable to save "poor, poor Esther". (PROSE: Exodus Code)
When leaving Torchwood, Gwen mentioned how she loved Owen, Tosh, Ianto and Esther. (AUDIO: Herald of the Dawn)
Personality
Esther was a hard worker (TV: Dead of Night) and passionate about computers, particularly various types of malware, (TV: Rendition) but she always wanted to work in Clandestine rather than Intelligence as she believed that it would be more fun. (TV: The Middle Men, The Blood Line) She was close to her sister Sarah, whom she always had to look after.
Because of her lack of experience in the field, Esther initially struggled with being on the run, (TV: Dead of Night) leading the Gentleman to Torchwood by visiting her sister (TV: Escape to LA) and using her real name at the San Pedro Overflow Camp, but Rex came to consider her an asset (TV: The Middle Men) and she became a braver and stronger person. (TV: The Gathering)
Aliases and nicknames
| Name | When used/given | Story | Etymology |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miss Translation | Given by Gwen Cooper, following Esther's habit of highlighting language differences between UK English and American English. | Dead of Night | A possible play on "mistranslation". |
| Lorraine | Used by Esther, pretending to be from PhiCorp's Human Resources department, in order to get Gwen into the building. | Escape to LA | |
| Useless Esther | Given in jest by Jack, following in conversation in which Esther questioned Jack as to whether he thought that she was useless. | The Categories of Life |
Behind the scenes
During pre-production of Torchwood: Miracle Day, this character's name was reported as "Esther Katusi". This was due to the original profile of the character as a non-Caucasian; the casting of Alexa Havins resulted in the character being renamed. When Havins was announced on 6 January 2011, BBC publicity still referred to the character as Katusi. (DWM 427)
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