Cyberwoman (TV story)

This is about the Torchwood episode. For the race see Cyberman. For specific known Cyberwomen, see Lisa Hallett, Yvonne Hartman or Jackie Tyler (the latter only upgraded in a parallel universe).

Synopsis

Ianto has a dark secret, tied to the basement of the Hub — a secret he will protect at any cost.

Plot

During a mundane day at Torchwood Three, the team decides to go get a drink, though Ianto politely stays behind. Once the team is gone, he brings a Japanese doctor named Tanizaki into the Hub and takes him to a holding cell deep below the surface. There, a partially cyber-converted woman is strapped to a conversion unit surrounded by instruments keeping her alive. Ianto introduces her to Tanizaki as Lisa, his former lover when they both worked at Torchwood One in London. She was only partially converted during the Cyberman invasion, and Ianto rigged the equipment to keep her alive in secret. Ianto hopes that Dr. Tanizaki, a cybernetics expert, can undo the conversion and make her human again. They take her to the autopsy lab and are able to let her breathe on her own, when Ianto learns that the rest of the team is on the way back to Torchwood to deal with a rogue UFO. Ianto leaves Dr. Tanizaki to take Lisa back to the cell while he prepares for the team's arrival. However, after he leaves, Lisa's Cyberman influence takes over, and she attempts to "upgrade" Dr. Tanizaki as way of repaying him for his favor, killing him.

As the rest of Torchwood deal with the UFO, there is a brief power flicker; Ianto quickly covers up by claiming that the generators have been acting up all day and offers to look into it. Returning to Lisa's cell, he finds Dr. Tanizaki's body with Lisa standing over him. Ianto tells Lisa to stay in the cell as he drags Dr. Tanizaki's body off to hide it from the team. Lisa reenters the cybernetic unit and begins to drain more power from Torchwood, which is quickly noticed by the others. Arming themselves, they head for the holding cell where the power drain is occurring, believing Torchwood to be under attack. They find and recognize the cyber-conversion unit, but are attacked by Lisa, resulting in Gwen being placed in the conversion unit. Jack attempts to shoot Lisa before she can start the unit up, but Ianto tackles him, allowing Lisa to escape. The team regroups in the Hub as the power is drained further by Lisa in preparation to recreate a Cyberman army. Jack demands that Ianto tell everything that's happened. Ianto pleads that since he cleans up after Torchwood but is never asked about his life, they should help him restore Lisa, but Jack maintains that there is no cure. Ianto asks that he try to reason with Lisa before the team attempts to attack her again.

Approaching Lisa, Ianto tries to remind her that she is still human, but she is disgusted by her partially-human appearance. She offers to implant her brain into Ianto, believing that sharing the same life is true love, but Ianto refuses. Lisa declares him incompatible and throws him aside, knocking Ianto unconscious, and sending the rest of the team into action. Jack orders Toshiko to go to the surface to recharge emergency power cells while Gwen and Owen are to search for any weapons they can find, while he tries to delay Lisa's advance. Lisa electrocutes Jack twice, to the shock of Gwen and Owen. Gwen and Owen are momentarily trapped by Lisa in the autopsy lab but manage to escape back to the main Hub, where they find Jack, very much alive despite the previous attack. Jack sprays Lisa with a special "barbecue sauce" that helps their pet pterodactyl identify its prey, and as it attacks Lisa, the rest of the team, along with the recovered Ianto, are able to escape through the invisible lift. Upon exiting the lift, Ianto immediately punches Jack and tries to go back inside, but Jack threatens him, saying that if he fails to kill Lisa in ten minutes, he will come down and kill them both. Ianto returns to Torchwood by himself.

Unbeknownst to the team, a pizza delivery girl, using Torchwood's other entrance to bring some pizzas ordered earlier by Ianto, finds the pterodactyl barely on the floor, and then Lisa is suddenly behind her. Later, as Ianto makes his way to the holding cell, he finds that Lisa's body has died, but the delivery girl, with a large cut across her forehead, claims she is Lisa, and that she took the girl's body so they could be together. Ianto hugs her, then pushes her away and holds her at gunpoint. Lisa tries to explain she did this for Ianto, but then promises that they can be upgraded together. The rest of the Torchwood team, arriving in time to hear that, fire several times on the girl and kill her, leaving Ianto to mourn over Lisa's body.

Cast

Crew

Writer - Chris Chibnall
Director - James Strong
1st Assistant Director - Nick Brown
2nd Assistant Director - Guy De Glanville
3rd Assistant Director - Rhian Salisbury
Executive Producers - Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner
Producer - Richard Stokes
Co-Producer - Chris Chibnall

References

Ianto rescued Lisa from the destruction of Torchwood 1.
Lisa is a partially converted Cybus Cyberman.
Ianto keeps Lisa in a Cyber-conversion unit in the lower levels of Torchwood 3.
The Torchwood pteranodan appears.

Story Notes

This story had a working title of; The Trouble With Lisa.

Ratings

BBC3 - 1.4 million viewers
BBC2 - 2.2 million viewers

Myths

Filming Locations

to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

The device to open the doors was the device used to extract the information from books. (TW: Everything Changes)

Continuity

The invasion of Earth by the Cybus Cybermen occured in DW: Army of Ghosts / Doomsday.
The 'New mayor, new Cardiff' newspaper article from Boom Town can be seen on the door as in Reset (Torchwood story)

DVD Releases