Yvonne is alive! Jack locks her in a cell in the Hub, because she wants to take over Torchwood. Jack forbids the team from talking to her, taking a "galactic lockpick" from her. He gets angry with Colchester for giving her tea, but Yvonne writes "check my car," on the wall, and in the trunk of the car, they find Jack's Red Doors informant. Jack demands that he not tell them about his Red Doors involvement. Yvonne, who has been able to eavesdrop using her magic sci-fi worm thing, invites Ng to the cell and makes her suspicious of Jack, and tells her the man is with Red Doors. Yvonne broadcasts a message across the Hub, saying Red Doors have placed bombs across Cardiff. The informant, Xander, continues to deny it. When Orr talks to Yvonne in her cell, they realize they think Jack has tunnel vision about Yvonne. Mr. Colchester finds footage of Jack arming the protesters from "The Empty Hand" and pulls a gun on him, realizing Xander works with him. Xander admits this. Ng shoots Jack when Colchester doesn't, and searching Jack's pockets, they discover the Galactic Lockpick, which they believe is his, the key to deactivating the bombs. Later, Yvonne meets Jack on a rooftop and announces her victory and that she is instated as the new leader of Torchwood and all it took were a few bombs and the right words. Jack asks what she's been doing for all these years and Yvonne pushes him from the rooftop, declaring it is "A new and glorious dawn for Torchwood."
This episode contains examples of:
- The Coup: Yvonne's manipulations cause Ng, Colchester and Orr to turn on Jack and let her take over Torchwood.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Doubles with Good Is Not Nice as Yvonne's more appealing persona endears her to the team, where the more abrasive Jack falls behind because of this.
- Batman Gambit: Yvonne knows what everyone's going to do - but it's her understanding of Jack's character that lets her win. Jack's repeated insistence on secrecy and not trusting people for the greater good makes the "people person" Yvonne seem more appealing, even with Jack explaining how dangerous she is.
- The Bad Guy Wins: At the end of the episode, Yvonne Hartman is in command of Torchwood after framing Jack with the use of dummy bombs to make it look like Jack armed them. Whether Jack or Yvonne is the real villain here is YMMV.
- Back from the Dead: Yvonne Hartman. Supposedly. In fact she's from An alternate universe.
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Moral Event Horizon: Torchwood Three believes Jack crosses it by working with Red Doors. - Magnificent Bastard: Yvonne Hartman convinces everyone around her to willingly give her leadership of Torchwood Three, and is awesome doing it.
- Manipulative Bastard: Yvonne says she's a "people person," which really means she's an expert on getting people to do what she wants. One by one, they all come down to her cell, simply by her sowing doubts and placing a few words, for the most part she doesn't even have to move to get what she wants.
- The Chessmaster: Although Yvonne uses more personal information and leans more onto the Manipulative Bastard trope, she has heavy shades of this.
- The Bus Came Back: Yvonne Hartman. Although it's a different scenario, and there was her appearances in the Monthly Range of Torchwood audios, this still qualifies.
- Anti-Villain: Yvonne is either this or Anti-Hero. Depending on your response to Jack's actions. She's certainly Anti-SOMETHING. She does successfully place blame on him for something he didn't do with BOMBS so it's probably villain.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Ng, Colchester and Orr have a furious reaction towards Jack for his work with Red Doors, exactly as Yvonne predicted.
- Wham Episode: The largest so far in the series, Jack is ousted from his position as Torchwood leader and replaced by an Alternate Universe copy of Yvonne, a character previously thought to be dead, who has also planted bombs around the city.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Jack knows what's going on, and tries to do all of the correct things to keep Yvonne from taking over Torchwood, but considering he has the persuasive ability of just saying "Trust me, you guys" over and over, Yvonne takes over.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Jack tries on multiple occasions to get Yvonne to stop manipulating the team this way, but considering Yvonne is The Chessmaster, this fails badly.
