Torchwood is a Darker and Edgier, Hotter and Sexier, and Bloodier and GorierSpin-Off of the British science fiction institution Doctor Who and set, naturally, in the Whoniverse. It follows a men in black-esque group of government agents who collect the Applied Phlebotinumleft over from alien incursions and time-travel weirdness, and use it to defend Great Britain. They are not answerable to the elected government, or any other body (except, technically, the Queen herself).The series is set in Cardiff, site of a spatio-temporal rift, first seen inDoctor Who, through which aliens regularly stumble. They have an Elaborate Underground Base, complete with a pterodactyl.The concept of Torchwood started earlier than the actual spin-off series, however. In the 2005 Doctor Who Christmas Special "The Christmas Invasion", British Prime Minister Harriet Jones authorized the destruction of the Sycorax spaceship by Torchwood with an alien-tech Earth-to-Space laser cannon. Torchwood is earlier/later founded in the episode "Tooth and Claw", the secret organization's Victorian-era origin story. Then, the two-part episode "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday" gave the audience a look at Torchwood London (and its destruction).The third series, a 5-episode miniseries called Torchwood: Children of Earth, was aired on consecutive nights in July 2009, and moved away from the Monster of the Week formula of the first two series.A ten-part fourth series subtitled Miracle Day began airing in July 2011, with the show now being an International Coproduction between the BBC and Starz Entertainment of America. For examples for that series, use that page.Here is the recap page.
All Love Is Un Requited: Let's see. We have Gwen, who does love her husband, but not as much as she loves Jack. Jack loves her, but stays away because she's taken and also is infatuated with the doctor. He has a sexual relationship with Ianto, who is in love with him, but Jack has a tendency to avoid the subject until Torchwood: The Lost Files. Tosh is in love with Owen, who won't give her the time of day. There is an episode when he does, but then she has no interest in him.
Ianto to Jack. As the former is dying. Made only worse by the fact that it was the first time he ever said it.
Not to mention that in spite of all development shown in the series so far, Jack couldn't say the same thing.
Although given how many of his loved ones have died so far, Jack may intentionally be avoiding this because it simply hurts too much knowing that he will always outlive them.
At this point, apart from Gwen, all of Torchwood 3. Although Jack obviously didn't stay dead.
Early on, it's mentioned that except for Jack, everyone at Torchwood is relatively young; due to the extremely dangerous nature of their work, few Torchwood employees live to see 35. Although many shows about troubleshooting elite teams make this sort of "everyone on our team dies young" claim, Torchwood is notable for actually making good on it.
Lampshaded in Children of Earth when Agent Johnson comments that for Alice Carter's mother, a former operative, to have died of old age was rare for Torchwood.
And then again in Miracle Day when it's stated all of Torchwood was declared dead, and that they all died young.
Break the Cutie: Happens to Ianto in "Adam", happens to Tosh in "Greeks Bearing Gifts", happens to Gwen in "End of Days"...they all get more than their fair share of these moments, really.
Any shreds of secrecy probably evaporated somewhere between the episode where a psycho started writing TORCHWOOD in blood on walls and the episode where an Eldritch Abomination stomped around the Millennium Centre.
"Have you seen a blowfish driving a sports car?"
"...Bloody Torchwood."
Ask for Torchwood and people will point you in the right direction. They order pizza under the name.
But Not Too Bi: Jack. His relationships to men are casual (even with Ianto he never went any deeper than innuendo until the very end), his relationships to women are romantic. This was reversed in Miracle Day.
Continuity Snarl: Given the multiple writers, mediums and moods between seasons, it's not much of a surprise. Among the lighter contradictions we have the one concerning whether Jack sleeps or not that came up in series one.
Couldn't Find A Pen: Tosh uses her own blood to send a message in "Captain Jack Harkness". She could easily have borrowed a pen, but the message needed to last for about sixty years. Ink fades faster than blood.
Dead Person Impersonation: Captain Jack Harkness, who assumed the identity of a deceased American pilot while working as a con man during World War II (and still uses the name as his own).
Dr. Patanjali is quite clearly set up to be a new Torchwood team member in the first episode of Children of Earth. Near the end of the episode, it turns out he's working with Johnson's team, and he subsequently gets shot by Johnson when she decides that she no longer needs him.
Series 2 ends with Toshiko and Owen dying. Children of Earth (although it was downright happy compared to how hopeless things seemed for most of the final episode}. "Small Worlds", "Out of Time", "Sleeper", "Greeks Bearing Gifts" and "Cyberwoman" also had downer endings.
Jack's entire existence. No matter what he does, the people he loves will eventually die, while he remains exactly the same. Although "Gridlock" potentially gives him an awesome ending, if he indeed is the Face of Boe.
When a guy ends up sleeping with the man who killed his girlfriend and a girl pines after an undead man after dating a killer alien chick and a frozen WWI soldier, you know you've arrived safely at this trope.
It gets so bad in Children of Earth, that if you plan to watch all the episodes together, at least mix in something mildly uplifting between episodes or after viewing. Otherwise, prepare for a week of depression.
Easily Forgiven: In Torchwood, Captain Jack is shot dead by Owen. Despite the fact Owen was unaware that Jack would resurrect, Jack easily forgives him.
In that same episode, the team mutinies against Jack and unintentionally releases a giant monster that steals the life force of anyone its giant shadow falls upon. Jack manages to destroy it by letting it feed of him. However, the effort leaves him dead for three days, which is the longest to date that he's ever stayed dead. He still forgives the team, minutes after reviving. It might be subverted, given that he ran off to find the Doctor a few scenes later.
And, in "Cyberwoman", we find out Ianto's been hiding a dangerous Cyberman in the basement. He endangers the whole planet, tells the main character he wants him dead and is forgiven by the end of the episode.
In "Exit Wounds", Captain Jack forgives his brother, Grey, for burying him alive for almost exactly 1900 years. By 'alive' we mean that he suffocated to death and then revived every couple of minutes for nineteen centuries as the city of Cardiff is established above him. Mind you, this is after Grey has John Hart systematically blow up Cardiff, in addition to stabbing Jack in the back (literally!) when they're first reunited. To be fair, though, Jack blames his own failure to protect his brother for being the root cause of all this. And he didn't know what had happened to Owen and Tosh until after the forgiving.
Even the Guys Want Him: Admit it, you want to kiss Captain Jack. It's okay. It's not all guys, just Jack...
Davies seems to have brought in a lot of influences from eariler works. Gwen bears a resemblance to Rose in her role. Captain Jack comes across as a hybrid of the Doctor and Stuart from Queer As Folk, while Ianto became more and more like Vince, especially in his relationship to Jack, as the series progressed. Oh, and they also brought in Spike.
Jack. In fact, John Barrowman apparently once said Jack would do anything that's got a hole. Later, on a Doctor Who special edition of The Weakest Link, Barrowman said that Jack likes "anything with a postcode".
John Hart takes this (and many of Jack's other traits) Up to Eleven, showing attraction to a poodle.
The Fair Folk: In "Small Worlds", a very creepy episode, the "fairies" are depicted as unstoppable horrors.
It's played VERY smooth in the case of Adam. Watch the intro sequence for that episode. Some of the otherwise "previously on"-style footage includes various shots of Adam. That don't happen in this episode. Or ever.
Fan Disservice: Rhys' bum, and the bum of Ianto's brother-in-law. Basically any male bum in the series that doesn't belong to Captain Jack Harkness.
Fan Service Pack: Toshiko Sato grew more beautiful during her run on the show.
Fetus Terrible: Carried by Gwen. In a subversion, the unborn wasn't really the deadly part, it was the unborn's mother coming to rip it out of her.
The Ghost: Ianto's father, who died before the show began, once broke his son's leg and provoked his leaving home for London and Torchwood 1. Ianto lies about his profession to impress Jack, and Gwen's mistaken beliefs about the man reveal how little Ianto's colleagues actually know him.
Going to Give It More Energy: The mere shadow of Abbadon instantly drains the life from anyone unlucky enough to be touched by it. The solution? Jack Harkness, the man who keeps resurrecting due to an "overabundance of life energy", forces Abbadon to gorge until it falls over dead.
Jack's job title has gone from "captain" to "meat shield."
Subverted in series 2 with Owen, after his return from the dead, who loses the ability to heal completely, making the slightest injury potentially crippling.
Guilt Complex: While Jack is usually seen as a clever, charming, flirtatious and impulsive man who doesn't like dwelling much on the bad stuff, Children of Earth shows us that there are many things he has been blamed for over the course of his life, which has been long enough to make for a massive Guilt Complex; he just had not spoken his guilt out loud. Most of these things were not his fault at all, but being in a privileged position (as the leader of Torchwood Three, but he also can't die) makes him feel responsible for the lives of those around him.
Jack, of course, but even more so — Captain John Hart.
Hart: That's bloody gorgeous. Gwen: That's a poodle.
While not too kinky by Torchwood standards, in "Day One", Toshiko was doing a head tilt when the team were watching Gwen making out with the Monster of the Week.
Humans Are Morons: Trying to kill the Torchwood team to cover-up knowledge of past dealings with a hostile alien race is one thing, but blowing up their base, which was packed to the rafters with potentially useful alien technology and weapons that could be used to defend against said aliens, is proof that some people are just too stupid to live.
Iconic Item: Jack's greatcoat. Even when the Hub is collapsing around their ears, Ianto pauses in his escape to grab it for him; later he tracks down a replacement coat after the original is destroyed in "Day One", because Jack doesn't feel like the captain without it. Ianto's suits function similarly.
So much so that most of the main characters are granted at least one idiot ball episode.
At one point, the writers said Ianto was bi. Now the story is, "It's not all men... it's just Jack." His sexuality really depends on who's writing the episode. Also, possibly, it could be that he's terrified of what his sister would think.
It's also established a few episodes later that Ianto habitually lies about himself, even to Gwen and Jack, so his "not men, just Jack" proves nothing.
Kill the Poor: The actions taken by the British government verge on this. When aliens require 10% of the children of the world, the government eventually decides to take those 10% from the most impoverished sections of society. One politician in particular implies that, given the world's overpopulation in general, this may not be a bad thing at all in the long run.
Kiss of Life: Used twice by Jack. And once by Gwen.
Jack's theme also contains noticable riffs and variations on The Doctor's Theme and This is Gallifrey at the 1:07 and 2:00 minute mark respectively, echoing that Jack has come to strongly resemble the Time Lord himself.
Lovable Sex Maniac: Pretty much everyone at Torchwood at one point or another, but mostly Jack.
Jack: (nonchalant) We could've used you half an hour ago for nekkid hide-and-seek.
Ianto: (doing up his pants) He cheats. He always cheats.
The Nothing After Death: Comes up several times throughout the series. The general consensus is that there is nothing but a black void or even a Cessation Of Existence, however several people have claimed that there is something moving in the void and that it's coming for Jack.
Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Post-Series 2, the whole format of the show has changed. The "monster of the week"-style storytelling has been abandoned in favour of single-story serials. Cardiff is no longer the fixed setting, and only two of the original cast of five remains.
Torchwood, secret agency that everyone knows about.
Series 2 opener: "Bloody Torchwood!"
"Ask about Torchwood, and most people point towards the bay."
Also, the team would regularly order pizza deliveries to the shop that acted as a disguised entrance to their hidden base. These were charged to an account named "Torchwood" that one of the agents had set up with the pizza company.
John Hart. Who is essentially as amoral as Jack was in his first appearance.
Jack is repeatedly showing traits of the Doctor. Like the Doctor, he seems to be partially aware that he needs someone with him to keep him grounded and to stop succumbing to his darker impulses.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Jack can ramble at length about where he's been and who he slept with while there. This isn't always because he's the Handsome Lech.
"We're outside the government and beyond the police, arming the Earth against the future. The twenty-first century is when everything changes, and we gotta be ready. All five of us."
Jack: This is Torchwood 3. Torchwood 1 was London — destroyed in the battle. Torchwood 2 is an office in Glasgow. A very strange man. Torchwood 3, Cardiff. Torchwood 4 has kinda gone missing but we'll find it one day.
It gets worse. The team subsequently drops to three members (including Jack).
The decline in team size is rather surprising. Much is made of the fact that Torchwood operatives have a high mortality rate, yet there seems to be no system of formal recruitment for new members, nor anyone in any kind of backup position for any of the existing team members. Jack recruits entirely at random, and despite the fact that Torchwood team members are "paid by the Crown" (according to Gwen), there is nothing even remotely resembling a recruitment, staffing or human resources organization.
The Torchwood Three Hub is a massive underground complex, several stories high, which is somehow maintained by a team of five or fewer people. It is also somehow expanded periodically. The "invisible lift" leading up to the Roald Dahl Plass had to have been installed sometime after the Doctor Who episode Boomtown, since the "perception filter" that conceals it did not exist until the Doctor parked his TARDIS there. Sometime during Jack's year-long absence, the remaining four members of the team performed extensive renovations in the Hub, including adding a large new conference room. The entire complex is apparently cleaned and maintained by Ianto, who also somehow finds time to make coffee, do various administrative work and staff the tourist office that conceals the Hub's other entrance. Then again, their xenobiologist and computer expert also find time to perform their jobs, go out to hunt aliens and somehow squeeze in a bit of time at home. They are all very good at multitasking it would appear.
Older than They Look: Jack. At the start of the series, he's been stranded on Earth since 1869. After the events of Exit Wounds, he's at least 2,000 years old.
Only a Flesh Wound: Justified with Jack (and even Lampshaded), not so much with everyone else. The people of Cardiff really like to shoot each other in the shoulder.
James Marsters, who plays Fake Brit Captain John Hart, has a come-and-go American trace.
And while John Barrowman's American accent (though Jack's probably not born on Earth) is mostly flawless (he did live in the US for quite some time), he does have a British pronunciation to some of his words which reveals his spending most of his working life in Britain.
Which is completely realistic, considering how much time the character has spent in Britain.
Our Zombies Are Different: In Bay of the Dead. They may look, act, and smell like shambling reanimated corpses, but they're little more than malfunctioning protein-based search drones based on a human's memories from watching a zombie flick.
Pizza Boy Special Delivery: In the first episode, Gwen "sneaks" into the Hub by delivering pizza, but the team just can't restrain the giggles. Jack recites both halves of the script of this trope, stopping just before the bow-chicka-wow-wow.
Power Perversion Potential: Among other things mentioned in the first series, such as bottled pheromones, in Children of Earth we discover that Gwen took the Torchwood contact lenses home to have "fun" with them with Rhys.
Punch Clock Villain: They feature heavily in the series 3 and 4 miniseries, which concentrate more on "banality of evil"-type villains than "Monster of the Week" baddies.
Railing Kill: John Hart does this to Jack in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang."
And in "Day One" (the series one episode), Owen points his gun at a gaseous lifeform ... which is directly between him and Gwen.
Retcon: In Doctor Who's "Aliens of London", Toshiko had a job of a doctor, rather than her usual job of computer specialist. This was resolved when she mentions in "Exit Wounds" that she was covering for Owen, who was hungover during the "space pig" case.
Revolvers Are Just Better: Despite the vast collection of modern Earth firearms and quite a few alien weapons available, Jack tends to stick with his officer's Webley unless the situation calls for something special.
James Marsters in his first appearance shows up, kills a man by lifting him by his throat with super strength and says "Thirsty now." A very subtle reference to his most famous role as Spike.
In the bar he mentions that Torchwood needs a blonde. Considering that Spike had a thing for blondes it seemed...
The Torchwood novel Bay of the Dead contains a Shout Out to Shaun of the Dead:
Ianto: It's crazy, Jack. It's horror-movie hokum. You know it is.
Jack: And you know what we're up against here, don't you?
Ianto: No, I don't. Don't say it, Jack. Don't use the-
Jack: Zombies!
Ianto: -zed word.
There are shout outs to other series and mediums, such as in the Torchwood Online Mission game...
Gwen: Oh my god. Ianto, do you realise everything just got broadcast right across Cardiff?
Possible Shout Out to ''Babylon 5: Torchwood 4 has supposedly "gone missing" which, at the beginning of the series, was the status of Babylon 4
John Hart playing "Starship Trooper" when Jack comes to confront him at the end of series two. The same song was used for a funeral in Queer As Folk, Russell T. Davies breakout series
The notorious "Cyberwoman" costume was a blatant Shout Out to the work of the Japanese cyberfetish and BDSM erotic artist Hajime Sorayama.
The only one available to Jack. There's a possibility that Jack is destined to live for another five BILLION years.
Inverted in the case of Tommy, a doughboy Torchwood has kept in suspended animation since 1918. He's woken up for one day every year to check his health. To him WWI ended less than four months ago. He's a little bitter that from his point of view, WWII rolled around about three weeks after "the war to end all wars."
Strange Secret Entrance: The Hub could be entered by a lift next to the fountain in Roald Dahl Plass that was concealed by a perception filter. There was also a more mundane secret entrance in a tourism office.
Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Lampshaded/Justified when Gwen wonders if the Doctor is looking down on Earth in shame as the events of Children of Earth unfold.
Take the Wheel: Owen makes Gwen do it in the opener of "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang".
In fact, Torchwood seems to thrive on damaged people.
According to the online material for the first series, Ianto Jones has a therapist, with whom he discusses losing his job and having "problemswith his girlfriend". Unfortunately, he only does one session of therapy and never goes back, despite really needing it.
Took a Level in Badass: Ianto. Even before mentioning things that would go into Spoiler-land, he definitely upgraded from being the tea/coffee boy to a full member of the team.
Too Spicy for Yog Sothoth: Owen during Series 2 proves to be unpalatable to various hungry aliens. On several occasions they sniff at him and turn away in disgust, leaving Owen looking unsure whether to be relieved or insulted.
Toyless Toyline Character: There have been weevils and blowfish and even two versions of Jack, but Owen is still the only member of the team to not have an action figure. Although, there was rumor of a briefly displayed prototype sculpture...
Trash the Set: Done with gusto throughout Children of Earth, to the point where by the end Torchwood technically doesn't even exist anymore aside from some files on a hidden government server.
Ianto, whose main function in the base appears to be making coffee, was allowed to keep his job after they discovered he was keeping a partially converted Cyber(wo)man in the Torchwood basement, which led to two deaths and directly endangered the entire planet. He showed little contrition over this, and after Jack insisted that she be destroyed threatened he would watch Jack die. Couldn't they just make their own coffee?
Also Gwen, who messes up so bad on her first day that at least ten people end up dead and a teenage girl completly traumatized as a result of her actions.
The entire group mutinies against Jack which results in him getting shot dead and an unholy demon being released to feast on the citizens of Cardiff.
In "They Kept Killing Suzie", and how! To overview, Suzie brainwashes a man into killing people: and writing 'TORCHWOOD' in their blood — and, when captured, repeating a phrase that she had programmed months earlier to cause a full base lock-down. She apparently knew that Torchwood would revive her to get information, that specifically Gwen Cooper would use the alien glove and alien knife to revive her, and that the process would drain Gwen's life energy. It's foiled at the last minute, but comes damn close to working.
The plan didn't depend on Gwen being the person using the glove, although Suzie probably preferred it that way. All in all, it's more clever and convincing than many others.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Outside of a flashback in "Fragments" (set before the first episode), the pterodactyl hasn't been seen since "Meat". Currently it's not known if it survived the events of Children of Earth.
0 reviews