History Recap / TorchwoodS2E5Adam

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: While by the end of the episode, Gwen doesn't remember forgetting Rhys and freaking out, Rhys himself never took an amnesia pill and presumably still remembers the incident, as well as briefly seeing Adam in their apartment with the rest of the Torchwood team.

The team has an uneventful day as [[FiveManBand Gwen, Ianto, Jack, Owen, Toshiko,]] [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers and Adam]] pass their time in the Hub.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: While Adam can insert himself into the team's memories and write a profile for himself in the computer (the team's memories gave him the access codes), he has no physical presence from before he arrived. Ianto realizes something is amiss when he sees Adam is completely absent in the paperwork and the private diary he writes by hand, and Jack finally sees through the façade when he sees Adam MindRape Ianto in the security tapes.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Jack's past is shown. He lost his dad in an [[TheUnseen unseen]] alien attack on his homeworld where they enacted a massacre, and his brother Gray was captured because Jack accidentally let go of his hand while they were running from them.

* SpecialEditionTitle: The opening titles feature two scenes specifically featuring Adam; one where he's at his desk fiddling with a toy, and another has him and Jack holding the same guns used in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks Evolution of the Daleks]]'' to take out some unseen threat.

** Even ''[[SpecialEditionTitle the opening credits]]'' include his actor's name as though he had always been there.

* RapeAsDrama: Although she was brainwashed into thinking she and Adam were in a consensual relationship at the time, this is basically what happens to Toshiko during their SexScene.

* TookALevelInKindness: Owen, as reinterpreted by Adam, is a much nicer, meeker, dorkier guy.
** Which leads to WeWantOurJerkBack from the audience.

* ContinuityNod: Adam escaped from the Void, presumably the same one between universes from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts "Army of Ghosts"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]].

* ADayInTheLimelight: Jack's past is shown. He lost his dad in an [[TheUnseen unseen]] alien attack on his homeworld where they enacted a massacre, and his brother Gray was captured because Jack got scared and ran from them.

While Gwen tries to fall in love with Rhys all over again and re-trigger her memories of him (and happily succeeds!), Ianto reads through his Torchwood diary and realizes Adam isn't in it. Also, his blood sample isn't in the Hub database. Adam knows that he's been rumbled, so he undoes Ianto's recollection of the discovery and tries to eliminate him as a threat by filling his memories with gruesome murders (and kisses him, because that's just how things are in Torchwood), so Ianto becomes convinced that he's an insane serial killer and confesses to Jack. Jack, of course, doesn't believe that his boyfriend would suddenly go insane, and he completely thwarts Adam's plans by...

* UndyingLoyalty: Jack absolutely refuses to believe Ianto's confession about being a serial killer, even after Ianto passes a polygraph test, and doesn't stop digging until he uncovers the truth about Adam.

Adam's locked in the vault while Tosh has a breakdown over losing her boyfriend like that. Jack holds an improvised hynotherapy session to make everyone remember their true selves. Tosh's true self likes maths and didn't have a flat-warming because there was no one to invite. Owen's true self had a cold, distant mom. Ianto's true self just wants to be loved by his co-workers. Gwen's true self loves Rhys... but not in the way she loves Jack. With that out of the way, they all take amnesia pills and the files and footage from the past two days are purged so that Adam will be erased.

Jack confronts Adam in the cells. Adam admits that he's a being who escaped from the Void and exists by inserting himself into others' memories, and that he was drawn to Torchwood because they had the most interesting memories. He argues that he didn't harm the Torchwood gang: he made them ''better'', he claims, echoing every fanfiction writer out there. He gets Jack's permission to help him recall more about Gray, but infiltrates the happy memories of their childhood on the coast of the Boeshane Peninsula so that they include child!Adam. To erase Adam, Jack will have to lose the memories of Gray as well. Jack decides that it's worth it and swallows his amnesia pill, erasing Adam from existence.

Adam's locked in the vault while Tosh has a breakdown over losing her boyfriend like that. Jack holds an improvised hynotherapy session to make everyone remember their true selves. Tosh's true self likes maths and didn't have a flat-warming because there was no one to invite. Owen's true self had a cold, distant mom. Ianto's true self just wants to be loved by his co-workers. Gwen's true self loves Rhys... but not in the way she loves Jack. With that out of the way, they all take amnesia pills so that Adam will be erased.

Jack confronts Adam in the cells. Adam admits that he's a being who escaped from the Void and exists by inserting himself into others' memories, and that he was drawn to Torchwood because they had the most interesting memories. He argues that he didn't harm the Torchwood gang: he made them ''better'', he claims, echoing every fanfiction writer out there. He gets Jack's permission to help him recall more about Gray, but infiltrates the happy memories of their childhood on the coast of the Boeshane Peninsula so they include him as well. To erase Adam, Jack will have to lose the memories of Gray as well. Jack decides that it's worth it and swallows his amnesia pill, erasing Adam from existence.

Adam's locked in the vault while Tosh has a breakdown over losing her boyfriend like that. Jack holds an improvised hynotherapy session to make everyone remember their true selves. Tosh's true self likes maths and didn't have a flat-warming because there was no one to invite. Owen's true self had a cold, distant mom. Ianto's true self just wants to be loved by his co-workers. Gwen's true self loves Rhys... but not in the way she loves Jack. With that out of the way, they all take amnesia pills.

There's a new guy in the opening sequence, and his name is Adam. This handsome villain's main power is to make everyone around him RememberTheNewGuy. He can also change their personalities, and turns Torchwood into a self-insert fanfic: Jack becomes his new best friend, Toshiko his sexy, snarky girlfriend, and Owen becomes a nervous, mousey office dork with a crush on Tosh. (Ianto just sort of hangs back.) Gwen arrives for work, sees the stranger, and asks, "Who the hell is this?" But then Adam touches her and feeds himself into her memories, covering the remark by making it an in-joke about what Adam said when Gwen first visited the Torchwood Hub in [[Recap/TorchwoodS1E1EverythingChanges "Everything Changes"]].

Adam argues that he didn't harm the Torchwood gang: he made them ''better'', he claims, echoing every fanfiction writer out there. He gets Jack's permission to help him recall more about Gray, but infiltrates the happy memories of their childhood on the coast of the Boeshane Peninsula so they include him as well. To erase Adam, Jack will have to lose the memories of Gray as well. Jack decides that it's worth it and swallows his amnesia pill, erasing Adam from existence.

* EvilFeelsGood: Adam remarks that he'd forgotten what a rush implanting memories of bad things was. Under his influence, Ianto also tells Jack that murdering those people had felt good. Fortunately, no one was actually murdered since these were just FakeMemories.

* RapeAsDrama: Although she was brainwashed into thinking she and Adam were in a consensual relationship at the time, this is basically what happens to Toshiko.

Adam argues that he didn't harm the Torchwood gang: he made them ''better'', he claims, echoing every fanfiction writer out there. He makes Jack recall more about Gray, but infiltrates the happy memories of their childhood on the coast of the Boeshane Peninsula so they include him as well. To erase Adam, Jack will have to lose the memories of Gray as well. Jack decides that it's worth it and swallows his amnesia pill, erasing Adam from existence.

The next day, no one remembers a thing, although they're a bit miffed at having lost two whole days somehow. Jack manages to open a box that the crew had been fiddling around with for a while, and it contains... sand, presumably Jack's home.

Adam argues that he didn't harm the Torchwood gang: he made them ''better'', he claims, echoing every fanfiction writer out there. He makes Jack recall more about Gray, but infiltrates the memories so they include him as well. To erase Adam, Jack will have to lose the memories of Gray as well. Jack decides that it's worth it and swallows his amnesia pill, erasing Adam from existence.

The next day, no one remembers a thing, although they're a bit miffed at having lost two whole days somehow. Jack manages to open a box that the crew had been fiddling around with for a while, and it contains... sand.

While Gwen tries to fall in love with Rhys all over again (and happily succeeds!), Ianto reads through his Torchwood diary and realizes Adam isn't in it. Also, his blood sample isn't in the Hub database. Adam knows that he's been rumbled, so he undoes Ianto's recollection of the discovery and tries to eliminate him as a threat by filling his memories with gruesome murders (and kisses him, because that's just how things are in Torchwood), so Ianto becomes convinced that he's an insane serial killer and confesses to Jack. Jack, of course, doesn't believe that his boyfriend would suddenly go insane, and he completely thwarts Adam's plans by...

By implanting new memories, Adam sometimes also buries old ones as a side-effect, and Gwen forgets ever having met Rhys. This instantly backfires on Adam, because, you know, Gwen lives with Rhys. The team quickly figure out that something's very wrong when Gwen calls to say there's a half-naked burglar in her house and they arrive to find her holding her fiancé at gunpoint. Rhys accuses Jack of retconning Gwen because he wants her all to himself, and Jack promises to find out what's going on.

There's a new guy in the opening sequence, and his name is Adam. This handsome villain's main power is to make everyone around him RememberTheNewGuy. He can also change their personalities, and turns Torchwood into a self-insert fanfic: Jack becomes his new best friend, Toshiko his sexy, snarky girlfriend, and Owen becomes a nervous, mousey office dork with a crush on Tosh. (Ianto just sort of hangs back.)

By planting new memories, Adam sometimes also buries old ones as a side-effect, and Gwen forgets ever having met Rhys. This instantly backfires on Adam, because, you know, Gwen lives with Rhys. The team quickly figure out that something's very wrong when Gwen calls to say there's a half-naked burglar in her house and they arrive to find her holding her fiancé at gunpoint. Rhys accuses Jack of retconning Gwen because he wants her all to himself, and Jack promises to find out what's going on.

Adam convinces Jack to share his deepest memories. It turns out that Jack has one memory deliberately hidden away: that of accidentally losing track of his little brother Gray during an air raid. His memories of his home, the desert of the Boeshane Peninsula, are too painful for him.