Torchwood 1.04 -- Cyberwoman
Jack really needs to look at his hiring policy and people management skills, doesn't he? First Suzie, now this.
The first time I saw this episode, my reaction was "What the *hell*..." even though I had some idea of what was coming. This was the first one that really justified the "Who for adults" label for me. It's gruesome and horrific, but I don't think it's gratuitous. This time the post-watershed content is there for a reason. It took some of the things that were only implied in the main series, and put them on screen up close and very, very personal, taking a hard look at what it meant for the people who had to deal with the aftermath of the Cyberman invasion.
Beautifully set up opening sequence, starting with Ianto fiddling with his tie and looking slightly nervous, then walking into the main Hub area but pausing behind the bars in front of the wheel door. It's framed to show him cut off and separate from the others, even before you see him being left out of the game and then left behind when the others go out together to socialise. You don't have to have seen the trailer to know that this is Ianto's episode, he's not part of the team any more, and the others are completely oblivious to his isolation and pretty much oblivious to him. Then the big reveal, and making it clear with a couple of lines and a beautiful kiss that what others see is a Cyberman, and what Ianto sees is the woman he loves. Before the opening credits, everything that this episode is about.
Of course, Ianto's problem is that Lisa is rather more Cyber-converted than he realises, and is intent on upgrading everyone she can get hold of, starting with the cybernetics scientist Ianto has smuggled into the Hub to help him get her off the life support system he cobbled together from a Cyber-conversion unit. Mayhem ensues, with Ianto trying to protect Lisa from the rest of Team Torchwood, and occasionally trying to protect them from her.
The episode manages to be sometimes silly, sometimes seriously scary, and completely mad throughout. It's the Whoniverse with the knob turned up to eleven and a tin of black paint tipped over it, and not ashamed of it. In amongst the nonsense there is some very good acting, and some lovely set pieces. And the angst, dear god, the angst...
Chibnall is a nasty bugger and twists the knife by making it clear that Ianto and Jack are *both* right. The conversion was never completed, and something of Lisa really is still there rather than being nothing more a front used by the Cyber personality to trick Ianto into helping it. But her mind is so badly damaged by the partial conversion that there is simply no way back for her. And Ianto is going to have to live with having caused the deaths of two people in trying to save her. Dr Tanizaki isn't entirely innocent, since he knew exactly what he was getting involved with, but the pizza delivery girl is another matter. Nice touch to make it clear that this isn't just a stranger but a regular caller who knows Ianto well enough for her to call out to him by name and go looking for him when she can't find him in the information office.
The episode didn't quite work for me the first time round, partly because it really did seem to come out of nowhere, and partly because I am a Kinsey 0 female and couldn't get past laughing at the blatant appeal to straight fanboys with the uber-dominatrix cyber-bikini. The blatant appeal to the fangirls with Jack's special kiss of life technique didn't quite make up for it. (And this time having missed out on "Day One" was a hinderance, as I didn't have the recent example of Jack transferring life energy, although I did know from context and ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
predatrix's comments what was going on.) Plus I think the episode simply isn't going to work as well for someone who hasn't seen the relevant Doctor Who episodes about the Battle of Canary Wharf. Yes, Jack tells Gwen about it in episode 1, and Owen follows up here with more detail, but it's not going to have the same emotional impact. And there hasn't been much opportunity to get attached to Ianto before this episode, or learn anything about him other than he's quiet, looks good in a suit, and flirts gently back at Jack.
And it's full of plotholes...
In spite of which, the confrontation between Jack and Ianto when Jack works out who's responsible for a Cyberman in his basement worked for me, and not just because I'm a filthy-minded fangirl pervert who enjoys the sight of Ianto on his knees with his hands behind his head. Ianto is thoroughly in the wrong, and Jack has every reason to be pissed off with him. But Ianto's quite right when he lashes back in reply to the question of why he didn't tell them or ask for help. Lisa was wounded in the line of duty, but Torchwood would destroy her rather than try to help her. There's no right answer, and it's easy to feel sympathy for Ianto's act of love even while thinking he's a bloody idiot. Oh, and Jack? Bit hypocritical to rant at Ianto about hiding himself from them, coming as it does from a man whose subordinates can't even work out whether or not he's gay, let alone where he's from or what his real name is.
There is scenery-chewing, but if ever a script justified scenery-chewing it's this one. Ianto survived the horror of the battle of Canary Wharf, which would be enough to traumatise anyone. He dragged his half-converted girlfriend out of the ruins, and had to find a way to protect her. He's managed to smuggle her into Torchwood 3's basement and has spent the last few months trying to keep her alive, having to watch her suffer without being able to stop it, knowing that if he makes one slip she'll be killed by his colleagues. That's a lot of grief and fear he's been holding inside. No wonder that when that shell of smooth composure cracks, it cracks wide open. And during those months he's come to care about his new colleagues enough that he's torn by conflicting loyalties when Lisa threatens them.
The cyberbikini. Oh god. I'm conflicted on this one, because it was just such a blatant "sex sells" thing, and the costume was completely ridiculous considered from a practical perspective of what the preparatory work for fitting the cyber armour would be. It shatters suspension of disbelief. But on the other hand, it was *also* a very deliberate homage to a long line of sexy gynoids in science fiction, including a clear reference to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. So I flip between appreciating the references, and thinking, "oh, put your cocks away, boys." And having been brought up on the classic Cybermen's approach to conquest, I do like them going back to converting human bodies, rather than just scooping the brains out and installing them in a robot body.
Jack's utterly ruthless in this episode, even if Ianto does reach him with that jab about not caring enough to ask. It's clear that Jack is familiar not just with the parallel universe Cybermen, but the original Mondas Cybermen, and he'll do whatever it takes to stop them. He understands that Lisa was human once and feels pity for her, but that only makes him more determined to stop her before she can do the same to others as was done to her.
But why let Ianto return to Torchwood? That did seem a bit odd first time round, given Ianto's deception. I decided that Jack's big on loyalty, and doesn't like to let go of any of his people -- he tried to persuade Suzi to surrender in Everything Changes, rather than simply shooting her. Ianto's been an idiot, but for very specific reasons that aren't likely to happen again. And it's clear even this early that Torchwood damages people, and Jack is well aware of it, having recruited Gwen partly to give the team a normal perspective. Ianto's just the latest casualty, and may be salvageable; Jack had already made the decision to try to salvage him when he resuscitated him.
***
Watching the episode again after having seen two seasons is a very different experience, of course. There's been plenty of opportunity to get attached to Ianto, so it hurts to watch him going through this. And Fragments fleshes out the backstory. No wonder Ianto's so contemptuous of the suggestion that he should have asked the team for help. It's not just knowing what Torchwood's policy on alien threats is -- when he was asking Jack for a job, Jack made it quite clear that he didn't give a damn about the Canary Wharf survivors. From Jack's perspective he's got more than one good reason for that, but Ianto didn't know that. The episode works a lot better the second time round, daft costume and all.
And of course the DVD extras include the original final scene. As explained in the commentary, it was left out of the final cut because the director did such a stunning job with the scene where Jack and Gwen watch Ianto return to the hub that it became the obvious place to close the episode, rather than going on to the scripted final scene. But it's well worth watching.
Random comments:
Stunning acting from Burn Gorman when Owen sees the cyberunit and realises what's living in the basement.
It's never explicitly stated in the episode itself that Ianto worked at T1, though it's strongly implied (and the counselling transcript on the series 1 website says that Ianto and Lisa worked together and Ianto transferred to a branch office after head office closed).
Oh, he does seem to have a coffee machine now.
That book-reading device Tosh took home is a lockpick as well, it seems.
DVD commentary
Again, a lot of good discussion on writing and directing choices, and some interesting snippets of information, which I may put in a separate post.
The cyberwoman in the basement was always in RTD's plan for the series, from before he even started calling in writers to work with him. Gareth was told right at the beginning that he had a cyber-girlfriend who'd worked at T1, but didn't know any more details than that until he got the script a week before they started filming the episode.
They originally intended the episode to be later in the series, number 6 or 7, but with the way scripts came in, ended up using it earlier. Chibnall now thinks it would have been a brilliant episode 10, bringing in the connection to Doctor Who at a late stage. I'm inclined to agree with him, although I do wonder how much character development for Ianto they'd have fitted in beforehand if it had gone that way, given that they were deliberately keeping him as a quiet, reserved background character until he no longer had a reason to hide. On the other hand, at episode 6 he'd have had a bit more screen time before you see him cracked open.
The episode doesn't really work as the fourth episode of a new show, because you don't have enough reason to care about Ianto and Lisa. But it does work as a fragment of a longer piece, and I could chatter on at far greater length about why. There's a hell of a lot of characterisation and things implied that work a lot better when you have more of the long term story arc.
