Site Map | Home | About Us | Contact Us | Team | Donations | Forum

Total Members, 680:

Latest Q & A with Anneke Wills
Site Updated :: 4 February 2008
Quote of the Month:
"We are wonderers in space and time "
1st Doctor 'An Unearthly Child'

Doctor Who World
Big Finish Reviews | Series Reviews | DVD Reviews | VHS Reviews | Book Reviews | Other Reviews
You are here :: Reviews > Series Reviews > Torchwood Part 4 Review
Torchwood :: Episode 4 Review


Review from Robin Pearce

This is the hardest hitting episode yet. It is also the closest thing we've seen to a crossover episode with Doctor Who, and, from what I gather - this is as close as we're likely to get.

The theme is the question "what lengths would you go to, to save the one you love" and it's Ianto's turn to take centre stage. Up to this point, Ianto has been pretty much a man of mystery.

 The dark horse, the guy who stays at the base while the others get to do the more glamorous alien chasing. He keeps the home fires burning, he mans the reception and as he says, basically he picks up the others’s**t. (There WAS a strong language warning before broadcast).

Following the standard intro, the Torchwood team is enjoying a strange game of basketball which involves the pterodactyl we saw in the first episode. As Ianto enters the scene, he is obviously troubled but nobody seems to notice his apparent edginess. As usual, the team leaves to go for a social drink in the local bar, leaving Ianto behind.

Yes, he does have some secrets, and Dark ones at that.He greets a visitor to the Torchwood complex, a Japanese doctor called Tanizaki. Ianto leads Tanizaki down in to the catacombs, where the full darkness of his secret is revealed. There is a girl down there, who has been half cyber converted. Also there are the remnants of a Cyber conversion unit. The girl was Ianto's girlfriend Lisa, and she worked for Torchwood London which was destroyed in the battle of Canary Wharf between the Cybermen and the Daleks. She is the only remnant of the Cybermen left on Earth but she was only 55% through the augmentation process before Ianto rescued her.

Cut to the Torchwood Team who are alerted to an UFO sighting over Cardigan Bay (oddly close to where I live).

Meanwhile Tanizaki is now alone with Lisa, who is awake and lucid. Though things are about to turn ugly with a capital "U". Remember one of Darth Vader’s first scenes, where it became apparent how much of a galactic badass he was by holding the rebel soldier up by the throat to his feet are hanging a yard off the ground. Well, that's what she does to Tanizaki before casually tossing him on to the conversion table which is now activated. Her voice is now fully "Cyber" as she intones "I can help you - I can make you strong".

As the team return to investigate the UFO sighting, there is a power loss as the conversion chamber works. Ianto actually covers this up. When he sees (in extremely gory close-up) the half converted face of Tanizaki (steel implant showing under torn skin, handlebar headset protruding from one side of his head) he asks what happened, the flat reply is "His upgrade failed".

Ianto persists in the cover up by hiding the body - as Lisa recharges.

 Team finds out that the UFO poses no real threat, but notice the second power loss. A scan shows more than 1 life sign at Ianto's location so they assume they're under attack. CCTV footage shows them the beginnings of Ianto's betrayal of the team. Meanwhile - Gwen and Owen discover the Cyber Conversion Chamber. Owen recognizes it...but it's not supposed to be there.

Lisa walks in to frame and disarms Gwen with ease, uttering the chilling phrase "you will be like me". She throws Gwen into the conversion chamber. Jack arrives and struggles with Ianto, while Tashiko cuts the power just as the conversion process is about to begin.

Ianto is now a prisoner and confesses to everything at gunpoint. When asked why he never told the team about Lisa, he states "Torchwood exists to destroy alien threats" which is in line with what Queen Victoria said, as well as their attack on the retreating fleet in the Christmas special.

Well, the power is down and they're all trapped in the underground base with a super strong, determined Cyberwoman with more tenacity than a Terminator. "The army will be rebuilt from here" she says, casually surveying the Torchwood base. Ianto tries to reason with her, but she wants to transplant her brain in to his body. Sort of the ultimate marriage, I guess. When he refuses, she mutters "Then we are NOT compatible" and all hell breaks loose.

She repeatedly attacks Jack, mercilessly electrocuting him twice (but of course we know it's already been established he can't die) but while he's stunned and goes after Tashiko next.

Gwen & Owen are in hiding in what appears to be a morgue-type storage locker. Now here's a strange and unexpected scene. Owen & Gwen share a passionate kiss while hiding. The cell phone gives them away and the chase is on again.

In a final stand, Jack throws what he calls barbeque sauce over Lisa. This is a compound that helps the pterodactyl to find and home in on its food. It swoops. Believe me, the CGI rendition of the 'dactyl here is worthy of ILM and Jurassic park - no kidding. As it feeds on the struggling Cyberwoman, the rest of the team make their way above ground. Ianto is understandably distressed and emotional, telling Jack "One day, I'll have the chance to save you - and I’ll watch you suffer".

The power comes back on as a pizza delivery girl arrives, finding the place deserted....apart from Lisa, who's still alive.  

Realizing that the power might save Lisa, Jack orders Ianto back in to the base execute Lisa in an act of inhumane redemption, uncharacteristic of the character as we've come to know him, which again hints at the possible darkness of future episodes. We really don't know whether he'll pull the trigger of the gun he holds to Ianto's head in these scenes. He insists Ianto prove his loyalty to the team in this way...or Ianto can take a bullet to the head.

Ianto agrees (as if he has any choice) and goes to face the final horror. Lisa has transplanted her brain (though how she did this unassisted remains kind of a mystery, unless the conversion chamber is now fully functional and automatic) into the head of the hapless pizza delivery girl.

Ianto can't shoot her, he's caught in an emotional turmoil...but the team does.

Unfortunately the ending is not as strong as the rest of the episode and after an act of treachery on this scale - almost costing the team their lives and unleashing the horror of the Cyber race...Ianto is allowed to return to his duties.

Overall, a great episode, very claustrophobic, dark and disturbing with the bulk of it taking place within the amazing Torchwood complex, but it almost seemed that they ran out of time to give us a properly satisfying ending.

Can they trust Ianto again....ever?

Top of page

Previous story Next story

All Content © Copyright 1999-2007 Doctor Who World,
This is a fan site and is not associated, approved, endorsed or affiliated to the BBC in any way
No breach of any Copyright's © or Trademarks™ are intended