Torchwood - 2x13 - Exit Wounds
The episode picks up right where the last one left off, with the team in varying states of injury. John stole the SUV and took it back to the Hub, so all they have is Gwen and Rhys's car.
According to their devices, Rift activity is popping up throughout the city: St. Helen's Hospital, the police station, and the central IT service station.
Gwen's phone rings. It's Andy, and he tells her to get to the station ASAP. As he walks down the stairs, we see blood spattered on the walls.
Jack: Rhys, drop Owen at the hospital. Tosh, Ianto, cover the central server building. Gwen, the police station. Then take me to Torchwood.
Rhys: Do you think we're all gonna fit in here?
Jack: Yep. We're gonna have to.
Toshiko: Jack, these are traps.
Jack: So be careful. You know what he's capable of.
Gwen: What about you?
Jack: I'm gonna go reason with him.
Owen: He just tried to kill us.
Jack: I was the only one who could ever control him. That's why the Time Agency partnered us.
Rhys: Did you just say Time Agency? Don't tell me that's based in Cardiff too.
[Jack makes an adorable face.]
Back at the Hub, Jack takes a deep breath before walking inside. Music's playing, and John's waiting there for him.
"We don't have a song. And if we did have a song, it wouldn't be this song."
Jack tells him that the team survived.
Jack: What do you want?
John: I want you to know that I love you.
Jack: Funny way of showing it.
John: No, seriously. You have to understand, I really do love you.
And then John spins around and empties two guns into Jack's chest, who falls into the water as he dies.
Cardiff City Police HQ, 5:27 pm.
Aliens materialized in the middle of the station and murdered a bunch of policemen.
Andy sees Rhys there and asks what the heck he's doing there.
Gwen: Rhys isn't gonna go blabbing.
Rhys: Yeah, I'm keeping more secrets than you'd ever believe.
Andy: Right, like what?
Rhys: Like a Time Agency based in Cardiff.
Gwen: Oh, it's not based in Cardiff.
Andy: Brilliant secret. I ask, you tell. Well done.
At the cells, Gwen takes a look to see what kind of aliens they're dealing with. It's Weevils - lots of Weevils.
Rhys doesn't react well to them.
Rhys: Bloody hell, what are they?
Gwen: Weevils. They live in the sewers.
Rhys: Tell me you're joking.
Gwen: You don't mind if I subdue them, do you?
Andy: Be my guest.
The weevils killed the four most senior officers on duty, like they were targeted.
Central Server Building, 5:36 pm.
Meanwhile, Tosh and Ianto are busy with their own problems. They're looking for ghosts.
Toshiko's arm isn't bothering her as much because Owen gave her painkillers.
Three cloaked figures with scythes appear in front of them.
"Devils, blasphemers, pray to your heathen god while in the Lord's name we cast you out."
The two of them share a look before pulling out their guns and shooting. The three men instantly collapse.
Ianto: There we are then.
Tosh: Sorted.
St. Helen's Hospital, 5:39 pm.
At the hospital, Owen's heading down to the basement. One of the doctors locked something up down there when she saw it chewing on the cables.
It's some type of alien that loves to eat.
Owen unlocks the door and heads inside, borrowing the woman's cigarettes to use as bait. He manages to take it out with a tranquilizer.
Torchwood Hub, 6:03 pm.
Jack comes back to life only to find that he's been chained to the wall, dangling several feet above the ground. (Methinks that he probably had a few flashbacks from the Year That Never Was when he woke up.)
Jack: This is a little extreme, don't you think?
John: What? Suddenly you're anti-bondage?
Jack: Why are you here?
John: Well, see. Now you're interested in me. It's always the same, nobody cares until you tie them up. Number of reasons, actually. First of all, you were very rude to me.
Jack: What?
John: Very rude indeed. In front of people who barely knew me. You belittled me. Can't let that go.
Jack: You're serious?
John: Second, you have all of time. Eternity, essentially, and you still refuse to spend time with me. After all we've been through together, after all I've done for you.
Jack: Where's Gray? What have you done with my brother.
John: You don't realize. Actions, ramifications, ripples in the pond. It's beyond my control.
John starts to fiddle with the Rift controls, and Jack tells him not. He immediately gets some nasty volts of electricity sent through him.
Then John goes back to what he was doing.
"Whatever you're planning, we're gonna stop you."
City Centre, 6:28 pm.
Cut away to Cardiff Castle - the keep, to be precise. I was actually standing in that exact spot just a few weeks ago.
John then speaks into his wrist pad, and the entire team hears him.
John: Attention Torchwood employees.
[Each of them reacts to his voice.]
John: Evening, all. Now stop what you're doing.
Gwen: Jack, what's going on? Are you okay?
John: Jack can't come to the comms right now, but if you leave a message I'll be sure and pass it along.
Gwen: What have you done to him?
John: No, no. Wrong question. You should be asking what am I about to do to you.
Ianto: Put Jack on right now.
John: Eye candy! That was so masterful, so bossy, so basically powerless.
He tells them to get to the roofs of the buildings that they're in.
At the police station, Rhys and Andy follow Gwen as she runs out of the room.
As everyone gets up to the roofs, there are explosions throughout the entire city. The team reacts with horror as all they can do is watch.
Gwen takes charge, telling Andy to stay calm and go call in every officer in the city.
Back at the castle, John uses his Rift manipulator to take both of them away.
There were fifteen major explosions at strategic places throughout the city. The nuclear power station's starting to go into meltdown, and there's no power whatsoever at the hospital.
"All of you, listen to me. We are gonna fix this, we are gonna put this city back together, we are gonna find Jack, and we are gonna punish John."
Meanwhile, Jack wakes up in the middle of an empty field.
Cardiff, 27 AD.
The moment that Jack sees John, he punches him right in the face.
John's a walking bomb. It's been bonded to his skin, and there's no way he can get it off.
"He has me doing anything I'm told."
John is ticked that Jack actually thought he'd waste his time destroying Cardiff when there's so much more out there. Jack, of course, doesn't believe him.
John: [reacting to something behind Jack] Oh no, just run.
Jack: Oh please, that is the oldest trick in the book.
Gray comes walking up to Jack and hugs him.
Jack: I'm sorry.
Gray: [stabbing Jack] Sorry's not good enough.
As Jack dies, John just stands there watching with a resigned look on his face.
"Get a shovel."
Cardiff City Police HQ, 7:39 pm.
Gwen's taken charge at the police station, and she's giving everyone orders.
Rhys: Bloody impressive, my girl.
Andy: She is that, yeah. Lucky sod.
Central Server Station, 8:01 pm.
Toshiko and Ianto aren't have much luck stopping the meltdown. Ianto tells her that he's going to the nuclear station to see what he can do there while she tries to keep working there.
Tosh: That could be suicide.
Ianto: Are we going to discuss it or are we going to do it?
Tosh: Okay, but we both go.
Back in the past, John's handcuffing Jack. They've dug a nice-sized hole to throw him in.
Gray tells Jack what he's gone through since the last time he saw him.
Gray: Those creatures, they lived to torture. They kept us just on the verge of life. I'd lay there, hemmed in by corpses, hoping to become one. Because you let go of my hand. Remember?
Jack: If I could swap with you, I would.
"I believed you'd come, but you never did."
Jack: What do you want from me?
Gray: I want you to suffer. I want your life. This is Cardiff, 27 AD. The city will be built here over the next two thousand years. Your grave will be the city's foundations. Your blessing of life becomes a curse.
John protests, and Gray shoves Jack into the grave. John refuses to fill the grave at first, so Gray threatens to detonate the bomb on his arm.
Jack and John share a look, and Jack nods. John takes off his ring and kisses it before tossing it in on top of Jack.
As John starts filling the grave, Jack closes his eyes and waits for the inevitable.
Torchwood Vaults, 9:07 pm.
The lights from the Rift show up, and Gray walks out. He walks over to the cage full of Weevils and looks in.
Elsewhere, Rhys comes looking for Gwen. She's curled up in the corner of an empty room, looking a bit broken.
Rhys: It's gonna be fine.
Gwen: What if it's not? What if this is how it all ends? I can't do this, Rhys. I'm not up to it.
Rhys: Rubbish.
"You're a bloody hero, Gwen."
She gets a serious look on her face.
"Will you marry me again?"
Tosh calls Gwen to tell her that she just picked up a Rift disturbance in the Hub. She and Ianto can't go check on it, since they're trying to stop the nuclear meltdown. Rhys tells Gwen to go - they'll be find at the police station without her.
Gwen: Are you sure?
Rhys: I'll see you when it's all over.
Gwen makes her way through the Hub, gun in hand. John comes up behind her.
John: You took your time.
Gwen: On your knees.
John: Honestly, it's just sex sex sex with you people.
Gwen: [cocks gun] Now!
John gets down on his knees and tells Gwen what's going on. He shows Gwen the bomb on his arm to prove that he's telling the truth.
Gwen: Why should I trust you?
John: They were separated as children. Gray was abducted. When I found him, he was chained to the ruins of a city in the Bedlam Outlands surrounded by corpses. He was the only one left. The creatures had long since gone. Don't know how long he'd been there. He thought I was the rescuing hero. So it took me too long to realize he had learned terrible things watching those creatures.
As he's telling his story, John suddenly cries out in pain. The bomb on his arm starts coming loose, and he yanks it off - taking off a layer of skin in the process.
"I didn't have to come back here. I could have run."
Gwen tells him to find Jack and she'll let him live.
John calls Toshiko and tells her to search for the ring that he threw in with Jack. She doesn't see anything, though.
And then an alarm goes off, causing everyone to grab at their ears.
It's calling the Weevils, setting them free and driving them to kill people. They're everywhere, all over the entire city.
Ianto calls the others and tells them that there's no way they'll make it to the nuclear power station in time.
Meanwhile, Owen's at the hospital trying his best to save lives. He stops what he's doing and tells Ianto that he can make it.
Owen: I can get there.
Ianto: How?
Owen: King of the Weevils, remember?
The Weevils all bow when Owen comes by them.
Back at the police station, it takes half a dozen men to close the cell full of Weevils.
In the Hub, John and Gwen find themselves surrounded by Weevils. They're about to get killed when Ianto and Toshiko show up and start shooting.
Ianto doesn't lower his gun as he walks toward John, and Gwen has to quickly grab his arm.
Down in the cells, Ianto's pissed to hear what John did to Jack.
"If we don't find him, I'll kill you. Very slowly."
They each drag a Weevil into a cell, and - just as they get inside - the cell doors shut behind them. And the comm goes down.
Gray: I let you go. I gave you one trip. You could have gone anywhere.
John: Question of honor.
Turnmill Nuclear Power Station, 9:42 pm.
Owen apparently has a fairly decent idea of what happens during a nuclear meltdown. There's one woman still there, and he hands her his Weevil spray as she leaves.
"Tosh, you're gonna have to help me out here. I haven't got a bloody clue what I'm doing."
Owen: Can you fix it?
Tosh: Of course I can, I'm brilliant.
Owen: Yeah.
Without warning, Gray shoots Tosh in the stomach. She gasps as she looks down and sees the blood on her shirt, clutching at it before sinking to the floor.
At the station, Owen doesn't know what to do.
A banging sound suddenly fills the Hub. As Gray goes searching for it, Tosh starts crawling toward her radio.
Down in the cells, they hear the sound as well.
Gray finally finds what's causing the noise. He walks over to the row of coffins, opens one... and finds Jack.
"I forgive you."
Torchwood Hub, 1901.
One of the Victorian Torchwood lesbians that we met in the previous episodes found Jack back in the early 1900s - along with another member of the team, a black man.
"I have crossed my own timeline. I can't be allowed to meet myself, and a lot of lives depend on this. You'll be protecting the future. That's what you're here for, right?"
He got them to put him in the morgue and freeze him.
Um, just to note? Jack seems a little too... normal. Considering that he just spend almost 1900 years buried underground, constantly dying and reviving, you'd think he would be a bit insane. I mean, he's older than the Doctor now - even if my theory of the Doctor using creative maths when telling people his age is true.
Jack then walks away from Gray, trying to ignore him.
Gray says that he'll never forgive Jack. Jack hugs his brother, crying as he chloroforms him.
Down in the cells, John manages to recall the Weevils.
Tosh manages to get power back to the nuclear power station, even as she's bleeding to death.
Owen: You okay?
Tosh: Yeah, I'm fine.
Owen: What's going on there?
Tosh: Just a machine malfunction.
Owen: Are you hurt?
Tosh: Who me? No, I'm fine.
She tells him that there's no way to stop the meltdown. The only way to stop it is to vent the tunnels into the area that he's in.
Owen: Tosh, thank you.
Tosh: That's what I'm here for.
Down in the cells, Jack opens the doors to let the others out. Gwen runs out and hugs him, while Jack pulls Ianto in for a hug as well.
John and Jack acknowledge each other, actually like mature adults for once.
John: Listen, Gray's in the Hub.
Jack: I know. It's done.
Back at the nuclear power station, there's a power surge. It triggers an emergency lock down, and Owen can't get out.
"Not like this! I'm not dying yet!"
Tosh: Owen, just stay calm.
Owen: Oh, why should I do that? Where's the fun in that? I'm gonna rage my way to oblivion. [yells]
Tosh: Please stop.
Owen: Why? Give me one good bloody reason why I shouldn't rage. One good reason why I shouldn't keep screaming.
Tosh: Because you're breaking my heart.
Owen immediately calms down and resigns himself to the inevitable. He tells her that it's not her fault... and then he asks her what's going to happen to him.
She reluctantly describes how he's going to die, still blaming herself. And it's not a pretty way to die.
Owen: You've saved my back so many times in the past. Right from the moment I joined.
Tosh: Your second week. I had to cover for you, pretend I was a medic because you were hungover and unreachable.
Owen: What was it, space pig?
Tosh: Space pig.
I'll admit, it really made me happy to hear them finally make a reference to "Aliens of London."
Tosh is getting weaker as they talk.
Owen: We never did get that date, did we? You and me? We sorta missed each other. It was my fault. I didn't notice until it was too late. I'm sorry.
Tosh: Me too.
The alarms start going off at the nuclear power station.
"It's all right. Really, Tosh. It's alright."
Owen stands up, facing death head-on.
His last words are: "oh god."
Toshiko sits there, watching as the computer tells her that Owen's dead.
Jack comes in and sees the blood all over the floor. He runs over, yelling Tosh's name. The others come running up, John standing in the background with a blank look on his face.
Ianto notices the computer screen. Tosh tells them that Owen was sealed in and that she couldn't save him.
Tosh meets Jack's gaze and smiles. He smiles back, putting on a brave face. And then she dies.
Later on, Rhys and Gwen are in their home curled up on the sofa together. Gwen's barely keeping it together.
In the Hub, Jack's looking at Gray inside one of the freezing units.
Jack: My whole life I was looking for him. Now I have to lose him all over again.
John: You cryofreeze him and then what? Wake him up in a hundred years and he's miraculously better, 'cause that's not gonna happen. Maybe killing him will be the release he needs.
Jack: There has been enough death.
John: You didn't struggle when I buried you. Like you were allowing it.
Jack: It was my penance.
John: It's not your fault.
Jack takes one more look at Gray before closing the door.
John gives Jack a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving.
"I'm sorry for your losses."
Ianto's sitting at the computer, looking at Owen's files. He's changing their status to deceased.
In the meantime, Jack's putting away Tosh's bloody shirt in a box. He wipes away some tears as he does.
Gwen's slowly taking down Toshiko's desk, placing everything where it goes.
And Ianto changes the status of Tosh's files as well.
All three of them are crying.
On the computer, a video recording of Tosh suddenly pops up. The three of them gather round to watch it.
"Okay, so if you're seeing this I guess it means I'm, well, dead. Hope it was impressive. Not crossing the road or an incident with a toaster. I just wanted to say, it's okay. It really is. Jack, you saved me. You showed me all the wonders of the universe, and all those possibilities. And I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Thank you. And Owen, you never knew. I love you. All of you. And... I hope I did good."
They're all crying, but they're smiling at the same time.
Jack: Now we carry on.
Gwen: I don't think I can, not after this.
[Jack puts his arm around both of them.]
Jack: You can. We all can. The end is where we start from.
The camera pans away, focusing on the three of them standing there in the middle of the Hub.
Wow. Just... wow. I'm not certain what I was expecting from this episode, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't what happened.
Did I mention "wow?"