Greek Bearing Gifts
by Toby Whithouse
Having just obtained a personality last week, this week it’s Toshiko’s turn to screw up.
Synopsis
In 1812, a prostitute, Mary, and a Redcoat have an unexpected experience with a mysterious life form in the woods. 194 years later the “crime scene†is uncovered, along with some alien technology. Torchwood is called in. Unbeknownst to them a remarkably well preserved Mary is watching them.
Back at base, Toshiko is finding Owen and Gwen’s suddenly frisky camaraderie annoying and when it is obvious they don’t care about her work, either, she stops at the bar for a drink. Mary intercepts her there and introduced herself as one of a group of people who scavenge alien technology. She presents Toshiko with a pendant that allows her to read minds. Toshiko says she’ll have to turn this over to Torchwood, but Mary assures her that she won’t.
Returning to base, she uses the pendant to read Gwen and Owen’s minds. No only does that reveal that they are having an affair, it also further emphasizes just what they think of her. She is unable to tell them about the pendant.
Mary uses Toshiko’s vulnerability and seduces her. Her ultimate goal is to get into Torchwood and retrieve the alien artifact, which she claims is a transporter that can return her home.
Meanwhile, Owen’s research on the dead body reveals a series of crimes going back to 1812. The victims have all had their hearts ripped out.
Toshiko takes Mary into Torchwood and there’s a standoff. Mary is revealed to be an alien criminal and Jack tricks her into using her transporter device, which he has reprogrammed to take her to the heart of the sun.
Analysis
While there’s nothing particularly wrong with this story, the plot is a little shallow on the ground. It’s more about character development rather than melodrama.
The mind reading device isn’t really used to good effect except to make Toshiko more vulnerable to seduction in a science fictionish way rather than just overhearing a conversation or two by accident. It’s certainly the weakest entry in the series so far.
The most obvious feature of this story is the same-sex seduction of Toshiko. For once, finally, the use of sex in Torchwood is integrated into the plot in an effective and plausible way. The fact that it was a same-sex seduction of a character that we know to be interested in the opposite sex could have rendered this story even more striking. Unfortunately, since some of the more ham-fisted writers on the series have previously managed to get every last major character into same-sex kissing (at the least), what could have been a dramatic and thought-provoking plot device becomes another, “Oh, no not again!†moment. (Please, RTD, go back to beating us over the head with “Bad Wolf†or something.)
Since this is what the story is entirely about, it was completely undermined by what had been done before on the show.
It is revealed (if it wasn’t obvious last week) that Toshiko’s got a school girl crush on Owen. She also has an opportunity to see into Ianto’s mind, and he’s revealed to be mostly a zombie mourning the loss of his girlfriend back in Cyberwoman. Considering that Toshiko now knows about Gwen and Owen, what pain Ianto is in and the “pairing†of Toshiko and Ianto in last week’s episode, it’s not too hard to imagine that they’ll be getting closer as the series progresses. Hopefully not as early as next week – that would be really too clumsy.
Captain Jack mystery puzzle piece of the week: Jack’s mind couldn’t be read unless he wanted it to be and he could sense Toshiko trying to read it.