Something Borrowed (TV story)

Something Borrowed was the ninth episode in the second series of Torchwood. It saw Gwen Cooper marry Rhys Williams and confirm her feelings for Captain Jack Harkness. This episode also marked the first appearance of Gwen's parents, Mary and Geraint Cooper, along with Rhys's own parents, Brenda and Barry Williams.

Synopsis
Gwen Cooper is about to get married to her fiancé Rhys. Only one problem: on her hen night she is bitten by an alien and wakes on her wedding day heavily pregnant with a shape-shifter's baby. The alien mother is on the loose and searching for its offspring. The only way for the alien to get the egg is to rip open its carrier, Gwen...

Plot
Gwen is late for her hen night after following an alien. Gwen chases the creature until it turns on her and pushes her roughly to the ground. Gwen ends up flat on her back and the alien bites her. Jack kills it and helps Gwen to her feet. Jack says they should let Owen have a look at her wound.

Once her arm is bandaged, Gwen takes off for her hen night. Gwen finds some of the comments her friends say about Rys to be quite offensive. (In actual viewing time, Gwen's fight with the alien takes place in flashbacks while she's at her hen night.)

Gwen wakes up in her apartment the next day, feeling drowsy. She then notices her wedding dress hung up and smiles. She gets up to get out of bed, but then notices something that makes her look in the mirror; apparently, she's pregnant.

Calling Jack for help, Gwen is soon examined by Owen. Once he tells her she's actually pregnant, Gwen is dismissive of the idea and asks Jack for a second opinion. He says Owen's right about her being pregnant, prompting Gwen to ask what with. Jack explains some aliens keep their bloodline going by passing eggs onto a host; inside, they mature until ready to be born. He then makes a joke about how "Darwin would have a field day if he got to space".

Jack tries to persuade Gwen to cancel the wedding, but she declines the idea. He then tells Gwen that she is not thinking straight, earning an angry reply in return; he thinks her hormones are causing her rash descions. Owen mentions that if she were going to die, it would have happened already, so Gwen goes ahead. However, she decides to call Rhys and inform him of what happenened; he heads straight home and begins ranting.

He also tries to postpone the wedding but Gwen insists. He agrees to have the wedding anyway. The alien fertilisation is explained to their families as Gwen's pregnancy by Rhys, kept secret as a surprise. However, Gwen realises this lie won't work; their parents will be planning for their grandchild.

Tosh arrives at the wedding venue, sent by Jack to guard Gwen. After being propositioned by Rhys' best man, "Banana Boat", Tosh delivers Gwen's new wedding dress. They discuss the possibility of a relationship between Tosh and Owen.

Back at the hub, Owen's autopsy determines the creature is a Nostrovite, a carnivourous shape shifter who mates for life. They hunt in pairs. After fertilisation, the female transfers eggs to the male, who transfers them to a host to incubate until the correct time. The female then kills the host, releasing the offspring. The mate of the dead Nostrovite will be hunting Gwen.

The Nostrovite follows and murders the DJ, eating most of him. Her presence is detected by Tosh and Banana Boat. After trapping them on a bed in a black, web-like construct, the Nostrovite joins the wedding guests.

Gwen and Rhys are at the altar when Jack demands the wedding be stopped. Owen and Ianto rescue Tosh and Banana Boat. They also find Mervin's mangled corpse. A bridesmaid, Megan, enters the room. Seeing Mervin's body, she flees. Jack orders Ianto to go after her, but he fails to stop her before she screams murder to the entire wedding party. After firing at and chasing the Nostrovite, Tosh and Jack run after it but lose its track.

Jack questions Owen about Gwen, who says that Rhys' mother Brenda is with the couple. Tosh mentions that Brenda is with Gwen's mother in the garden. Tosh and Jack reach the couple's room, where Jack calls Brenda an 'ugly bitch'. After being punched by Rhys, Jack is told that the woman actually is really Rhys' mother; the alien can't copy smells and Brenda always wears awful perfume. They reach the garden to find the Nostrovite still with Gwen's mother. They confront her and the Nostrovite holds Gwen's mother hostage, demanding her child. Gwen walks towards them, but just as the Nostrovite releases Gwen's mother, Gwen pulls out a hidden gun and fires several times as it flees. Owen has brought the singularity scalpel to destroy the egg. He sends Gwen to her room, but asks Rhys to wait while he tells Rhys about the scalpel and teaches him how to use it. Jack enters Gwen's room whilst Owen and Rhys are outside. Gwen and he share an emotional conversation. They nearly kiss, just as Jack transforms into the Nostrovite. Owen enters and shoots the Nostrovite while Gwen exits with Rhys. After realising Owen is dead, the Nostrovite pursues Gwen.

Rhys and Gwen reach the stable and Rhys explains Owen's plan to remove the egg. As the Nostrovite tries to enter, Rhys removes the egg. Just as the egg is vapourised, the Nostrovite enters, impersonating Rhys' mother again. She moves towards Rhys, who picks up a nearby chainsaw. Furious at all that the creature has done to ruin his wedding day and threaten his bride and family, he lunges at the Nostrovite with the chainsaw. Unfortunately, the chainsaw stops working. Jack appears at the door and kills the creature with a gun. Jack helps Gwen up. Putting her hand in Rhys', Jack proclaims, "The hero always gets the girl".

Rhys and Gwen's ceremony resumes and the couple are wed. At the reception, Rhys and Gwen notice everyone falling asleep. Jack has retconned the wedding party and guests. Jack offers the couple pills, but Gwen declines. She insists there will "be no secrets in this marriage". They exit, thanking the team for everything. Jack and the others clean up. Ianto notes the irony of fighting aliens by day and being "Wedding Faries" by night. Later, Jack enters the Hub alone, blowing some confetti in the air. He retrieves an old tin box holding old pictures. He looks through them, reminiscing, but picks one up and stops. This picture shows Jack and his bride at their wedding.

Cast

 * Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
 * Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
 * Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
 * Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
 * Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
 * Brenda — Nerys Hughes
 * Mary — Sharon Morgan
 * Geraint — William Thomas
 * Barry — Robin Griffith
 * Carrie — Collette Brown
 * Megan — Danielle Henry
 * Trina — Ceri Ann Gregory
 * Banana Boat — Jonathan Lewis Owen
 * Mervyn — Morgan Hopkins
 * Registrar — Valerie Murray
 * Shop Assistant — Pethrow Gooden

Culture

 * Toshiko has seen Fred Astaire in Easter Parade twice.
 * Jack mentions the movie Evil Dead when he sees Rhys with a chainsaw.

Devices

 * The singularity scalpel is given a name.

Foods and beverages

 * All of Gwen's wedding guests are given level 6 retcon (with champagne). Jack also offers it to Gwen and Rhys.

Species

 * The Nostrovite doesn't attack Owen, realising that he is actually dead.

Individuals

 * Rhys once loved a girl named Cerys Morgan.

Story notes

 * William Thomas previously appeared in TV: Remembrance of the Daleks and TV: Boom Town, making him the first actor to have appeared in the classic series, the BBC Wales series and Torchwood.
 * Nerys Hughes previously appeared in TV: Kinda.
 * Gwen states that she would marry Rhys even if "Weevils crawled out of the sewers" or "the sky was full of spaceships". Weevils did crawl of the sewers in Exit Wounds and the sky was full of Dalek spaceships in TV: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End.
 * One of Gwen and Rhys' guests works at the Flat Holm facility and is later a reality bomb test subject aboard the Crucible during the events of TV: The Stolen Earth/ Journey's End.
 * At approximately 9:30, and again at the 10 minute mark, a picture/scan of a Cyberman internal body diagnostic can be seen in the Torchwood Hub's autopsy room.
 * "Tainted Love" is played towards the end of Gwen's wedding. It was also heard in TV: The End of the World.

Ratings

 * 980,000 viewers

Myths

 * It was rumoured Rhys would die in this episode. (This was false)
 * The "big gun" would be the gun used by Jack in TV: Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways. (Also false, though it would be used in TV: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End.)

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * The singularity scalpel was last used in TV: Reset.
 * Owen is unable to properly use his left hand because of the damage sustained to it in TV: A Day in the Death.
 * A datasheet of Lisa Hallett is in the medical area of the hub. (TV: Cyberwoman)
 * Owen was killed in TV: Reset and returned to partial life in Dead Man Walking.

DVD releases

 * Something Borrowed, along with the rest of Torchwood Series 2, was released in a complete series box set in 2008.