A Day in the Death (TV story)

Synopsis
Owen chats with a suicidal woman on a rooftop, reflecting on his adjustment (or lack thereof) to his new life (or lack thereof). Will a mission with Torchwood assist in his salvation or bring about the end of the world?

Plot
Owen Harper is on a rooftop, talking to a woman who is on the verge of committing suicide, whose name is later revealed as Maggie. He tells her about his recent ordeal with being dead and getting resurrected. As his memories begin we see Jack let him off but he has to stay at the Hub so that Martha can run some tests on him. Martha has been assigned the position of Torchwood 3 Medical Doctor. As he is talking to her, he cuts his hand on a scalpel, so Martha has to stitch it back together, saying that it will have to be stitched every week because of his inability to heal. The team then has a meeting about a man named Henry Parker who has been missing since the 1980's, yet Torchwood has had him under surveillance for years since. Later that day Owen is in his flat, and comes to the realisation that he is losing the will to live since he can't die. He jumps in the Cardiff canal and spends 36 minutes under water before giving up and returning to the surface, where Jack was watching. The Torchwood team has another briefing and decide they want to obtain the alien device that Henry Parker has. Owen agrees to go on a mission to obtain it, using his death to pass heat sensors, and multiple guards. Owen comes to a room where there is a bed hidden by veils, in which Henry is lying. He tells Owen that he needs the device to live but instead dies of natural causes. Later, the Torchwood team farewells Martha as she leaves to return to UNIT. Later that night, Owen sees Maggie on the top of a building, and goes up to the roof to talk her out of it, completing the flashback that started the episode. Owen, finishing his story to Maggie, successfully talks her out of committing suicide.

Cast

 * Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
 * Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
 * Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
 * Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
 * Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman
 * Henry Parker - Richard Briers
 * Maggie Hopley - Christine Bottomley
 * Philip Farrington - Louis Decosta Jonson
 * Ben Taylor - Brett Allen
 * Webb - Gil Koliran
 * Kristian Digby - Himself

Music

 * Atlas - Battles

Story notes

 * Martha (played by Freema Agyeman) departs at the end of this episode.

Ratings
to be added

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * If Owen cannot breathe, as he realises in this episode when he fails to resuscitate Henry Parker, then he shouldn't be able to speak. Owen also claims that he has no sense of feeling. This presents numerous inconsistencies, for example the fact that he can speak also presents a problem here. Anyone who has had a local anesthetic for a filling will know how unclear speech can be with a numbed mouth. Owen was revived by alien technology. It is possible that his current state allows him to speak in a manner which doesn't rely on the normal elements of human speech.


 * Owen can be clearly seen breathing on occasions throughout the episode? The technology which has revived Owen is alien and largely unexplained. For Owen to have the outward appearance of respiration without the sensation and chemical processes thereof would be consistent with the unpleasant state he finds himself in.


 * In a modern crash cart and life support system such as that by Parker's bedside, there is a air bag to use as doctors in the hospital do not use mouth to mouth. This could be a mistake on the part of Parker's medical staff.

Continuity

 * In the sequence of Owen's life clips from Everything Changes, Ghost Machine, Out of Time and Meat are seen.
 * A Dogon Eye was first seen in Random Shoes.
 * From this episode on, Owen always has a bandage over his left hand because he cut his palm and broke a finger.
 * The episode takes place three days after the shooting in Reset, meaning the events of Dead Man Walking occurred within the preceding 48 hours.

DVD releases

 * This story along with the rest of Torchwood Series 2 has been released in a complete series boxset.