Exit Wounds (TV story)

Children of Earth

Synopsis
Captain Jack's younger brother Gray uses Captain John Hart to conduct attacks upon Cardiff in retribution against Jack for abandoning him as a child. The losses at Torchwood are extreme as the situation plays to a crescendo that rocks Torchwood to its core.

Plot
Following on from Fragments, Toshiko detects Rift activity in three locations across Cardiff. She and Ianto go the central server building, where three cowled men with scythes approach menacingly. The agents shoot them down as they get closer. Meanwhile, Owen sedates a Hoix in a hospital using a packet of cigarettes and a special mixture. Finally, Rhys drops Gwen off at the police HQ where Weevils have killed "the four most senior officers", causing panic.

During all this, Captain Jack goes to the Hub to face Captain John, who claims he loves Jack before shooting him with two machine guns. When Jack comes back to life, he is chained above the ground and finds out John is angry because he was very rude to him in front of people "that hardly knew me". After an electric shock to silence him, John tells Jack that he hopes he can stop him, he really does. Then, as the rift manipulator is activated, John tells the Torchwood gang to go to the roofs of their buildings.

They all make their way up to the top of the central server building, the hospital and the police HQ. Gwen, Andy, Rhys, Toshiko, Owen and Ianto look on as John, from atop Cardiff castle, detonates explosives in 15 prime locations that cripple the city. He then whisks Jack back in time, to meet Gray. As it turns out, Gray is in control, threatening John into action. Gwen takes control of the team and the police, directing them all as to what to do. She makes her way to the hub where she finds John has returned to help the team after being forced to bury Jack alive in Cardiff 27 AD. Gray activates a signal and weevils flood the streets of Cardiff. This prevents Toshiko and Ianto from reaching the nuclear power station to stop a meltdown.

Owen goes to the nuclear facility, reminding his teammates that he's king of the Weevils. John, Toshiko, Ianto and Gwen are attacked by Weevils at the Hub, but manage to subdue them - only to be locked into cells by Gray. Owen, at the nuclear facility, waits for instruction from Toshiko, as he tells a scientist to leave. Toshiko tells Owen her plan, but is then shot by Gray, who kicks away her device. A knocking interrupts his taunting and he heads for the morgue. Tosh agonisingly makes her way down the steps to the autopsy room, gets her device back, still bleeding from her wound. She denies that she's hurt when Owen asks and helps him to flood the room he's in with coolant, thus avoiding the meltdown.

As this is happening, Gray discovers Jack in a cryo-chamber in the morgue, placed there by Torchwood 1901 on his request. He tells Gray he forgives him and Gray refuses to give him absolution, so Jack uses chloroform to put him to sleep. He then frees the others from the cells and they head back to the main area. At the same time, a power surge seals Owen in the room where the coolant will soon flood. Toshiko, dying, asks Owen to calm down, who refuses, demanding for her to give him one reason why. Tosh tearfully replies "because you're breaking my heart" and he calms down. The two talk as they prepare to die. Coolant pours into the room where Owen is trapped and he accepts his fate, telling Toshiko it's okay and apologising for not having that date because they "just missed each other". Toshiko slumps, bleeding to death as she watches the screen show Owen's signature vanishing. Jack and the others arrive, but Toshiko dies in Jack's arms.

Jack freezes Gray and says his goodbyes to John before helping Ianto and Gwen to do Owen and Toshiko's final logout. Upon finishing Toshiko's, a video appears in which she thanks Jack, admits her love to Owen and finally hopes she "did good" and didn't die for nothing. Gwen is unsure of whether she can continue, but Jack tells his last two comrades that they'll start from the end.

Cast

 * Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
 * Gwen Williams - Eve Myles
 * Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
 * Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
 * Captain John Hart - James Marsters
 * Gray - Lachlan Nieboer
 * Dr Angela Connolly - Golda Rosheuvel
 * Nira Docherty - Syreeta Kumar
 * Charles Gaskell - Cornelius Macarthy
 * Alice Guppy - Amy Manson

Production crew
to be added

Story notes

 * This appears to be the final appearance of Burn Gorman as Owen Harper and Naoko Mori as Toshiko Sato.
 * This is the fourth known time that Jack has been on Earth during World War I.

Ratings

 * Unofficial overnight ratings indicated Exit Wounds was the most watched programme on BBC2 all day and had a 12% audience share, the 20th most watched programme of the day.

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * In the episode casefiles on the Torchwood site, the morgue inventory incorrectly lists Torchwood 1901's sealed cryo-unit (with Jack inside) as 005, when in fact it was 003.

''Jack doesn't revive instantly and ageing only occurs in living bodies. He would have spent almost all of the time underground dead with occasional bouts of living lasting 3-4 minutes at a time until he suffocted. In End of Days he was shown dead for several days before revival, so if it was at roughly the same rate he would only be alive for an hour or two a month, so a day a year. Also he has stated that his ageing has slowed, but that he knows it still occurs.''
 * In Last of the Time Lords Jack said he could still age - so how come he doesn't age when he is underground? Furthermore, why do his clothes not rot away while he is buried?

''John could however have told Gray that Jack was now the name his brother was going by, and could have used it for convenience. He could have been originally called Jack as a child, but not Jack Harkness, and could have chosen this name for convenience in case he ever bumped into a person he knew before he renamed himself. ''
 * Why does Gray call Jack, Jack? Jack didn't choose to use this name until he was an adult.


 * The Time line is completely messed up. In Fragments, it was 21 months since Ianto joined.  That must be after Doomsday, making Fragments February 2009 at the earliest.  It also had Owen joing 4 years earlier making that 2005.  However this episode states that Tosh covered for Owen as a Doctor in his second week - obviously a reference to Aliens of London - but that was 2006.

Continuity

 * Captain John Hart returns in this episode he was last in TW: Fragments.
 * Gray returns in this episode, he was last seen properly in TW: Adam although he made a brief appearance in TW: Fragments
 * A Hoix appears in this episode, a Hoix first appeared in DW: Love & Monsters.
 * Owen refers to himself as 'King of the Weevils', a title previously coined in Dead Man Walking. Additionally, the Weevils cower before Owen as they did in both Combat and Dead Man Walking.
 * Toshiko first appeared in DW: Aliens of London, (dialogue between Toshiko and Owen explains why she is a doctor in that story).
 * When Jack is trying to stop Gray in the Hub, he tells him he forgives him, which is very similar to how The Doctor stops The Master in Last of the Time Lords.
 * The Woman That Digs Jack Up Is The Same Woman From The Previous Story: TW :Fragments

DVD releases

 * This story along with the rest of Torchwood Series 2 is due to be released in a complete series boxed set.