Out of Time (TV story)

Out of Time is an episode in Torchwood, which was broadcast on 17 December 2006.

Synopsis
A plane from the 1950s lands in modern Cardiff, courtesy of the Rift; the passengers are reoriented by the Torchwood team, who become drawn closely to their lives.

Plot
A de Havilland Dragon Rapide vintage twin-engined aircraft makes its final approach and lands on an airfield where Jack, Gwen and Owen are waiting. The three Torchwood Institute officers walk out to greet the passengers of the Sky Gypsy: Diane Holmes, the pilot, and her two passengers, Emma-Louise Cowell and John Ellis. Jack asks them when they left, and Diane answers that it was just a half hour before. Jack presses her for the date, and she answers, puzzled, that it should be December 18 1953.

The three refugees in time are taken back to the Hub, where Jack introduces them to the rest of the team. Jack explains that the aircraft slipped through a Rift, a door in time and space, and Tosh provides documentary proof to the disbelieving trio that they have indeed travelled over fifty years into their future. According to history, their plane, bound for Dublin, never returned and was presumed lost at sea; they cannot go back.

Emma's parents are dead, but John wants to find his son, Alan, if he is still alive. Diane, on the other hand, has no one. Jack and Gwen house the three in a local hostel; Gwen begins to bond with Emma, for whom the reality of her situation is just beginning to sink in, while Jack begins a friendship with John.

The next morning, Jack offers the three new identities and backgrounds to start new lives, but John insists that his name is all he has left: he will not change it. Jack apologises for his insensitivity, and agrees that he should keep his name. Ianto brings the three to a supermarket, where they marvel at the goods and appliances available. Diane and Emma are fascinated at the variety of items on sale, but John is shocked by the sight of a magazine with a scantily clad female on the cover on open display, more so when Ianto points out she is a children's television presenter. Later, John goes to visit his old address to try and find his son, but finds the building boarded up. He and Jack have drinks at a pub, where John asks if Jack fell through time as well. Jack answers, "You could say that." John begs Jack to find his son.

Emma strikes up conversations with two other girls at the hostel. They offer her a beer, and she begins to enjoy herself, dancing and singing showtunes. John returns at that point, and scolds Emma for making a spectacle of herself, upsetting her. Emma calls Gwen, who takes Emma to stay at her flat instead. Gwen tells her boyfriend Rhys that Emma is a cousin who is visiting.

Owen follows Diane to see the Sky Gypsy. She wants to take the plane up, but Owen reminds her that her license has long expired. He takes her to lunch, telling her more about the new world she now lives in. The two later go back to his place, where they share a growing attraction. Diane asks Owen if he has a girlfriend, and he says no. The two make love, and begin a relationship.

Tosh tracks down John's son, who is now an old man in a home, stricken with Alzheimer's disease. John is devastated at the fact that Alan cannot remember anything but bits and pieces from his childhood, and cannot even recognise his father. Gwen and Rhys take Emma to a club, where she meets a boy. Gwen finds the two of them kissing in a corner and pulls Emma away. Gwen takes her home and has to explain to her how sexual morality has changed since 1953.

The days pass, and Diane finds herself frustrated by the fact that she is not allowed to fly. Emma finds a job as a shop-girl in London, but Gwen seems hesitant, and tells Emma they will try to find her a job in Cardiff instead. However, Rhys discovers that Emma is not Gwen's cousin, and Gwen is forced to admit that it has something to do with her work, which she cannot talk about. Rhys is more upset with the fact that it was so easy for Gwen to lie to him. Gwen confides in Emma that Torchwood and real life are like two separate worlds; Emma points out that is why Gwen has to let her go.

Ianto finds his car keys missing, and tells Jack that he suspects John has taken them. They track the car to John's old address, where Jack finds him, locked in the car, trying to kill himself with carbon monoxide fumes. Jack stops him, pleading with John to give life a chance, that he can still start a family, make friends and get a job. John replies that he did all that years ago, when he was meant to. He asks Jack to let him die with dignity rather than condemn him to live and Jack reluctantly agrees. Starting the engine again, Jack sits with John in the car until John passes out from the gas and expires peacefully.

Owen and Diane have grown even closer. Owen tells Diane that he is experiencing feelings about her that do not fit with his usual dealings with women. Diane responds by saying that she loves him too. As he sleeps, she watches him and says that the thing about love is that one is always at its mercy. The next morning, Owen finds her side of the bed empty, and a note on the pillow.

That same morning, Gwen takes Emma to the coach station so she can go to London. Gwen has bought her a return ticket just in case, warns Emma not to talk to strangers and asks her to call the moment she gets there. As the coach arrives, Gwen tells Emma she does not have to go, but Emma says that if she does not, she will always wonder what it would have been like. They hug and Emma gets on the coach.

Owen finds Diane at the airfield, where she is readying the Sky Gypsy for take-off. The weather conditions are the same as on the day they arrived, and Diane is confident that the Rift will open again. Owen begs her not to leave, telling her that the Rift will not take her back home, and there is no way to predict where she will end up. However, Diane is willing to take that chance, and will not let Owen go with her. She gives him her scarf and kisses him good-bye.

Jack, Gwen and Owen think back on how the three have touched their lives. Owen stands on the runway and watches the Sky Gypsy rise into sky, vanishing into the clouds.