Theory:Torchwood television discontinuity and plot holes/A Day in the Death


 * 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 anaesthetic 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.
 * Not only that, but there is no reason why it should be physically impossible to inhale or exhale. The diaphragm is just another muscle, and since he can obviously use his muscles he should be able to inhale and exhale. They act as though it is impossible for him to breathe, not that it's merely unnecessary.


 * (1) Owen can breathe (in the sense of inhaling and exhaling). This much is actually quite obvious because he can speak and many times we can see and hear that he is obviously breathing. We also see an air bubble escape Owen's mouth just before the scene where he gets out of the water. (2) As for "no sense of feeling" causing "unclear speech"; this is an incorrect cause-effect conclusion. Numbness doesn't cause the unclear speech, it's reduced muscular control that does that. And local anaesthetic causes both reduced muscular control and numbness. (3) So the only real question is: why does Own say he has no breath?
 * One possibility is that he wasn't being entirely honest with Maggie. Remember, the only reason he was on the roof was to talk her out of jumping.


 * Owen could simply be mistaken in thinking he has no breath. He seemed to draw this conclusion when he tried to drown himself. He was under water for 36 minutes with no way to inhale new air. He may have inhaled and exhaled water, but he wouldn't feel it; and unlike exhaling air under water, there would be no visual clues either.


 * 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 which case he should have been able to perform CPR effectively, since CPR and artificial respiration are effective due to the air being forced into the recipient's lungs and not related to the giver's metabolization of their inhalation. Either Owen's dead body is still moving air in and out (as seems to be the case) and he can give CPR, or he can't give CPR because his body isn't moving air in and out (which would contradict the bubble-blowing and speaking obvious on-screen.) The episode fails to present Owen's condition consistently.


 * 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.


 * The capacitative click-wheel style of iPod Owen uses depends on the human finger's own electrical field to operate, and shouldn't have responded to a dead finger.
 * It's possible the alien form of resurrection left Owen with some form of bodily energy not normally found in dead tissue, which happened to be iPod-compatible.


 * The previous story explained that he was dead in all other aspects except the electrical impulses through the body. It's these electrical impulses that allow him to control his muscles, and to think.