They Keep Killing Suzie (TV story)

Torchwood is linked to a series of brutal murders around the city. As Jack and the team investigate further, it becomes clear somebody wants their attention. What is Pilgrim - and how is it connected to a figure from Torchwood's past? The resurrection days are far from over.

Synopsis
Torchwood investigates a serial killer writing their name in blood over the bodies of their victims, but there is even more to this than meets the eye. Suzie is resurrected as she had been planning, and Gwen almost dies before the resurrection gauntlet which had been keeping Suzie alive and was killing Gwen is destroyed.

Plot
The Torchwood team arrive at a suburban house, cordoned off by police as a crime scene. The detective in charge, Kathy Swanson, seems none too pleased by Torchwood's freedom to go wherever they please. There has been a double murder: the occupants of the house, the Briscoes, are in bed with their throats brutally slashed. A similar murder, that of Alex Arwyn, happened the day before. However, there is an added detail: the word TORCHWOOD written on the wall in blood… There appears to be no connection between the murder victims. Tosh completes a DNA analysis on a sample of the killer's hair left at the scene and finds it contains compound "B67", which Owen identifies as "Retcon", the active ingredient used in the amnesia pill. Back at the Hub, the team conclude that the killer is someone they gave the amnesia pill to. If the pill causes psychosis, any one or more of the 2008 people who have been given Retcon could snap. Gwen suggests finding the link between the murders by using the Resurrection Gauntlet to ask the victims themselves. Despite Owen's misgivings due to what it did to Suzie Costello, Jack relents after Gwen points out that the murders are happening because of Torchwood. Jack tries to use the glove on Alex, but to no avail. Everyone else is reluctant to use the glove as they have tried it before, all except Gwen. The glove responds to her, and Alex briefly comes back to life, but gives no useful information before he dies again. Their second try, on Mark Briscoe, yields the fact that their attacker was a man named "Max" who went to something called "Pilgrim". Jack presses Mark for more, and Mark reveals that Max knew someone else from the group better: "Suzie". Tosh digs up information on Pilgrim, a religious support group run by Mark's wife Sarah. The team go to the lock up where Suzie's belongings are kept, according to Torchwood rules. Among the boxes are a book of Emily Dickinson poems and a Pilgrim flyer. Jack decides that it is time that Suzie came back.

Suzie's body is retrieved from cryo-storage and laid out on an autopsy table. Gwen's first attempt with the glove only gives flashes of Suzie's last moments. Tosh observes that the glove worked better when the alien knife was used to kill the victims. Jack cuts Suzie with the knife, but does not get a response until he stabs her in the chest with it. Suzie jerks back to life, furious that she has been brought back and that Gwen, of all people, is using the glove. Jack questions her about the Retcon pill and Max, but time starts to run out. Gwen tries to keep the connection open, but Suzie apparently dies again, and Gwen collapses. However, Ianto notes that even with the knife in her chest, Suzie is simply unconscious.

Jack questions Suzie, telling her it has been three months since her suicide. There is an entry wound beneath her chin and a larger exit wound at the back of her head. Suzie bitterly notes that not only has she been replaced, but the rest of the team are unwilling to face her. As Jack shows Suzie the photos of Pilgrim members, she points out one of them is missing: Lucy McKenzie, a blonde student who works at the Wolf Bar. Jack, Owen and Gwen go to the bar, keeping an eye out for Lucy as well as Max. Suzie and Tosh watch through a live video feed. Owen thinks he spots Max, but it turns out to be the wrong man. Suzie then sees the real Max with a knife and warns Gwen, just as Jack hits Max with a stun gun. Gwen thanks Suzie for saving her life.

Imprisoned at the Hub, Max is catatonic, except that saying the word "Torchwood" sends him into a rage for ten seconds. Jack questions Suzie about Max, finding out that she gave him Retcon once a week over two years, so she could have someone to talk to. Later, Gwen and Suzie talk alone. Suzie says that Gwen is better than she ever was in all respects, even at using the glove. Gwen has also replaced her in everything — including sleeping with Owen. As the two bond over their work at Torchwood, Suzie reveals that her father is dying of cancer and wishes she could see him. Gwen confronts Jack, blaming him for giving Suzie the glove when she had a dying father; of course she would become obsessed. Jack counters by telling Gwen that she felt so responsible for Suzie dying when she joined that Gwen brought her back to life permanently. They are both responsible.

Owen calls Jack away to show him an analysis of the images captured when Gwen used the glove. Life energy flowed from Gwen into the subjects, only to be stopped when the subject died again. However, in Suzie's case, the energy flow is continuing and draining the life out of Gwen so that Suzie can live. Jack decides the only way to save Gwen is to kill Suzie, but when he goes to check on them, they are both missing. Tosh picks them up at Gwen's car, but before the team can stop them, the Hub goes into lockdown, sealing them in. Gwen and Suzie drive off.

Wondering how Suzie managed to trigger a lockdown without having access to the computer, Jack and Owen find Max rocking himself in his cell, reciting the first line to Emily Dickinson's "Because I would not stop for death" over and over again. Jack theorises that the repeated line is a spoken command to the Hub's organic computer, long programmed into Max. Suzie had planned this all along: If she did not see Max for three months, Max's programming would send him on a murder spree and cause the team to eventually resurrect her. Max is a Trojan horse, set to shut down the Hub at an opportune time for Suzie to escape.

Gwen drives Suzie towards the hospital where Suzie's father is. Gwen asks Suzie about life after death, and Suzie tells her that there was nothing; only a darkness that seemed to envelop everything. However, she adds cryptically that there was something moving through the darkness. Gwen looks more and more haggard and tired.

Ianto manages to get an outside line by using the water tower of the Hub as a relay. Jack calls Daphne Swanson for help, who is amused to hear that the "mighty" Torchwood is trapped in their own base. Jack tells her that a team member is in danger, and Swanson agrees to help by getting a copy of the same book of poems they found at Suzie's lock up. Reading out lines from the poems is ineffective in reversing the lockdown, until Tosh suggests using the ISBN of the book. Although Jack points out that the keyboards are not working, Tosh tells him that the membrane of the organic computer beneath may still respond to the code. Entering the ISBN into the computer restores power to the Hub.

Inside Suzie's father's hospital room, Gwen staggers, finding blood at the back of her head. Suzie coldly states that Gwen is dying slowly from the gunshot wound that killed her the first time; Suzie's own wounds are healing and almost gone. Suzie goes over to her father's bed and wakes him. As he looks up at her in shock, Suzie pulls out his ventilator, causing him to gasp for air. Suzie takes Gwen away in a wheelchair as her father dies.

The team are tracking Gwen's car, with Jack and Owen in pursuit in the SUV. Suzie, while driving, calls Jack, who pleads with her for Gwen's life. Suzie apologises, but since life is all there is, she intends to continue living no matter the cost. Suzie and Gwen reach Hedley Point, where she intends to take the two of them onto a ferry to the outer islands, to keep running. Suzie drags Gwen down the pier, but Gwen collapses halfway at the same time Jack and Owen pull up. Suzie runs, with Jack in pursuit and Owen checking on Gwen, who appears not to be breathing.

At the end of the pier, Jack holds his revolver on Suzie, who taunts him, confident that he will not kill her since all that is left of Gwen is inside her. Jack proves otherwise by shooting Suzie in the chest. However, Gwen remains still while Suzie continues to live on, despite several more shots. Jack orders Tosh to destroy the glove. Suzie, laughing, tells Jack a secret: there is something moving in the darkness — and it is coming for him. Tosh destroys the gauntlet; Suzie cries out, her body jerking once, then falls motionless as Gwen gasps back to life.

Back at the Hub, Gwen seems recovered, and Jack and Ianto place Suzie's body back in storage. Ianto hints to Jack that he wants to spend time alone with him, and Jack asks Ianto to meet him at his office in ten minutes. Ianto wonders what he should put as Suzie's cause of death, given the number of ways she died, and Jack tells him to classify it as "Death by Torchwood". Ianto adds that he is thinking of placing a lock to prevent Suzie from coming back. Jack does not think that will happen, but as he turns to leave, Ianto points out that the thing about gloves is that they come in pairs…

Cast

 * Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
 * Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
 * Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
 * Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
 * Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Suzie Costello - Indira Varma
 * Kathy Swanson - Yasmin Bannerman

Crew
to be added

Story Notes
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Ratings
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Myths
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Location Filming
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
to be added

Continuity

 * The Resurrection gauntlet last appeared in Everything Changes and then later in Dead Man Walking.

DVD Releases
to be added