Fragments (Torchwood)

"Fragments" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was broadcast by BBC Three on 21 March 2008.

Plot

Synopsis

After the team gets signs of an unidentified life form, they (apart from Gwen, who is running late) go to investigate. Searching an abandoned building, the team discover they've been trapped and the building explodes. The explosion causes the team to be trapped in various places; unable to contact each other. Gwen and Rhys arrive (Rhys having given Gwen a lift), and as they dig everyone out, the team's lives flash before their eyes revealing how Jack, Ianto, Owen, and Toshiko got recruited to Torchwood.

Jack's Story

In the Victorian era, Jack is picked up by two women - Alice Guppy and Emily Holroyd - who have noticed his immortality and his references to the Doctor. They examine him, which includes attempting to kill him. Jack recognizes that the technology being used during the interrogation is more advanced than Earth technology of the time. They identify themselves as being Torchwood members and offer Jack a job. Jack initially declines the offer learning that they view the Doctor as a threat. He agrees to the assignment after being told that if he doesn't cooperate he will be treated as a threat himself. He takes an assignment which is to capture an alien. While they have the alien in a small cell one of the officers pulls out a gun and shoots the alien in the head without warning. Jack disagrees with this policy and refuses the next assignment they try assign. Jack goes to a bar when a young female fortune teller comes to his table and offers to read his cards. After ignoring his refusal, she tells Jack that he will not meet the Doctor for another century. He returns to Torchwood and opts to join on as an employee.

Still working for Torchwood in 1999, Jack returns to the Hub to discover that a member of the team has murdered the rest of the members out of fear of the future. He has in his hand some locket, and claims to have seen the future and killed the rest of the team out of mercy. Based on the vision from the locket, Alex states that the next century is when everything changes and that Torchwood isn't ready for it. He then commits suicide, leaving Torchwood to Jack as a "reward for a century of service." With the rest of the team dead, Jack needs a new team.

Toshiko's Story

Toshiko's story takes place five years ago when she was working for the Ministry of Defence. After her boss leaves one night, she breaks into the security room where she obtains secret files for a Sonic Modulator. Tosh begins constructing a basic version of the Modulator, and once complete, takes it to an unknown location. She gives it to a woman, one of her mother's captors, in trade for her mother's release; but in seeing Tosh's potential, they decide to have her work for them. Tosh refuses, and so the captors set off the Sonic Modulator, sending an ear-piercing sound around the room bringing Tosh and her mother to the floor as their blood vessels begin to pulse violently. At that point however, UNIT soldiers break in and arrest them all. Tosh is locked in an empty cell and told that she will have no communication with anyone, and will not receive any information concerning her mother.

After living in solitude for some time, she is visited by Jack. Jack states that she'll be imprisoned indefinitely unless Tosh agrees to works for him. He recognised the high amount of talent Toshiko had after coming across the Sonic Modulator; and realising that the plans she was working from were wrong, meaning Tosh had virtually made it herself. Toshiko agrees to Jack's offer of five years work and is released from prison.

Ianto's Story

Ianto first encounters Jack by helping him fight a Weevil 21 months earlier. Ianto asks for a job, but is rejected by Jack after Ianto was found to have worked for Torchwood London. The next morning, Ianto gives Jack as he exits the Hub. Jack recalls knowledge about Ianto, stating that he researched him after he was able to identify a Weevil. Ianto again asks for a job as his old job was lost when Torchwood One was destroyed. Jack states that he had severed all ties with Torchwood One. That night, Ianto steps in front of the SUV, and once more asks for a job. After Jack threatens to run him down, Ianto reveals he is pursuing a pterodactyl. After a long battle, the two manage to sedate the creature. Finding themselves pressed together on the ground, they experience a moment of sexual tension, before Ianto excuses himself. Jack tells Ianto that he expects to see him at work the following morning.

Owen's Story

Owen's flashback shows him working as a regular doctor and planning a marriage four years previous. His fiancée, Katie, begins to exhibit signs of Alzheimer's Disease and is for a brain scan. The doctors state that it is a tumor, and decide to operate. While Owen waits, he hears a loud noise in the theatre, and enters to find all of the surgeons dead on the floor. Jack enters, and states that an alien parasite was residing in his fiancée's brain and gave off a toxic gas when threatened. Jack attempts to take the brain, but Owen protests; and Jack chloroforms him. Owen wakes up in hospital, but because Jack has erased all evidence of himself, Owen hs no proof of ever encountering him. After concluding that Owen is suffering from grief; the doctors prescribe him with three months rest. Visiting Katie's grave, Owen confronts Jack, realising he wasn't imagining things. Seeing Owen's potential and love for his job, Jack convinces him to join Torchwood as their medic.

The team escape the building to discover the SUV is missing. Jack receives a holographic message, as pictured, from Captain John Hart, who reveals that he had placed the bombs and shows Jack an image of his brother Gray. He then vows to tear Jack's world apart, so Jack would spend time with him.

Continuity

• For dating of this episode, see the Chronology.
• The tarot card reader girl reappears in this episode. She was last seen in the episode "Dead Man Walking".
• Toshiko's mother, as played by Noriko Aida, reappears in this episode, having last been seen in "End of Days".
• Toshiko's "sonic modulator" device based on stolen design plans bears superficial similarities to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, and its ear-splitting effect is similar to that produced by holding together two similar sonic devices in Doctor Who's 2008 episode "Partners in Crime", airing just over two weeks later.
• This is the first time the Doctor has been explicitly named in the series.
• A blowfish alien, similar to the one seen in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", appears in flashback sequences involving Jack's first mission for the Torchwood Institute.
• Captain Jack radios orders to an offscreen Suzie Costello in Ianto's flashback, although Ianto's arrival in the scene prevents the character from being given any lines. Suzie was last mentioned in the episode "Dead Man Walking", and last seen upon her resurrection in series one episode "They Keep Killing Suzie".
• In his flashback, Ianto Jones refers to his girlfriend, Lisa Hallett, as having died during the Battle of Canary Wharf. Lisa is seen again as a partly-converted Cyberman in the series one episode "Cyberwoman".

Production

Cast notes

Clare Clifford had played Kyle in the Fifth Doctor story Earthshock.

References

External links