Torchwood makes a cross-country trip to Los Angeles, home of Phi-Corp’s corporate headquarters, to dig deeper into the pharmaceutical giant and find out how they seemed to know ahead of time that death would become a thing of the past. Jack continues to fixate on Oswald Danes, certain that keeping a careful watch on the convicted-pedophile-turned-charismatic-celebrity will reveal more about Phi-Corp’s plans. Esther and Rex let their guard down, perhaps fatally: Esther goes to visit her sister, only to be turned away at the door and told that she can’t see the kids. Rex’s visit to his father is even less welcoming, while Gwen gets disturbing news from Wales about her father. Oswald Danes and his Phi-Corp PR handler, Jilly Kitzinger, discover that he suddenly has an opposite number: a right-wing political figure who advocates the segregation from society of those who “should” be dead. Phi-Corp’s advance planning becomes more apparent – they’ve already bought up enormous amount of property globally to serve as “overflow camps” – as does their ruthlessness, as an assassin is dispatched to deal with both Danes’ nemesis and with Torchwood as they try to break into Phi-Corp itself.
teleplay by Jim Gray and John Shiban
story by Jim Gray
directed by Billy Gierhart
music by Murray Gold and Stu Kennedy
Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Lauren Ambrose (Jilly Kitzinger), Arlene Tur (Dr. Vera Juarez), C. Thomas Howell (The Gentleman), Mare Winningham (Ellis Hartley Monroe), Juanita Jennings (Bisme Katsui), Candace Brown (Sarah Drummond), Kelvin Yu (Nicholas Frumkin), DeSean Terry (Male Nurse), Roger Vernon Burton (Thin Old Man), Katsy Chappell (Woman), April Clark (Young Mother), Anthony Dilio (Lobby Guard), David Fofi (Burly Guard), Teresa Garza (Spanish Newscaster), Roy Lee Jones (Maurice), JoNell Kennedy (Veronica), Masami Kosaka (Japanese Newscaster), Ronobir Lahiri (Simran), Michael D. Nye (Sick Man), Barbara Mallory (Scared Old Woman), Brian Keith Russell (Landlord), Christian Svensson (Chauffeur), Randa Walker (Candice), David Grant Wright (Male Newscaster)
Notes: Writer John Shiban has a long list of genre credits in Hollywood, with writing and producing duties on series such as Supernatural, The Legend of the Seeker, Star Trek: Enterprise and Vampire Diaries, as well as the non-genre favorite Breaking Bad. His early career was spent working for Chris Carter as a writer, producer and story editor on such series as The X-Files, Harsh Realm, and the final X-Files spinoff, The Lone Gunmen. He has also directed episodes of Breaking Bad and X-Files.
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Malcolm gets a breakfast invitation from Captain Archer, but the security chief finds himself nervous the whole time. A call from the bridge saves Malcolm from the awkward situation, and then plunges him into a deadly one – the Enterprise strikes a mine which has somehow been cloaked, remaining invisible until it’s too late, causing major damage to the ship. A second mine adheres to the hull, giving the crew an opportunity to study it and learn how to detect other cloaked mines, but this one is still live and could blow at any moment, destroying the Enterprise. Archer orders the ship brought to a halt and Malcolm insists on going out on the hull to defuse the mine. When he tries, however, it springs an additional attachment to fasten itself even more tightly to the Enterprise and lances through Malcolm’s leg in the process. Archer suits up to help him, but while the captain is outside the ship, T’Pol has to deal with a new problem – the minelayers have returned, identifying themselves as Romulans and insisting that the Enterprise withdraw from their territory immediately or be destroyed.Notes: Minefield actually adheres quite closely to established Star Trek continuity. It was mentioned in Balance Of Terror (1966) that no one in Starfleet had seen the face of a Romulan prior to that incident involving Kirk’s Enterprise, but no one mentioned whether or not the Romulans’ ships had been seen before.
William Patrick Riley (Hat Check Boy), Marty Ryan (Older Guard), Inger Tudor (Mrs. Owens)