The late 1800s: After his death and miraculous resurrection are witnessed numerous times in Cardiff, Captain Jack Harkness – laying low in the city after his return from the 51st century, as he waits for the TARDIS to appear and refuel from the rift – is captured by Torchwood. They experiment on him, killing him numerous times, and decide that, like the Doctor, he is an unnatural threat that Torchwood must deal with – unless he pledges his allegiance to them and works for them. Distrustful at first, Jack decides to take Torchwood up on its offer, and begins working to evolve the alien-hunting agency beyond its original mandate.
2002: Toshiko Sato, an IT expert with high security clearances, uses her position to obtain classified plans for a top-secret weapon, which she builds and hands over to the people who are holding her mother hostage. But she hasn’t covered her tracks well enough, because UNIT troops mount a raid during the handover. Toshiko is arrested and held in close confinement with no contact with the outside world, until Captain Jack Harkness arrives, offering her a job with a top-secret agency…
2005: Dr. Owen Harper is baffled when his fiancee begins experiencing the earliest onset of Alzheimer’s Disease in recorded medical history. Owen insists on new MRI scans, which detect an unusual, fast-growing tumor. But Owen’s future bride dies in the operating room, and Owen witnesses the arrival of a man named Captain Jack, who claims that his fiancee has been the victim of an alien parasite. Jack later offers Owen a job with his top-secret agency, saying he needs a medical expert.
2006: While hunting a Weevil solo, Jack is cornered until a young man comes to his aid, clubbing the Weevil and allowing Jack to subdue him. When the stranger casually remarks that the creature looks like a Weevil, Jack rushes away. Jack finds this young man, one Ianto Jones, waiting for him outside of Torchwood’s Cardiff headquarters the next day. Ianto, jobless after the destruction of Torchwood One at Canary Wharf, is looking for a job – and he looks good in a suit. After he proves his worth, Jack may just have one for him.
2008: Minus Gwen, who has overslept, Jack and the rest of the Torchwood team investigate odd readings indicating alien activity. But instead they find bombs mere seconds away from detonating. An old enemy of Jack’s has returned, and the rest of Jack’s team may regret the day they signed up.
written by Chris Chibnall
directed by Jonathan Fox Bassett
music by Ben FosterGuest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Amy Manson (Alice Guppy), Heather Carney (Emily Holroyd), Paul Kasey (Blowfish / Weevil), Skye Bennett (Little Girl), Julian Lewis Jones (Alex), Simon Shackleton (Bob), Gareth Jones (Security Guard), Claire Clifford (Milton), Noriko Aida (Toshiko’s Mother), Andrea Lowe (Katie), Richard Lloyd-King (Doctor), Catherine Morris (Nurse), Selva Rasalingam (Psychiatrist), James Marsters (Captain John Hart), Lachlan Nieboer (Gray)
LogBook entry by Earl Green