As she celebrates the eve of her first day on the job with Torchwood, Gwen and her boyfriend Rhys witness an awesome sight – a meteorite streaks through the night skies over Cardiff and slams into the countryside outside the city. Suddenly it is Gwen’s first day on the job, but through a mishap on her part, a gas is released into the air from the meteorite. Now the team has to track down an alien presence that could have gone anywhere. The gaseous life form finds a host body – a young girl at a club – and Torchwood is called in to investigate her first victim, apparently killed after he had sex with her. Gwen is able to use her police training to track the girl down, but once she’s in Torchwood custody, nobody seems to know what to do with her – or if she can be saved.
written by Chris Chibnall
directed by Brian Kelly
music by Murray GoldCast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Adrian Christopher (Private Moriarty), Ross O’Hennessy (Sgt. Johnson), Sara Lloyd Gregory (Carys), Ceri Mears (Banksy), Justin McDonald (Matt), Tom Price (P.C. Andy), Brendan Charleson (Ivan Fletcher), Rob Storr (Gavin), Lloyd Everitt (Mikey), Alex Parry (Eddie Gwynne), Felicity Rhys (Bethan), Naomi Martell (Receptionist), David Longden (Mr. Weston)
Notes: Though it’s not explicitly stated on screen in this episode, the musical cue heard for the scenes involving the severed hand in the jar would seem to hint that the hand is the one that the Doctor lost to the Sycorax leader’s sword in the Doctor Who episode The Christmas Invasion – which may also explain why Jack prizes it so highly.
LogBook entry by Earl Green