Jack ...... John Barrowman
Plot Outline When a Cardiff hospital is inundated with patients
who have fallen into coma -like trances, Torchwood move in to investigate.
The trances appear to have been triggered by phone calls, all received
on retro phones and made from a number that hadn't been active for
over 30 years. Determined to find out who has been calling the unfortunate
victims, Jack rings the mysterious number, but the line is dead. But
then it calls Jack back.
Analysis by Cuisle Captain Jack lying in a hospital bed, his body in a trance, no brain activity. This has to be the most shocking start of a Torchwood episode, ever. Jack can’t die, can he? With Stella Courtney, the Captain’s old flame, filling the gap left by Owen Harper, and Gwen running around Cardiff and Swansea with Rhys as her ‘associate’, there is a thoroughly poignant scene in which Ianto sits by Jack’s bedside and talks to him. In this scene it is revealed that the two are now very close, that Ianto sleeps at his side most nights, and often lies awake watching him sleep and wondering how long their relationship can last – even if he doesn’t die in the service of Torchwood, will Jack stick around. It is a beautiful monologue that reveals the depth of Ianto’s love for Jack, and his fears for their future together and possibly the best piece of writing in these three audio plays. The story of people falling into trances with minimal brain activity after phone calls from a long dead phone line was a relatively simple one. There doesn’t seem to be scope for an especially complicated plot in these radio plays, and it is sensible not to try. The problem began on the day in 1976 when the drought ended. Some of us are old enough to remember that day, whether we were in Wales or not, so that was nicely evocative, incidentally. On that day, lightning struck the offices of the Cardiff and West Building Society, the phones rang, and thirteen people went into comas. The last four left alive are still in a nursing home. The reasons why it all began again in 2009, with the alien virus reaching out to new victims, aren’t quite properly explained, but the solution is a delightful bit of science fiction bafflegab involving a macguyvered piece of technology that The Doctor himself would be proud of. And when it was all over, a tender moment when Jack hints that he did know what Ianto said to him while he was in his trance - a hint that their relationship is much more important to Jack than Ianto had hoped it would be. Apart from Ianto’s monologue, what stands out for me is how well Rhys slips into Torchwood agent mode as he accompanies Gwen. He is a much better character than PC Andy and much more welcome as an addition to the reduced Hub personnel in my opinion. Of the three plays, this one is my clear favourite, mainly because it had that emotional element between Jack and Ianto, which I think is the heart of Torchwood.
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