Torchwood 2.8 ‘A Day in the Death

Written by Joseph Lidster

Starring John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Gareth David-Lloyd, Naoko Mori, Christine Bottomley and Richard Briers

Owen Harper is dead. Owen Harper is still Officer 565, Torchwood Cardiff’s Medical Officer. Owen Harper could die permenantly tomorrow in thirty years. Owen Harper is sitting on the edge of a roof with a young woman and he has no idea whether or not he wants to jump.

This is the best episode of the series to date, bar none. For the first time since its inception, Torchwood presents us with an episode which is consistent, relentlessly smart, relentlessly dark, character based and finally communicates the spiky, dangerous romance at the heart of the team’s work; Torchwood get to future proof the world, they get to see what comes next now and sometimes, they pay a price for that. The secret, as this episode shows, is not to dwell on that price but to learn what to do once it’s paid.

Burn Gorman’s performances as Owen, and the character itself, were one of the principle points of criticism in the first series, and not without justification. This mini arc seems designed to fix that and has succeeded admirably, Gorman’s spiky medic reinvented as a man who has no idea how much time he has left and is starting to realise exactly how difficult the rest of his life will be. There’s a wonderful sequence in this episode after Jack sends Owen home. Unable to settle, Owen eventually realises something and silently empties his flat of food. After all, dead men don’t need to eat.

His simmering rage at his situation is told in flashback as we see Owen have an unusually bad day at the office. As well as finding out he’s dead, he’s largely sidelined until the team can find out his true nature and is rendered down, effectively, to tea boy. This is the only part of the episode that doesn’t quite ring true, his suddenly menial status a clear step down from Ianto’s initial position with the team, despite him effectively doing the same job.

Frustrated by Martha’s presence as his apparent replacement, his inability to feel anything and Jack’s seeming insensitivity to his new status, Owen finally snaps. In a lesser series, this would be his exit episode, or the moment where everyone rallies around him and the reset button is magically pressed at the end of the episode, leaving Owen free to return to his life.

But Torchwood Officer 565 is still dead. And Torchwood Officer 565 still has to report to work.

Owen finds a calling of sorts, infiltrating a local millionaire’s house. Henry Parker is known to Torchwood as an alien ephemera collector and something is powering up at his house. They have no idea whether or not its dangerous, and Parker is powerful enough to make kicking the door in and demanding he hand it over, to say the least, problematic. Enter Torchwood Cardiff’s resident dead man, stage left.

The scenes between Owen and Parker, a wonderful turn by Richard Briers, are rife with symbolism. A dying man who wants nothing to live and a dead man who wants it all to be over meet in a gentle, almost courteous scene which sees Parker not only register as a character but also shows how cruel the series’ world is, how much Owen has lost and how much he still has to live for. Whilst there’s a continuity point in this scene which will annoy many people, the overall emotional impact is startling. This is the moment that whatever the rest of Owen’s life will be revolves around and both men turn in excellent performances.

Special mention must also go to Christine Bottomley as Maggie. , Maggie is very similar to Owen, a woman who just wants it to stop. She’s smart, she’s angry and she’s terrified and her scenes with Gorman spark with an intelligence and emotion that few series manage.

There is no such thing as a clean victory or a total defeat. There is no such thing as an easy answer, or an easy way out and this episode follows Owen Harper as he realises that. If you’re looking for resolution to the ‘Dead Owen’ plot, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re looking for a series that has reached an entirely new level of writing, that has rehabilitated its most broken character and is starting to fulfil its promise, then this episode will make you very, very happy.