Torchwood: Cyberwoman (S1, E4)

"You need to figure out whose side you're on here--'cause if you don't know, you won't make it out of here alive."

Cyberwoman (Season One, Episode Four) ("Beneath the Torchwood building, Ianto Jones hides a terrible secret: a half-converted cyberwoman.")

What I Liked

* The very collegial opening scene--Hub basketball, banter, and going out for beers.

* The acting of Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto--he brings it, showing some real acting chops in portraying a character who has reached real desperation.

* The scene where the team goes to battle stations--very exciting.

* Pterodactyl vs. Cyberwoman--come on, that's pretty good stuff!

* Ianto's inability to kill Lisa at the end--usually in fiction, heroes are always able to make the tough decision when it counts.

What I Didn't

* A single cyber-being doesn't seem all that scary because it doesn't have much in the way of offensive power--it just slowly walks forward and tries to smash people.

* Jack's effective dialogue about Ianto having betrayed the team and Torchwood is nicely done, but Ianto seems to be forgiven fairly quickly.

What I'm Not Sure About

* Why did Torchwood build such a massive facility in Cardiff for a team that's never seemed to have more than a handful of operatives at any one time? (we've seen a couple of members during the late 1800s, a couple of members during WWII, and four or five members in Jack's flashback during Fragments).

Commentary

By: James Strong (director), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto), Chris Chibnall (writer)

Tone: Everything in the episode is "absolutely magnificent", but there's some nice humor.

Interesting Bits:

* The episode was going to open with Ianto meeting the scientist at the airport.

* It was intended to run much later in the season, but the showrunners wanted to establish a clear tie to the Dr. Who mythos.

* A funny anecdote about John Barrowman's ass smashing an antique door.

* The device that Tosh uses to unlock doors is the same prop she used in the first episode to scan books.

Deleted Scenes

* An extended scene of the group leaving the Hub for drinks, with more banter.

* Tosh brings Ianto coffee at the very end of the episode as a goodwill gesture, but he snubs her.

Torchwood Declassified: "Girl Trouble"

* Interviews with people about the character of Ianto

* Costume designers on how they made the Cyberwoman both sexy and scary

* Interviews about how much people loved the idea of having the pterodactyl fight Lisa.