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Greeks Bearing Gifts is a Torchwood episode written by Toby Whithouse, directed by Colin Teague, and eliciting fine performances by Naoko Mori and Daniela Denby-Ashe.
Greeks Bearing Gifts opens on a Cardiff building site, where a centuries-old skeleton has been found. Earlier a soldier of the Napoleonic wars, intent on rape, chased a girl into a wood, only to meet a brutal end. This body has clearly died by violent means. Exhausted after an intense day on a scorchingly-hot crime scene, Toshiko stops in a bar for a solitary drink. Picked up by the enigmatic Mary, played by Daniela Denby-Ashe, Mary gives Tosh an alien pendant which enables her to hear other people’s thoughts; amongst them is that Mary wants her, and they end up in bed. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been a rebound shag,” Mary observes caustically as she smokes a cigarette. The pendant is as much curse as blessing; out in the street, Toshiko is almost overwhelmed by the sheer tidal wave of other people’s thoughts. In the lab, it merely highlights just how alone she is, for all that she is surrounded by work colleagues who are supposedly her friends. Jack is busy, Ianto is still grieving for his dead girlfriend, and is almost catatonic in his withdrawal. Owen and Gwen are in the midst of a torrid affair, and each is self-absorbed to the point of solipsism. Toshiko is still smarting from the ease with which Gwen has walked into the team and taken a man for whom she (Tosh) had an unreciprocated crush, while Owen – unaware that Toshiko can read his mind – is scathing about Toshiko’s looks and dress sense, further eroding what little confidence she has. Both the lovers are deeply, deeply unsympathetic. The only person that Toshiko can turn to is Mary, but as the amulet starts to take a toll on Toshiko’s increasingly fragile mental health, Mary reveals a darker side. “Tell me what to do,” a sobbing Toshiko begs, as she starts to crumble. “Get me into Torchwood,” Mary replies. At the end it is Jack who realizes what Mary is, an extraterrestrial criminal intent on flight. But Toshiko’s own betrayal of Torchwood is mirrored by Mary’s desperation – the alien will do anything, use anyone, to get what she wants. Toby Whithouse wrote the excellent 'School Reunion' episode from Doctor Who series three, and Colin Teague’s direction gives this episode a very intimate feeling. While graphic, the lesbian sex scenes are entirely justified, with Naoko Mori portraying a lonely woman desperate for simple human warmth, and thinking that she has found it.
The copyright of the article Torchwood Series 1 Episode 7 in Sci-Fi TV Episode Summaries is owned by Colin Harvey. Permission to republish Torchwood Series 1 Episode 7 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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