Torchwood Episode 206 Recap: "Reset"

We open on Tosh and Owen enjoying a good old-fashioned Weevil hunt. Either it’s your typical generic Weevil, or the office Xbox is on the fritz again and they were so bored they decided to release Janet just for the hell of it. Frankly, it’s been so long since we’ve seen any Weevil out of captivity I’ve forgotten that peculiar way they have of hunching along, like they’re headed for the nearest bell tower to bellow “Sanctuary!”

Tosh and Owen chase the Weevil into one of Cardiff’s many conveniently empty, dark, and creepy warehouse spaces which are alien visitors’ known shelter of choice. Like it would kill them for once to head to a Starbucks.

Flashlights and guns at the ready, they round a corner and, rather than a Weevil, find a dead guy on the ground. He’s a big, bald guy who looks remarkably like Austin Powers’ archenemy Dr. Evil, to the point where I wonder if word’s gotten out in cryogenics circles that there’s a hot Asian chick in Cardiff with a thing for frozen men.

Cut to Torchwood’s front entrance/waiting room. A hand opens the door where a newspaper clipping reads, “New Mayor, New Cardiff,” one of many inside jokes and shout-outs for Dr. Who fans sprinkled throughout this episode like manna from Raxacoricofallapatorius (which, I’ll have you know, I just pronounced perfectly).

Talking to the hand, Ianto is about to give the mystery visitor the brush-off, when he’s presented with an I.D. that leads him to gape in shock and awe. Given it’s Ianto, there’s only one thing I can think of that could possibly spark this kind of reaction — It’s Simon Cowell, and Ianto’s going to Hollywood!

Inside the TW Autopsy Room, Owen examines the dead guy’s corpse, which shows no signs of violent injury. Ianto ushers Jack’s VIP visitor inside …

Jack: Suddenly in an underground mortuary on a wet night in Cardiff, I hear the song of a nightingale … Miss Martha Jones.

And then Ms. Jones herself comes in, and as much as I’ve been enjoying series two so far, her arrival elevates the entire season to an altogether different plane of awesomeness. My greatest hope is that she’ll hook up with my new favorite character — Rhys — and the two of them will have a hot and heavy affair, throw it up in Gwen’s face, and then Retcon her.

There’s something about Jack’s reaction to Martha that’s very, “Indiana Jones, I always knew someday you’d come walking back through my door.” Which means Jack is playing the Karen Allen “butch proprietor of an isolated retreat who secretly enjoys frilly clothes” role, and Martha is the “globe-hopping adventurer with a closet full of whips.” Which come to think of it, is pretty dead-on in both cases.

Martha and Jack hug, and he introduces her to the Hubbies. Given that, as we saw last week, Gwen’s typical response to new faces at the Hub is to heap them with verbal abuse, she’s showing remarkable restraint. Owen, on the other hand, is demonstrating a more mixed response. On the one hand, his shifty eyes indicate he’s pissed at the suggestion she’s there to take over his post-mortem. But his drooling and panting indicate it hardly matters so long as she’s such a babe.