Torchwood Episode 210 Recap: “From Out of the Rain”

Logan rushes in and before he can explain about the weird goings-on, his father insists he get up to the projection room to run the film. Which he does. But when he opens the canister, he hears weird whispers, a reminder for all of us that there’s actually supposed to be something more sinister going on here than bad weather.

Inside the auditorium, there’s about eight people in the audience. Pop Electro stands on stage and says it’s The Electro’s goal to demonstrate how cinema was back in the day. “If you watch carefully,” he says, “you might see long dead members of your family,” a quip met by loud inappropriate laughter, mostly from Gwen.

The movie starts up and it’s the same uneventful clips of traffic and pedestrians. I didn’t think old movies were so dull. Weren’t there cliff-hangers, and cartoons, and newsreels, and the Little Rascals, and you had to walk ten miles through the snow to get to the theater but you could stay all day and it only cost you half a penny?

Gwen and Owen are immediately bored, so they start cracking jokes about how it’s Owen’s dead aunt on screen. I’m surprised they’re not also talking on cell phones, eating smelly take-out, and noisily making out, because that’s just the sort of bad behavior movie-talkers tend to engage in. Ianto, a man after my own heart, tells them to be quiet with the tone of voice and expression only an annoyed gay man in a movie theater can truly pull off.

Then the movie images start being interrupted by more and more shots of circus acts and Pirelli. Pop Electro realizes it’s the wrong film and goes up to ask Logan about it. Logan says he has no idea where the film came from and that he can’t even switch the projector off.

In the auditorium, Gwen notices that it’s the same images over and over, so she and Owen prepare to leave. Ianto stops them, saying he thinks he just saw Jack. Owen, channeling Different Strokes, says, “What choo talkin’ bout, Ianto?” Ianto explains he saw Jack in the movie, and we do see a fleeting glimpse of a performer who looks like Jack pointing a gun at his own head. I’m guessing because he’s also watching this episode. But Owen and Gwen think Ianto’s lost it and get up to leave, just ahead of the six other audience members behind them.

Ianto stands up and is still staring at the screen, when a pair of shadowy figures passes behind him, freaking him just a little teeny bit out.

Meanwhile at the Hub, Tosh sees all the computer screens going bonkers. She should totally call tech support, who, if my experience is anything to go on, will say, “Um, did you try restarting your computer?” which of course she hasn’t, thereby making her feel like a total ass.

Jack pulls up at “Wow! Not Just Cinema. It’s The Electro!,” and joins Ianto inside. Ianto and Jack trade, “You think you’ve gone crazy, well I’m the one who’s crazy” anecdotes, with Ianto telling Jack about the shadow figures and about seeing him up on the screen, and Jack telling Ianto he heard carnival music back at the Hub.

The two of them proceed to reenact a badly dubbed foreign art house film, standing side by side and speaking the corniest dialogue in these super-serious monotones. Ianto talks about how beautiful it is to have these old performing acts trapped forever on film, and Jack eulogizes about how their days were numbered; cinema captured their history, he says, but it also spelled the end of the carnival sideshow. I think he’s forgetting about the advent of reality television.

Out in the rain, we see a young woman on the phone with her selfish bitch of a mother, who’s refusing to come pick her up even though it’s late at night and pouring. Well, Mama will soon be sorry, believe you me.

Because Pirelli and some trampy, ghoulishly pale woman in a period costume come up to the girl and ask if she’d like a ticket to their show. Pirelli’s companion says, “Maybe she’d like to join the show instead,” and proceeds to stroke the young woman’s hair and then lick her own hand. Ewww. Hasn’t she heard of cooties? I mean, I know that Herbal Essence has us all convinced that washing your hair can bring you to orgasm, but nobody’s made a case for hair being tasty too.