Torchwood Episode 213 Recap: “Exit Wounds”

At the nuclear plant, things must be going well, because the lights aren’t red any more, and the Exposition Explaininator is now reading, “Flow Channels Diverted.” But then Tosh yells for Owen to get out of there! There’s been a power surge, which is triggering an emergency lockdown before Owen’s had a chance to get out! The big metal door starts closing, and Owen misses getting through by a hair, as the Explaininator flashes “Locked.”

Owen realizes his number’s up, and starts screaming and kicking things, ranting to Tosh about how even though he’s technically dead he’s not ready to die. You mean he’s been dead all this time and still hasn’t gotten through the Anger stage? What’s he been so busy with? Because most people just breeze through Denial and Bargaining.

She begs him to stop screaming, and he asks why, and she sobs, “Because you’re breaking my heart,” and I’d say it’s just about the best acted moment on this show yet, because the way she says it breaks all of our hearts.

Tosh cries that it’s her fault, and Owen, now calm, reassures her that it isn’t. Owen asks her what’s going to happen to him, and she reluctantly describes how the containment chamber will be flooded with irradiated coolant, leading his body to decompose, something that even a dead man can’t really survive.

But Owen seems to have suddenly reached the Acceptance phase, because he assures Tosh it’s going to be all right. He remembers all the times she saved his back, including the week he joined up and she had to cover for him during a hangover with the whole Space Pig episode, finally settling all that confusion over the Tosh-Dr. Who connection.

Owen: We never did get that date, did we? We sort of missed each other. It was my fault. I didn’t notice until it was too late. I’m sorry.

Tosh, totally sobbing, says she’s sorry as well, as the Explaininator reads, “Coolant Venting in Progress,” and alarms flash and we hear something steaming into the locked room. “It’s starting,” Owen calmly says, adding, “It’s all right, Tosh. Really.” Then everything fades to white. Holy crap!

Back at the Hub, Jack follows the trail of blood into the autopsy room and finds Tosh. He leans down to hold her and yells for the others, who rush in. Tosh whispers to Jack that she couldn’t save Owen. Gwen injects her with more painkiller, but it’s too late. With eyes gazing at Jack as he cradles her, Tosh dies.

ALL RIGHT, I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! I have recapped this entire season and I’ve tried to keep everything light and lively. I’ve snarked and joked my way through nipple clamps from hell, sleeper-cell terrorist aliens with cruller-bomb arm implants, time-traveling popsicle-stick soldierboys, black market alien meat, memory-swiping Hub infiltrators, stomach-bursting mayflies, Death, shape-shifting wedding crashers, haunted circus freaks on film, deformed rift-returnees, not to mention Hub-massacre/UNIT-incarceration/pterodactyl-hunting/brain-sucker backstories.

But I just can’t be funny any more! This ending is just way too sad. I watched this episode three times, and I found myself sobbing even more each time. Heck, I’m sobbing now just writing this.

[Deep breath. Dab away tears. Wipe snot from face. Must keep recapping …]

Okay, now we’re in Gwys’ flat. Rhys holds a tearful Gwen in his arms as they watch television coverage about how the city is recovering from devastating explosions and vicious animal attacks. Either it’s the local news, or a new FOX reality show.

In the Hub, Jack stands over a cryogenic drawer with Gray inside. Spike is there too and makes an excellent point that freezing him isn’t exactly going to make Gray any less loco. Maybe Jack’s hoping one day to figure out where that switch is that will change Gray’s setting from “Evil” to “Good.” Jack’s own response is that there’s been enough death.

Jack leans in, kisses Gray’s head, then closes the drawer. Then he asks Spike if he needs any help with rift predictions, his polite way of asking if his ass needs any assistance showing itself out the door. Spike says he’s decided to hang around the planet a bit, something which pleases me to no end since it promises a return appearance next season.

Spike leans in to kiss Jack, and it’s sadly a rather tame peck on the cheek as opposed to the tongue-thrusting of the first episode. He says, “Sorry for your losses,” and then makes his exit.