Series 4
User Review
( votes)The New World
Esther: Is he gonna die?
Jack Harkness: Don’t worry about it. No one dies these days.
Gunman: You wanna bet?
Jack: Anyway. Captain Jack Harkness. Nice to meet you.
Jack: That man was after me, not you.
Esther: Why? Why would he want you dead?
Jack: On the very day that no one’s dying? Wish I knew.
Esther: So what is Torchwood?
Jack: Torchwood no longer exists.
Esther: Then what was it? ‘Cause there were photos in that file of a man who looked just like you, but it said 1939 and 1925. Is it your father.
Jack: I suppose it must be.
Esther: You alright?
Jack: Yeah. I hurt my arm.
Esther: Considering what we went through I’d say that was a miracle.
Jack: Yeah, another one.
Jack: The Torchwood Institute was set up by the British Royal Family in 1879 to defend the realm of Great Britain by investigating the unusual, the strange. And the alien.
Esther: I’m kind of guessing alien doesn’t mean foreign.
Jack: Alien. As in extraterrestrial.
Esther: So that first email last night, the one that just said “Torchwood”?
Jack: Wasn’t me. God knows who it was. But it was enough to call me back.
Jack: Excuse me, I was wondering— {he pulls out a badge} Owen Harper, FBI—but what if you detach the head? I mean, would he stay alive without his head?
Professor Santini: I suggest we find out.
Jack: I can’t leave you alone for a minute.
Rex: It’s you.
Jack: Never annoy me again. Now get in.
Jack: You there! CIA! Do something useful.
Rex: Wales is insane!
Cardiff, UK
Jack: I cut my arm.
Gwen: Okay, can’t help but thinking there’s more important things to be worrying about here.
Jack: No. I cut my arm. Look at it. It’s not healing.
Gwen: Do you mean—
Jack: I’m staying hurt.
Gwen: Oh my god.
Jack: I know!
Gwen: Seriously though.
Rhys: It’s only a cut.
Gwen: But it’s Jack. Don’t you see, the whole world becomes immortal—
Jack: And I’m mortal. I don’t mend. I’m normal again. I’m plain old human.
Rex: You’re what?
Jack: Doesn’t concern you!
Rex: You talk some crazy shit, you know that?
View all quotes from this episode
Rendition
Heathrow Airport, London, U.K. 11 am
Rex: You. World War II. I’ll take this. {he takes Jack’s personal teleport}
Jack: That’s nothing. It’s harmless.
Rex: Then you won’t mind me having it.
Gwen: How’s that cut on your arm?
Jack: I’ll survive. I’m mortal, not dying. Well technically I guess I am dying, but slowly.
Gwen: But this thing that’s happening to the world—this miracle. It must have something to do with you.
Jack: Great, so it’s my fault?
Gwen: Can’t be a coincidence, Jack.
Rhys: Of course it’s not a coincidence. Doesn’t mean to say it’s his fault.
Jack: Rhys, are you defending me?
Rhys: Well it’s like it all got switched, isn’t it? Nothing to do with Jack if the wires got crossed. Everything mortal becomes immortal. So every immortal becomes mortal. See? I can be useful.
Jack: Be fair. I had no way of knowing Rex was going to pull that stunt.
Gwen: You know the way it works, Jack. Every time anyone ever gets close to you, nobody has a normal life again. And you know what really—and I mean it—really pisses me off? What took you so long? I have to nearly explode before you turn up?
Jack: Did you miss me?
Gwen: Yes.
Gwen: Where did you go, Jack?
Jack: Long way away.
Gwen: And did it help?
Jack: The whole world can’t die, but I’m the one being ridiculous.
Jack: The amazing thing about the miracle is not that no one’s dying, it’s not that the human race has become immortal. It’s that it happened to everyone at the same time. Don’t you see? It was instantaneous and that’s a morphic event on a scale that I have never seen before. So whatever’s happening to this planet, it is massive! By the way, your sodium’s low.
Rex: My what?
Jack: That bleeping? It’s found low sodium levels in your blood.
Gwen: You need salt.
Jack: Water? I’m American too! Can’t I contribute to our global cultural hegemony with a nice frosty cola?!
Jack: You are not giving me formaldehyde!
Gwen: You can shut up!
Washington Dulles International Airport, VA, U.S.A. 5pm
Jack: Rex you gotta work on these escape plans.
View all quotes from this episode
Dead of Night
Friedkin: They’ve only ever contacted me on one telephone number.
Jack: Get the number!
Rex: Yes, I know that. Thanks.
Jack: Yeah, well hurry up. I was right about the alarm. The police are on their way. Esther’s tracking them.
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Gwen: Come on, Rex. She’s not used to this.
Rex: Well I’m not used to this either. Doesn’t make me stupid.
Jack: That’s enough, okay?
Rex: And who the hell put you in charge?
Jack: I think the CIA did. You’re a member of Torchwood now whether you like it or not.
Jack: I tried to do a search on morphic fields, ’cause that’s the best that I could work out. That some morphic field suspended the human race. But it’s gotta be more than that.
Gwen: What do you mean?
Jack: It’s like there’s some sort of energy behind this. A will, a drive, a consciousness. ‘Cause this miracle, it’s more than people surviving. They are so alive. You saw Lynn—that woman at the airport. She should have been paralyzed, but she just kept on going.
Jack: It’s as if some thing is willing them to go on. Each and every individual—forced into life.
Rex: That was me. All the way through my accident. Wide awake.
Gwen: You could feel everything that happened? It still hurt?
Rex: Yeah.
Esther: So what did the search say?
Jack: That’s the problem. Everybody’s had the same idea. “Morphic field” gets ten million results.
Rex: Ladies, avert your eyes. That includes you, World War II.
Jack: Say, these new phones aren’t bad. Camera’s a good quality.
Jack: I warned you. Whoever these people are, they’re good. And they’re ready for us. Which puts us back at square one. We tackle Phicorp ourselves.
Rex: And is that standard Torchwood policy?
Jack: I suppose it is. Yeah.
Rex: You know, you dress like it’s World War II so I don’t expect you to be up on current events, but there is no Torchwood! It’s dead. Gone. Buried.
Jack: It’s us.
Rex: As far as I can see, you got all your staff killed.
Jack: They were my friends.
Rex: Yeah, dead friends!
Esther: Rex, don’t.
Rex: “Rex, don’t.” Alright. You want me to stop, I’ll stop. Who the hell are you people anyway?
Jack: Mortal man, mortal needs.
Gwen: Yeah, we’ve got work to do.
Jack: I am so mortal!
Jack: I was thinking. About how you’re immortal. And I’m dying. And what I wanted to say was… we’re good aren’t we? You and I? Good team. I missed you.
Gwen: I was thinking that, ah, if this had happened a bit sooner…
Jack: I know.
Gwen: He’d still be here, Ianto.
Jack: Dead friends.
Gwen: I’m sorry.
Jack: I wish he was here now. Not much of a team, is it? But we’ve still got each other. You and me. Just like the old days. We don’t need anyone, do we. We don’t need Rex.
Jack: I feel awful. Which is amazing. {seeing Rex} I thought we broke up.
Jack: I knew mortality would make life more intense.
Rex: Hey, don’t touch my pills. I need that for legitimate pain.
Jack: I need them too.
Rex: You weren’t impaled.
Jack: Huh. You shoulda seen the other guy. {Rex frowns} Oo, that face. Rex doesn’t like his jokes too gay.
Rex: No. Rex doesn’t like men in their forties acting like they’re twenty.
Danes: Can you tell me, who will be interviewing me?
Jack: Yeah, it’s… sod it! {he pulls out his gun}
Jack: I saw you on television, saying you feel forgiven for taking the life of a child. That’s a lie. I know that’s a lie.
Danes: How do you know that, Jack, with such certainty?
Jack: Tell the truth!
The murder of Susie Cabena. You don’t feel sorry at all.
Danes: I felt her life leave, and she left through me. You know that feeling. I think you do. And I relive it, every single night, because that was the best moment of my life.
Jack: Now I understand. You’re doing all this because you’re searching for one thing. One simple thing. Execution. We’re without death, so you get to live. And it’s killing you.
View all quotes from this episode
Escape to L.A.
Venice Beach, California, USA
Jack: Decades since I saw the Pacific. Must be about seventy years.
Esther: Are you kidding when you say things like that?
Jack: Oh ho ho. I wonder.
Jack: Our greatest problem is that what’s happened to the world is invisible. Quite by chance Oswald’s found himself right at the heart of it. George Eliot wrote this chapter in Middlemarch. She said that if you take a piece of metal with random scratches all over it and hold a flame up to the metal, the scratches look like they’re forming patterns. Circling around the light. And that Oswald. He’s blazin’ away. The patterns are starting to revolve around him. And all we have to do is keep watching.
Jack: You’re so never doing that accent again.
Gwen: I’m mortified. Absolutely mortified.
Jack: What happened?
Triangle Assassin: I did.
Jack: What do you want?
Triangle Assassin: Well clearly, you dead.
Jack: Then why am I still alive?
Triangle Assassin: That’s the point. It’s gotta be said, Miracle Day has hardly been advantageous for those in my line of work. The day the killing stopped. But I can’t tell you, Jack, how wonderful it is—how truly wonderful it is—to meet somebody who’s mortal. It’s my Holy Grail.
Triangle Assassin: I’ve been paid to eradicate him, but that only makes me wonder why. What makes you so different?
Jack: I don’t know.
Triangle Assassin: And yet, you’re the only one left. The only true human.
Jack: If I knew I would tell you. I’m trying to find out the same thing myself.
Gwen: Who employs you?
Triangle Assassin: Don’t you have any idea, Jack? They told me it was a very long time ago. Don’t you remember?
Jack: No. Who told you that?
Triangle Assassin: This would be so simple in the old days. Tell me what I want or I’ll slit her throat.
Gwen: Tell me who’s employing you.
Triangle Assassin: You’ll never stop them. For this is who they certainly are. They are everywhere. They are always. They are no one. They have been waiting for such a long time. Searching the world for a specific geography.
Jack: What the hell does that mean?
Triangle Assassin: That means that they found it. And they’ve made it magnificent.
Jack: Who are they?!
Triangle Assassin: They once had names. Long ago. And those names— {Rex bursts in and shoots him}
Rex: Give it anymore thought? That maniac said it was someone you knew.
Jack: Not that easy when you’ve lived for thousands of years.
Rex: You keep talking that shit, huh?
View all quotes from this episode
The Categories of Life
Venice Beach, California, U.S.A.
Esther: Do you think I’m useless?
Jack: No. I think you’re new to all this.
Esther: Yeah, but I’m CIA.
Jack: So’s Rex. But he’s just pretending. And that’s the big secret, Esther. At times like these, the game goes to the person who speaks with the loudest voice. But pretty much everyone just wishes their mother was here.
Rex: Vera, this is Jack Harkness.
Jack: We keep meeting. It’s like destiny.
Rex: Yeah. He likes to call himself Captain Jack, but I’m not buying it.
Jack: We’re a bit short of room.
Vera: That’s okay.
Jack: But I suppose you two… I mean, you’re gonna share. Or is that none of my business? I mean, you’re both… Didn’t you?
Vera: I’ll sleep on the floor.
Rex: Yeah, thanks for nothing.
Jack: Sorry, my mistake. Or are you not buying that too?
Jack: Torchwood is go!
Vera: So this name. Torchwood. You’re like investigators?
Jack: More like freedom fighters.
Vera: That makes you sound like terrorists.
Rex: Wait a minute. When I got hurt I should have died. And I was category one. But now I’m healing. So I’m category two. So which one am I?
Vera: Well that’s the point. People don’t fit categories.
Jack: Worse than that, this process has given the United Nations a definition for life, which is therefore a definition of death. The government now has the more to decide whether you’re dead or alive. No one should have that much control.
Jack: I’m going with you. I don’t know, I could be your… assistant.
Esther: We told you, not a chance. That assassin said
that you’re too connected. And besides, you’re too fragile, Mortal Man. {she kisses him on the cheek}
Jack: All I get is a kiss?
Esther: You look after yourself. You’re unique. You’re Category Jack.
Oswald: Jack Harkness. I could accuse you of having an obsession with me.
Jack: What happens after this, Oswald? When the fever dies down and the world wakes up to the fact that a murderer’s standing center stage? Somewhere out there those men are waiting for you in the dark.
Jack: You’re about to go out on stage and talk to the world with a happy little Phicorp speech, yeah? But you could use this moment, Oswald. Here’s your speech. Say those words instead. Phicorp knew about the miracle. They’ve been ready for years. That’s the proof, all written down. Ready for everyone to hear it.
Oswald: You want my help.
Jack: I want anyone’s help. I’ve never dealt with anything like this. It’s way beyond me.
Jack: End the miracle. And you can die. You’re cursed with intelligence. Clever enough to know who you are. And wise enough to want it to end. You help me and I promise I will help you to die.
Jilly: Who are you?!
Jack: Don’t miss the speech.
Jilly: One more thing, soldier. {he turns and she snaps his photo}
View all quotes from this episode
The Middle Men
Janet: What do
you want?
Jack: I want your help, Janet. Right now I’ve got some friends risking their lives because we think Phicorp is doing some very bad things. And we need to find out who’s behind it.
Janet: Please, you can’t tell anybody about us.
Jack: I won’t.
I just want some information from your boss.
Janet: I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.
Jack: Sweet Janet Rae. I wish he felt the same about you.
Maitre’d: Love the vintage coat.
Jack: Thanks. Maybe the three of us should have dinner sometime.
Stewart: The truth about what?
Jack: The Miracle. How was it done, why was it done and how can it be undone.
Stewart: Why would I have the answer?
Jack: When the day came, Phicorp was ready. We found warehouses stocked with painkillers, waiting for the miracle to come along.
Stewart: That’s your smoking gun?
Jack: So that means everyone’s to blame. Everyone and no one.
Stewart: Whoever’s behind this, they don’t show themselves. Not to me, not to you.
Jack: I was told that the Miracle involves geography. Does that mean anything?
Stewart: No. But there is one word that my operatives picked up, dating back to the mid-90s and then erased.
Jack: What is it?
Stewart: “The Blessing”.
Gwen: You watching?
Jack: I’m here. And I’ve opened up the radio link. Make your message.
Gwen: This is the truth for the whole world to see. We let our government build concentration camps. They built ovens for people in our names. Now I don’t care if the whole of society bends over and takes this like a dog. I’m saying, No. {she blows the complex}
Jack: That’s my girl.
Jack: We did it. We’re whistle blowers. Every major news organization. The world knows the truth now. Let the outrage begin.
Rex: You really think it’s that easy, hm?
Jack: Torchwood wasn’t designed to fight politicians. If we really want to stop this happening, we need to look at the bigger picture. Find out what The Blessing is.
View all quotes from this episode
Immortal Sins
Ellis Island, New York City, USA
1927
Colassanto (Daniele Favilli): You’re still here. I thought you’d be in the city by now.
Jack: Time to spare. Waiting for the next boat to Manhattan.
Colassanto: I am also waiting for a boat. Mine goes all the way back to Italy.
Jack: Right. That’s what they do with thieves.
Colassanto: The interesting fact is, they do it also with people who forge Visas.
Jack: Good eye.
Jack: What’s your name?
Colassanto: Angelo Colassanto.
Jack changing the Visa: Angelo Colassanto. It’s not magic. It’s technology. Sometimes they’re indistinguishable.
Jack: I’m tied down. Oo. Why am I tied down?
Gwen: They’re in my eyes.
Jack: What?
Gwen: They’re in my eyes. The contacts. They’re in my eyes. Somebody’s taken Anwen, Rhys, my mother, the whole bloody family. And they’ve said if I bring you they’ll let them go unharmed.
Jack: Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. So many times. And that’s just today. It’s been about seven hundred years since my last confession.
Jack: If their grammar was wrong it could mean English is not their first language.
Gwen: I didn’t notice anything wrong with it.
Jack: You’re Welsh. You wouldn’t notice if the vowels were missing.
Gwen: Button it!
Jack: I hear the beads clicking at night, Angelo. Everything we do, you ask for forgiveness afterwards. That’s just sex. Imagine if it was love.
Colassanto: You’re unpacking my things?
Jack: I’ve got this friend. He’s called the Doctor. He explores the world with a companion. It looks nice.
Jack: It’s a species of brain spawn. Treated as vermin on more than 150 planets that I know of. Valued as dinner on one other. It tastes like oysters.
Colassanto: You did not.
Jack: I had to be polite.
Jack: This part drills into the brain of the host and deposits its larvae there. Little worms, sharp and needles, pushing into the brain very slowly. You go insane. But it takes years. Franklin Roosevelt is going to be elected Governor of New York this November. But he wouldn’t start making the really crazy decisions until his second term as President. The result? America destabilizes, pulls out of the war. Germany rises, the Third Reich triumphant and there’s a whole new history sprawling out.
Colassanto: You mean someone is changing the future?
Jack: Destroying it. Turning order into chaos and feeding off the results.
Colassanto: Did I pass? Can I stay with you like the Doctor, learn all of the secrets?
Jack: Here’s one of the secrets: run.
Gwen: It’s me.
Jack: What do you mean?
Gwen: It’s me. I caused this. I made this happen. I knew Torchwood was toxic. Right from the moment I joined, the very first day. But I stayed.
Jack: I’m glad you did.
Gwen: Yeah. Stop being so nice. We left nice behind a hundred miles back. I’m trying to be honest, okay? Because you know what the worst thing is of all? Of all the shit we have seen, all the bloodshed, all the horror—do you know what is worse than all of that? I loved it. I bloody loved it. And I’d keep telling Rhys I was sorry, and I’d say to little Anwen I’m sorry. But I loved it so much. I knew things no one else knew and, oh, I felt so special. And when we lost people, it was so so big. And I could say it was worth it. ‘Cause the bigger it was, the more important I was. And the more people we lost, the more that meant I was a survivor and I was better than them.
Gwen: Have you got what I’m saying to you, Jack? What I’m saying is, No more! Because I know exactly what you’re thinking, Jack. “She won’t do this, not really. Not my Gwen.” “No, Gwen, she can’t hurt me. Gwen loves me. She’d never harm me” and well this is about my daughter. And I swear for her sake I will see you killed like a dog right in front of me if it means her back in my arms. Understood?
Jack: Understood. And let me tell you. Now that I’m mortal, I’m gonna hang onto this with everything I’ve got. I love you, Gwen Cooper, but I will rip your skin from your skull before I let you take this away from me. Understood?
Gwen: Understood.
Gwen: I feel like I know you now better than I’ve ever done before.
Jack: Yeah. Right at the end.
Gwen: Right at the end.
Jack: You don’t know whether to hit me or to kiss me, do you? Come on. You can do both.
Jack: I’m not doing this. I’m not giving final speeches.
Gwen: Just tell me about your life. All the things that you’ve never said. How many children did you have, Jack?
Jack: I’ve lived a lot of lifetimes, Gwen. I can’t tell you everything.
Gwen: A lot of lifetimes is consolation, isn’t it? Is it? When you’ve had more lives than anyone.
Jack: That’s not enough. I don’t want to die.
Gwen: I know.
Jack: Who were the three men?
Colassanto: What men?
Jack: There were three men. Like they were making an agreement.
Colassanto: I don’t know.
Jack: Time to move on. But not with you.
Colassanto: Sorry. I was terrified, Jack. They said you were the Devil. But other people said you were a Blessing.
Jack: Something happened to me once. A long way away. Time itself changed me to a fixed point. Now I can’t die. I suffer and I perish but I always come back.
Jack: I’m sorry Angelo. But this is the story of my life. It always ends the same way. You kill me. Men like you, you kill me.
Jack: You’ve got a little something on you. Now unless you want to be diagnosed category one…
Gwen: Put your guns down.
Gwen: And you, you’re gonna live.
Jack: It’s a talent of mine.
Gwen: And I did mean what I said.
Jack: So did I.
Gwen: Good. And as for you, you better pray that death comes back this planet before I’m finished with you.
Jack: So tell us who you are. Before I let her loose.
Mystery Woman: I don’t see that anything’s changed. You’re still coming with me.
Jack: Why would I do that?
Mystery Woman: You’ll want to come with me. Because I can take you to the one man who knows how the Miracle began.
Jack: Who’s that?
Mystery Woman: Angelo. Angelo Colassanto. He’s waiting for you, Jack. He’s been waiting for such a very long time.
View all quotes from this episode
End of the Road
Colasanto Residence, Nevada, U.S.A.
Olivia: You inspired him. You proved immortality was possible. And he devoted the rest of his life to finding out how to live forever.
Jack: And he did it? He’s still alive, he’s still young?
Olivia: Oh yes, he’s still alive. Angelo Colasanto is still very much alive. But he’s not young. My grandfather waited all this time to live forever. And his wish came true. Too late.
Olivia: You are not the only remarkable thing on this earth, Jack. Consider the jellyfish. The species turritopsis nutricula is considered to be immortal. Its cells undergo a process called transdifferentiation. Quite simply, it can revert to a younger state and grow old again. And then repeat. Without limit. It’s possible there are individual jellyfish on this planet that have existed for thousands and thousands of years.
Jack: I’m not as special as I thought.
Olivia: You never were.
Olivia: My grandfather was not alone.
Jack: Who were the others?
Olivia: Well the story says there were three men. Each representing a different family. And when you were being murdered over and over again, these three men came to witness your resurrection.
Jack: I saw them. They made a deal.
Olivia: They formed an alliance to purchase the power of resurrection. And when you escaped the three families swore that they’d find the gift again.
Jack: What were their names?
Olivia: The Ablemarch family, the Costerdane family and Frines.
So what happened then? 1928. What did they do next?
Olivia: Well they lost Jack but they still had his blood.
Jack: I thought they were draining it away. But they were collecting it.
Olivia: All they had to do was figure out how to use it.
Jack: But that doesn’t work. There’s nothing special about my blood in itself. That’s not what made me immortal.
Gwen: But what did these families do to the world? They start in Manhattan and eighty years later the whole of the planet becomes immortal?
Jack: And I become mortal.
Olivia: In 1998 we intercepted a message. It was just one word. “Blessing.”
Jack: We’ve heard about The Blessing. They found it. Whatever The Blessing is, the three families found it.
Rex: And now it’s time we found them.
Gwen: Jack, did we just join the CIA?
Jack: I think we did.
Jack: Did you see him? Did you see Ianto? You’d have liked him. Or maybe not. You’d have been jealous. {he laughs}. Gotta go. Work to do. I’ll take care of you. I promise. See you later, old man.
Jack to a dying Angelo: That’s impossible. How the hell did you do this?!?
Esther: He can’t be dead, Jack. He just can’t be. That’s impossible. Nobody can die, he’s just category one.
Jack: I scanned him. He’s gone.
Rex: Then is it everyone? I mean, did the world just change back? And if so what happens to me? Hm? I was supposed to die. {to an agent} You, tell Langley. Go online, check the hospitals, check with everyone. ‘Cause if he’s dying then who else is dead?
Shapiro: How? Only him. No one else. The only man in the whole wide world to die. The Miracle continues minus Mr. Colasanto. So how did he do it? {Jack’s silent} We’re taking the body for autopsy. Any idea what we’re going to find?
Jack: I don’t know. We should go—
Shapiro: No no no no. Nobody is leaving. This house is secure.
Jack: It’s not a crime scene.
Shapiro: Are you sure about that? Dying of old age can now be considered a crime. Something happened here. And we re going to search this place for information. And nobody is going to leave until we know exactly what happened. So you can stay just where you are, Captain.
Gwen: Come on, what’s wrong? Are we in trouble?
Jack: Yes.
Gwen: Are we in trouble because he died?
Jack: Yeah.
Gwen: But why?