Torchwood: From Out of the Rain (Episode 210)

Hi, I’m Travellingone, Theoriginalspy’s best friend. I’m the one who commented on Martha’s eyebrows , made Ianto a Canadian , and who still hates Spy for dragging her into a new fandom.

Dragged screaming, but if you know Torchwood, then you know screaming is perfectly fine and more often than not expected.

Spy is off bettering herself through knowledge (aka she has a paper to complete) so she left me in charge. I can play with the characters how ever I want. Dance, monkeys, dance - No, wait, I meant strip Janto, Janto, strip!

This week is ‘From Out of the Rain’ – which, considering UK weather, is not just a title, but a suggestion to the good residents.

So let’s begin. Jack says his thing, insist we all be ready… and we go into the teaser.

We can tell it’s set in the past because oh look, someone raided the BBC costume archives. Isn’t it nice how they’re conjuring up the olden days by working in the middle of nowhere to avoid things like, oh, I don’t know – infrastructure?

The locals have decided to visit the travelling show. We hear the creepy voice of the ringmaster telling us all to come stare at the strongman, the clowns, etc. We don’t see them, but you know there’s a bearded lady and sword swallower somewhere.

We pan over and see a pretty young woman complete with adorable little girl. To contrast with and emphasize the sweetness and adorability, we next get a look at the ringmaster (complete with top hat), and added to the creepy vocal overtones is the appearance of a mustache. I will now use adjectives to describe it:

• Cheesy
• Pornstache
• Over-waxed
• Pointy
• Stuck on

He hands the little girl a ticket as he continues his spiel. She’s obviously well-brought up because she looks to the woman first. She gives tacit permission and the little girl is encouraged by the ringmaster’s intimate, “We’re waiting for you.” The little girl takes the ticket, but only after considering the possible ramifications of accepting a free gift from a creepy stranger with a multiple-adjective mustache.

Nope, she was just shy. But she takes the ticket and hops off to the circus tent. The woman is immediately distracted by a random shriek in the darkness and when she turns back, she’s alone in a dark, empty field complete with mist.

Cue Techno credits

Aerial view of Cardiff at night. We see a hand working on a film projector, the precursor to You Tube. The hand is attached to a young film fan who is fascinated by scenes of a by-gone era. Interspersed with film buff are scenes of Jack as he moves around the hub fixing coffee and stopping to listening to random pipe organ music.

Film buff continues to watch film strips but they’re interrupted by ringmaster encouraging his viewers to step inside. Film buff decides that’s not on and goes to edit the film and by edit I mean manually cut it. Ringmaster’s not happy and blows the window open (look, it’s raining!) so he can put himself back on screen. Film buff closes the windows then swallows deeply as he realizes the ringmaster is still beckoning but the film has run out.

Another aerial view of Cardiff – are we back in season 1? Dear directors, you’ve established that Cardiff is dark, sexy and riddled with aliens. Stop with the aerial shots!

It’s Tosh! Yay!

Tosh walks down the stairs to continue working on something that needs a Petri dish. She’s greeted by Jack who’s wearing his best man trap/bait/Ianto-luring outfit of shirt that highlights his eyes plus waistcoat. He’s also got his hands shoved in his pockets so we/Ianto/random aliens can admire the curve of his ass.

He tells Tosh that he heard a pipe organ and asks if a circus or travelling show was in town. Tosh tells him no, because she would know about these things mostly because we know she has no life and the one guy she’s interested in is dead and can no longer get it up. Therefore Jack totally doesn’t believe her and asks for Ianto because…

He knows everything and it was probably written on the bottom of a screen somewhere.

Jack is told Ianto is off at the cinema and we get a nice segue to three drowned rats. (rain again!) The bitching one is Owen, the giggly one is Gwen and Ianto tells us that it’s not just the cinema, it’s the Electro. After mutual gasps of amazement, the trio enters.

Inside it’s all red carpeting and gilt everywhere. From what I’ve been told, cinemas used to look like this, now only theatres do. Panicked owner rushes to the box office. ‘Where’s our son?!” he hisses. Mom’s pretty cool, suggesting that she’s been through this more than once.

Son’s booting it across an empty warehouse. Panicked cinema owner puts on his public face and greets Ianto, Gwen and Owen.

Shot of Jack in the TT-SUV™

We get a snippet of Ianto’s personal life in the next bit – his dad used to take him to see kids’ films on a Saturday at the Electro. Behind them we see panicked owner yelling at film buff. Let me get out my Harry Chapin while I point out that once again, the parent doesn’t listen to the child when something important needs to be said.

Film buff opens the container accompanied by creepy organ music, but loads the film anyway. Creepy sounds should warn you off, not encourage you to kill yourself thanks to alien technology.

Then again, I’m all for Darwinism at work.

The film is introduced and soon we get confirmation that Owen was that kid in school and Gwen was the girl who giggled at everything that kid said while Ianto tries to shush them. The film repeats and soon cuts to scenes of the travelling show, which, incidentally, aren’t supposed to be on this reel.

The son and panicked owner try to pull the film out while Owen and Gwen get restless and try to convince Ianto to leave. Ianto gathers his things, keeping an eye on the screen. He gasps, because on screen we see Jack on a stage – dressed in a safari suit with pith helmet - shooting himself in the head. That’s gotta hurt. In fact, I think Jack has told us it hurts.

The audience leaves, but Ianto is still there trying to make sense of it all. He is startled by shadows that pass him and then we see Jack slamming the door of the TT-SUV and heading into the Electro.

Next, we come to a lovely scene. Jack and Ianto stand in the aisle discussing the film, Jack’s presence in the film (not that he confirms it, this is Jack) and how video killed the radio star . It’s Ianto who speaks of history – nicely tying in to his job as Torchwood Three’s archivist.

At the bus stop a young girl is talking to her mother trying to get a ride home and in this stormy weather, why not? Across the road she can see two shadows, one wearing a top hat. She continues begging for a ride as the couple move closer. It’s the ringmaster and a silver girl. The ringmaster looks and walks like John Galliano . In fact, I think I’ve seen John Galliano dressed up as a ringmaster. Hard to say who’s creepier.

The silver girl, who is Jill Pole from ‘the Silver Chair ,’ yes, the BBC’s Narnia series from almost 20 years ago, is no slouch at the creepy, but has the added bonus of insanity. Together they invite the blond to the travelling show, but they are turned down. They don’t take rejection well, so they decide to steal what looks like her breath, bottling it up in a flask and smiling at each other.

Back at the Electro, Jack and Ianto are catching up the audience in case we’ve missed anything. If you have, re-read this recap up to this point.

We get some more plot advancement when Tosh calls Jack to tell him the systems went wonky and there was some Rift activity just off of Hope Street. The team finds the blond at the bus stop, sitting still. Yet another person who is a better zombie than Owen. Owen confirms there’s a heart beat, but she’s dry as a bone as indicated by cracks around the mouth.

The creepy duo move on to the empty Windsor café, eyeing the moist tidbit inside. The tidbit, who really just wants to go home after a long day, tells creepy duo the café is closed. Silver girl is feeling puckish for salt and wants tidbit’s tears. The ringmaster complies.

At the hospital we learn the blond’s name was Nettie and she was visiting a friend. Owen shows the world why he’s the best doctor ever by contradicting the other doctors. Using a spider metaphor, Owen tells Jack that it’s not coma as diagnosed by the other guys, but something or someone dehydrated Nettie. The café owner is wheeled in, establishing for the Torchwood team that a serial moisture stealer is on the loose. Oh my god, Always™ has become a monster!!

The gang do the Torchwood strut through the hospital corridors contemplating the bad guys’ next victim. Hope they noted that the café owner was found on the corner of Hope Street.

The team is in the hub watching the film strip. Gwen and Owen make fun of the scenes until Jack appears on screen. Ianto is smug and the others immediately want to know what the hell Jack was doing.

“You did stand-up?” asked Gwen.

Jack denies the stand-up, “I was sensational!”

Oh, John Barrowman, don’t ever change.

Jack, after declaring himself awesome, exposits for us about the Night Travelers. The Night Travelers only performed in the dead of night, came from out of the rain (oh, good title for a show!), and left a trail of sorrow along their path. When video killed the radio star, the Travelers vanished only to be seen in the film strips.

The Travellers must have been pretty pissed off based their constant, ‘Look at me! Look at me! LOOK AT ME! Fine, I’ll just drain you of all your breath.”

And speaking of vanishing, Ianto, using his awesome powers of observation (his eyes) points out to everyone that silver girl and ringmaster aren’t in the film any more.

Because Ianto is being awesome, I just want to take quick second to mention something. I’ve got a list of things from Spy that I must do in this recap because she just. Can’t. Let. Go.

So here goes - Ianto, you are totally theoriginalspy’s fictional Welsh boyfriend. Don’t look at me like that – I’ve said so, therefore you are.

*whispers* That was fourth on the list, don’t tell him.

Jack goes to stand in front the film and I’m struck by the ham-handed metaphor of a man who can’t die, and who is living history standing in front of history. He assigns everyone a task and tells Ianto he needs his ‘local knowledge.’

“Oh, is that what you’re calling it these days?” snarks Gwen.

“We like to mix it up a bit,” replies Ianto, smirking. Okay, so he didn’t say that, but don’t you wish he did?

Another Jack/Ianto scene. This for them is tender mostly because Jack was sharing, up to a point. You can see the indulgence and curiousity in Ianto. After all, you want to know more about the man you’re sleeping with. Jack tells Ianto he was sent to investigate the Night Travelers and then we segue to the travelling fair with their ringmaster and silver girl/mermaid. She does an interpretive dance while the ringmaster tells the audience how “she’ll take your breath away.”

According to Ianto, if you’re a girl, you can go to a pub before 11 and get hammered really, really cheaply in a converted cinema.

Tosh registers the sea, but is then confused as the sea is running through the centre of town. Whoops?

A car of victims is driving through Cardiff. The father stops because he’s convinced he’s seen ghosts. Now here’s a man who actually listens to the news and pays attention to his surroundings. His wife immediately dismisses his fears until the ringmaster plasters his face against the passenger door. Cue scream.

Ianto and Jack fill us in on the Night Travelers’ motivation. They were forgotten and now they want revenge. And… we’ve got plot. Don’t jump on it, it’s not that strong.

Scene switch to our creepy couple. Silver girl is moistening herself in a pool of dirty, nasty street water and goes to sit next to the ringmaster who listens to his trapped audience. Silver girl and ringmaster enact their version of romantic longing – he for her, she for the life they once had in the travelling show. Silver girl may have been trapped for 80-plus years, but she certainly didn’t forget how to get what she wants. Ringmaster, who is clearly thinking with the lower baton, agrees to her request to free the other Night Travelers and to start travelling again.

Jack and Ianto are in the hospital looking at the youngest victims of the creepy duo. In an act of television, the nurse attending the children hands Jack enough information to advance the story. Remember our little blond in the teaser? Her name is Christina and she’s a permanent patient at Providence Park, a psychiatric hospital.

“I know it,” says Ianto, immediately making me wonder how? Jack’s wondering too, based on the slightly-too long glance in Ianto’s direction. We know our tea-boy needed therapy after Canary Wharf…

Nurse Plot Point gives the men more information – Christina didn’t like entertainment shows because she was afraid they would steal her last breath. Here’s the difference between Torchwood and regular folks. The nurse just thinks Christina is mentally disturbed. Torchwood thinks, ‘Clue!’

“I think we’ve found our first witness,” say Captain Obvious.

Captain Obvious and his Boy Awesome walk the greens of Providence Park wheeling Christina to a bench. Christina may be old, and may be possibly disturbed, but she knows they want something.

“We’re here to see you,” says Jack.

“No one ever comes to see me,” retorts Christina.

Jack: ‘Damn! Time to pull out the dimples with the charming smile.’ He dimples at Christina, who ignores them and focuses on his eyes. “Your eyes are older than your face. It means you don’t belong.”

Anyone see the metaphor and the irony yet?

Christina gives us all a rundown of what she saw and since I’ve described everything before, I’m not doing it again. One point of note, she says the Silver girl ‘glistened.’

And apparently drank everything in her path. She’s drinking again and Silver girl washes her face and goes to check on her ghosts, who are just standing there in the gloom of an old building being all zombie-like and still better than Owen.

Christina, who is still telling us what we already know, tells Ianto that he’s been touched by the creepy duo. I’m not sure if Ianto’s reaction is a result of his fabulous ability to compartmentalize or the desire to get the job done, but he coaxes Christina to continue.

On a personal note, GDL has nice lips and the inability to keep his mouth closed. Okay fanficcers, off you go.

Christina, confirming my initial thoughts in the teaser, proved to be a very smart little girl. She refused to trust the Ghostmaker/Ringmaster and ran away, taking her breath with her. She survived, but sadly other people in the village did not, including her parents.

Look, the wrist assist and a watch! The team is in the hub going over the history of the night travelers (back to the 19th century), and conclude that they can save the victims by locating the flask.

Film buff is returning home, only to find his place trashed, and film all over the place. To top it off, the poor bastard thinks someone’s drowned in his tub. We all know better, but silver girl gives him the scare of his life and he hoofs out the flat and calls Torchwood.

Jack and Ianto enter the flat, guns drawn. Creepy duo is gone, film buff’s parents are in the Electro, wondering if their piano player was already in and practicing. Scene cuts back to Jack, Ianto and film buff (whose name is Jonathan, but I’m going to keep calling him film buff), who gives us and Torchwood another clue to catch the creepy duo.

“There was a weird smell and her hand, it was like celluloid!” says film buff.

“They were there for 80 years,” says Jack, looking at the filmstrips. He picks up a camera. “They’re part of it! What if we film them?” Then in a scene reminiscent of the West Wing, Jack and Ianto pedaconference, discussing the science of how to destroy the creepy duo and any cohorts they might bring across.

They plan to film the creepy duo, who are made of chemicals, light and shadow. Then they expose the film to as much light as possible, destroying them.

Now I’m an English and Political Science major, so that science sounds plausible to me. If it isn’t, tell me why in the comments. Or tell Spy, who’ll tell me.

Ooooh… something’s going on at ground zero. The team (and film buff) congregates at the Electro. They barge in, only to find film buff’s parents lacking serious moisture. Film buff cries all over them, but is thankfully taken away by Gwen and Owen, who are also under orders to find out who’s in the projection room. Ianto and Jack stay in the theatre and watch as the show begins.

They watch and the first out is the strong man. Jack and Ianto duck, which also reminds Jack to start filming. He continues filming as the clown, the jugglers and the rest of the bad guys walk off the screen. Silver girl gives them the usual bad guy speech – variations of ‘this cinema is ours, this town is ours, this world is ours, etc, etc., blah, blah, we’re evil, can someone please write a new script?’ – then notices Jack and Ianto sneaking away, but still filming.

In the meantime, Owen bangs on the door of the projection room where the Ringmaster is lurking. I thought death had robbed him of his gag reflex, because as we all know, there ain’t no breath there so the Ringmaster rejects him.

But does Ringmaster consider this a threat? Nope, he tosses Owen aside, who FAILS AT SHOOTING HIM, and storms downstairs. Gwen tackles him and Ianto grabs the flask and hoofs it across the street, down that alley, under that bridge, up those stairs…

My, GDL can scream, can’t he?

Ringmaster gives Ianto the Vulcan neck pinch hence the screaming, grabs the flask and runs up the stairs. Jack dashes in and films him. Ringmaster, knowing it’s his final curtain call (I’m sorry! I had to!), opens the flask and tosses it.

Ianto, who not only plays field hockey, but apparently rugby, runs after the flask, catches it and stoppers it as soon as he can.

Jack over-exposes the film.

The Night Travelers disappear.

There is the sound of heart monitors flat-lining.

Ianto holds the flask up to his ear. “One! Just one! I heard it, Jack!” Oh, poor Ianto! We know he doesn’t take death well and his face is absolutely heartbreaking.

Jack takes the flask from him and looks at it with a grimace, “But which one?”

Back at the hospital. We can only assume that they checked film buff’s parents before going to see Nettie, Tidbit, and the family. The nurse lets them and us know that as per television, it’s the youngest and the cutest who is still alive.

Jack holds the little boy and gives him back his last breath. The boy coughs and then smiles at Jack. Ianto’s eyes are suspiciously moist, but considering how all these people died, dry and unable to cry, it’s appropriate that tears be at a happy occasion.

On that note, fan ficcers, please don’t write weepy Ianto because of this? He’s fully capable of kicking ass. On another note: John Barrowman wants kids, doesn’t he? Look at the expression on his face.

Final scenes: Ianto is filling out evidence bags, nicely bending over the table for us. Jack probably can’t appreciate it since he’s on the other side of the table.

As per sci-fi, Jack wonders about all those other reels of film lying in basements and lofts. Would the Night Travelers take the opportunity to come forth again? Does this episode really need a sequel? Ianto doesn’t care, he’s still caught up in the deaths he failed to prevent through no fault of his own. He gives the flask to Jack and walks away.

A flea market, a father and son walk away with reels of film. One drops and opens. Jack hears organ music…

Next week… Adrift and Theoriginalspy will be back bringing you her snark and her pictures. Thanks, Spy for the opportunity to play in your sandbox. You’ve finished a big exam (she did really well) and your paper. As such, you deserve some Janto porn, which hopefully you’ll get next week!

Not that I would know or anything…

Special thanks to Torchwood Time-and-Space.co.uk for their screencaps! Thanks guys, I really appreciate you letting me use them for this recap!