WRITER: Chris Chibnall DIRECTOR: James Strong
CAST: John Barrowman (Capt Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoka Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Caroline Chikezie (Lisa), Togo Igawa (Dr Tanizaki) & Bethan Walker (Annie)
In the basement of Torchwood, Ianto has been hiding his girlfriend Lisa, who has been half-converted into a Cyberman...Torchwood airs its first episode with a major link to Doctor Who, by using Who's iconic villain the Cyberman, in a story that steals from Who's own Dalek and countless Star Trek episodes.
Gareth David-Lloyd takes centre stage as Ianto Jones, Torchwood's resident dogsbody, with a performance that shows plenty of passion but not much restraint from the young actor. Ianto has been hiding his cybernetic girlfriend in the basement, and the episode opens with Ianto getting help from cyber-expert Dr Tanizaki to return her to normal. Of course, it's not long before the eponymous Cyberwoman (aka Lisa -- ooh, scary) threatens to escape and wreak havoc beyond Torchwood's confines...
Cyberwoman is very frustrating; it's disappointing to see Torchwood using Doctor Who icons as a crutch already, and the story is a big monotonous cliche. Chris Chibnall's script is similar to Doctor Who's Dalek (robotic enemy hidden underground is awakened and threatens everyone), and the parallels to numerous Star Trek episodes involving attempts to "humanize" the Borg enemy cannot be ignored.
Interestingly, Star Trek's Borg were essentially an update of the Cybermen, and Doctor Who later changed the Cybermen's modus operandi (brain removal not body upgrade) so as not to tread on Star Trek's toes. However, Torchwood's Cyberwoman is firmly in the mould of the Borg, but cursed with an unconvincing cyber-suit that wouldn't look out of place in an episode of Power Rangers.
To be fair, Chibnall's script eventually offers vaguely plausible reasons for some of the episode's sillier elements (like how Ianto hide Lisa in the basement for this long and keep her a secret, or why Lisa's brain wasn't removed by the Cybermen, etc), so I'll give credit where it's due.
However, Chibnall's handling of the story should have been much stronger. A huge problem is that we have absolutely no emotional investment in Ianto and Lisa! We've never met Lisa before, we barely know Ianto, and we're not given any flashbacks of their romantic past together. All we have to make us believe in their great romance is David-Lloyd's performance; which contains an abundance of tearful facial gurning. But it's not enough, and actually becomes irritating.
Elsewhere, Jack Harkness (Brrowman) is becoming a more bizarre creation than I thought possible! His decisions throughout Cyberwoman are quite troubling to me. After learning of the situation, Jack's gung-ho response is to kill Lisa, and he never shifts from this violent belief. Oh, and we get yet another same-sex kiss -- this time explained as a means for Jack to magically resuscitate someone. Indeed, it seems that Jack is immortal now too... which sort of reduces the tension whenever he has to defeat an enemy, no?
Episodes like this typically resolve with a triumph of humanity/love, but Cyberwoman's one original facet is to stick with its bloodthirsty solution. By the episode's close, Ianto comes across as a misguided flawed human, whereas everyone else (particularly Jack) look unforgiving and callous. It's actually quite unsettling, because I'm not sure I actually want this Torchwood team saving the planet -- they're rash, arrogant and obsessed with violence!
James Strong's direction is good, managing to limit the laugh-factor of Lisa's cyber-suit and squeeze tension from the shaky action beats. The special-effects are of varying quality; Lisa's suit is awful, the CGI pterodactyle is okay, there are compositing problems in a few sequences (the elevator), but brilliant make-up for a dead body.
Overall, Cyberwoman just doesn't sit right with Torchwood's supposed adult nature. This is very much a bog-standard Doctor Who script with some gore and occassional swearing. Too childish for adults, too adult for children.
