Cyberwoman
Torchwood Season 1 Episode 4
One of the worst costumes in Doctor Who history spoils what is actually a pretty good premise.
The Review
Clearly RTD and Chibnall were well aware of the short stick that Ianto has been drawing the first three episodes with us knowing almost nothing about him. The other four team members go to get drinks, but Ianto stays behind because it turns out his girlfriend was halfway into being Cyber-converted at Canary Wharf in Doomsday and he wants to cure her. The whole story is a tragedy, with Ianto desperately caring for his girlfriend Lisa but it becoming clear that Lisa just won’t be able to be saved. The ending packs a particular punch with Lisa putting her brain into a pizza delivery girl. Ianto really wants to kill Lisa then and there, but just can’t bring himself too. The other Torchwood team puts and end to the body horror, and that’s that. It has all the trappings of another good Torchwood tale, with some usual stuff like Owen getting to kiss Gwen and the team see Captain Jack survive horrific electric shocks. Good for Ianto getting screen time!
However, we have to talk about the costume. It is terrible. You think it would be easy, put a woman into half a Cyberman suit. Instead, they went and made her sexy! It’s inexplicable. She’s got big metallic breasts, and as one shot shows us: heels. Why would a Cyberman have heels and breasts, and whatever the fuck else was going on with her costume. Instead of seeming like a dangerous threat, Lisa just seems incredible bizarre. The doctor Ianto brings in to help her gets hideously disfigured as Lisa tries to cyber-convert him. It’s just impossible to take Lisa seriously looking like a ridiculous over-sexualized thing that she is. Their initial plan to deal with her is to hurl their CGI pterodactyl at her that Torchwood has for some reason, and that’s not the best idea. Tosh also gets more to do this episode but still feels criminally undeveloped especially now that we know so much about Ianto. Hoping for a Tosh episode soon.
There is genuine emotional pathos in this episode, but it’s undermined by all the absurdity surrounding it.
7/10. Would be a lot higher without the epic costume misfire.
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