Torchwood (2006–2011): Season 2, Episode 3 - To the Last Man - full transcript

Every year since 1918, the team wakes Tommy from cryogenic sleep, because one day they will need his help. But they don't know which year, or for what. All indications are sealed in a box that will only open at the right moment.

Torchwood.

'Outside the
Government, beyond the police.

'Fighting for the future
on behalf ofthe human race.

'The 21st century is
when everything changes...

'And Torchwood is ready.

' Nothing so far.

You getting anything on that?

Well, hold on a tick.

Yes, follow me, Gerald.

Well?

We're pretty close.



This way.

Don't panic.

I thought you were a ghost.

Scared the wits out of me!

Sorry.

Thought you'd be used to
us creeping around by now.

Have you seen any recently?

Ghosts.

I've seen three today.

It's getting worse.

Well, you're a very brave girl.

Thank you, sir.

Where did you see them?

In the ward.



St Teilo's Militry Hospital

Mind, half of this lot see things anyway.

Nerves shot to pieces. Poor chaps.

Soon as they're better, they'll
be sent back to the Front.

Field Marshal Haig's order.

'Every position must
be held to the last man.

'Each one of us must
fight on to the end.

' Whenever that is.

Gerald.

Come on.

We're right on top of it!

Hello?

Tell them.

Tell us what?

Tell them what to do.

You're the only one who can stop this.

If you don't, it's the end of everything!

Tommy!

Take me.

I'm in there in the ward, in 1918.

You have to take me
so I can be here now.

just take me!

- Tommy, you'd better come with us.
- Why?

Don't worry.

I'm Gerald and this is Harriet.

We'll look after you.

Who are you?

We're Torchwood.

Who is he?

Thomas Reginald Brockless.

Tommy.

24 years-old.

Sort of.

Well, he's either 24 or he's not.

Depends how you work it out.

All right, when was he born?

Owen, you ready?

Yeah, nearly.

Is that a dress, Tosh?

I do believe it is, Owen.

Well, where is he?

He's been here for 90
years, longer than any of us.

Any of you.

Torchwood have used alien
cryogenics since Victorian times.

They froze Tommy in 1918.

So he's 24 or 114 years old.

I know which one I'd choose.

We have to wake him up
every 12 months or so.

Well, defrost him.

One day only, then back in the freezer.

Why?

Check he still works.

One day, we're gonna need him.

Right, everybody ready?

Come on, Tommy.

Charging 200, clear!

Charging 360. Clear!

Gwen, quick. It's all right!

Get off me, leave me alone.

- Tommy!
- Leave me alone!

Tommy!

Tommy, listen to me!

Tommy Brockless!

It's me, Toshiko.

Toshiko.

Remember?

Gets harder every year.

Good left hook, though.

Do you know where you are?

Torchwood.

That's right.

Is it time again?

Blimey.

How are you feeling?

HE COUGHS I could murder a cup of tea.

Don't expect the best china.

I'm starving.

Here, tuck in. There's
enough to feed an army.

Nice dress.

Thank you.

Got your slacks on
underneath. Is it that cold?

It's the fashion this year.

1968, they were in miniskirts.

Thought all my Christmases
had come at once.

Shame they haven't made a comeback.

I still don't get it. Why is he here?

Like I said
- one day, we're gonna need him.

And pull to me.

Good. Seems fine.

- Ijust need to take a few blood samples.
- Blood samples.

We wake you up once a year and
stick needles into you, it's not fair.

Once a year for you, it's
every day for me.

So, while we wait.

Tommy Reginald Brockless, born 1894
February the 7th in Blackley, Manchester.

Private officer in 10th
West Yorkshire regiment.

Very good.

Only son of Constance
May Bassett, died 1900,

and Thomas Campbell
Brockless, died june 1931, aged 57.

Heart attack.

That's right, isn't it?

Yes. I'm sorry.

It's all right.

Ijust haven't had that
much time to get used to it.

Right, I need to have a look at this leg.

St Teilo's Hospital, 1918.

There was a time-shift.

A fracture in the rift means that two
slices of time were erupting into each other.

A slice of 1918, and?

A slice ofthe future.

But we don't know exactly what slice.

It could be tomorrow, it
could be in 100 years' time.

What will happen?

Chunks of 1918 will start
to appear at the hospital.

A few at first, then more and more.

When the time-shift is
complete, it'll start a chain reaction.

Unless we stop it, time-shifts'll start happening
all over the country, then all over the world.

But how does Tommy fit in?

He helps to stop it somehow.

Torchwood 1918 left us sealed orders.

'Eyes-only documents.

'FAO Torchwood commander
overseeing case 1918/T B.

Tommy Brockless?

It's stuck.

- No, it's locked.
- OK, where's the key?

temporal lock tied in with the
rift frequencies at the hospital.

***the box will open and we'll
find out exactly what Tommy does.

But why would they keep
us in the dark, jack?

I guess we'll find that out, too.

Seriously, what do you think?

You look like a film star.

Who, Charlie Chaplin?

Come on.

Have you got any more of those
pretty boys in the freezer?

Hands off, missy. Tosh got there first.

Thanks for holding
the fort while I'm out.

No worries, have fun.

Be careful.

Where are you off?

Drink, film, maybe a pizza.

Oh, very nice.

I'll be on the mobile if you need me.

- Have a lovely time.
- Bye!

He's a frozen soldier from 1918.

Nobody's perfect.

Slow down, what's the hurry?

I've only got one day, I
want to see everything.

Captain Scott...

sailed from here, when he
went off to the Antarctic.

1910.

I was 16, papers were full of it.

Took him two years to get
there and then he snuffed it.

So, what've you been up
to since I last saw you?

This and that.

Work, mostly.

What?

I knew you were going to say that.

It's what you always say.

So how's the piano playing going?

That's what you said last year.

'I'm gonna learn the piano.

' Never got round to it.

I bet you never learnt Spanish, neither.

I bought a book, though!

Oh, are you made of money?

I haven't had time.

You talk about your life like
you've got no control over it.

Well, Torchwood's pretty much 24/7.

24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

But you weren't conscripted.

I mean, it's your choice, right?

Yeah... I suppose it is.

He's a bit of all right.

He's the boss.

Nothing changes.

She's all right, too.

Harriet Derbyshire.

Wonder what happened to her.

She died the year after that was taken.

26 years old.

So young.

They all were.

Nothing changes.

Where are you going?

St Teilo's Hospital.

And bloody cheer up, will you?

Good shot!

You're still winning.

It's alljust maths, really.

Angles, velocity...

Give you women a vote, equal
rights, look what happens, eh?

So, er, you got a boyfriend yet?

You sound like my mother.

Ah, so you haven't, then.

You had a girlfriend? In 1918.

Yeah. Ellie.

We courted for two years.

What happened?

I, er, stopped seeing her...

last time I was home on leave.

The war changed me.

I couldn'tjust carry on like before.

I'm sorry.

Right pair we make.

Hello?

I said hello.

Can you hear me?

Look, can you hear me? If you just...

Hello?

Are you all right, love?

You look as if you've seen a ghost.

They're knocking down the hospital?

Yeah, that's what they said.

Could that have
triggered the time-shift?

Could have.

Maybe all the psychic trauma and rift
energy charged it up like a battery.

1918, this place was
full of wounded soldiers.

They had four years of it.

Passchendaele, the Somme.

A million British soldiers
killed during the Great War.

It was like walking into hell.

Believe me.

I was there.

Owen? You got anything?

All quiet here.

just that little spike from earlier.

This is more Tosh's thing than mine.

Shalll give her a call?

Not yet.

just keep watching.

Yes, mate.

Half a bitter, and a vodka and diet
tonic with a slice of lemon, please.

***

Seems like there's
always a war somewhere.

That's not exactly a war.

Looks like one.

First year they woke me up...

1919...

they told me it was all over.

We won.

'The war to end all wars, ' they said.

And then three weeks later, you
had the Second World War.

After all that.

Do you never wonder
if we're worth saving?

The human race.

Yes.

I think we're worth saving.

Wars and all.

What?

What?

I wasjust thinking...

I'd do anything for you.

Yeah, all you have to do is say, 'Tommy, you're
my brave, handsome hero, and I need you. '

Is that all?

And whatever it is, I'll do it.

I mean it. Anything.

What is it?

I dunno.

I just felt something...

Jack?

jack.

# Tick-tock, wind up the clock #

# I like them all... #

I bet you say that to all the girls.

# Show me a skirt, and my
brain simply whirls... #

Matron won't have singing.

You'll get a good telling
off if she hears you.

# I love their dimples and curls #

# Tick-tock, wind up the clock #

# And I start my day over again #

# Tick-tock, wind up the clock #

# And I start my day over again... #

jack, you see anything?

'Cos I've got a little
mountain range this end.

' Yeah, we've got a few ghosts here.

'Gwen, you OK?

'Gwen?

' I'm fine.

They're ready for you now.

Hello?

Hello?

I see you.

Why won't you leave us alone?

You shouldn't be here!

I don't mean you any harm.

You shouldn't be here!

I don't mean you any harm.

I'm going to get you!

Stop, stop, no.

- Please, no, Tommy, no. Stop!
- I'm putting you down.

I'm putting you down.

What?

Nothing.

Thanks.

Thanks?

Itjust caught me out.

- It doesn't matter.
- What?

I know it's silly...

but I'm a bit older than you.

I was born in 1894.

You know what I mean.

So I'm old enough to die for my country
but I'm too young to give you a kiss?

You daft lass.

What goes on in that head of yours?

Thanks.

You're welcome.

I might be young, but I've
seen a fair bit in my time.

So what do you want to do now?

Well, we could go back to mine but there's
only room for one and it's bloody freezing.

You want to come back to my place?

I'm hardly rushing you.
You've known me four years.

Four days...

OK.

Let's go.

I'll race you, come on!

jack.

Toshiko!

We're on our way.

Demolishing the hospital is
what triggers the time-shift.

So, don't demolish it.

Too late, it's already started.

What happens next?

Two different times should
never exist simultaneously.

You want to be in 1918, or now.

Not both.

So when 1918 becomes fully manifest...

It's really going to screw us up.

OK.

Linear time.

Screwed up time.

Imagine your life as a straight
line, from birth to death.

Try drawing that line on the
paper without straightening it out.

It's impossible.

That's why we've got to stop it.

lanto, is that box doing anything yet?

Still locked.

We need to find out how fast
the time-shift is happening. ****

Tosh, Owen, go to the
hospital, we need readings.

Cover the place with rift monitors.

Gwen, go through the files, see
if there's anything we missed.

Need a hand?

just a couple more.

Listen, Tosh, I've been meaning to say...

just be careful.

What do you mean?

You're very close to Tommy.

I've only known him for four days.

Yeah.

You've fallen for him, haven't you?

I can be myself with him.

I don't have to pretend.

No, I understand.

I didn't think you had some
weird fetish for defrosted men.

Ijust, um...

I don't want you to
get hurt, that's all...

if you have to say goodbye.

'Owen, can you hear me?

' What is it?

'I need you to go down into the east wing
of the hospital, 'head for the second floor,

what used to be the radiology section.

'I think that area contains
a clue to the time-shift.

'I read this earlier, but
it didn't make any sense.

' In the Torchwood 1918
field report at the hospital,

they describe a certain
detail of their encounter.

It reads...

'Through a hole in the external
wall, we hear the roar of great engines.

'Outside is a woman in strange
armour, ripping a Union jack,

'perhaps some future
heroine ofthe Empire.

' What does it mean?

'It doesn't sound like us, now.

' The time-shift has started, but maybe it
doesn't complete until years in the future.

Got it!

It's some kind of advert...

for car insurance.

'That sound they heard
must have been traffic.

' It's not years in the future...

it's now.

Instructions?

Yeah, for Tommy.

And Toshiko.

In 12 hours, there'll be a brief moment when
both times exist before the time-shift completes,

when Tommy can be here now, and in 1918.

He needs to be in the hospital, ready
to step from one time to another.

So he'd be right inside the time-shift?

And he can close the
fracture that caused it.

And when the fracture's closed?

1918'll be back where it belongs.

So will I.

For good?

Yeah.

You're the only one who can do this.

We brought you from 1918 to
now, and when you go back to 1918,

your life will be like a
thread, stitching time back together again.

A stitch in time.

How?

This is a rift manipulator.

It's basically a key.

Once you're inside the time-shift, you
can close the door behind you.

And that's it?

I'm gone?

Tommy, stay with lanto.

Tosh? With me.

What happens to him?

Three weeks after we
send Tommy back, he dies.

How?

He's shot by a firing squad.

I don't understand.

In 1918, Tommy was
suffering from shell shock.

That's why he was in the hospital.

When Torchwood took him and froze
him, they froze his most recent memories.

When he returns to 1918, he'll
revert back to who he was.

He'll be shell-shocked

and so he'll be executed by
the British Army for cowardice.

They can't shoot him for that.

Lots of soldiers who were shell-shocked
recovered enough to be sent back to the Front.

But once they were there...

they broke down again.

So they kill him?

More than 300 of them.

Then we can't send him back.

- We have to.
- I can't do that.

Yes, you can.

He trusts you.

To send him to his death?

To help him save the future.

It has to be you.

We've kept these in the archives.

You were wearing them in the
hospital when Torchwood took you.

Good job the moths
haven't got into them.

So I'll be saving the
world in some pyjamas?

How daft is that?

Torchwood 1918 saw you with Tommy in
the hospital, telling him what to do.

I know you.

You're strong enough to do this.

Does Tommy know what happens to him?

No.

If he asks me, what do I say?

Where's Toshiko?

Still in with jack.

so

TOITIOITOW |T|0|’|’li|’IQ.

What time is it now?

Ten to nine.

So what do we do till then?

You don't know, do you?

What would you like to do?

The night before we went over
the top, we used to play cards,

write letters, have a
drink, if anyone had some.

Well, we could do that.

Yeah.

But you're not coming with me.

I'm going on my own.

We were just wondering what
Tommy should do tonight.

He can come home with me.

He's not our prisoner, he
doesn't have to stay here.

Does he?

No.

If that's what you both want.

Tomorrow morning, 6.30.

Come in.

You're very neat.

Yes.

Well, there's only me here.

And me.

just for tonight.

Then I'll be gone.

I never thought it would really happen.

I won't even be able to write to you.

You're going to be so far away.

I worried you'd see me getting older.

This time tomorrow, he'll
be back in 1918.

In his own time.

Would you go back to
yours? If you could?

Why, would you miss me?

Yep.

I left home a long time ago.

I don't really know
where I really belong.

Maybe that doesn't matter any more.

I know you get lonely.

Going home wouldn't fix that.

Being here, I've seen things
I never dreamt I'd see.

Loved people I never would have
known if I'd just stayed where I was.

And I wouldn't change
that for the world.

What did he tell you?

What happens to me?

They send you back to France.

Then what?

Do they find my body?

That's something.

It's time.

You know we can't be
here when it happens.

Come on.

We're safe for now.

Are you all right?

Tommy!

Where is she?

In1918?

'Tommy, Ithink you'd better come with us.

'Don't worry.

I'm Gerald, this is Harriet.

'We'll look after y0u.

' Torchwood took me.

'Tommy!

' Tommy!

Stay here.

I won't do it.

I can't go back.

- You've got to.
- No!

I know what'll happen.

They'll send me back to the
Front, I'll be back in the trenches.

Help me.

You've got to go.

Why me?

You're no better than the generals.

Sitting safely behind the
lines, sending us over the top.

Any one of you could
go, but you're sending me.

We belong here.

I'm sorry.

I've been shoved from pillar to post
all my life by the Army, by Torchwood.

All this time I've had, it means nothing.

- Tommy.
- Get off.

- Tommy, get up.
- No!

Leave us alone. Please.

You've got two minutes.

Listen, you're a hero.

Do you know that?

Because you stop the
time-shift and save everyone.

You save us all.

I can't do it.

We need you.

I don't want to be a hero.

I want to stay here with you.

Hello?

Tell them.

Tell us what?

Tell them what to do.

You're the only one who can stop this.

If you don't, if you don't, it's
the end of everything.

Tommy!

Take me.

I'm in there in the ward in 1918.

You have to take me
so I can be here now.

just take me!

I'll be gone soon.

Remember...

the rift key. Use it.

You've got to get back into bed.

Like y0u've never been away.

Then use the key.

Tommy?

Remember.

It's nearly time.

What are you doing?

You shouldn't be in here.

Go, go!

Come on!

- Tommy, Ithink you'd better come with us.
- Why?

Don't worry. I'm Gerald, this is Harriet.

We'll look after you.

Who are you?

We're Torchwood.

Where are we going?

Somewhere safe. Trust me.

Keep going.

Don't look back.

You should be in bed.

Still warm, at least.

Not been gone long.

What's happening?

I don't know.

The time-shift hasn't stopped.

Toshiko, show me the city, now!

It's spreading out from the hospital.

What the hell are they?

- the past, erupting into the present.

They're everywhere.

What about the rift key?

Tommy isn't using it.

Why not?

I don't know.

Because he'sjust gone back to 90
years ago, because he's shell-shocked?

One of us will have to go back.

jack, wait!

You'll get stuck in 1918.

I've got an idea.

The time-shift's forcing the rift open.

We can use it to our advantage.

A tiny amount should do.

We know Tommy's exact location in time.

If we send an image of
you through to him...

I can go into Tommy's mind.

As a psychic projection, if we're lucky.

And Tommy will be able to see you.

I can make him use the key.

Let me do it.

He trusts me.

OK.

How long have I got?

Minutes.

You've got one shot, Tosh.

That's all.

All right?

Tommy.

Tommy. Tommy.

She's found him.

It's me.

Toshiko.

Who?

I'm hereto help you.

Is this yours?

No.

Do you know what it is?

Tommy, it's a key.

You have to use it.

I'm scared.

It's all right.

That's why I'm here.

I'm a coward.

No, you are not.

What am I fighting for?

For the future, for me.

Because you're my brave, handsome hero.

Tommy, use the key.

Thank you.

Goodbye.

It's all right.

He did it.

Thank you.

He trusted me right to the end.

Because you were strong.

All of this.

is still here because of you.

Because of Tommy.

Let's hope we're worth it.