The Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood immediately established itself as the grown up counterpart to the rest of the Who universe. The Torchwood team, led by Captain Jack Harkness, was based in Cardiff to protect a rift in time and space, while also dealing with monsters and issues caused by the rift.
Running for four seasons, the series has its own creatures and mythologies binding the show together. But as with any big sci-fi/fantasy universe, there will be plotholes and missed opportunities. Torchwood is no exception, as the series' end left us with more burning questions than satisfying answers. So while examining all of time and space, we found 10 storylines from Torchwood that were never resolved.
THE VILLAGERS FROM “COUNTRYCIDE”
During the season one episode Countrycide, the team learned that humans are just as dangerous and twisted as aliens, when they stumbled across a mysterious village while investigating disappearances. As it turns out, the villagers were cannibals who kidnapped and sacrificed travelers every ten years.
Once they stopped this crazy plan, Gwen asked the leader why, and he responded, “it makes me happy.” That was the only explanation we ever got, with the people never being mentioned again. Like Gwen, we have so many questions about these people and their crimes that will never be answered.
HOW IS EMMA DOING?
As we know, the rift often brings the chaos of aliens and monsters from space and time. However, in Out of Time it brought three people from 1953 to the future. While the others had trouble adjusting, Emma seemed to enjoy the freedom she now had.
Her vintage fashion sense landed her a job in London, and Gwen reluctantly let her go. With all that’s happened since then, we wonder how she’s doing. Did she easily adapt or have trouble fitting in with her new life? We know things have been hectic, but Gwen could’ve kept in touch more.
WHERE DID DIANE GO?
The pilot who flew the plane into the rift in Out of Time was a very forward thinking woman. For her, flying was all about the adventure. This meant she had no interest in newer, technologically advanced aircraft.
Despite her relationship with Owen, she wasn’t ready for her adventures to be over, deciding to fly back into the rift. We never found out if she made it back to 1953 or if she landed in some other world and time. Her loss haunted Owen for the rest of his days. Was she as affected by her time in the future?
ARE THERE OTHER SLEEPERS?
Any Whovian will tell you there have been countless aliens living on Earth, so it’s no surprise that some of them are deadly sleeper agents. The episode Sleeper featured Beth, a woman who had no idea she was an alien until two burglars broke into her house and she fought them off.
In the end, her humanity prevailed and she led the team to the aliens’ base. She forced the team to shoot her when she realized she couldn’t fight the alien anymore. Though this plan was stopped, we know there are other species with sleepers in place.
GWEN AND OWEN’S AFFAIR
Following the events of Countrycide, Gwen couldn’t process all that she had seen. Since she couldn’t talk to her boyfriend Rhys, she turned to teammate Owen, with the pair beginning an affair. The news got out but no one judged because it’s Torchwood.
Gwen eventually confessed to Rhys but of course, she gave him an amnesia pill first. Before he passed out he refused to forgive her, and that was the last we heard of it. Basically, there were no consequences or after effects from the affair, other than a few hurt feelings.
JACK’S TIME IN SPACE
After the emotional upheaval caused by Children of Earth, Jack couldn’t deal with his guilt and left Earth behind to once again travel through space. The next time we see him, he was in a bar saying goodbye to the Tenth Doctor while also hitting on Alonso.
He returned to Earth at the start of Miracle Day, finding himself in the mystery of Earth’s immortality. Through all the books, comics and audio plays, besides his time with Alonso, we’ve never heard what Jack was up to. At the very least, we know it’s good because it’s Jack we're talking about.
REX’S IMMORTALITY
While we have a lot of questions left about Miracle Day, one of the biggest comes from the finale. Following a transfusion with Jack’s blood, which was used to reset Earth’s mortality, CIA agent Rex Matheson got a big surprise.
After he was shot by a double agent, to the shock of everyone, Rex resurrected himself the same way Jack does. There’s a lot of mythology around Jack’s immortality, so we’re left wondering if Rex’s follows the same rules or if it comes with different conditions.
MARTHA AND MICKEY GET MARRIED
In Journey’s End we see Martha working alongside other Companions to defeat Davros. At the end, she and Mickey leave with Jack, setting up the idea they will join Torchwood. Though it never happens, we see the now married pair as freelancers hunting a Sontaran in The End of Time.
We need to know how they fell in love, when they got married, and how freelance life is going. As great as it would be to see them meet the Thirteenth Doctor, we’d really like to see the duo in their own spinoff with their own adventures.
OWEN’S CONNECTION WITH WEEVILS
There’s no doubt that Owen Harper is a hero. However, he’s also an emotionally wounded man who keeps losing the women he loves. In Combat, he deals with Diane leaving by getting in a cage to fight a Weevil.
From this moment on, he has a weird connection with the creatures, where they seem to respect and fear him. His death and subsequent resurrection bring a pause to this story, so we never found out why they viewed him as “King of the Weevils.” As the series’ main recurring creature, we needed to know what Owen’s relationship to them was.
JACK’S OTHER FAMILIES
If there’s one thing we know about Jack Harkness, it’s that he loves being in love. His resurrection led him to travel back to 1869 and wait for The Doctor to fix him, Having lived through history, he’s had several lives, some that included families. We’ve gotten hints about his past, but we finally met his adult daughter and grandson in Children of Earth.
Obviously, she’s not the only one. Though we’ve examined much of Jack’s history as a Torchwood agent and as The Doctor’s Companion, it would be interesting to learn more about his everyday life through the years.