Torchwood/Recap/S1 E11 Combat

Weevils have come back to the fore. While Gwen and Rhys are having relationship issues during a dinner out, Jack chases down a Weevil in the back alleys of Cardiff. The two scenes collide and Gwen leaves with Jack to help him, leaving a very irate Rhys. The two chase after the Weevil, only to discover it being piled into a van by a group of men wearing all black.

Tracking the van to a warehouse in the docks, Jack and Tosh find a dead man with evidence of Weevil marks. Getting a call on the dead man's mobile, Jack receives vague threats to not pursue any further. Jack responds with threats of his own.

To track down the owner of the warehouse, Owen (fresh from his affair with Diane, breaking off the affair with Gwen, and generally being Owen) is sent undercover into the high-stakes world of property (posing as a jellied eel merchant). Jack and Ianto follow up a recent injury, and Gwen is sent home to try to piece back together her relationship with Rhys.

With the injury case not being the talkative sort, and the property sting not yet paying off, the crew decide to use their own Weevil as bait to attract these Weevil collectors. The gambit pays off.

Gwen's attempts to patch up her and Rhys aren't going so hot. While she does confess to her affair with Owen, she drugs him with Retcon so he won't remember in the morning. She then goes back to the comfort of the Hub with pizza for everyone, but finds herself alone.

Meanwhile, Owen is really getting to know his connection in the property business, Mark. They go out for a drink, get into a tussle, and go back to his place. While excusing himself to go find the bathroom, Owen gets into a locked room and finds a chained-up Weevil. Mark invites him to see what the whole thing is about.

Gwen's solitude in the Hub pays off when a text message comes in on the dead man's phone. The code given allows Jack and the others to track down a warehouse that Mark Lynch owns.

Turns out the whole story is that Mark and a large group of guys who, disillusioned with life and the meaning behind it, get together to face off against Weevils in cages, getting back to their roots of violence and fear. Everyone who goes in puts up money and the one who stays the longest gets it all. The dead man was simply one who went into the cage and didn't bother to fight back.

Mark threatens Owen into entering the cage. Owen scoffs at Mark's threat and tells him that he'll go into the cage without needing the threat. After Owen gets locked in, Jack and the others show up and pull Owen out before the Weevil can finish killing him. Mark can't accept the end of his fun and gets in the cage, letting the Weevil finish him off.

After Owen recovers, he calls Jack out on rushing him to help him when he had finally found peace in that cage. The episode ends with him in the lockup, staring down Weevils and snarling at them while they recoil in pain.

Tropes
"Jack: "Barbara" just never seemed right."
 * Bar Brawl: Not a particularly expensive one, but Owen and Mark have a tussle in the same bar Owen was in earlier in the episode (see Mugging The Monster).
 * Blood Sport: The answer to all the Weevil collecting. They're not used for murder. Disillusioned people go to a Fight Club-like venue to face off against them in a cage and see how long they can last.
 * Death Seeker: The first body that Torchwood found turns out to be this. The man got in the cage mentioned above and just refused to fight back. This ends up also being true of Mark once Torchwood breaks up the operation. Even Owen shows signs of this.
 * Drowning My Sorrows: Owen's not taking his split from Diane very well.
 * Expy: Mark Lynch is basically British Tyler Durden. He even spouts similar Fauxlosophic Narration in justifying his club.
 * Failed a Spot Check: Jack and Tosh manage to successfully avoid being detected by the Weevil-nappers by hiding... behind a chainlink fence.
 * Fluffy the Terrible: Jack calls the Weevil they're keeping "Janet".

"Mark: We all need a punch bag!"
 * Foreshadowing: Apropos of almost nothing, Owen's new friend Mark remarks the same thing that Suzie told Jack before her second death: that something's coming, out there in the darkness.
 * For the Evulz: Why Mark kept a Weevil chained up to beat on. Or in his words:


 * Heroic BSOD: Gwen suffers one when she realizes her loneliness.
 * Incredibly Obvious Bug: What Torchwood stuck on the pet Weevil before setting it loose. Small wonder the bad guys found it and tossed it aside.
 * Mugging the Monster: A guy in a bar gets a little testy when his bartender girlfriend starts chatting with Owen. They lead to blows, which Owen finishes rather easily.
 * The Perfect Crime: Using Weevils to kill is described by Jack as one. Y'know, except for all the growling, running about, and the need to collect it. Turns out they were off the mark, anyway.
 * Telepathy: It's thought that the Weevils have some form of this when the one in the lockup in the Hub moans, signifying another is in pain.
 * Un Confession: Gwen admits to Rhys about her affair with Owen, just after she drugs him with Retcon so he won't remember the next day.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Tosh calls out Jack on using a Weevil as bait when he would never do the same to a human.