Continuing this brief detour into Torchwood, today’s retrospective focuses on Cyberwoman, the fourth episode of the series. Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by James Strong, this episode is one of the most controversial and ambitious of Torchwood’s first season, delving into themes of love, grief, and obsession while also bringing one of Doctor Who’s most iconic villains—the Cybermen—into the spin-off’s darker world.
At its core, Cyberwoman is a deeply personal story centered on Ianto Jones, played by Gareth David-Lloyd. Up until this point, Ianto had been a relatively minor character, mostly serving as the team’s quiet administrator, but here, he takes center stage with a secret that threatens to destroy everything. The revelation that he has been keeping his partially converted girlfriend, Lisa Hallett, hidden in Torchwood’s underground facility is a shocking twist that redefines his character. It is an episode that explores grief in a unique way—what happens when love refuses to let go, even when holding on becomes dangerous?
Lisa’s transformation into a Cyberwoman is both tragic and horrifying. Unlike the fully robotic Cybermen seen in Doctor Who, Lisa retains much of her humanity, making her even more unsettling. The Cyber-conversion process is incomplete, leaving her trapped between two identities. Her struggle between her lingering human emotions and her Cyberman programming creates a disturbing tension throughout the episode. The moment she turns on Ianto, believing she is "upgrading" him for his own good, is chilling. It is a powerful representation of how love can be warped into something unrecognizable when control and desperation take over.
Jack Harkness takes an uncompromising stance in this episode, which puts him at odds with Ianto in a way we have never seen before. Jack, ever the pragmatist, sees Lisa as a threat that must be neutralized, while Ianto remains in complete denial, clinging to the hope that she can be saved. Their heated confrontation, with Ianto pleading for Lisa’s life, is one of the most emotionally charged moments of the season. Gareth David-Lloyd delivers an outstanding performance, showing Ianto’s breakdown as he is forced to accept the inevitable. His quiet devastation at the episode’s end, as he helps clean up Lisa’s remains, is heart-wrenching.
The episode also raises questions about Torchwood’s ethical boundaries. The team’s immediate instinct is to eliminate the threat, but at what cost? The cold, detached way in which they discuss Lisa’s fate contrasts sharply with Ianto’s raw, emotional reaction. While the audience understands that Lisa is dangerous, there is still an underlying discomfort in the way Torchwood operates. The show often presents them as the last line of defense, but Cyberwoman forces us to ask whether their ruthlessness is a necessary evil or a sign of their own moral decay.
Visually, Cyberwoman is an intense episode. The dimly lit corridors of the Hub add to the claustrophobic tension, and the design of Lisa’s Cyber-partial conversion is both fascinating and disturbing. The mix of human flesh and metallic Cyber-components makes her look grotesque yet tragically vulnerable. While some aspects of the episode’s production, particularly Lisa’s Cyber-outfit, have been criticized for looking unintentionally campy, the core horror of her situation remains effective.
Rewatching Cyberwoman in 2025, it remains one of Torchwood’s most memorable episodes—flawed but ambitious, deeply emotional yet disturbing. It solidifies Ianto as one of the show’s most complex characters and highlights the blurred moral lines of Torchwood’s world. Love, loss, and the unwillingness to let go drive this story, making it one of the spin-off’s most thematically rich episodes, even if it remains one of the most divisive.
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