Immortal Sins (TV story)

Immortal Sins
Main character(s):	Jack, Gwen, Rhys, Rex, Esther
Featuring:	Angelo, Andy, Mary, Anwen
Main enemy:	Olivia Colasanto, Trickster's Brigade
Main setting:	New York City, 1927 and 1928 Swansea Bay and Los Angeles, 2011
Key crew
Writer:	Jane Espenson
Director:	Gwyneth Horder-Payton
Producer:	Kelly A Manners
Release details
Premiere broadcast:	19 August 2011
Premiere network:	Starz
Official trailer
Memorable moment
Another memorable moment
Torchwood
← Previous	The Middle Men
Next →	End of the Road

Immortal Sins was the seventh episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day. For the most part, it consisted of a flashback in pre-Depression era New York City. It importantly introduced the character of Angelo Colasanto, a lover that Jack Harkness met while standing in line at Ellis Island. Colasanto's grandaughter Olivia — played by Star Trek regular Nana Visitor — also made her debut. Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond were resigned to cameo roles, while Gwen Cooper played an important part in the final acts of the episode. From a continuity standpoint, it was clearly the single episode of Miracle Day which made the most references to the broader DWU, even giving a shout-out to a Sarah Jane Adventures character. Narratively speaking it was the only episode in the Miracle Day arc to feature the appearance of an alien.

Synopsis

Gwen must fight to protect her family. She takes a terrifying journey covering miles and decades with Jack as the long history of the Miracle is partially revealed.

Plot

Gwen drives Jack through California to bring him to the people holding her family.

Flashbacks are seen of Jack's past. In 1920s New York City, he awaits his visa at Ellis Island. Angelo Colasanto steals it. Jack confronts him, retrieves his visa and visits Angelo in his cell. They talk, and Jack uses technology to create a visa for Angelo.

Angelo is freed and enters a relationship with Jack. At one point, they are retrieving an alien from a base when Jack is shot dead. Angelo is captured and imprisoned. Jack returns to America after Angelo's release. Angelo is terrified by Jack's immortality.

Angelo takes Jack to the butcher shop beneath their room. There are people terrified of Jack. They sadistically attack him with knives, guns and meat hooks to kill him and collect his blood. Three men visit Jack. They seem to know something about his immortality. Angelo, overwhelmed with horror and guilt, eventually lets Jack go. Jack quickly recovers and flees with Angelo to a rooftop, where he explains his immortality before jumping off to his "death". When Angelo reaches the ground, Jack is gone.

As Gwen and Jack arrive, Rex and Esther have contacted Andy Davidson in Wales. He has freed Gwen's family. They train snipers on the three people who want Jack. Jack says he has won, but they say that Jack will come with them anyway. They have the information about the Miracle he wants. Angelo is still alive. He has something to do with the Miracle.

Cast

• Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
• Rex Matheson - Mekhi Phifer
• Esther Drummond - Alexa Havins
• Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
• Inspector - Pat Asanti
• SWAT Member - Michael Chomiak
• Salvatore Maranzano - Cris D'Annunzio
• Young Priest - Will Green
• Costerdane - Paul Hayes
• Ablemarch - Everton Lawrence
• Young Man - Griffin Matthews
• Mr. Giardano - Frank Medrano
• Girl in Crowd - Angelica Montesano
• Frines - Shawn Parsons
• Elderly Woman - Vanna Salviati
• Mrs. Giardano - Jayne Taini
• SWAT Leader - Darren Dupree Washington

Uncredited

• Angelo Colasanto - Daniele Favilli
• Mary Cooper - Sharon Morgan
• Andy Davidson - Tom Price
• Olivia Colasanto - Nana Visitor

Crew

Created by Russell T Davies

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter

Co-executive producers   Jane Espenson and Vlad Wolynetz

Written by Jane Espenson	Produced by Kelly A Manners	Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton	Director of Photography Nate Goodman	Production Designer Gregory Melton	Visual Effects Lion Visual Effects, Inc.
Key Make-up Artist Todd McIntosh	Casting by John Frank Levey, CSA and Melanie Burgess	Score Murray Gold assistant composer Stu Kennedy	Costume Designer Shawna Trpcic	Edited by Hunter M. Via, A.C.E.	Key Hair Stylist Susan Boyd
Science Advisor - John Sotos, M.D.

General production staff Production Executive - Shelley Stevens Associate Producer - Skip Schoolnik Location Manager - Brad Bemis Unit Production Manager - Robert D. Nellans Production Accountant - Vince Robinette Transportation Coordinator - Heath Culp Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Jefferson Kibbee 2nd Assistant Director - Matt Buckler Script Supervisor - Anne Melville Camera Operator - Jeff Greeley Key Grip - Isaac Chee Chief Lighting Technician - Don Mosley	Art department Set Decorator - Natali Pope Set Designer - Arthur Chadwick Property Master - Eric Bates Construction Coordinator - Chris Forster Computer Graphics - Twisted Media	Make-up and prosthetics Special Make-up Effects - Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger General post-production staff Post-production Supervisor - Peter M. Tassler High Definition Post-Production - Modern Videofilm, Inc. Special and visual effects Visual FX Supervisor - Michael D. Leone Sound Production Sound Mixer - Julian Howarth Supervising Sound Editor - Walt Newman Co-supervisor - Ken Young Music Editor - Tom Trafalski Re-recording Mixers - Dan Hiland, Gary Rogers Post-Production Sound - Warner Bros.

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
The Starz broadcast carried a final credit of "Originally Developed and Produced by BBC Cymru Wales". The BBC One broadcast says, instead, "BBC Worldwide Productions for BBC Cymru Wales and STARZ Originals".

References

• An inspector stamps Angelo's stolen visa so that he can enter America.
• Grazie means thanks you in Italian.
• Jacks has an Italian visa and a British passport. He says that the British consulate arranged his travel through the embassy in Rome.
• Jack's waiting for a boat to Manhattan, while Angel is imprisoned and waiting for a boat back to Italy.
• Jack questions whether he looks like a bureaucrat. Angelo replies that he looks like a soldier.
• Angelo comes from a tiny village on the Amalfi Coast, right on the edge of a clifftop. The village contained around 200 people. He had a schoolmaster there who taught him English. He also had sex in the woods with a boy from his village.
• The buildings in New York City are taller than the cliff.
• Jack uses his vortex manipulator to change the name on the visa.
• Jack states that magic and technology can sometimes appear indistinguishable. This is known as Clarke's Law.
• Random people are setting up memorial services for Vera Juarez.
• Vera was from San Antonio.
• When Esther says that Vera Juarez was from San Antonio, Rex says, "Go, Spurs." The San Antonio Spurs are an NBA team.
• The overflow camps have been paused following Vera's death. The politicians are denying everything.
• Gwen says that she wants to show Jack souvenirs from back home. She then tasers him.
• Jack and Angelo have a room in Little Italy in 1927.
• Angelo has scars.
• Jack tells Angelo, "It gets better. And worse again." The year he first meets him in is 1927. Two years later, the Great Depression will hit America, then the country will recover, only to be swept into World War II by the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
• A girl on the fire escape opposite smokes a cigarette.
• It is the Fourth of July when Jack and Angelo become lovers. Angelo thinks that the fireworks are bombs.
• Oswald Danes is mentioned after complete two-episodes of absence. He calls for a swift return to category policy.
• Jack remembers the names of Rhys and Anwen, but struggles to remember Gwen's mother's name.
• In 1927, Jack and Angelo visit Blessed Saints' Cathedral in New York City, where Angelo says he doesn't believe in marriage.
• Angelo is a Christian. Christianity denounces homosexuality, making Angelo uncomfortable in his relationship with Jack.
• Jack confesses to having sex with triplets, involvement with a naked circus and a sapphic (lesbian) leapfrog jamboree.
• Jack was sent to the church by Father Timothy.
• The Volstead Act is mentioned, as 1920-1933 (the flashback being set in 1927) was the period when Prohibition, the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, was in effect before the repeal was passed. It excepted sacramental wine, which is the "blood of Christ".
• "Freeway" and "highway" are American terms for motorway.
• Maranzano refers to Angelo as Jack's "acolyte".
• Maranzano calls Jack and Angelo a pair of finocchi.
• A mysterious box was located at Gallaco Wharf, Bay Five.
• Angelo ask if Jack is working for the English government.
• Jack tells Angelo to go to the West Coast, stating he's handsome enough to "get into the movies".
• Jack says he hears Angelo's beads clicking at night.
• Jack and Angelo are working as bootleggers.
• Jack and Angelo Colasanto talk about the Doctor and the role of his companions.
• Ammonia refrigeration is being practised in 1927, before refrigeration techniques improved.
• Someone above Maranzano found a weapon and told him to hold it until after the state election and then ship it to Albany. Jack calls the parasite a species of Brainspawn which tastes like oysters. The head of the parasite drills into the brain of the host and deposits larvae, turning the host insane.
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt is due to be elected Governor of New York in November 1927. He later serves at least two terms as President of the United States.
• Had the Trickster's Brigade succeeded, they would have to America pulling out of World War II and the triumph of Germany and the Third Reich.
• Jack is shot in the head by the police.
• Sing Sing Prison was founded in 1826.
• Angelo and Mr Giardano believe Jack to be "il diavolo" after he learns Jack can resurrect and by how he "seduces with confidence".
• While in the Giardano's Butchers Shop, Jack is shot and slashed with various knives and meat hooks.
• Giardano is asking for $10000 for Jack.
• The Costerdane, Ablemarch and Frines families form a partnership.
• Gwen and Jack travel to Mesa, California.
• A Firebird is a bird made of fire. It is smaller than a Hummingbird and sings and burns bright and only lasts a minute.
• Angelo bribed Nico so that he could help Jack escape. He plan for them to take a train to Hollywood, Los Angeles.
• One of the police who save Gwen's family is referred to as Jackson.

Story notes

• Jack explains that the brain parasite would rewrite history by enabling the Third Reich to win the Second World War. One week and a day after this episode was broadcast in the US and only two days after it was broadcast in the UK, the Doctor Who episode Let's Kill Hitler featured Adolf Hitler in a cameo role and was set in Nazi Germany in 1938. In this episode Melody Pond expressed an interest in killing Hitler.
• This is the first time that Jack is killed onscreen during Series 4. He is killed at least seven times in this episode, including being shot, being stabbed, being disembowelled, having his throat slashed, and falling from a high place.
• Writer Jane Espenson cites Immortal Sins as her favourite thing she's written.

Ratings

• UK: 4.48 million

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

• The final scene in "The Middle Men" happens a little bit differently from the same scene seen in this episode. It's all a matter of how fast the scenes go, the former going a bit slower than the latter.

Continuity

• The Seventh Doctor, the Fourth Doctor and the Captain also mentioned Clarke's Law. (TV: Battlefield, TV: The Pirate Planet)
• Jack had a dialogue with Angelo similar to the one the Ninth Doctor had with Rose Tyler. (TV: Rose)
• Gwen talks about her first day of joining Torchwood. (TV: Everything Changes, Day One)
• Angelo thinks that Jack has been possessed by the Devil. Jilly Kitzinger and Oswald Danes would later (or earlier, depending on what you mean) reference the Devil. (TV: Rendition) Stuart Owens would also say that Jack seemed to think he was the Devil in suit. (TV: The Middle Men)
  • The Tenth Doctor would also meet the Beast who claimed to be the origins of the Devil/Satan. (TV: The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit)
• The Doctor and his way of travelling with companions is mentioned. (TV: An Unearthly Child et.al.)
• Jack told Angelo that he is a "fixed point in time" (due to the events on Satellite Five). (TV: The Parting of the Ways) Although the Tenth Doctor did not tell him this until Malcassairo, eighty-one years later in his personal timeline, (TV: Utopia) Jack had prior knowledge of temporal theory. (TV: Boom Town, The Parting of the Ways)
• Jack stated to Angelo, "Men like you kill me." This may be a reference to his former lover Captain John Hart. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang; Fragments; Exit Wounds)
• The creature Jack and Angelo found was intended to infect Franklin D. Roosevelt and disrupt history for the Trickster's Brigade. (TV: Turn Left, Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)
• When Esther opens the Eye-5 computer programme, past dialogue can be found. (TV: Escape to LA, The Middle Men)
• A brief video clip was shown of the "death" of Vera Juarez. (TV: The Categories of Life)
• Jack was subjected to similar torture aboard the Valiant, where the Saxon Master killed him repeatedly for fun. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)
• When Angelo asks what other secrets Jack learned from the Doctor, Jack tells him to run. (TV: Rose, The Doctor's Daughter, Amy's Choice, A Good Man Goes to War)

Home video releases

This episode was released worldwide in a box set containing all ten episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day. In the United Kingdom, it was released on Region 2 DVD and Region Free Blu-ray on 14 November 2011. In Australia, it was released in Region 4 DVD and Region B Blu-Ray on 1 December 2011. In New Zealand, the same sets were released on 7 December 2011. In North America, it was released on Region 1 DVD and Region Free Blu-Ray on 3 April 2012.