Torchwood (TV Series) Cyberwoman (2006) User Reviews

CyberLisa

[Sleepin_Dragon · 5/10 · 4 August 2021]

Something dangerous is in the basement....

....so even though Jack lives there, he's unaware of what's in the basement, there's an instant flaw before the episode has even started, he's supposed to be incredibly intelligent and aware.

I will try and give an honest opinion on this one, it gets a lot of hate simply because it was written by Chris Chibnall, many fans dislike him for what he's done to Dr Who...

....OK, so I actually really like the idea, I think it's pretty big and bold, the realisation is a little disappointing. The previous episode was cohesive, intelligent, and everyone was perfectly in character, this one has too many plot holes, with the regular characters all behaving so our of sorts.

Ianto...... hard to believe in any of his story here, I'm just not so sure he fits here somehow.

Caroline Chikezie does a fine job here, she adds a degree of metal to the part, she's good, but slightly wasted.

Some nice effects, but the main issue here for me is the writing, the story just doesn't flow well following on from the opening trio of episodes, if feels like a saw thumb. Many loathed Ianto after this, and you can understand why.

It comes as no surprise that as of today this is the lowest rated episode of Torchwood on IMDb, it's average at best, 5/10.

She is Cyberwoman, hear her roar

[darrenhf · 7/10 · 6 November 2006]

Cyberwoman (also listed in some places as The Trouble with Lisa) is the first episode of TORCHWOOD where it really helps to have seen the relevant episodes of DOCTOR WHO. In this case, the background (which is mentioned in a couple of throwaway lines) is that Ianto Jones (Gareth David Lloyd) was in London during the great battle between the Daleks and the Cybermen. Torchwood London was the epicentre of the fight and some of the humans there were processed into cybermen. Lisa was halfway through the process when the battle ended. Ianto saved her, brought her to Torchwood Cardiff and is now looking to restore her humanity. Suffice to say that it's no surprise that it all goes pear-shaped, leaving the disturbingly sexy cyborg wandering around in homicidal mood. That's it - plot over in minutes and cue the running around, shouting at each other and Ianto crying a lot and telling everyone he's sorry. If it wasn't all done so slickly and professionally it would be dire, but as it is it is a lot of fun and where else are you going to get to see a half-naked cyborg woman go head to head with a pet pterodactyl?

Did not like this episode

[woodfan · 3/10 · 18 February 2009]

I loved the three previous episodes, especially number 3, but this one bothered me! Why?

Two reasons:

1. Where's the remorse at the horrible death of two people? Especially the pizza girl? No-one on the team (especially Ianto!)shows one bit of remorse. 2. Ianto should have been banished from the team immediately. Anyone who breaches security to the point where the whole team is almost wiped out, does not deserve to be on that team.

Sorry, but this episode left me very uncomfortable. Torchwood is supposed to be the good guys.

Blecch

Love Is A Battlefield...

[cchase · 9/10 · 10 August 2008]

Ianto Jones is as devoted as any handyman/janitor/manservant you could require. He bustles about, making tea, ordering pizza and fetching the late night Chinese takeout; carrying out the rubbish and scrubbing and mopping up the frequent pools of blood and ickiness that are sure to turn up in a place like TORCHWOOD. He could very well be the not-so-distant cousin of the "Bellboy" character in The Who's QUADROPHENIA - unappreciated and invisible. Sure, the other members of the team would swear up and down that Ianto is like 'family'...but he's mostly convenient.

Ianto's devotion runs deep, though, and it's about to take them all to a place where it will very nearly cost them their lives.

Not being a DR. WHO watcher, I don't have a full appreciation of what this episode means to the super-fans out there, but I can certainly make an educated guess. Unbeknownst to anyone in TORCHWOOD, even Jack, who claims to be closer to Ianto than anyone...their "chief cook and bottle-washer" has been harboring a deadly secret right in the bowels of their headquarters.

Her name is Lisa. And she's a Cyberwoman. Well, not completely, but by about a little more than half.

When TORCHWOOD London was destroyed during the battle between the Daleks and the Cybermen (I never saw this, but it sounds Hammer-film worthy), Lisa was kidnapped by the Cybermen and was in the process of being converted by them, when her boyfriend, Ianto, rescued her before the process could completely take. Since then, he's concealed her at TORCHWOOD Cardiff, hoping that someday he'd be able to help her with a cure.

You don't have to be a DR. WHO fan to know that his well-intentioned plan goes belly-up in a hurry. Because Lisa is still fighting the Cyber-influence that rages within her, trying to take over what remains of her body and mind. And she's losing...

It sounds like complete rubbish on paper, but for an episode where the centerpiece is a robot woman who takes on a pterodactyl, it's also a heart-wrenching story about relationships. About loyalty, friendship, devotion and betrayal. And how sometimes the worst thing you can do other than outright break a person's heart, is to simply take them for granted.

Beautifully written moments here, and Gareth Davis-Lloyd makes us feel for Ianto, even though we'd like to ring his neck as much as the team would. But as Elton John so fittingly put it in a song, in the end, nobody wins.

Crap - rubbish

[lloyd1882-music · 4/10 · 11 April 2019]

Ianto should have been killed along with Lisa. The team did not act in character. Plot sucked. Worst episode yet.

Wow!

[sarastro7 · 9/10 · 24 November 2006]

Based on the first three episodes I rated Torchwood as a whole a 6 out of 10 - that may have been premature! The fourth episode, Cyberwoman, was fantastic!! Totally sci-fi, totally intense, very emotional, and fitting extremely well into the Doctor Who universe! I just loved this, and consider it one of the best episodes EVER, of any Doctor Who related show! I think everything about it rang true and made sense. The title character was a half-assimilated cyberwoman, and the situation indeed was credible as an example of "how these things start"; like, how a cybermen invasion starts: Someone saves a specimen for "silly" personal reasons, and things spiral out of hand!

So, she had "cyber-breasts" - well, so what? The suit was molding itself around her body! Maybe all the cybermen we've seen in earlier stories have indeed all been men. Whatever the case, I think this worked well. Even if only as humor.

And the high heels, well, you had to look very closely to even notice that. Who cares?! This was an episode that worked on every level, and I enjoyed it tremendously. I hope they do more like this! This is what good Doctor Who or Torchwood episodes should be like! Kudos to the writer!

9 out of 10.

A very mixed bag

[thomasgouldsbrough · 3/10 · 17 March 2022]

Cyberwoman is such a stupid episode. The CGI is uncomfortably bad, to the point where it causes distress. The Cyberwoman has some god awful, unrealistic lines, which make her feel more like a pantomime villain rather than an actual Cyberman. The costume design for the Cyberwoman is also terrible, to the point where it feels like the actress was a cosplayer. And for some reason, after the whole affair of the episode, Ianto is allowed to stay at Torchwood, and voluntarily stays after he's lost everything.

The two redeemable aspects of this episode was Jack and Ianto's acting, aswell as the story being slightly emotional at times. Jack properly isolates himself from the rest of Torchwood, which makes for some interesting character development. The scene where Owen kisses Gwen, and the banter afterwards, is also hilarious. But apart from that, it's a really poor episode of Torchwood.