Dear Tosh…
Ooh. Spoilers.
No-one saw this coming, did they? Well, probably some smart-alec saw or heard it coming, but he or she clearly didn’t manage to bring the sky crashing down with absolutely irrefutable evidence for the benefit of fandom, did they? And Owen having already been offed in the series was a master-stroke of the double-bluff. So when it came to you, well…
It seems that while a large number of Torchwood fans were simply going along with the ride, trying to work out when Captain John would return, and a noisy section of ‘Woodie’s squeed about even the slightest appearance of an unseen character they call ‘Janto’, you were busy on your own journey. Tosh the saviour of Dead Owen, Tosh the redeemer. What is it about you and dead guys, eh? First Tommy, then Owen – or rather, first Owen, then Tommy, then Owen. Or was it Tommy first after all? Or was it always Owen? Or was it Space Pig?
And on that note, you’ve left us with one mystery solved, but an unhappy number of mysteries probably never to be resolved. We were on the way to getting to know you, too. We picked up on the crush, your dalliance with that alien ‘Mary’ wasn’t fooling anyone (and like other unmentioned series one dalliances seems to have been quietly forgotten), it just showed that you were a soft touch for the outsider. When Jack returned you and Owen were close to being thick as thieves. Then we learned about your annual date with Tommy, then he went and died on you. Leaving you to pursue owen once more. The he went and died on you. And then – THEN, things got interesting. Some would say that you’re a jinx – the kiss of death, but you’re not. You saved Tommy Brockless from being a yearly thaw out, and you gave life to an already dead man. When he was doomed for good, you chose to conceal the fact that your life was ebbing away with his. And you broke our hearts.
So it’s with surprise that we say that, despite meeting Gwen first, seeing her grow in confidence and, oddly, authority in the team, what we never realised was that you were the heart of Torchwood. And by then it was too late.
So farewell Tosh. Yes, you did very well – the best of everyone, and they never knew.