Rex Matheson quotes from Torchwood

Rex Matheson

Wales is insane!

Rex

Alright, so do you want to come up with a plan? Or is that just the American thing to do?

Rex

My name is Rex Matheson. I'm with the CIA. I'm on an operation inside the San Pedro Overflow. No, strike that. I'm not with the CIA. Or a US government authority. I'm with Torchwood. And we're gonna expose everything that's going on here. Everything that I've just witnessed. [...] They're calling them category one's, and from what I've seen, don't ever let them call you that. The minute you hear "category one," you better get the hell out of Dodge. Because they are going to burn you. That's what this place is for. Incineration. And we all know the drill. They'll start with the category ones. The ones who can't protest. Then they'll go on to convicted felons or illegal immigrants--hell, anyone we just don't like. Because everybody gets sick. Which means one day everybody ends up here. Those ovens are waiting for all of us.

The metal missed the spine, but the pericardium was lacerated and a coronary artery was crushed and thrombosed. That's the one in your leg. I had to transplant a section of vein from your thigh.

Rex

But how did I survive?

I don't know. But even when your heart stopped beating, the process continued. The process of life, the viability of the flesh, the transfer of oxygen. It just didn't stop.

Rex

But do I get better? Do I heal? Or do I just hurt for the rest of my life? Because if this thing keeps going, the rest of my life is forever, right?

Rex, now listen to me. Because you might want to take something under consideration. That maybe you were lucky. You should've died last night, but when this thing happened, the miracle, it gave me time to fix you. Without the miracle, you'd be dead.

Rex

It's like someone cast a spell over the whole world. But what happens when it stops, huh? What happens to me then? Do I die?

Jack

I cut my arm.

Gwen

Okay. Can't help but thinking there's more important things to be worrying about here.

Jack

No. I cut my arm. Look at it. It's not healing.

Gwen

Do you mean...

Jack

I'm staying hurt.

Gwen

Oh, my God.

Jack

I know.

Gwen

Seriously, though!

Rhys

It's only a cut.

Gwen

But it's Jack. Don't you see? The whole world becomes immortal...

Jack

...And I mortal. I don't mend. I'm normal again. I'm plain old human.

Rex

You're what?

Jack

Doesn't concern you.

Rex

Dr. Juarez. You have something that I want.

You sound like my ex-husband.

Rex

So, does he call wanting drugs and sex?

Yes.

Rex

Good man, but for now, I'll just settle for the drugs.

Gwen

Looking a little bit worried there, Rex, like this might all be your fault. You put us on this plane. There's no orange tube.

Rex

Is there something between you two?

Gwen

What?

Rex

You and World War Two.

Gwen

I'm married with a baby.

Rex

Yeah, married, baby, whatever. You two argue like people who are real close.

Gwen

Yeah, well, did you have a thing with your poisoner friend over there?

Rex

Yeah, we did.

Gwen

Oh, you did?

Rex

But we got on each other's nerves.

Gwen

Really? Can't imagine.

Rex

Are we really on a mission here?

Gwen

Yeah, well, maybe this is the way Torchwood does things, mate.

Rex

Yeah, well, maybe you want to drive on the other side of the street, mate.

Gwen

[beat] Oh.

Jack

It's like there's some sort of energy behind this. A will, a drive, a consciousness, because this miracle, it's more than people just surviving. They are so alive. You saw Lyn, that woman at the airport. She should have been paralysed but she just kept on going. And I've seen bodies at the morgue, burnt and broken, still alive, staring right at me. They weren't even allowed to be unconscious. It's as if something is willing them to go on, each and every individual forced into life.

Rex

That was me. All the way through my accident, wide awake.

Gwen

And you could feel everything that happened? It still hurt?

Rex

Yeah.

Esther

So what did the search say?

Jack

Well, that's the problem. Everybody's had the same idea. Morphic field gets ten million results.

Esther

Then I'll go through them, all ten million. [to Rex, pointedly] See, that's what I do when I'm at my desk. Hard work.

Rex

[softly] I know.

Esther

He cockblocked the ATF.

Gwen

[laughs] I have no idea what any of that means.

Esther

The ATF's the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They asked the CIA about information on a warehouse here in Washington, but Friedkin forwarded the request onto ancillary three times.

Gwen

What's ancillary?

Rex

It's a paper chase. It's a guaranteed way to lose something in the system.

Esther

So if he tried to stop people from seeing the warehouse, then maybe he was paid to protect it, which would indicate there's something in there. It's at Third and Boston, south west.

Rex

All right, so we've got a mission. First thing we need to do is steal a new car.

Jack

Ahem. So, who's giving the orders?

Rex

Okay, Torchwood, what do you say?

Jack

We need to steal a new car. [grins]

What did you come here for, Rex? Tell me that. What the hell did you come here for?

Rex

I got hurt, Dad. I got hurt bad.

So what? I been dying down here for fifteen years. You never once cared.

Can't get rid of you can I, dead man walking?

Rex

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me ask you something; What is this Dead is Dead shit? I've seen posters all over the place.

It's the latest campaign. As if Oswald Danes wasn't bad enough, this one is led by Ellis Hartley Monroe - One of those small-town mayors trying to make a name for herself. Where are you?

Rex

Sorry, Doc, no can say. But if I wanted to know where I could get prescription drugs in Los Angeles, no questions asked, then you could make your own conclusions.

And that's the only reason you called me?

Rex

Well, you are the doctor.

What are you doing in LA?

Rex

I never said I was in LA.

Well, it might surprise you to learn that I haven't got my own private network of drug runners on the West Coast.

Rex

Come on, Vera. You'll find a way. I've seen what you can do with the doctor patient relationship, and the Hippocratic oath, it doesn't cover it.

Ellis Hartley Monroe started the Dead is Dead campaign, and do you know why? She thinks we should treat people who should have died as if they're already dead. And right now, I think she's got a point. I'm busy. Thank you, Rex.

Rex

[grins] You are so gonna call me back.

I am so not.

Rex

Dr. Juarez. I was right. I knew you'd call me back.

Oh, I'm doing a lot more than that. I'm joining the cause. Whatever you're doing to fight this miracle, count me in. They just took control of life and death.

Rex

Vera, this is Jack Harkness.

Jack

We keep meeting. It's like destiny.

Rex

Yeah. He likes to call himself Captain Jack, but I'm not buying it.

Gwen

So listen, Category One is bad, yes?

Yeah. That's people with no brain function or anyone who would normally have died. They're now officially Category One.

Jack

Ordinary people are Category Three.

Right. That's people with no injuries, nothing. They're fine. Then, Category Two is everyone in-between; People who are alive and functioning with an illness or injury that's gonna persist, but not kill.

Rex

Like me.

Yes, like you.

Rex

Wait a minute, when I got hurt, I should have died. I was Category One... But now I'm healing, so I'm Category Two... So which one am I?

Well, that's the point - People don't fit categories.

Jack

Worse than that, this process has given the United Nations a definition for life, which is therefore a definition of death. The government now has the power to decide whether you're dead or alive. No one should have that much control.

Rex

They built ovens. And you're the director. So you know that.

Colin Maloney

I'm not in charge of policy. We had instructions that got sent out nationwide--worldwide--and we had orders from above not to say anything. I just did as I was told.

Rex

Okay. All right. Okay, you're the middle man. I get it.