Dead Man Walking ( TV story ) Dead Man Walking was the seventh episode in the second series of " Torchwood " . In the same vein as " They Keep Killing Suzie " , it saw the resurrection of a principal cast member . The story continued almost directly on from " Reset " . This episode examined the nature of the afterlife . It revealed that one place where people can end up after death is an empty netherworld of darkness , inhabited by a demonic creature that expunges all life it comes into contact with . Another possible afterlife , Limbo , would be revealed in " The Sarah Jane Adventures " episode " Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane ? " . Synopsis . " I ' m bringing Owen back . " Owen has died . Jack decides to return him to life for a few minutes . No one could have guessed the consequences . Plot . Owen Harper lies dead of a gunshot wound , about to be opened up for autopsy by Martha Jones at the Hub . Jack orders the team to do nothing until he arrives . Jack enters a strange café where a girl , that appears twelve years old , reads tarot . She tells Jack he owes her a favour and where to find what he is looking for . As he leaves , she holds the Death card . Jack goes to St Mary ' s , an abandoned church where Weevil s sleep and store collected bric - a - brac . He breaks into a safe and retrieves from it a box . When Jack returns to the Hub with the box , to the astonishment of the team , it holds a left - handed resurrection gauntlet . Gwen objects to what Jack is about to do , reminding him of what happened with Suzie . Jack ignores her . He hopes to bring Owen back for two minutes for everybody to say their goodbyes . He resurrects Owen , who is confused and scared . Tosh tells Owen that she loves him , and Jack — after initially upsetting Owen by asking for the morgue access code — tries to prepare Owen for death . The connection is lost , Owen stops breathing and Jack holds his hand , believing him dead . Then , Owen says that he will need his hand back . The glove has brought Owen back from death permanently . Unlike Suzie , there is no obvious source of life energy . No energy is being drained from Jack as Suzie drained energy from Gwen , but Owen is getting energy from somewhere . Toshiko tells Owen she didn ' t mean it when she told him that she loved him . Owen says that this is a textbook reaction to grief , but does not want to discuss it further . He changes the subject and leaves the room . Owen has visions of himself in a place shrouded in darkness , full of eerie whispers . He temporarily loses control of his body . During this incident , his pupils turn black and he speaks in an unknown language . Although he has been put in quarantine , Owen escapes and goes to a bar in Cardiff . He finds he can no longer get drunk or get an erection ( which depends on blood flow ) , so he can no longer have sex as all his life processes have stopped . He is now the walking dead . Jack catches him and they have a bar brawl . When Owen shouts that he belongs to Torchwood " special ops " , Jack assumes a fake English accent and denies it . This results in them both being put in a police cell . As they bicker , Owen hears the drinks in his stomach sloshing and realises that he can no longer digest them so they ' ll just sit there if left . Also unable to force himself to be sick by sticking his fingers down his throat , he is forced to stand on his head until the liquid comes back through his throat allowing him to vomit , much to Jack ' s amused disgust . After a moment of panic , Owen and Jack bond . Jack says that he once dated Marcel Proust and that his immortality , which Owen covets in his position , is not the gift that Owen envies . They leave after Jack reveals his thoughts on immortality . Outside they encounter Weevils which chase Owen and Jack until they are cornered on a rooftop . Instead of killing them , the Weevils bow to Owen , who again temporarily loses control of his body and addresses the Weevils in the same unknown language . At the Hub , the team learn that Owen ' s cells are changing slowly . When complete , something will take over Owen ' s body . Research shows a similar incident occurred in legend , at the town that predated Cardiff during the time of the Black Death : a little girl died , and the town priest ( undoubtedly using the same resurrection gauntlet that has brought Owen back ) subsequently performed a miracle to resurrect her , but Death itself came back with the revived girl . Death sought to kill thirteen victims , as doing so would allow it to enter the world permanently . But before Death could take more than twelve victims , what the story simply describes as " faith " stopped the entity . Believing this legend is recurring , Owen suggests he must have his neural pathways closed by embalming to stop Death from using him as a gateway . As the team are getting Owen ready for the process , the resurrection gauntlet springs to life and attacks Martha . Owen destroys the gauntlet with a gunshot , but not before it has drained Martha ' s life and reduced her to an old woman . Before the team can get Martha help or do anything about Owen , the cellular conversion completes , allowing Death to fully possess and then emerge from Owen . Upon manifesting , Death kills Jack , and heads to a hospital , drawn to those close to death . It begins going after patients who are helpless or alone , sucking each one dry and adding their death to its count . As Jack resurrects , the Torchwood team rush Martha to the hospital in her greatly aged state , where a nurse says that as her red blood cell count is low and as she is over eighty , her chances of survival are slim . Upon realising from the Weevils gathering outside that Death is here , the team evacuates everyone from the building , while Death , after taking twelve souls , chases after Jamie Burton ; a young leukaemia patient who has been left behind . Owen saves Jamie and helps Tosh and him escape . Ianto , who is waiting with Martha , explains to the team that according to research he ' s uncovered , the " faith " which defeated Death before was the resurrected child , whose name was Faith . Owen realises that he is the only one who can fight Death ; he is already dead and has nothing to lose . After kissing Tosh ( and stealing her alien lockpick device ) , Owen locks the other team members out of the hospital and begins a brawl with Death , finally consuming its energy and forcing it back into the darkness . On returning to the Hub , Martha explains to Owen that the energy keeping him " alive " is dissipating but it could take anywhere between thirty seconds and thirty years to die out completely and end Owen ' s " life . " Owen asks Jack to let him work again , as by doing his job as a doctor , he can try to repay the twelve lives that have been lost as a consequence of his resurrection . Toshiko and Jack discuss Owen literally fighting off Death in the hospital ; Jack gravely declares , " Ah , you can never really beat Death . Never escape it . It ' s always in the shadows , waiting ! " Story notes . Filming locations . " to be added "