Greeks Bearing Gifts ( TV story ) Greeks Bearing Gifts was the seventh episode in the first series of " Torchwood " . It focused on Toshiko Sato . Because Toshiko abused her access to alien technology , it also marked the unwilling reveal of Gwen Cooper ' s sex ual escapades with Owen Harper to the rest of the team . This created guilty feelings inside of Gwen , crippling the progression of her affair . It also damaged relations between the team members until a breaking point arose near the conclusion of series 1 . Synopsis . Tosh is given an alien pendant which lets her hear other people ' s thoughts . As the Torchwood team puzzle over a centuries - old skeleton , the pendant forces Tosh to question her commitment to Torchwood . Is her new - found ability a blessing or a curse ? Plot . In Cardiff , 1812 , a talkative prostitute leads a young soldier into the forest . When she provokes him about his virginity , he slaps her twice . A chase ensues . All of a sudden , though , she sees a bright light , and hears a screech . She walks towards the light , but the soldier catches up and shoots her . In 2007 , the Torchwood team is at a construction site where a skeleton was found . Mary , the prostitute from 1812 , is there in modern dress looking on amusedly . A strange object is by the skeleton , its function unknown . Toshiko reveals that the corpse has been dead for 196 years , eleven to eleven and a half months , while Owen identifies it as female . All is going well at Torchwood until Owen and Gwen accidentally kick out the plug to Tosh ' s computer , screwing up a translation program she ' s running . Feeling dejected , Toshiko goes to a pub , where Mary approaches her . Mary reveals she knows about Torchwood and about her . She is a " scavenger " or " collector " of alien artefacts . Toshiko seems to bond with Mary , and reveals her innermost feelings , despite hundreds of Torchwood protocols disallowing this sort of conversation . Mary offers Toshiko a pendant . When Toshiko puts it on , she begins to hear people ' s thoughts . Mary asks her to refine this to her thoughts only , and subconsciously allows her desire to kiss her slip . Shocked , Toshiko rips the pendant off her neck . Mary tells her to keep it . Toshiko says she must show it to the other members of Torchwood , Mary predicts she won ' t . The next day , Toshiko goes to the Hub and puts the pendant on . She tells Gwen and Owen she has something to show them , but , upon hearing their thoughts , she changes her mind after learning of their affair . Later , when Ianto offers her some coffee , she hears his thoughts , malevolent and bestial . She hears his pain at the loss of Lisa Hallett . Visibly upset , she takes off the pendant . She finds Mary , whom she tells about Owen and Gwen ' s thoughts — how they pity her . Mary explains that thoughts are complicated . She puts the pendant on Toshiko again , and both end up thinking of sex together . The two kiss passionately . Later , Toshiko is lying in bed , looking regretful . She tells Mary of her attraction to Owen , and how she was upset by his affair with Gwen . Mary tells her that good can come of the pendant , too . Toshiko asks Mary who she really is . Mary calls herself " Philoctetes " . Toshiko heeds Mary ' s advice and listens to the thoughts of people in a busy Cardiff street . She hears a man planning to kill his ex - wife and son . She follows him to their house , and saves their lives . When she returns to the Hub , Owen is being teased by the others for misidentifying the skeleton : it was actually a man — not a woman — who died of an unidentified trauma — " not " a gunshot wound . Tosh asks Jack about Philoctetes , and he tells her his story : in Greek mythology , the archer was exiled to the island of Lemnos , to be left there alone for ten years . Mary tells Toshiko to read Jack ' s thoughts about the item found with the skeleton . Toshiko tries and fails to read his thoughts ; Jack seems to notice when she tries . She tells Mary this , and decides that she must show the pendant to her co - workers . Mary , however , convinces her to change her mind by showing her her true form : she is an alien exiled from her home world . Toshiko offers Torchwood ' s help , but Mary refuses . Humans ' way is invasion , not help . She thinks she will simply be assessed , and then locked up in the base ' s prison cells . Mary instead asks Toshiko to sneak her into the Hub to retrieve the artefact , which could finally take her home . The two enter to find Jack holding the transporter . He explains that it is a two - man transporter for a guard and a prisoner . Mary explains that she killed the guard , then took the body of the young prostitute Mary , and has been ripping out people ' s hearts to feed her human form . She takes Toshiko at knife point , and demands that they return the transporter . Jack gives it to her . It automatically turns on , and she disappears . Jack had reprogrammed the device to teleport to the centre of the sun . Later , Toshiko is confronted by Owen and Gwen about what she heard . Toshiko says that it was none of her business . Owen storms off . Gwen admits that her affair with Owen is wrong , but that she can ' t stop . She says that Tosh seemed happier with Mary in her life , and that she should not let everything that has happened bring her down . Jack and Toshiko sit by the fountain above the Hub and discuss the pendant . Toshiko believes that it may be the most powerful artefact ever found by Torchwood , and asks Jack for his advice . He says it is her choice . She crushes the device with her foot . She asks why she could not read Jack ' s mind . Jack denies knowing why but admits he could tell she was trying . She tells him that it felt like she was trying to read the mind of a dead man . He doesn ' t respond . He comforts her about her experiences , wipes away her tears , and silently walks away . Story notes . Filming locations . " to be added " Production errors . " to be added "