Toshiko "Tosh" Sato (, Sato Toshiko?, English pronunciation: /ˈtɒʃikoʊ ˈsɑːtoʊ/) is a fictional character from the television series Doctor Who and Torchwood, played by Naoko Mori. She is a regular in the latter programme for the first two series, but actually first appeared in the Doctor Who episode "Aliens of London". In Torchwood, Sato is the Cardiff branch's "technical expert", described as "quiet but highly intelligent", and a "computer genius".

Sato first appears in the Doctor Who episode "Aliens of London", credited as 'Doctor Sato', when she is called in to examine a supposed alien corpse at Albion Hospital. Although it is not mentioned in the episode that she is working for Torchwood Three, it is later revealed in Torchwood episode "Exit Wounds" that Sato was deceptively standing in as a medic to cover up for a hungover and unreachable Owen Harper (Burn Gorman). Toshiko is reintroduced in the Torchwood 2006 premiere episode "Everything Changes".

In "Greeks Bearing Gifts", Toshiko enters into a sexual relationship with a woman named Mary (Daniela Denby-Ashe), from whom Toshiko receives a telepathy-granting necklace. Her experiences with telepathy greatly distress Toshiko. She expresses despair and hopelessness, noting that across space, all cultures are essentially similar, leading to utter disappointment with existence.

In the penultimate episode of the series, "Captain Jack Harkness", she and Captain Jack (John Barrowman) are sent to the year 1941 by the villainous Bilis Manger (Murray Melvin), where being Japanese, Tosh is the victim of bigotry. With their resident genius stranded, Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) and Owen are unable to open the Cardiff spacetime Rift and save her until Toshiko leaves them the necessary equations, which she is forced to write in her own blood. In the first series finale, a vision of Toshiko's mother is used to convince her to mutiny against Jack.

In the second series (2008) episode "To the Last Man", Tosh has a relationship with a soldier from 1918 (Anthony Lewis), who had to be frozen and re-awoken every year until the time was right for him to return to 1918 and heal the Rift. In episode "Reset" Owen agrees to go on a date with her, but dies at the end of the episode after being shot in the heart. When Owen is briefly revived by team leader Jack Harkness using a resurrection glove, Tosh says her goodbye to him by confessing that she has always loved him.

Owen flatlines, only to revive again permanently, existing in a state resembling undeath. In the episode "Fragments", the audience comes to understand how Toshiko came to work for Torchwood; Captain Jack rescued her from an UNIT detention centre where she was held after she being forced to build a sonic modulator for an unnamed terrorist organisation. In the show's second season finale, "Exit Wounds", Toshiko is shot and killed by Gray (Lachlan Nieboer), Jack Harkness's unstable younger brother.

She dies within minutes of Owen, having been unable to save him from his own death when he becomes trapped in a nuclear power facility bunker flooding with radioactive material. In the moments before their deaths, Owen apologises to Toshiko for never having managed to bring their relationship to full fruition. By initiating the final log-off procedure for her account on the Torchwood computer system, Ianto activates a pre recorded message from Toshiko, in which she thanks Jack for saving her.

She tells him that she is grateful for the opportunity to work in Torchwood and see all the wonders she'd seen, and that she loves them all. After being killed off, the character is referenced in the two episodes of Doctor Who which follow "Exit Wounds". In these episodes, Gwen (Eve Myles) and Ianto vow to keep fighting in Tosh and Owen's memory, and later discover a "time lock" designed by Tosh which protects the Hub from Dalek invasion.

Similar to 0 things you like: