Rex Matheson
Rex Matheson is a male television character who features in Doctor Who.
Contents |
Biography
Rex Matheson was a male human born on Earth as the son of Maurice Matheson, who lived in a 'dump' in Los Angeles and believed that Rex never cared for anybody but himself. He left his father circa 1996 and joined the Central Intelligence Agency, an organisation which his father did not trust. He had no contact with his father and told people that he had no family and was from New York. (Torchwood: Escape to LA)
Whilst informing Esther of his inevitable promotion following Steve Reynolds's wife's diagnosis over the telephone, Rex was impaled by several poles carried by a braking lorry and operated on by Vera Juarez at City General Hospital. He survived thanks to the Miracle and decided to extradite Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper after learning that an email containing Torchwood's name was sent to the CIA at the same time as the last recorded death, flying to Heathrow Airport and driving to Gwen's home in Wales. Thanks to Andy Davidson and South Wales Police, he was able to capture Jack and Gwen as well as Rhys and Anwen Williams. (Torchwood: The New World) Rex had Rhys and Anwen returned home whilst Jack and Gwen were forced on an aeroplane to the United States and contacted Vera to supply him with painkillers once he arrived in return for the chance to examine the mortal Jack. He handcuffed Lyn, who joined him in the rendition, to a seat after she poisoned Jack and got Vera's help to create EDTA to cure him. When the aeroplane landed, Rex was informed by Esther that the CIA was framing the two of them and he went on the run with her, Jack and Gwen. (Torchwood: Rendition) Rex threatened Brian Friedkin into revealing who paid him to frame him and Esther and got his hands on a mobile phone which Friedkin's paymasters contacted him on. The team learnt that PhiCorp had a stockpile of painkillers which Friedkin was keeping secret and Rex tried to expose the company by getting in contact with his senior instructor at Langley, but his instructor called the police and Rex left the others rather than join them in trying to take down PhiCorp themselves. After visiting Vera, having sex with her and convincing her to help infiltrate PhiCorp, he returned to the others and was forced to leave Washington DC with them when Friedkin's phone was traced. (Torchwood: Dead of Night)
Fleeing to Los Angeles to steal a secure server from PhiCorp's headquarters, Rex visited his father, who was selling stolen painkillers and showed no interest in him despite his near-death experience. He came up with a strategy to get Nicolas Frumkin's biometrics to access the IT centre and led the mission from the group's temporary base, becoming angry with Esther upon realising that she had been followed after visiting her sister's home. He saved Jack and Gwen by shooting the Gentleman and gave Esther one final warning before she accessed the server and uncovered the construction of overflow camps. (Torchwood: Escape to LA) Vera told Torchwood about the categories of life and joined them, but Rex forbade her from investigating the module at the San Pedro Overflow Camp as an observer and had himself taken to the camp as a wounded man. With Esther's help, he was classified Category 1 and sent to the module where he used a video camera to expose what was being done with those who would otherwise be dead. He found that Vera had been put into one of the modules and, after failing to get her out as she started to burn, he recorded her incineration as evidence (Torchwood: The Categories of Life)
Rex was determined to make the footage he had captured public and disguised himself as a guard to get out of the camp when it came under lockdown, but he was almost immediately captured and tried to get Colin Maloney to let him go by telling him about Vera's death, unaware that Maloney was the one who killed her. Esther and Ralph Coltrane stopped Maloney from silencing Rex and he and Esther escaped, allowing them to expose the overflow camps. Despite this, they were not immediately shut down (Torchwood: The Middle Men) and were merely "paused", an outcome which Rex was unhappy with. (Torchwood: Immortal Sins)
Although he insisted that he had not known Vera very well, Rex refused to talk about her following her death. He and Esther learnt from the Eye-5 cache that Gwen had been blackmailed into kidnapping Jack and ensured that Andy saved Rhys, Anwen and Mary Cooper whilst they followed the two of them and forced Olivia Colasanto's bodyguards to drop their weapons. Despite this, Olivia remained certain that Jack would go with her to see Angelo Colasanto. (Torchwood: Immortal Sins) Rex made a phone call to Vera's brother so that he would be traced by the CIA as part of his plan to expose Friedkin and clear his name. As Rex predicted, Friedkin arrived at the Colasanto estate and he was able to use the Eye-5s to expose his connection to the Three Families, leading to Friedkin being arrested by Allen Shapiro and Rex and Esther's names being cleared. He was initially able to keep Shapiro from deporting Gwen, but Shapiro had her sent back to Wales to force Jack into examining the null field generator which allowed Angelo to die and which Rex recognised would be used just like the modules. Accordingly, he helped Jack and Esther escape with the generator's alpha panel whilst he remained with the CIA, believing that they now had a chance to put an end to the Miracle and that he was needed. (Torchwood: End of the Road)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
Having been trained by the CIA, he was skilled with several firearms, ranging from handguns to assault rifles, (Torchwood: The New World) and even a double barrelled shotgun. (Torchwood: Escape to LA) He could also use a sniper rifle, maintaining his aim directly at a target's head. (Torchwood: Immortal Sins)
Rex was also, in Esther's own words, the "best strategist of [the group]", proven when he orchestrated the plan to get Nicholas Frumkin's biometrics and knew how to gain entry in to Phicorp's headquarters. He was also very serious during the missions, viewing saying "good luck" as "kid's stuff" as well as the use of mobile phones to contact people while undercover as "dangerous". (Torchwood: Escape to LA)
Notes
- Rex Matheson was created by Russell T Davies where he was portrayed by actor Mekhi Phifer and featured in the setting of the Doctor Who universe.
Appearances
- Torchwood: Miracle Day:
External Links
This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.
