TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY Episode 10 - The Blood Line

456 Classification - Thank the Lord! It's over!

Well, we got here at last! And I must say that writing these weekly reviews has turned into something of a war of attrition, where every seven days I've had to struggle to find new and amusing ways of saying 'this storyline's broken!". And so for that reason alone, I minded to be kindly about this final episode...

...Of course I bloody well won't! But it has to be said that The Blood Line IS an improvement on The Gathering - well as far as it is possible to make any improvement in the grand finale of a story that hinges around a massive rude looking gash in Mother Earth.

But there are some positives all the same. Firstly this closing chapter manages to have Jack and Gwen both on top form and doing what they do best, and at the same time unlike many of the previous instalments where we've have had one but not the other doing anything interesting. Secondly there is a rather neat extended confrontation with the Families' agents. I must admit I didn't see the blood switch trick Rex pulled coming and we had some real proper tension building in this stand-off over over two continents.

And thirdly, and possibly the most welcome, was the fact that considering this was a Russell T Davies finale, it was played out in a rather simple and restrained fashion rather than hurling everything the FX wizards can muster at the screen in a swirling maelstrom of logic defying plot holes.

But of course that's not to say that this episode wasn't thoroughly riddled with nonsense. Oh come on, don't look surprised! This is still an RTD script after all! Because if  you were you looking for an explanation for the Blessing, forget it!  Now, I'm not adverse to story tellers leaving a gap filled with mystery sometimes, and arguably the giant stone labia could qualify. However the scant details we do get about it, notably that it's two ends act as some species of morphic poles, only serves to increase the idiocy of the concept.

Now I could have bought the polar thing if they hadn't shown us a computer model that clearly shows that the colossal crack is off centre - tracing a point from Buenos Aires to Shanghai gives you a line that doesn't pass through the core of the earth . So while this may help some viewers reconcile its existence with small barriers to belief such as the entire field of geophysics, having a pole that doesn't pass through the centre of the earth - i.e .it's not a pole - only replaces the first foolishness with an equally massive hurdle to credibility.

Similarly the reveal that the Families plan to wreck the world with immortality in order to rebuilt it in their own image is similarly half-baked. As we're told they are effectively the secret puppet masters of the world anyway, did they really need this elaborate plot in the first place? Yes, they get immortality but honestly the Miracle isn't really worth having - eternal life coming with eternal pain and aging. But most damningly, we discover at the very end that this whole charade was just 'a trial run'... So effectively the whole Miracle was pretty much a colossal waste of everyone's time. Including yours.

Similarly the end of Dane's plot thread also proves how useless he was a character. Now don't get me wrong, I've really enjoyed Bill Pullman's performances, but in the end the character has been fraught with problems and ultimately serves no real purpose. And indeed how this finale plays out only serves to highlight how irrelevant the majority of what has gone before has been.

Seeing at last how the Miracle Day storyline concludes, I am inclined to suspect that is was originally planned as a five part affair and them clumsily expanded. And that would certainly explain a great deal about the many and varied dead ends and blind alleys the narrative has took us down. But I believe I have harped on about the poor story structure more than enough in previous reviews, so then let's skip to the end.

I doubt many are going to happy with the fact that Davies chooses to kill off Esther, who appeared to strike a chord with most viewers, instead of Rex, who everyone has decried as having all the depth of a cardboard cut-out. And then to add insult to injury, he makes 'the assholey one' of the team immortal. Yes, having Jack's blood as somehow infected Rex with the Captain's same indestructible nature. Insert your own stream of tired, bitter abuse here...

...And the stage is also conveniently left wide open for another series. Or to be rather less charitable, there's a whole mess of plot threads left flapping for another season. And I have to say that the prospect of another ten episodes like this fills me with more tension and dread than the entirety of Miracle Day managed in its frustrating two and half month lifespan.

Now I don't hate Torchwood, and even the messy disappointment this series turned out to be doesn't make me want to see the show vanish forever. Indeed I used to enjoy the series and I still believe the format has potential (and if you want to hear how I'd fix it check out HYPNOBOBS 46 - Torchopsy). However at the same time, I rather suspect that this debacle may well have cooked the Torchwood goose, and what's so galling is that it is the show's own creator who has served up the sauce. And with Starz seemingly not rushing to stump up for another series, the ultimate irony of Miracle Day is that while the world became immortal, the show may have expired...

Reviews of previous episodes can be found here

Also don't miss HYPNOBOBS 46 - Torchopsy! for more Torchwood talk! 

TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY - Episode 9 The Gathering

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TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY - Episode 8 The End of the Road

456 Classification - Sensitive Information Revealed

So The End of the Road eh? An early finish for this fumbling series?... No such luck - we've another 2 hours of this nonsense to go yet! But Sweet Jesus, how I wish it was over, for the only miracle I can discern in this series of Torchwood is how no one turned round to old RTD and said 'Look Russell, this is shit!' 

I would apologise for such a bile-soaked opening but I'm reaching the end of the road too with bloody Torchwood, and no one can say I've not tried to be fair and even handed in my critiques. Indeed some would say, I've been overly generous in giving this series the benefit of the doubt. Hell, I even liked last week's episode, which apparently bored the arse off most of you, who felt it should have been shrunk down to a ten minute flashback! 

And while it is true that the strengths of Immortal Sins, the stronger story telling, decent performances, period detail etc. were pretty much cancelled out by the fact that they only served to highlight firstly what was wrong with the rest of the series and secondly the shoddy story structure, at least I didn't come away bruised from the plot holes I'd fell down and bleeding from where the clumsy dialogue has tripped me up and right out of the show. 

However, this week's dollop - I'm not going to call an episode as that would imply some narrative cohesion - seemed specifically designed to right the karmic balance and be at least as twice as annoying and irritating as usual. So frankly I feel like if there's any apologising to be done, it should be from the production team for putting together this half-baked mess.

Now last week ended with the promise of revelations as the still living Angelo knows how the Miracle started. Except we discover he doesn't really - the team learns that the three mysterious fellows are the Families mentioned earlier and that it's something to do with morphic fields and Jack's blood. All well and good but the audience knew all of this already, so yet again we have pointless info dumps where the characters tell each other what we the viewers are already aware of.

The big reveal for us is that Angelo is behind Jack's new mortality thanks to some Null-field alien tech which he apparently salvaged from the ruins of the Hub but Jack never thought to bother mentioning before. Yeah, great, thanks for that... Mr Logic was off ill again when this was scribbled I presume, for surely you would have thought that Jack would have been digging in those ruins for this handy gizmo as soon as he found he could die and suspect morphic field manipulation was behind it.

Also on the choppy to the point of inducing seasickness plotting was the sudden  reappearance of Friedkin who has played no part in all of this cobblers for the last half dozen episodes. And as quickly as he came back, he was conveniently blown up so the team are back in the CIA's good books.  Also picked up again was the plot-lines about Danes and Ester's sister which have left unceremoniously hanging for several weeks too. I honestly felt in danger of whiplash from the number of plot thread suddenly flapping back into life.

And if dodging blows from the flailing plot wasn't bad enough, you also had to keep constantly ducking cluster bomb attacks of shoddy dialogue and unnecessary, unfunny quippage from all concerned. Yes, the show might be picking up the pace but just running about aimlessly, ironically like a headless chicken that doesn't realise it's dead,  just isn't going to do the trick.

Frankly at this point, I just don't care anymore and evidently the script editor didn't either. What so annoying is that you can see there is a good story in here. But at every turn it's missed the mark, focused on the wrong elements and seemingly done all it possibly could to avoid telling it's story properly.

Now despite all the vitriol above, Torchwood isn't the worst show on TV, however it's one of the most frustrating. Each week it's like watching a band where the singer's off-key, the drummer's off-beat and the guitars are out of tune. The series just hasn't found its own rhythm and there's not enough episodes left to find it.

So sad to say, but a safe bet that it's not going to get any better - I'm totally expecting the grand finale will be horrid - best case scenario at this point looks like more pointless running around, a few bad guys shot, and Captain Jack pulling a big switch marked "Off' and saying "T-t-that's all folks!" And that's the best case scenario! I fully expect the last two parts to deliver some far worse drivel that will have eyes rolling out of sockets up and down the land. I'm stocking up on gaffer tape now and as your  attorney I advise you to do the same...

Further reports to follow... Although I am tempted to hop on a plane to LA instead and go all C Thomas Howell on all concerned....

Reviews of previous episodes can be found here

TORCHWOOD:MIRACLE DAY - Episode 7 Immortal Sins

546 Classification - Sensitive Information Revealed

Well now, I can see this episode being perhaps the most divisive of the series so far. However for my money, I'd peg it as perhaps the best chapter of Miracle Day so far. For a kick-off, I'm not sitting here with a list of niggles as long as the Fourth Doctor's scarf and wasn't shouting at the telly by the time the credits rolled... which was an exceeding pleasant surprise after the the last few weeks. 

For rather than a protected run-about revolving around the handing over of Jack to the mysterious Triangle, what we got was basically a flashback episode. While Gwen drives Jack to the hand-over, we get to see what the immortal Captain was up to in the late 1920s. And at first, this seems like yet another ruse by the writing crew to pussyfoot around the Miracle storyline.

Let's face it, much of this series has dithered around its big storyline, generally failing to explore the concept and consistently focusing on the wrong areas of the story. And on reflection, it has reminded me of that old trick employed by students everywhere when faced with a 2000 word essay on a subject they know less than 500 about - namely 'write down absolutely anything to expand what little you do know to an acceptable length'.

And so, at first the returns to days past which make up the bulk of the running time, appear to be the latest trick employed to pad out the under-developed Miracle storyline for another episode, an ill-timed sidestep away from the main plot.
 
However as this week's instalment unfolds, it becomes clear that what we are seeing is not actually just a late-in-the-day character study of Jack. For although Immortal Sins does fulfil this function, finally bringing the much side-lined Jack into the spotlight, the second half of the episode reveals that what we are seeing is actually the origins of the Miracle. 

Now as I said, I reckon this episode will prove to be somewhat divisive. Undoubtedly the 'gay agenda' brigade will be up in arms over the explicit relationship that develops between the '20s Jack and Angelo Colossanto (Daniele Favilli). So whereas I can understand the concerns over the portrayal of sex in its parent show Doctor Who, which is aimed at a family audience, and I can appreciate that some parents don't want a Saturday tea-time slice of scifi raising awkward and embarrassing questions from their little ones, Torchwood is made for adults. And hence to those 'gay agenda' people I say 'oh get over it!'.

However other folks may have be levelling what is rapidly becoming a standard accusation for every episode in the series - 'all of this could have been done in half the time'. Now unlike the previous episode Dead of Night whose graphic scenes felt tacked on to up the 'mature' content levels, the sex in Immortal Sins was relevant to the plot. Furthermore the emotional, social and dramatic aspects of the Jack/Angelo  relationship were properly explored and discussed, but more importantly it turns out to be the source of the Miracle. And I have to say it was very refreshing to find Miracle Day at last treating a subject in-depth and with intelligence.

Of course, in doing so Immortal Sins is looking very much like the odd man out in the run so far. However ironically it was the episode that most felt like old Torchwood. And that's not just because we got references to the Doctor Who universe, a space monster and  having Jack to the fore, allowing Barrowman to do some proper acting rather than being relegated to hollow action man and camp quip modes. While all these elements helped, what made this outing feel like a return to the show's past successes was the sense of magic and darkness that it brought to its intelligent explorations of its themes, something Torchwood has been sorely lacking in this series. 

However I am not confident that the strength of this episode signals that they've saved the best for last and the remaining episodes are going to match it. Rather giving the meandering that has passed for series structure so far, I rather think the opposite is more likely. Basically the previous instalments have neither created an effective narrative or laid the foundations for a high octane climax. To put it bluntly, the storyline of Miracle Day is just plain broken - the road leading up to this point has been too pitted with plot holes to convince me that the story can pull its threads together in a merely effective way, let alone a satisfying one. And even if the remainder of the series is solid gold, it will still be tarnished by the botched first two thirds.

And I can't help wondering whether this episode which finally reveals Captain Jack's character properly is coming far too late for those viewers who aren't familiar with his history and origins in Doctor Who. Certainly this series has been content with rather lazily throwing in the odd reference to his long life span, and largely keeping Jack in the background. So while this episode sets up the background and genesis of the Miracle, the preceding episodes haven't really been working to build up to the reveals in this one. 

Plus considering that it is looking increasingly likely that this whole Miracle business is just a massive ploy to get Jack, I can't help feeling the storyline has completely muffed its focus throughout. I suspect I won't be alone in feeling somewhat cheated if the grand scifi concept of nobody dying is just window dressing for the tale of a spurned lover. Not to mention the fact that making everybody on the damn planet  immortal is one helluva long way to go about getting hold of one man. So I'm sincerely hoping that there's more to the Miracle scheme than just an overly elaborate global game of bloody Mouse Trap !

So then while I really enjoyed Immortal Sins, I tend to think it may well be a blip. For while it told it own story well and delivered a very good episode, it's not enough to fix the problem's in the series' narrative which I am increasingly convinced has not focused on the elements the audience finds most interesting and is heading in entirely the wrong direction.


Reviews of previous episodes can be found here

TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY - Episode 6 The Middle Men

456 Classification - Sensitive Information Below!

Yes folks, from here on in all Torchwood reviews WILL contain spoilers! Mainly because as the show moves closer and closer towards its final death throes, I'm sorry, exciting climax, it going to be increasingly hard to keep these little reports spoiler-free. And partly because I figure if you're reading this you're either a) already watching or b) don't give a toss. So then what does Episode 6 - The Middle Men bring us?

Well, we have an intriguing and surprising opening sequence which neatly set-up a fresh plot strand for this outing. However in the bulk of the episode is largely resolving the action from last week. Yes, around three quarters of this episode is Escape From The Overflow Camps. In the US, we have Rex and Esther attempting to get out with a minimum of fuss, while back in the UK Rhys and Gwen are still attempting to rescue her father. Meanwhile Captain Jack is seeking to have a quiet word with the fellow from the pre-credits sequence, a PhiCorp exec who has been getting a wee bit suspicious himself about what his company is getting up too.

And to oversee these spookshow shenanigans we have John Shiban on script duties again. Much like the last episode he was involved with (Escape From LA), this chapter of the Miracle Day storyline is tightly focused on the espionage operations and features an fascinating incidental character portrayed by an '80s pop culture icon. For the afore-mentioned PhiCorp suit, Stuart Evans, is played by the great Ernie Hudson - yes, it's Winston from Ghostbusters! And I'm happy to report that Mr Hudson is excellent and his scenes are some of the best in this instalment, partly because they deliver some tantalizing hints about what is really going on behind the Miracle but mostly because Evans doesn't turn out to be the face of corporate evil you're expecting.

Also on good form this episode is Eve Myles as Gwen, with the script giving her a winning combination of drama and action. Now amid all the nit picking over the last few weeks, I have been sadly neglecting to praise  Eve Myles, as hands down she's been delivering the best performances in the team, and the character of Gwen has easily been the most consistently written too. Also in Gwen, the spirit of what I'm thinking of as  the original Torchwood lives on; embodying the quirky humour and the down-to-earth human reactions to extraordinary events that were a much bigger part of the show than it is now.

In fairness however, we have Captain Jack appearing more like his old self in this episode, and the script makes good use of Esther and Rex. Now Alexa Havins has been fairly consistent throughout this series and proved to be an interesting character as the team member who is new to all this cloak and dagger stuff, however Rex has been mainly stuck on barking and shouting duties. But in this episode, while we don't exactly get masses of character development for him, Mekhi Phifer does at least get to extend his range beyond 'gruff'.

Now then, we have no appearance from Bill Pullman this week, which on one hand is a shame as his performances have been excellent. But on the other hand, the absence of Danes removed a major thorn in the side of the show's credibility (see previous reports for my troubles with this character). However that's not to say there weren't still niggly annoyances with the plot.

For while this episode clipped along nicely a decent pace, in terms of the overall series, shouldn't things be moving along a little quicker? I can't help thinking this part of the story should have either happened around episode 4 or been done in half the time. I mean we've only four episodes left and the team has actually learnt very little and took an awful long time to discover it.

However sensible plotting isn't proving to be this series strong suite. Last week I mentioned the increasing fuzziness over the rules of the Miracle and this continues to be a problem. Firstly we get a throw away line explaining that actually people can die if they are totally incinerated, so then no sentient ash clouds on the horizon then. But as this is a Davies masterplan I still wouldn't rule out a budget-blowing horde of cinder spectres appearing out of nowhere to smother the bad guys in the last episode...

Now this loophole in humanity's new immortality I could forgive if the concept of death only occurring in cases of 'complete cellular destruction' had been bedded down in the plot earlier. However as presented here, the explanatory line this week comes across as a quick fix because the writers forgot the rules. And indeed this is isn't the only instance of writers fudging the Miracle rules. To begin with the opening scene where the Hong Kong investigator throw himself off the roof makes for a dramatic opening but is undercut when you remember that no one is supposed to die.

Admittedly that may seem like typical fanboy quibbling, but there's more serious questions hanging over the battle between Esther and the stressed to insanity camp boss, Maloney. For a start, throttling someone in a world where no one dies makes little sense, but the fact he is conveniently gunned down into submission seems like a direct contradiction of what we've seen before, as neither Rex nor Vera slipped into  unconsciousness when seriously injured; indeed the the former made an explicit point about it when the team were talking about the Miracle a few weeks back - that whole 'forced into life' business. Plus in Rendition, we had the character who Miss Emma Lou of The Blue Box Blog wonderfully renamed The Lady Who  Startlingly Resembles A Siamese Cat happily playing with the traffic with her head on backwards.

Then again in the last Shiban episode, we had C Thomas Howell's assassin handily flaunting the rules too and also conveniently collapsing. Now considering he would actually die, I have been wondering why the team just left him there - after all he was just about to spill some vital information shouldn't they have captured him for interrogation? Admittedly his wounds may have prevented him talking but he could held a bloody pen!

I don't know about you, but I'm getting the impression that generally the writers are really struggling with this no one dies business. While a certain amount of thought has gone into the effect such a scenario would have on society.... ok, ok, well alright.... just the healthcare system really, no one has carefully thought through the implications for plotting in action orientated narratives, namely that it becomes a bit of a sod if you can't have victims and bad guys biting the dust.

And so we have these logic gaps, opening the way to the dark dimensions where the cynical questions bubble and blaspheme at the centre of the universe of audience disbelief. Now a good writer should fear above all else accidentally opening one of these unhallowed portals... However if you fumble your dramtaic incantations, armchair smart arses like me start wondering about things like...

Why the hell is there a solider subservient to a civilian bureaucrat in the first place?

And while I enjoyed M*A*S*H as much as everyone else, is Torchwood really the right venue for a character that is clearly ripping off Radar?

And although it was great to see Ernie Hudson, did Jack really need to speak to him? Couldn't they have got most of his information from that server they nicked?

And is it just me or is the main tactic of this new Torchwood team what I believe to be called the Mrs Doyle Stratagem in intelligent circles - simply sidling up to the target and saying 'Ah go on! Help us out! It'll be grand! Ah go on , go on , go on, go on, go on!'

...I'll stop there before I get to speculations about the effects of Botox on John Barrrowman's performances, but you get the idea.  If you leave holes in your plot, your viewers will be down them quicker than Alice after a white rabbit and the show won't be holding their attention. And if you're careful, like the wooden men on the chess board in the Carroll inspired Jefferson Airplane song, they be getting up and telling you where to go...

Now generally I was being moderately entertained by this episode, but much like the rest of the series, all these little niggles kept nudging me out of the show. And while much of the time these are are minor points, the fact is Miracle Day has been consistently riddled with such little irritations week in and week out, I am getting to the point where it's becoming exceedingly annoying.

Of course that's not to mention the massive hairy cock-ups the show insists upon periodically waving in our faces. However, showing that some one in the production team has some grasp of pacing, this is the second week in a row where they've saved the most egregious plot idiocy for the end of the episode.

This week the story closes with Rex's footage being released to the world and what happens? Bloody nothing that's what. It's bad enough the revelation is tossed away in a few lines, but what's unforgivable is that it doesn't seem to matter. The governments and PhiCorp just carry on burning folks tra-la-bloody-la! To quote Jefferson Airplane again - "logic and proportion have fallen smartly dead".

Plus in combination with the cliff-hanger, I'm now convinced that this whole Miracle business is an idiotically complicated plot just to get at Jack and hence the majority of the plot of Miracle Day may well be a  colossal red herring, and if that is so, a massive waste of our time.

I sincerely hope that this isn't the case but at the same time my expectations of getting any meat on the bones marked 'geography', 'families will rise' and 'the blessing' next week are exceedingly low... Instead  I predict more dashing around that will seem entertaining enough but with a moment's thought will become irritating and unfulfilling...

Reviews of previous episodes can be found here

TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY Episode 5 - The Categories of Life

456 Classification - No sensitive information revealed

So then, what does Categories of Life bring us? Well, after a decent third part and a solid if run-of-the-mill follow-up last week, the fifth episode of this latest incarnation of Torchwood hits the ground running then promptly falls flat on it's arse.

 Last week's episode left us with the first passable cliff-hanger, and after some promising running about the story wades into yet another monstrous tar-pit of exposition. Yes, we've more clunky dialogue clanging like cracked bells, clearly feeding plot points to the audience rather than portraying a conservation between real people. 

While still on the Dark Side, in the same scenes we have yet more tedious gay jokes between Jack and Rex. Now I'm not one of these homophobic idiots who gets all hot under the collar and spouts nonsense about Russell T Davies using his shows to further a 'gay agenda'  however I do strongly object to the way our long lived omni-sexual Captain is  often been reduced to a comical camp figure. 

Yes, Jack's always been ready with a saucy quip but in this series he's lost his dark and brooding side and I feel is danger of becoming a comedy sidekick in his own show. Mind you, the characterisation of Rex is still paper-thin obnoxious shouting. And the running gay jokes  aren't exactly helping to endear him to me, as he's coming across as a bit of bigot. 

However thankfully after this info dumping, the episode does get back on track, with the team mounting their biggest and boldest operation yet. We have the action unfolding in three different locations culminating in a triple climax that will have many of you shocked and surprised.  Obviously I'm not going to reveal any details but let's just say it gets very, very dark.

However despite this the episode still manages to blow it's own toes off and if you want to know why by the end of the episode I was shouting 'bullshit!' at the screen, you'll have to brave the spoiler zone below.

So then it is something of a mixed bag this episode, as have many of its predecessors. But here we have a startling range from some of the better scenes we've had so far to some of the worst. Yes, we are certainly getting to the meat of the story now after weeks of hors d'oeuvres, with some proper big dramatic developments but I now have serious doubts about Miracle Day, and even if the second half sorts out its problems, on the evidence present in this instalment, I suspect it will continue to be a very bumpy ride.

456 Classification Revised - Spoilers Ahead

Well, as promised last week, it's half time report time! So how's the first five episodes gone? Well, it's been a bit choppy hasn't it? My polygraph machines monitoring script, acting, plotting and direction have been scribbling wildly throughout this opening half of Miracle Day despite gradual week by week improvements. But basically Torchwood is so far scraping by rather than soaring as it should be.

Now viewers from whom Miracle Day is their first exposure to the world of Torchwood may chalk these imperfections done to the usual teething troubles and weaknesses that are found in most first seasons. However for those of us who are counting this as Series 4, it's a disappointing follow-up to Children of Earth. Of course that five part series was so exceptional I doubted that Miracle Day would equal it. However what I didn't expect was that this series (at least so far) wouldn't be as solid as Series 2.

And up until this week, the intriguing concept and well executed moments had enough strength to get me over the flaws, though not necessarily forgive them. However Episode 5 has seen the show hit the skids and wheels come off the Torchwood jalopy. 

So far I've been very patient, allow the show a good deal of leeway as a slow burn story, but  I am coming to the conclusion that the plotting is just a dog's dinner. The concepts haven't been properly thought through and there looks to be alot of padding where there should have been plot developments and drama. 

Now I discussed last week my doubts about the character of Oswald Danes and how credible is it that  a man who has raped, tortured and murdered a child could ever become a media personality. So far I managed to just suspend disbelief, but in the latest episode the story assumed the mass of a small singularity and not only fell from my straining arms but ate through multiple floors like xenomorph blood. Sorry but I don't buy that, even in the altered world of the Miracle (where remember the other week he was pursued by the public and beaten by the police), such a vile monster could become a charismatic leader, whooping up a stadium of people.

And if that wasn't ridiculous enough, Jack's whole cunning plan with Oswald was frankly ludicrous. For him to think it was remotely possible, they really needed to have met and verbally crossed swords several times before and at length rather than the single brief meet we did get to see.

In short, these scenes at the rally really tipped the scales for me - it was hard to believe that you could have someone of John Wayne Gacy's ilk shilling pharmaceuticals but Ted Bundy as Jesus? For Chrisssakes! Get a fucking grip! Danes' storyline is no longer just unbelievable, it's now bollocks so badly conceived it borders on the offensive. 

Less annoying but just as muddled is the Miracle itself. Ok, so no one dies and eternal youth isn't part of the deal. But for example would Rex's chest wound start to heal? What if the brain is destroyed are people still conscious? Now we've had yards of exposition over the past five weeks but the rules of the phenomena are still fuzzy. Hence this week's big reveal - that the evil plot is to burn folks in the camps - was somewhat undercut by the question of are we going to have clouds of sentient ash swirling about?

And that's another thing - I presumed that those sent to the camps would be shipped off and used as an ever living food supply for something... But no, PhiCorp are torching those who are supposed to be dead. Why?  I mean presumably they, or rather their mysterious triangle masters, have engineered the Miracle in the first damn place, so what the hell is the point? Everyone who is being exterminated in the stealth concentration camps would have died anyway if they hadn't let loose the Miracle in the first damn place.

Even for Russell T Davies, who engineered many a stupid story than delivered spectacle but not coherent plotting in his tenure on Doctor Who, this plot twist is a new low - it makes not the slightest sense and left me with the impression that this whole Miracle business is a massive waste of time. Which would account for the fact that the whole unfolding situation has been consistently badly explained and explored over the past five weeks I suppose.

Also, I'll say this now, Mr Davies: if you're really expecting that forthcoming reveal that it's aliens behind it all is going to wow us all, you are sadly misguided. This is a scifi series and we're all expecting aliens anyway. So if space monsters are the only secret behind the Miracle, Mr and Mrs Kick will be paying a swift visit to Bollock-town!

And, apologies for turning into Columbo here, but one more thing... Wouldn't it have made more sense to kill off Rex rather than Vera? Who's going to attend all those talking head exposition sessions now?

Now admittedly there's still half a series to clarify and make sense of the current state of play. However there appears to be a key problem that everyone I've spoke to about the show seems to agree on - that it doesn't feel like Torchwood anymore. And indeed in the latest episode, Rex spells it out by saying 'Torchwood is just a name, a code word'. And it's not just all the background of old Torchwood that has gone, the show now has a very different tone.

Now yes, continuing shows need to keep tweaking the format and set-up to provide fresh platforms for new stories, but so far, there's little reason for the Miracle Day story to involve the Torchwood team at all. Indeed this tale could easily be told with completely new characters replacing Captain Jack and Gwen as there is so little connection to its previous incarnations. Indeed it's not like Jack is being particularly well handled at all - in avoiding any awkward references to the character's past that might alienate new viewers in the US, we're left with a hollow man.

Certainly as so much in terms of both style and setting that has been jettisoned, again presumably for the benefit of the new stateside audience, it might have made more sense to launch this as stand-alone series. For a start, all those unwelcome comparisons to Children of Earth would disappear. But on the other hand the plot developments of the most recent episode appear so imbecilic that they would damage even a stand alone show.

Having come this far I'll keep watching, if only to enjoy the most consistent and true to what has gone before element, Gwen. And while I still want to see how it all turn out, I don't have high hopes of them getting out the daft corner they seem to written themselves into. Consistently throughout his career, Russell T Davies has proven that satisfying conclusions aren't his strong suite, and I fully expect that Miracle Day will end in the usual morass of papered over plot holes that he has often served up in the past. However he's usually very good at set-ups and frankly this first half has been more clumsy and dithering rather than confidently building.

As I said I'll keep watching and even entertain increasingly faint hopes that the show is going to properly find it feet, but seriously it's truly galling seeing an excellent concept being mangled, and on the most recent evidence, being just pissed away. I suspect I'll be more watching out of completism than being genuinely captivated...

Reviews of previous episodes can be found here

TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY - Episode 3 Dead of Night

456 Classification - No sensitive information revealed

Quick recap - at the end of Episode 1, I thought 'right now the new team's together'. At the end of Episode 2, I thought 'right NOW the new team's together'. And thank Rassilon, at last this week not only are they all together properly but actually get stuck into to some action! Yes, this week we have some honest-to-goodness investigating going on rather than just reacting to enfolding events.

Making her Torchwood scripting début, Jane Espenson lands with a big splash - the writing and plotting is far tighter this week, and I for one am glad she got the lion's share of episodes to pen. Dead of Night we get a nicely weighted show that continues to build up the story, but delivers the developments as drama and action rather than the talking head info dumps we've had in the previous episodes. It really feels like the show is getting somewhere now after a somewhat slow start.

Character-wise, the team is gelling together nicely, with some nice interactions between our transatlantic band of fugitives. As I suspected, Esther fits in very well, and there's a marvelous scene with her and Gwen. However although there is nuggets of character emerging, Rex is still too much the obnoxious shouty one and little else most of the time. Elsewhere, Bill Pullman continues to shine as Oswald Danes, who is rapidly becoming the most intriguing character in the show, while Lauren Ambrose as Jilly Kitzinger is shaping up to be a tempting Devil in red. And if Dr Arlene isn't going to end up the fifth member of the new Torchwood, I'll eat my multi-coloured wooly scarf.

However, despite the show making pleasing progress, I did still have some niggles. I wasn't completely convinced by the introduction of the Souless cult (as pictured above). For a start, it seems to this reviewer at least, that it isn't entirely believable that such a sect would spring up in such numbers so quickly.  And while the masks make for a striking image, I'm not entirely sure that so many people would be wearing them so soon. Similarly I am finding my credulity slightly stretched with the rise of Danes as a media figure. Minor points to be sure, but I think these concepts could have been bedding down more believably with some tighter plotting throughout the opening trio of episodes.

Unlike the preceding two outings however, we get to see more of the effects of Miracle Day on the wider world.; scenes that show the impact of the Miracle beyond the TV inserts and conferences. But I couldn't help thinking that perhaps the chunk of running time occupied by the two concurrent sex scenes (apparently you'll have to see the US version for the full naughtiness) could have been better employed doing a bit more of this kind of street-level world building. However judging from the direction the narrative appears to be taking, in fairness I think I can better understand the choices in how they have portrayed the Miracle up to now.

Now as I'm keeping this spoiler-free, I'll limit my remarks on the plot twists and turns to simply saying that it's starting to head in some interesting directions. And although the last two episodes had led me to believe that Miracle Day would be something more like Series 2 than Children of Earth, the unfolding narrative threads this week show signs we may well be heading in to scifi with biting social commentary territory.

But that said, and despite Espenson's stronger scripting, Torchwood is still showing a tendency to clank along like a man with a bucket stuck on his foot at times. On one hand we get a well crafted scene like the aforementioned one with Esther and Gwen, but on the other we have some sex chucked in to show off how 'adult' it is, and some patronising dialogue for audience on both sides of the pond over the difference between the American and British versions of the English language. It's like the US writers have only seen the first and second series and are trying to capture that same lurches between quality and drivel. This episode is smoother, but you can still hear the clangs. Is this the infamous RTD factor at work? Possibly - I'll weigh that one up in a few episodes time.

But also this week some lines from Captain Jack crystallised a vague feeling I've had since the start of this series. In a conversation with Gwen he remarks that now Torchwood is just them - and that's the root of my nagging feeling. In turning them into an adhoc cell of fugitives, we've lost the big and grand scifi setting of the Hub, the links with UNIT and other covert  operations, and the massive collection of  alien artefacts/plot devices. Now admittedly as an ever mutating show, Torchwood never really established a mythology of its own, but there was a strong flavour of outer space spookiness inherited from its parent show Doctor Who, and which in its better adventures made its own.

However now we don't have that cosmic backdrop so much, or the history of the Torchwood Institute. The edge of weirdness is gone in favour of more conventional spy antics, so it's feeling a little like having the Doctor ditch his TARDIS and join Jack Bauer's counter intelligence team. However  as the brief scenes with the Souless proved there's still a hint of spookiness. Hopefully there'll be more to come, and it is still early days... but that excuse is going to be worn to a whisper next week.

.Finally I think I know who's behind the mysterious triangle on Wayne Knight's phone... It's bloody Chocky! No, honest - watch this, it's a dead giveaway!

Alright, so joking aside, maybe not. But I'd lay good  money on this classic piece of telefantasy having inspired Big Russel creating that cryptic logo... And I think it's a safe bet that whoever is behind Miracle Day hails from off world...

Further reports to follow...

Reviews of Episodes I and 2 can be found here




   

TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY - Episode 2 'Rendition'

456 Classification: Contains no sensitive information

So then, after last week’s hybrid beast - half season opener for the UK and fans, half pilot for the general audience in the US, I was hoping this second episode would see Torchwood picking up the pace now all the introductions were out of the way.

And indeed, we do get more action this week and best of all Captain Jack and Gwen back together and in the thick of it. However this is very much a episode of two halves, rather than continuing in the high gear that delivered up a car vs. chopper race in the closing minutes of last week, the show sort of slips back into first for the first half and restarts building the pace.

Now it does build up over the running time nicely and went it hits the half way mark the entertaining, fast paced thrills, spiced with snappy dialogue come thick and fast. However before then we have an awful lot more scene setting and slightly clunky info dumps. Now I appreciate this is a ten part serial and often in such epic length on-going stories the narrative can seem to be a bit slow and draggy for the first few episodes as it lays out all the details that the narrative is hopefully going to weave together into a satisfying gathering storm and drive towards a resounding crescendo. For an example see Game of Thrones for a recent and very brilliant example of this kind of long format story telling.

However I can’t help feeling that Miracle Day is currently falling into the trap of too often telling rather than showing. The wider and worrying consequences and implications of nobody on planet Earth dying are too often not being delivered as dramatic scenes that illustrate the points the plot is trying to make in a gripping and elegant manner. Instead Dr Vera Juarez (Arlene Tur) is being used as a kind of human coat peg to hang various scenes of anonymous medicos discussing expository detail, which is rather a shame as her character could be being used more to illustrate the catastrophe rather than just hobnob with talking heads. Now obviously there’s alot of information that needs to be communicated but we need stronger character action and situations to bring said details to life. It is still early days, but the show needs at some point to start more vividly portraying the effects of Miracle Day rather than just keep on verbally sketching them in.

Now that not to say that this episode is simple dulls bits followed by exciting stuff as there is some interesting drama going on through the first half. Without giving anything away, Oswald Danes becomes a far more intriguing figure this week, becoming a more rounded and interesting character than the sub Lecter Evil Clever Nasty Man we saw last week, with Bill Pullman getting some decent drama to sink his teeth into. Plus we get an introduction to CIA Director Brian Friedkin, played by cult favourite Wayne Knight, who is reliable as ever. And there’s also the introduction of a new face, PR agent Jilly Kitzinger (Lauren Ambrose) who looks to some one to keep a close eye on...

Of our heroes, Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins) gets promoted from audience viewpoint duties into some action of her own, whereas Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer) thankfully get more to do than just bark and wheeze, although his character still isn’t much more than a cookie cutter gruff tough guy at the moment. But judging by the shape of the storyline, I’m hoping next week we might get to see him become a more well rounded figure.

So then, that leaves the real star turns to come from Barrowman and Myles as Jack and Gwen. Now as I alluded to earlier, it’s great to see the old team back together and in peril again. But undoubtedly Eve Myles takes the crown this week, scoring highly in the categories of Smart, Funny and Right Hooks.

Overall, this was a much more fun outing that last week’s opener, however I still have a fair few niggles about the plotting.  It’s not operating like the well oiled mean machine that was Children of Earth, rather it has the lashed together jalopy feel of Series Two - it gets from A to B but but it’s not a smooth and stylish ride and you can feel the wheels of the script bumping over a few plot hole potholes in the road. I have other lingering questions too about how Torchwood, as an organisation is being used in this latest series, but I won’t go into these just yet as the next few weeks may pacify them or possibly exacerbate them further. So right now it’s a case of wait and see...

...Which isn’t actually a bad way of summing up my feelings on this series so far. Yes, there’s potential here but it’s for success and failure in equal measure. However there’s enough good stuff to keep me watching but at the same time I rather doubt that it’s going to scale the heights of Children of Earth as considering the first two episodes together we have a seemingly somewhat rickety first fifth. I say ‘seemingly’ for as yet we don’t know how the pieces we do have are going to fit together in the finished story. But right now, my view is that Miracle Day is proving entertaining but at the same time that old teacher favourite ‘Could do better’ keeps appearing in the margins of my mind...

Further reports to follow.....

TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY - Episode 1

456 Classification - No sensitive information revealed

To say that Torchwood has had something of a chequered past is to put it mildly. However it is a fascinating case study of televisual evolution. The first series which aired on the small of the smaller digital channels BBC 3,  was met with a somewhat mixed reaction. However despite clear signs of a rushed production, it garnered handsome enough viewing figures to warrant swift repeats on the much more prestigious BBC2, where its second series would find a first showing home. And besides gaining an improved slot, the second of adventures showed a marked improvement with many of the fan niggles about the first batch of episodes being rectified.

However most remarkable of all was the third series. Firstly we had a massive format change; instead of the previous template of 13 episode seasons of more or less stand alone stories, Torchwood: Children of Earth was a five part mini series telling one tale that aired on consecutive nights in a single week. Now while fans where pleased to see the show had now moved to a prime time BBC1 slot, there was much muttering and carping about only getting five episodes...

...At least until they aired, and then all was forgiven. As to everyone's surprise Torchwood: Children of Earth turned out to be not only the kind of 'Doctor Who for grown-ups' this spin-off show had always been promising us, but was actually one of the best pieces of British sci-fi television in a long time. It was dark, complex and intelligent, armed equally with sharp science fiction concepts and cutting social commentary. Torchwood hadn't just at last equalled its parent show, but produced a tale that could be comfortably compared with the works of British sci-fi genius Nigel Kneale. And naturally viewers wanted more...

However instead of more of the same, Torchwood has evolved again. Now a joint venture between the BBC in the UK and Starz in the US, Captain Jack and Gwen have at last resurfaced in a new 10 part series, which like its immediate predecessor, is telling a single story rather than reverting to the old adventure of the week format. Series creator Russell T Davies is still helming the ship, but this time round sharing writing duties with some stateside scribes, mainly Jane Espenson and John Shiban. So then with such talents on board, not to mention the budgetary benefits of working in partnership with Starz, Miracle Day has got a good start in life. However equally, the usual excuses of no money and weak scripts aren't going to cut it this time around. And the triumph of Children of Earth could well prove to an albatross round the show's neck - in short it's got a lot to live up to.

So then how did the first episode play out? Well, pretty much as I expected it to - being a co-production and having decimated both the old team and set up of the previous three series, this episode was bound to be heavy on introductions. Not only do we have to meet the new characters who are going to join Jack and Gwen, but also the show was clearly going to be weighted towards the US audience for whom all this was was unknown territory.

Now being familiar with the whole Torchwood set-up, it's a little hard for me to judge how well this opener does it's job. However although this episode wasn't Davies best script work I've seen, it did seem to get the job done and place all the players on the board and start weaving plot threads for the next nine weeks. Yes, there were frequent info dumps, but they were in bite-size portions and the show did keep things moving in between these necessary bouts of exposition.

However I did feel that RTD concentrated so much on introducing characters, the actual events of Miracle Day itself was pushed into the background at little. But in fairness, we do have another two months to get tot grips with all the implications and consequences of nobody on planet Earth dying.

Of course the other downside is that if you are familiar with Torchwood and its characters this episode will play somewhat slowly, telling you a lot you already know. Of the new characters, CIA boss Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer) did little other than shout on the phone and wheeze alot, hopefully now the introductory stuff is done with and the new team is assembled we'll be able to get a better grip on his character. Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins) however fared much better, with Davies making her the audience identification character for new viewers. She's certainly a likeable figure, and it's going to be interesting to see how she sparks off the other members of the team.

Naturally as so much of this first episode is just setting up the building blocks of not just the storyline but the series itself, it's hard to come to any firm conclusions about the real quality of this latest manifestation of Torchwood. On one hand I must confess to being a tad underwhelmed, but equally I did expect this would be the case with so many introductions to be made for a new audience. Basically this episode shows all the usual weaknesses inherent in pilot episodes, but on the upside, there's an intriguing enough premise here to justify coming back next week, when hopefully the show will get out of first gear and start properly motoring.

And indeed we'll return to see how they are getting along in a couple of weeks...