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

CAPTAIN AMERICA - THE FIRST AVENGER

Truth, justice and the non-spoiler way!

As his old theme tune goes 'When Captain America throws his mighty shield, All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield!'. However I must confess that as a kid just getting into comics, the Cap didn't exactly grab my attention the way Spider-Man, Batman, Judge Dredd and Dan Dare did, and this mighty shield business was part of the problem. Why did he have a shield but no sword? The two go together like Laurel and Hardy, fish and chips, Frank and Stein... And of course, being in the UK, I was naturally more interested to find out what this Captain Britain bloke was all about. 

Now appropriately enough this childhood reactions to Captain America actually neatly sums up the two biggest challenges for bringing one of the most venerable heroes in the Marvel Universe to the big screen. A shield doesn't have the same cinematic cool as a Batarang, and chucking it about possesses a risk of looking daft that web-slinging does not.

However this is small potatoes compared to the issue of the character's inherent patriotism. Given the somewhat, shall we say, mixed opinion of America on the modern world stage, there was a big danger of alienating audiences outside of the US. Now admittedly, in his comics the Captain has frequently seen taking a critical stance of jingoism and where national pride slips into aggression and greed, but as movie versions of superheroes tend towards presenting simplistic versions of the comics characters, there was a danger of the silver screen Cap becoming a parade of super-powered flag-waving.

But fear not true believers! Joe Johnston's take on the classic character artfully handles both these issues beautifully, bringing us a Captain America who symbolising good hearted values that everyone can identify with and making that shield action truly mighty! 

Now Joe Johnston has garnered a reputation for being something of a journey man director, however it has to be said he did a marvelous job with The Wolf Man last year. Yes, Universal's reboot of Larry Talbot's tale wasn't a perfect movie, but considering the mangled and troubled production Johnston inherited, it's remarkable the film turned out so well. Similarly Captain America: The First Avenger has been through the fires of development hell, however this time the behind the scenes problems appear to have been resolved by the time Joe first called 'action!'. And the resulting movie is simply so entertaining and loving crafted, I think we may well see Johnston shaking free of the journeyman tag and a reassessment of his past movies. 

The film tells the tale of the transformation of Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) into the titular shield-slinging hero and his attempts to thwart the plans of world domination by rogue Nazi deep science division HYDRA led by Johann Schmidt aka The Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). Yes folks, this is an origin story but it is to the movie's considerable credit that you hardly notice - as the character of Rogers is so appealing even before his transformation, with Evans being supremely likeable in the role. And the plot delivers enough action before he truly becomes the Captain that you're never sat there thinking 'just get on with it!'. 

In many respects, it's a classic David and Goliath style story for even after being supercharged by the super solider serum, Roger is still the archetypal little guy making a stand against the bullies of the world. Of course as an offshoot of the Nazis, HYDRA provide a villain everybody across the world can hate, but it's the presentation of the Captain as a true everyman that neatly transcends the potentially troublesome patriotic boundaries.

But like many of the better superhero flicks, the Red Skull, as another product of the super solider serum, provides a villain that mirrors our hero but is also his polar opposite - Rogers wants to save the world while Schmidt wants to crush it, which further underlines our hero's humanity and virtues.

Now Schmidt is brought brilliantly to life by the ever reliable Hugo Weaving. And while I have some misgivings over the look of the Red Skull in this movie - the classic incarnation in the comics is alot more bonier and craggier - I can live with the fact that he has the same colour and texture as tandoori chicken as the make-up work allows Weaving facial acting to show through. Heavier prostheses and/or more digital make-up could well buried the performance. 

And as well as good performances from Evans and Weaving, we have fine support from the rest of the cast. Tommy Lee Jones is marvelous fun as Col. Chester Phillips - a craggy military old man figure which steers clear of the expected stereotype by giving him some of the funnier one liners in the script. Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter makes a refreshing female lead who proves she can hold her own against the boys, sporting more character and getting far more action than the usual ladies in a superhero flick. Dominic Cooper gives a great turn as Howard Stark and although his mannerisms recall his onscreen son Robert Downey Jr, he gives the character an individual spin that make him more than just a 1940s Tony Stark. Plus we have Stanley Tucci and Toby Jones putting in scene stealing performances are Dr Erskine and Dr Zola. 

Overall the movie looks the business too - the Captain America costume evolves nicely throughout the film and its final form is both true to the original design yet manages to look realistic. And at this point I should mention the shield work - the story rather nicely explains why the Captain has it and how he discovers its many uses in combat.

As you'd expect from a director who cut his teeth in FX work, the action and big set pieces look fabulous. However what really makes Captain America: The First Avenger stand out from all the other superhero blockbusters is the period setting. Now there's great sets and retro tech props that bring the world of the '40s vividly to life, but the real fun comes from the fact that as well trading in the expected four colour fisticuffs of the comics, this film also makes great use of the WWII setting and so we have a host of scenes that recall war movies of the past. Hence we have chases through misty Germany forests, snowy action at a compound in the Alps, prisoners of war staging a break out, and even aerial pathos as a doomed airman has one last chat with his sweetheart over the crackling radio. There's even a cheeky line that sound suspiciously like a reference to the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark! 

Speaking of references, there's plenty of connections to the other movies in the Marvel franchise. I've already mentioned the Iron Man link, but also there's also strong connective tissue to Thor and The Incredible Hulk. Yes folks, this Avengers business is all tying together rather nicely! And make you stick around for the now traditional post credits bit which sets the scene for what is coming next summer when all these heroes share a screen.

But how does Captain America - The First Avenger stack up against his Avengers brethren? Well, obviously it's far better than the obviously born of a troubled production Incredible Hulk, and also it's far leaner than the somewhat rambling Iron Man 2. However where you place it next to the original Iron Man outing and Thor will largely depend on which hero best fits your taste. Certainly these movies are three of kind, delivering the same brand of superhero spectacle with plenty of wit and a warm heart. 

And  it's definitely a close run thing between the three - which itself is a testament to the quality of Captain America -The First Avenger. Now for me, Thor still has the top spot but then I have long standing love of Norse mythology. Iron Man loses a few marks for having a weak final villain, whereas if I have a criticism of Captain America, it's the fact that I felt we could have done with just one more sequence with showing the Cap and his commandos battling HYDRA before the final show-down.

However considering the movie already has a two hours plus running time, another dust-up may well have spoiled the flow of the narrative.  For as it is the film flies by, which is the mark of perfect pacing. And also this niggle is perhaps more reflective of the fact that I simply enjoyed the movie so much I just want to see more of the Cap doing his stuff. And very tellingly, especially that throwing his mighty shield!

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