(Originally posted on Nik Nak and Grub’s Who Peculiar, 15 September 2011 22:21:00)
Hmmm …
Now …
Have I just seen Torchwood: Miracle Day?
Or have I seen something else, entirely … ?
Hmmm …
That HAS got me wondering, it really has … !
You see, I’m writing this, just after the finish of episode ten of Torchwood: Miracle Day, and it’s left me …
Well, in a very mixed mood.
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Called The Bloodlines, Miracle Day’s tenth episode sees Jilly being given a lecture about the nature of the Blessing: the strange rift that, along with Jack’s blood, has been powering the Miracle.
When Jack and Gwen arrive at the Shanghai Blessing, to try and close down the Miracle at source, by introducing Jack’s blood into it … ?
They’re told, point blank … that it needs to be put into the Blessing at both ends, in order to stop the Miracle.
It’s only when Rex and Esther reveal that Rex has had a transfusion from Jack, and that they’re in Buenos Aires, that The Families realise that their Evil Plans To Take Over The World could well have a flaw …
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Now …
I’m going to be blunt, here, if I could?
I’ve got to admit, I’ve enjoyed tonight’s episode, I have.
Actually, I’ve also enjoyed the series, being perfectly frank with you: a heck of a lot more that I did both Outcasts and the remake of The Prisoner.
But Miracle Day as a whole … ?
Hmm …
Miracle Day as a whole, I’m thinking is good … but flawed.
And I’m not sure I could put a finger on what the flaws actually are: although I know there’s possibly all sorts of possible arguments.
The change of location … ?
Well, that’s neither good nor bad, I’m thinking. It goes with the extra funding from the US, to have it set in the US. although I’m none too sure that Miracle Day made proper use of it, in the same way it’s purely Welsh predecessor did.
Same with Rex and Esther.
I don’t that they were as well used as they could have been.
As a counter point to that, though … ?
Esther’s death truly came as a shock to me, although I had a feeling someone was going to die in episode ten: it was adroitly handled, I felt, as Esther and her troubled family had been an emotional base for the series, in much the same way Gwen — Eve Myles — has been for the Torchwood team, over all.
Rex is another. Of the two, the one I found more sympathetic, with that incredibly well written relationship with Captain Jack, moments of sheer brilliant banter peppering the series.
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But I’ve ALSO got to admit …
Well, I’m ALSO thinking that the series actually felt like some thing of an emotional backwards step, in a bizarre way.
You say, looking back on the series as a whole, I found it very reminiscent of series 1 of Torchwood.
Which I think was fantastic, I should say.
But that also was exactly that: a first series, and not something that had yet grown into the shocker that Children Of Earth was.
And right now … ?
Well, I’m thinking I’m tired, to be perfectly frank!
But I’m asking myself the same question that I was asking myself at the end of Children of Earth.
“Should Torchwood continue?”
Personally … ?
I think it should: I think an adult spin-off from Dr Who has a place. A place that Torchwood has both created and filled, very well, over the years.
But I’m also thinking that another miracle-flavoured series of Torchwood has to improve, if it’s to catch it’s own high point.
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