Torchwood Miracle Day Recap: The New World

By: Melanie Rob

It’s been a long two year wait for the latest adventures from Torchwood, the cult British show which launched as a BBC spin-off of Doctor Who in 2006. Following an excellent five-part mini-series, Children of Earth, Britain’s BBC licensed out the Torchwood brand to Starz to co-produce a full 10-part season four, subtitled Miracle Day. With an American co-producer, the show’s settings and cast are now, also, mostly American — with series regulars Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) as the link between the old and new.

Amidst a British controversy about the show airing in the US first, Torchwood: Miracle Day began last night on Starz, introducing its latest conundrum: What happens when no one on Earth can die? Who better to investigate than Jack and Gwen, the sole survivors of the Torchwood Institute, which disbanded at the end of Children of Earth following an unspeakable event. (If you haven’t seen Children of Earth, do it now!)

Joining the gang for the ride is former ER star, Mekhi Phifer and Alexa Havins as CIA agents who learn about Torchwood and make the link between the secret operation and the sinister event — dubbed Miracle Day — in which no one can die. Meanwhile, Bill Pullman rounds at the cast as a devious pedophile and murderer, sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 12 year old girl. Giving us a gist of what’s to come with this sinfully intriguing character, the exposition for Danes reveals that he told a jury that the girl “should have run faster.” Consider us hooked.

As a huge fan of the original British series — particularly Children of Earth — I had high expectations for Miracle Day and I’m pleased to admit I was thoroughly gripped from start to end.

If you’ve never seen an episode of Torchwood before, fear not, because you don’t need to. The premiere episode of Miracle Day serves both as a pilot for American audiences, introducing the mythology of the show rather successfully, while also serving as a suitable continuation for those who are already acclimated to the Torchwood universe.

Mind you, no transition is a smooth one and Torchwood certainly has its teething problems as it acclimates to its new US surroundings. There is a danger that some of the American characters, particularly Phifer’s Rex Matheson and Havins’ Esther Drummond, will be fairly paint-by-numbers portrayals of Americans. Matheson has the typical sarcastic wise-ass traits you might expect from a Hollywood cop film, while Drummond comes across as the type of one-dimensional well-to-do character you might find in other shows. Compare this with the ballsy ‘baby-in-one-arm, gun-in-the-other’ Gwen and you may feel an inconsistency between the characters. Clearly, creator Russel T. Davies is more comfortable writing for his established characters but I hope we flesh out the American characters a little more in the nine episodes to come.

The above paragraph, however, need not apply to the season’s villain, Oswald Danes, played to deliciously creepy perfection by Bill Pullman. As mentioned above, the character of Danes grips us from the outset, but it’s in the scene with a governor’s aide that Pullman steals the show. His line-delivery and nuances as Danes are both disturbing yet brilliant. Danes could be akin to such great characters as Arthur Mitchell (Dexter) and Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs).

The first episode features plenty of exposition and is more about laying down the groundwork for the rest of the season than anything else. As we go along, I expect the thrills, twists and turns we’ve come to expect from Torchwood to come into play.

In all, a thoroughly enjoyable first episode for what I expect to be one of the summer’s hottest shows.

Food for thought

• Humans can’t die on Miracle Day, but as seen in the first episode, it’s the opposite for non-humans. The immortal Captain Jack can now feel pain — and even die.  My theory is that this is all part of a plan to kill Jack, but the question is, who’s behind it?
• The timing of the new season is eerily coincidental. I can’t help but see parallels between Danes being let out on parole for his heinous acts and in real life, Casey Anthony, being deemed not guilty. I look forward to seeing how the writers tackle Danes’ public perception. A mirror to society?
• Anyone else foreseeing another one of those tear-jerking Torchwood deaths at the end of the season for Rex? He’s living on borrowed time.

Torchwood: Miracle Day continues Fridays at 10pm on Starz.

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Posted by Adam Wright on July 9, 2011. Filed under Features, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry