It just gets better and better. I’m not sure if some fans will like the slower paced character development. I love it myself. I know Russell T Davies is giving us a seat on a roller coaster and we’ll have wall to wall action very soon.
This was a very strong episode for Gwen. I’ll put my other comment in spoiler tags.
[spoiler]I appreciate that Russell T. Davies has the confidence to take his time and give us an episode that helps develop the characters.
We see that Rex doesn’t care much for Jack or Torchwood. He much rather lead the investigation and simply use Jack & Gwen as bait for whoever wants them dead. I doubt Rex will ever be a full Torchwood member that follows Jack blindly. There’s always going to be tension between them.
Russell is doing a good job fleshing out Rex’s character. It’ll be fun seeing how he reacts to the CIA’s betrayal. Rex has no choice except to work with Torchwood. I don’t think he’s going to like it. But he has no other options.
We also saw tension and resentment from Gwen. She’s still got anger towards Jack and what happened to the team. We learned a lot in this episode. [/spoiler]
Jane Espenson was a writer/producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, and she’s also a writer/producer for Torchwood Miracle Day.
She’s blogging a few comments. Here is the link for ep 1. She’ll probably post ep 2’s blog in a few days. She also posted some live comments on Twitter while episode 1 aired in the UK last Thursday.
So I’m guessing from the thread that you kind of need to be up on your Torchwood continuity for this one to work, right? I managed to miss the finales of both original seasons and then never bothered to watch Children of Earth because I’d missed the finale of the second season. (Also because I’d been spoiled by Doctor Who by that point.) I’d give this a shot, but I’m not enough of a fan to rewatch the first two seasons plus Children of Earth to do it…
Not at all. I don’t think you’ll have any problem following along even if you’ve never seen any previous episode of Torchwood. Very little of the first two episodes have referred to anything that occurred before.
Actually, no. Miracle Day was built to be viewable as a standalone. As long as you know who the main characters are in short, you’re fine. There’s some backstory allusions you might miss, but nothing that should break the series. Everything important is either obvious or spelled out directly.
I quite enjoyed the second episode. Loved seeing the actresses from Dollhouse and Six Feet Under. And the doctor team trying to figure out how to create an antidote out of random things on an airplane. It was very House meets MacGyver! Things are heating up.
Just wanted to clarify this joke, which would be funny to Brits. To travel to South Wales from England you have to cross the Severn Bridge, for which you pay a toll if you’re coming from England, but it’s free if you’re coming the other way (Wales > England), so the Welsh like to joke that it’s a tax on the English.
fell off the couch lmao with the visual of the oriental chick staggering around with her head on backwards. RTD does have a twisted sense of humor at times…
I’m not sure if the medical worries are mainline to the story, but I’m curious about the super-bug/resistance they talk about.
Heroine doctor has figured out that there is no longer a ‘golden hour’ - no one is dying. Assuming that we give people antibiotics so that they live long enough for their bodies natural defenses to defeat the infection - is it reasonable to assume that (after much suffering/puking/etc) that the body would throw off most infections, viral or otherwise?
Who knows? I think part of the idea is that anything could be going on and nobody knows. Unintended consequences and all that. Maybe everyone becomes a walking supergerm, which is great, up until immortality wears off. Or, better yet, what happens if you get Ebola and it DOESN’T kill you?
Does anybody know why the name “Esther Drummond” seems so familiar to me? I didn’t even watch the trailers for this, but as soon as her name was said, my brain said, “Hey, I’ve heard that before.” Googling it didn’t turn up any obvious answers, though.
Was there a reference to this character in previous Torchwood or Who or any similarly-named characters in other geeky TV?
I was positively surprised they actually given thought on the repercussions a scenario like miracle day might bring. RTD usually glosses over the details. Maybe working with Americans has given the show the focus it has often lacked.
Some things that puzzled me. In the show they found out that human cells aren’t dying but we’re still ageing. Isn’t old age a product of cells dying out faster than new ones are created? And if cells aren’t dying but presumably still duplicating, wouldn’t humans quickly turn into massive blobs as the old cells aren’t dying to make room for the new ones?
3rd episode is the first one written by Jane Espenson. She delivered in spades. Nicely paced episode and we are slowly learning more. I’m not sure we know who caused Miracle Day, but we certainly know who plans to capitalize on it.
I didn’t think the sex scenes were appropriate. With everything going on I have trouble believing Jack or the Doctor felt very horny. I guess the bare skin will bring in the ratings. BTW they weren’t boffing each other.
Previews have showed the weird people in masks. Interesting consequence of Miracle Day. People would react to it in many different ways. Some getting drunk, sex, and others religion etc. I’m glad RTD and the writers are exploring this.
I think, at this point, it’s a safe bet that Jack Harkness is pretty much a straightahead sex addict, and I’d also assume mortality is going to bring out his established thrillseeker behavior.
The scene with the doctor, well, a little more gratuitous. You’d be stunned how little I’m complaining.
Another decent episode, though the personal calls started getting irritating. The car crusher was particularly chilling. I’m not quite sure what PhiCorp’s endgame is with regards to Oswald. It seems like they set up the Death is Death lady to promote their segregation camps, but then replaced her with Oswald when he became popular again. But Oswald seems to be anti-camps, so it’s not clear how that’s going to work out for them.
I liked the “he was just about to tell us!” and “This is disgusting” / “I know!” bits.
I wonder if the ‘blast from Jack’s past’ is a villain we’ve seen or heard about before. I’m calling it now - I think they are vampires. They’ll soon have an unending supply of food!
