Monday, July 18, 2011
Recap City "Torchwood: Miracle Day," Episode 2
Posted by Curt Holman @Curt_Holman on Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 1:10 PM
- Starz
- JACK HARKNESS PLAYS PETER GRAVES IN 'AIRPLANE!' John Barrowman (seated), Dichen Lachman, Mekhi Phifer
With seemingly unnecessary brutality, Rex separates Gwen from her family and drags them onto the plane with much shouting and weeping. (I thought I caught a near-flash of Eva Myles’ butt-crack as the goons dragged her up the stair-ramp. Sorry.)
Back at CTU the CIA, the young analysts watch a Youtube remix of Oswald Danes’ failed execution, which would seem to have dubious entertainment value. The deathless effect of Miracle Day has surprising effects world-wide, ranging from increased atrocities in Rwanda to peace overtures between India and Pakistan. Esther meets with Mr. Friedkin (Well hello, Newman), one of the few grown-ups we’ve seen at this particular office. He speaks about Rex and Esther’s Torchwood case with creepy insinuation, to signal that he’s up to no good. Later, he sends an order to assassinate Jack and we see a weird little pyramid logo.
On the plane, Jack asks Gwen, “Did you miss me?” although his roguish charm seems out of place, given that she was just wrenched from her husband and baby. Jack suggests to Rex that the simultaneous nature of the Miracle Day effect could be attributed to “morphic fields” which launches that most thrilling of trope of contemporary spy shows: Google searches!
Oswald Danes hangs out backstage at cable talk show, helping himself taking armfuls of complimentary snacks despite the disapproval of a production assistant. He mentions that in prison, the guards would piss in his food. (“Rendition” seems to have a pee-related theme.) During the talk show, the sneering, self-righteous news host scolds Oswald for his evil ways, and Oswald breaks down and cries, “I’m sorry.” Pullman’s performance doesn’t indicate insincerity, but the rapist/murder/pedophile is clearly the bad guy.
Injuries come in at Dr. Juarez’s emergency room, but she interrupts their standard operating practice and points out that, due to the Miracle Day effect, they should reverse their usual triage priorities. Since there’s a shortage of beds and nobody’s going to die, they should treat the superficial injuries first and send those patients home. It makes sense, but also suggests that the agonizing pain of severe wounds isn’t a factor, which seems a little cold.
As Esther continues investigating Torchwood, her colleague lectures her, “You can’t just watch the world all day in this job. You have to take sides.” Wait, so junior analysts should make up their own minds about right and wrong, regardless of official U.S. policy or their superior’s wishes?
After Oswald’s TV mea culpa, Lauren Ambrose joins him on an elevator — oh noes, Claire Fisher grew up to be a sharky publicist! Jill Kitzinger wants to represent Oswald and says that in the mere minutes since the broadcast, “The interview has you trending on the Twitter and hashtags as “Forgive.” But Oswald gets a message from Oprah Winfrey’s people, so he decides that he doesn’t need a publicist, suggesting that maybe he’s not that evil after all. (Hmm, maybe Oprah caused the Miracle Day effect?)
Dr. Juarez goes to medical conference, where the nerds explore the implications of the Miracle Day effect. With no deaths, donor organs will run out. Since no one will die of illness, people will serve as incubators for increasingly drug-resistant bacteria. The creepiest part shows some scientists studying severed but still animate human arm. They realize that people may not be dying, but they’re still getting older, implying that the Earth could eventually be overrun with biddies and geezers, pushing the planet’s supply of Early Bird Specials. Dr. Juarez declares, “We have to rebuild the entire system of health care in this country, right now,” which suggests to me that the recent U.S. health care debate and the aging baby boom population inspired “Miracle Day,” at least metaphorically.
I’m not sure it logically follows that just because Jack can now be injured, that means he’s the only mortal individual on Earth, but that seems to be the case. On the plane, the evil CIA chick slips Jack some poison under Friedkin’s orders, and Jack starts suffering from blue lips and convulsions. Rex and Gwen reveal evil chick’s treachery, and Rex calls Dr. Juarez for ideas of how to cure Jack with materials on a plane. In a delightful rip-off of a similar scene on Apollo 13, Gwen takes charge and tears up the aircraft interior looking for wires, metal and other material to counteract the poisoning. It’s all great fun and showcases Gwen’s take-charge attitude better than her punching people or blowing stuff up.
In the states, Esther gets wise that the official cover-up will extend to her and Rex, so she borrows her friend’s pass card, ducks the surveillance, and sneaks out of the building, like one of the non-Jack Bauer characters on “24.”
After Jack and company land, Esther tips off Rex that they’re in danger, so the neo-Torchwood team get the drop on their escort and escape. Rex snaps the neck of his rival, which seems like a horrible, misogynist image. But oh yeah, she can’t die. She can, however, show up walking around with her head facing backward, like Meryl Streep in Death Becomes Her only with lousy CGI effects. Dr. Juarez shows up to give Rex a bagful of painkillers (I think they’re going somewhere with Rex’s drug dependency), Esther picks up the gang, and they’re off and running in the U.S. of A.
Question:
I haven’t seen all the episodes of “Torchwood’s” first and second seasons. Does the Miracle Day effect conform to the powers or behaviors of any of Jack’s earlier adversaries or alien races?
Comments (3)
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No. The best season of Torchwood was the 2nd season. That was the series that Chris Chinball was the showrunner and Steven Moffat wrote several of the episodes. There was less focus on dull Gwenn and Rhys and more focus on the other characters. Davies took control of the show and promptly killed everyone off so that the show, this season,would refocus on Gwenn. Plech.
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Steven Moffat never wrote for Torchwood. Davies was in control during the second season even if he wasn't writing.
I am totally new here and just recently became addicted to Torchwood. I was hoping to make it to San Diego to see the big Comic Con show, but cannot, then I came across this video from Starz!
http://www.starz.com/originals/Torchwood/C…
I say we help them 1000!!!
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