Torchwood: Miracle Day - The Gathering

After getting over my excitement at hearing RTD’s voice on the radio, this episode kicks off with Gwen stealing pharmaceuticals for her family and friends. It’s a great way for her to make a difference in a kickass way while she’s stuck in Wales. It also reminds me a bit of Rhiannon and Johnny taking in the kids in Children of Earth, right down to the fact that Gwen and her family are taking payment for their services.

They are then joined by Oswald Danes, who seems to be going a tad overboard with the weird voice thing. Luckily, he eventually shows us his cleverness once again, demonstrating those computer skills he previously mentioned in Escape to L.A. and how he used them to track Jilly. I definitely enjoy Oswald the most when he gives us these hints of how he lives his day to day life, showing that there’s a mind at work behind the body which has done such terrible things.

Yet Gwen is utterly convinced that Oswald is a monster. Strangely, she doesn’t compare him to the aliens she faced working in Torchwood, but to the paedophiles and murderers she met when she was with the police. I have to admit that this doesn’t quite sound like the Gwen we met in Everything Changes and afterwards, who took a long time to get used to the horrors she saw and seemed like she was quite low down in the force. So maybe this was a bit of retconning.

Oswald isn’t the only person the Coopers shouldn’t have in their house, as Gwen’s dad is still being hidden from the police. It occurred to me during the initial search that perhaps Gwen and Rhys should have made more noise, rather than potentially allowing the cop to hear Gwen’s parents breathing. Sadly though, it wouldn’t have made a difference when the cope came back the second time. And I just find it so weird that he managed to find Gwen’s dad not with a sophisticated piece of police technology, but with an app.

Back in the US, Rex is heading up a CIA investigation into the Miracle. He really gets to show off his smarts, proving that he’s not just an action man there to make quips and be heterosexual. And unlike last week, his boss is actually being cooperative, approving his actions and keeping things secret.

Our team will encounter The Blessing next episode, but Jilly got in early this time. And I have to wonder – exactly why did the Families want to take her to it? What was that meant to achieve? She’s already been working for them for two months without having seen it, and they never hide the fact that she may get the urge to commit suicide afterwards. What would they have done if they lost their prize PR person?

We’ll see how many questions get answered next time.