This episode has a clear theme throughout: Say No. Gwen is disgusted with Dr Patel because she keeps working for the overflow camps despite knowing what goes on. Now Gwen obviously has a point in that blindly obeying orders is not a good thing, but I couldn’t help finding her a little harsh. I guess it’s because Dr Patel comes across as a generally nice person - she’s a doctor trying to treat her patients, and doesn’t have any say in what happens to the Categories 1s. Of course Gwen demonstrated the power of one person when she blew up the overflow camp, but we can’t all be terrorists.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Rex is having the same conversation with Moloney, who is in a slightly different position as he’s the director of the facility. And I am so conflicted as to how I should feel about him. Last episode I was mostly convinced that he was a total creep, but now I’m not so sure. He said he didn’t want to use the modules as ovens... but that didn’t stop him from doing so. He felt truly awful about Vera’s fate, crying as he watched Rex’s tape... but that didn’t stop him from stabbing Rex right in his chest wound. (For me, this has been the most squeamish scene of Miracle Day so far, resulting in me crying out in discomfort and looking away from the scream.) It’s impressive how they manage to show his shades of grey.
Then Esther comes to save the day, and she’s so naive, claiming Vera was on the phone as she still hadn’t figured out how dodgy the whole situation was. So typically, she becomes the damsel in distress as Moloney attacks her. Then she actually overpowers him, which I was quite impressed by! Then when she goes back to his supposedly dead body (REMEMBER THE MIRACLE, ESTHER???), she becomes a damsel again, and is only saved when Ralph comes along, because Ralph’s the only person NOT in Torchwood who’s willing to say no.
The other heroics come from Rhys and his rescuing of Gwen’s dad. When questioned about where his orders came from, he doesn’t try to make up an elaborate story. Instead, he tells a fractured version of the truth, saying he’s working for Captain Jack Harkness, who might have a thing for him, “not that there’s anything wrong with that”. Then he crashes down the gate in a big truck. He is basically Mickey.
We find out this episode that Gwen had the contact lenses on her (even though she didn’t really need them much). I still think they would have been much more useful with Rex, but that would have left two problems – Rex couldn’t have shown Moloney the footage, and there wouldn’t have been that awesome twist at the end where Gwen is informed of her family’s kidnapping. That just came out of left field, and was so well shot, seeing Gwen’s reactions in the mirror. JUST as Torchwood manages to get out of trouble, this happens. What a cliffhanger.
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