Torchwood: Miracle Day - The Blood Line

So, oops. In case you're wondering, I didn't actually go a month in between watching the penultimate and final episodes of Miracle Day, or even writing about it - just posting about it on this particular blog. So without further ado, I present my final Torchwood review (unless I get into the books and audios, but let's not go there for the time being.

(Originally written 30/3/14, modified 21/4/14)

So here we are. Eight months after I started my Torchwood journey, I come to the final episode of the show as a whole, the final episode of Miracle Day, and the final episode of those annoying DVD introductions. John Barrowman starts off by saying he isn’t going to spoil the episode because it’s so good, before promptly revealing that there is a death. Off to a good start.

I’ve said in the past that I used to think Miracle Day was about two episodes too long, but this time around I’ve been kept interested throughout. However, I did think the sub-plot with Gwen’s dad had overstayed its welcome by this episode. Couldn’t Gwen’s family just have a little bit of tragedy with him getting ripped away from them? But no – he survived just long enough for Rhys and Andy to come visit, before the Miracle ended and he died peacefully. At least this scene also had Andy holding the hand of the woman no one knew, which was adorable.

A more unexpected death was Esther’s, for those who hadn’t seen the episode already (although it was still a shock when she was shot out of nowhere). She definitely annoyed me less this time around, so her death was unfortunate. But what I find more unfortunate is that she didn’t have a say in it. Jack and Rex decided together that they would reverse the Miracle, knowing they’ll kill Esther. But surely Esther could have managed some last words where she gave her consent to die? At least it would have felt like she played some sort of a part in the resolution, then.

Now let’s get onto Rex, who asks early on in the episode for Gwen to act like a professional, not like Torchwood (so the show’s recognising that Torchwood are a bunch of amateurs!). Of course, the big twist this episode is that Rex has been pumped full of Jack’s blood, and that blood goes on to make him immortal. I was keeping an eye out for hints of this, and they were definitely there. Just as Jack squirms from his proximity to the Blessing, so too does Rex, who we all assume is in pain due to his wound. I also thought it was pretty obvious when both Jack and Rex collapsed after feeding the Blessing, apparently dead, but Jack did his resurrection act and Rex too recovered. But maybe I’m wrong, because it’s only after being shot by Charlotte (and coming back to life) that his old scars heal, so he can’t have been resurrected before.

Ah yes, Charlotte. She does quite a bit of sitting around doing little other than looking shifty, before first calling the Argentinean suicide bomber and later planting a bomb herself. Unfortunately, I think these were a little too close in proximity for me to think of her actions as truly cool, especially following Freakin’s bombing as well. Okay, the Families like bombs. But don’t they have any other methods?

And please, for the love of God, what is their Plan B??? Another series, with Jilly as a more obvious villain, would be amazing. I think there’s a lot more we could learn about the character – it was interesting in this episode to find that she believes the world was broken and disapproves of colonialism. Once again, she shows that she has her own set of ethics, so it would be fascinating to explore more of how she sees the world. The only problem, I suppose, is that any mystery would have to come from something other than who the villains were.

Really though, if Torchwood came back I would watch in a heartbeat. I’ve enjoyed this experiment a lot more than I thought I would, and I honestly cannot fathom why Miracle Day wasn’t received favourably. Was it like the Doctor Who TV movie all over again - failing to catch on with an American audience, while the rest of the world complains that it's too American? While I very much enjoy the TV movie, I suppose I can see how it may not be taken seriously – it’s a fun 90 minutes of television, but nothing ground-breaking. Miracle Day, however, provided an interesting concept, which it explored from various angles. It gave you ten episodes in which to get to know the characters and get invested in the plot. I understand that the Earth’s vagina thing wasn’t something which any viewer could have guessed, but I’m sure stranger things have happened.

At the end of it all, I’m just grateful for the four seasons of Torchwood we ended up with.