NWR for Torchwood Miracle Day Episode 1 & 2
Posted By Kathleen David on July 18, 2011
Now the same rules apply as the Doctor Who reviews. Spoilers are behind the cut and in comments. However we are only discussing the first two episodes of this season. I am also putting what happened at the end of last season behind the cut because there are a couple people I know who are still catching up.
So we are two episodes into Miracle Day. This one probably had a bigger budget than the previous seasons combined. And, in some ways, it shows. It looks slicker and they have more going on in the scenes because they can afford more people.
The first episode was mostly set up for the rest of it but that’s how it usual goes when you have to introduce new viewers to the idea of the series. RTD did go against the trope and left what Torchwood is or was kind of in a grey area which makes sense because what Torchwood is exactly has always been kind of a smoke and mirrors thing. But we have the usual wacky thing happening that shouldn’t be happening which will, in the end, cause the world as we know it to end. You know a typical day at Torchwood.
The second is much more action packed and moved better but by this point we have our main characters in play and RTD is laying the threads of what will be happening.
Acting is good across the board. Nice to see old faces and some new ones as well.
After two episodes, I am along for the ride.
I am grateful to be able to watch Torchwood again.
It is good to see Gwen and Captain Jack again. I am glad that they didn’t get rid of the baby. It was also nice to see PC Any again. I do think that Rhys got short shrift in the first episode. He knew who he was marrying and, even if he didn’t like it, he knew what she did for a living. I do miss Ianto, Tosh and Owen. I am seriously concerned that we are going to lose Gwen by the end of this series considering what the usual body count is for Torchwood main characters.
Jack didn’t really feel like Jack until the second episode. Gwen was pretty much Gwen from the get go. Jack is not a good secondary character and Barrowman tends to take over scenes that he is in. I understand script wise and also introduction wise why they kept him in the background of the first episode but it’s bloody Captain Jack Harkness.
The story seems a pretty typical Torchwood story but I have no idea where it is going. They just keep making the situation more and more dire as each episode goes on. Adding the Americans just adds another continent for them to play around in.
So it is on my must see list and I do want to find out what happens next.
And poor Jack. They are putting him through the ringer and it is only episode two.
I can’t see then losing Gwen, but since we are getting some new characters from the US, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them don’t make it to the end. It is a bit slower paced than Children of Earth, but then it is a 10-episode story. I hope it does well enough on Starz for them to do another series next year (even if I doubt I’ll be getting Starz next year).