Torchwood

Torchwood Review – Miracle Day 6, ‘The Middle Men’

By

Posted on

Reviewer James Willetts weighs in on the latest episode of Torchwood. Has his patience finally paid off?

With a single episode Torchwood has sparked a resurgence, albeit one that may well have come too late for the casual viewer. After five weeks of lethargically plotted, unyieldingly slow story, we’re finally rewarded with three ongoing plot threads that are equally relevant and interesting. It’s hard to believe that this is the same series.

Whilst Rhys and Gwen try to break her father out of the Welsh concentration camp, Jack does some investigative work into PhiCorp and Rex and Esther set out to reveal the truth about the death of Dr Juarez.

Rex and Esther are both given a chance to shine here and, after five weeks in which neither have shown much in the way of engaging characterisation (Esther in particular having suffered from a bad case of the ‘Nobody Cares-ies’) it’s certainly refreshing to see them both engaging in some plot advancing escapades. Their story also benefits from a series of scenes which successfully build the tension as Rex digs himself deeper and deeper into trouble.

Continue reading →

Torchwood Commentary – Miracle Day 6, ‘The Middle Men’

By , and

Posted on

Caleb Woodbridge, P.G. Bell and Gwen Williams discuss Miracle Day episode 6, ‘The Middle Men’. (Check out our spoiler-free review!)

We discuss Shanghai geography, Chinese swearing, whether 45 storeys is enough to guarantee unconciousness, Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson’s turn as Stuart Owens, Jack Harkness as gay or omnisexual, Esther’s uselessness, Gwen’s awesomeness, and the amount of posing that goes into blowing stuff up! Plus much more…

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:07 — 30.5MB)

Torchwood Review – Miracle Day 5, ‘The Categories of Life’

By

Posted on

James Willetts is back to pick over the bones of the latest episode of Miracle Day. Warning: may contain traces of Buffy.

So that was it. Torchwood’s big twist was that there was no twist. The concentration camps are just concentration camps and Oswald Danes really isn’t a nice man after all. Yes. It’s not exactly The Sixth Sense. Hell, it’s not even The Village, but Torchwood should really be applauded for its enthusiastic willingness to play it straight.

The only problem is, no one seems to have told the show runners, who breathlessly announced that this was the point at which PhiCorp’s true intentions would be revealed. Except, as it turned out, they were the same intentions that were revealed last week.

Continue reading →

Torchwood Spoiler-free Preview – Miracle Day 6, ‘The Middle Men’

By

Posted on

Caleb Woodbridge previews ‘The Middle Men’, episode 6 of Torchwood: Miracle Day. Reeling from the the death of one of the team, can the rest of Torchwood escape to let the world know the truth about the overflow camps?

The end of ‘Categories of Life‘ left me desperate to see the next episode, and ‘The Middle Men’ doesn’t disappoint. The first half of the series felt quite episodic, with each week introducing situations and characters that are largely forgotten by the next episode, this is much more of a continuation of last week. It’s effectively the second half of a two-parter, dealing with the fallout from discovering that the modules are ovens for burning the “Category Ones”.
Not that it’s just more of the same: ‘The Middle Men’ begins by introducing us to Stuart Owens, played by Ghostbusters’ Ernie Hudson, giving us a face for the sinister PhiCorp, and to some mysterious goings-on in another part of the world. But as Jack investigates PhiCorp, many of his theories (and those of the audience) begin to unravel, subverting some of the clichés of the ‘evil corporation’ trope.
For the rest of the team, their mission is to escape the overflow camps. Some of the most harrowing scenes are those which depict the complicity of ordinary people, of doctors, nurses and officials, in the terrible scheme to burn the Category Ones. It makes it completely believable, as is Gwen’s disgust. She really gets to shine in this episode as she struggles to save her father.
Oswald Danes and Jilly Kitzinger aren’t in this week’s episode, but it’s strong enough that I didn’t actually notice their absence. Although the episode leaves you with just as many questions as answers, it now has a compelling seriousness of purpose – with a dark sense of humour and some explosions thrown in for good measure, of course. And the end of the episode indicates that some even harder choices are to come…Don’t forget to catch up on our audio commentaries on Torchwood: Miracle Day: episode 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Torchwood Commentary – Miracle Day 5, ‘Categories of Life’

By , and

Posted on

Caleb Woodbridge, P.G. Bell and our new American commentator Gwen Williams give our commentary on episode 5, ‘Categories of Life’. (check out our spoiler-free review!)

As the Torchwood team go undercover to uncover the shocking secrets of the overflow camps, has Miracle Day at last hit its stride? Is the shock ending a bold move or big mistake? We discuss disintegrating healthcare systems, British queuing and much more…

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:59 — 62.3MB)

Torchwood Review – Miracle Day 4, ‘Escape to L.A.’

By

Posted on

James Willetts continues his weekly analysis of the Marvel Universe Miracle Day. Don’t forget this week’s podcast commentary, available immediately after the UK broadcast, tomorrow evening!

When I was a student I discovered a series that I instantly fell in love with. It was a genre bending mash up of Raymond Chandler-esque gumshoe investigation and teen drama, in a fresh and vibrant school setting. The first two seasons involved an ongoing plot arc but the third, faced with cancellation and troubled budgeting, featured two shorter mini-arcs – an elegant mix between episode-of-the-week shenanigans and a more involved season arc which meant the producers had a chance to tell two final stories rather than one.

The reason I bring this up is because we’re now four episodes into Torchwood: Miracle Day and nothing has happened since the first ten minutes. Now, this may be the most meta of stories: a plot that shambles on long after it should have died may be a novel way to demonstrate the problems of a world in which death is no more, but somehow, I don’t think so.

Continue reading →