One day death stops. Prisoners on death row can't be killed. The terminally ill stay terminally ill forever and even individual pieces of dismembered corpses remain in their own shocking way, alive. At the same time a single word is emailed to intelligence agencies across the whole world - "Torchwood". But before an investigation into this phenomenon can occur a mysterious computer virus wipes all evidence of it. With the world quickly descending into panic, Captain Jack Harkness returns to Earth to investigate The Miracle.
The Characters
Captain Jack: I always had a problem with making Captain Jack the leader of Torchwood because he was a loner, not a leader. I felt that Torchwood needed a Picard or Professor X type of character as Torchwood's leader, with Jack the hot headed second in command. With Torchwood effectively being no more, Jack gets to be well used here as he runs off wildly trying to save the world and his independent nature is at times an asset to the story. The only problem I had with his characterisation was the lack of wise cracking and his overly sombre mood. However this can be explained by the terrible events at the end of Children of Earth. Nevertheless this is still the Captain Jack who first showed up in The Empty Child.
Gwen Cooper: Gwen knows her past with Torchwood will catch up with her so she's hiding on the Welsh coast and trying to lead as normal a life as possible. Gwen's transition back into the mad world of Torchwood is well written and once she realises the world is counting on her, the old Gwen kicks back in. Eve Myles is as wonderful, as always.
Rex Matheson: The cool black dude. I envy him! Rex is the best of the American characters and Mekhi Phifer really brings this character to life. Years of military and CIA training have made him a hardened character but he still has his sense of morality and is able to see the big picture except for the last scene with Esther, when he unexpectedly goes all emotional. I guess that's what women can do to guys I suppose.
Esther Drummond: The obligatory dumb blonde, I really hated her. Esther puts the entire mission in jeopardy multiple times yet they keep her around and even high five her when she finally turns out to be useful. I was almost cheering when she died at the end. Bastard that I can be.
Oswald Danes: Contender for the Worst Person Alive award, this psychopath is expertly played by veteran actor Bill Pullman. Watching Danes go from despised child killer to superstar showed how mad The Miracle made the world go. The story would have been much poorer without him in it.
Gwen Cooper: Gwen knows her past with Torchwood will catch up with her so she's hiding on the Welsh coast and trying to lead as normal a life as possible. Gwen's transition back into the mad world of Torchwood is well written and once she realises the world is counting on her, the old Gwen kicks back in. Eve Myles is as wonderful, as always.
Rex Matheson: The cool black dude. I envy him! Rex is the best of the American characters and Mekhi Phifer really brings this character to life. Years of military and CIA training have made him a hardened character but he still has his sense of morality and is able to see the big picture except for the last scene with Esther, when he unexpectedly goes all emotional. I guess that's what women can do to guys I suppose.
Esther Drummond: The obligatory dumb blonde, I really hated her. Esther puts the entire mission in jeopardy multiple times yet they keep her around and even high five her when she finally turns out to be useful. I was almost cheering when she died at the end. Bastard that I can be.
Oswald Danes: Contender for the Worst Person Alive award, this psychopath is expertly played by veteran actor Bill Pullman. Watching Danes go from despised child killer to superstar showed how mad The Miracle made the world go. The story would have been much poorer without him in it.
Thoughts
Miracle Day starts of brilliantly as the implications of The Miracle are explored, often in horrific detail. Hospitals quickly overflow with the already dead, some wars end while others descend to a new level of cruelty. Then the cults start up, politics takes a naty turn and even a convicted child rapist and murderer becomes a superstar. Exploring the impacts of deathlessness on the world is incredibly thought provoking and by far the best aspect of Miracle Day.
Unfortunately by about half way the story starts to run out of steam as we get lots of running around, questions, more questions and very few answers.
Miracle Day feels very different due to the US co-production which gives the whole story a different tone and look to previous series. There are somewhat unnecessary explosions and actions scenes that all scream "AMERICAN!". Maybe it's just because I'm just used to change by now but this Americanisation didn't bother me one bit. Miracle Day really isn't Torchwood as the organisation is no more, and Torchwood acts more like a code word binding the rag tag team of heroes together.
Which brings me to the most disappointing aspect of the story. The new Torchwood have to be the dumbest group of heroes to grace TV in a long time. They run around with little to no plan, get caught, escape because of implausible plot contrivances and then decide to ignore what little plan they had. I think the universe was on their side, because the sheer amount of good luck that allowed them to not get killed (sorry, be turned into Category Ones) was beyond unbelievable at times.
Thankfully the final episode gives all the answers and satisfying conclusion to the Miracle storyline, although the Three Families plot has been deliberately left open for future series.
The Verdict
Overall Miracle Day is a marvellously thought provoking, yet flawed story that never lives up to the promise shown in the first few episodes. Compressing the story to five or six episodes would have improved Miracle Day considerably but this is still a brilliantly thought provoking series worth watching, although you'll have to persevere through a few episodes in the middle.
3.5 / 5
So, will there be more Torchwood? Starz Entertainment have said it depends on whether Russell T Davies commits to continuing with the show and he's been non-committal one way or another. If this is the end for Torchwood it's not a bad one but it doesn't live up to the quality of Children of Earth.
Unfortunately by about half way the story starts to run out of steam as we get lots of running around, questions, more questions and very few answers.
Miracle Day feels very different due to the US co-production which gives the whole story a different tone and look to previous series. There are somewhat unnecessary explosions and actions scenes that all scream "AMERICAN!". Maybe it's just because I'm just used to change by now but this Americanisation didn't bother me one bit. Miracle Day really isn't Torchwood as the organisation is no more, and Torchwood acts more like a code word binding the rag tag team of heroes together.
Which brings me to the most disappointing aspect of the story. The new Torchwood have to be the dumbest group of heroes to grace TV in a long time. They run around with little to no plan, get caught, escape because of implausible plot contrivances and then decide to ignore what little plan they had. I think the universe was on their side, because the sheer amount of good luck that allowed them to not get killed (sorry, be turned into Category Ones) was beyond unbelievable at times.
Thankfully the final episode gives all the answers and satisfying conclusion to the Miracle storyline, although the Three Families plot has been deliberately left open for future series.
The Verdict
Overall Miracle Day is a marvellously thought provoking, yet flawed story that never lives up to the promise shown in the first few episodes. Compressing the story to five or six episodes would have improved Miracle Day considerably but this is still a brilliantly thought provoking series worth watching, although you'll have to persevere through a few episodes in the middle.
3.5 / 5
So, will there be more Torchwood? Starz Entertainment have said it depends on whether Russell T Davies commits to continuing with the show and he's been non-committal one way or another. If this is the end for Torchwood it's not a bad one but it doesn't live up to the quality of Children of Earth.
