Torchwood Miracle Day: Episode 2

Well that wasn’t bad at all. A good continuation of the story, with good levels of tension and action…

This episode opens with Gwen and Jack being arrested and put on a plane as rendition procedure. There’s a nice bit where Reece (Gwen’s husband) points out that, while Torchwood has been taking on aliens, America’s been getting away with things like this all the time. It’s a bold move for Davies to write lines like that, especially as the show’s now being produced by an American studio.

Those who like running and shooting won’t like this episode, as much of it takes place on a plane, which would ordinarily be dull, but Davies manages to maintain tension, by giving a 24-esque omnipotence to the audience (we know what’s about to be done to Jack and the tension rises from not knowing how/whether it’s going to be resolved).

There’s an evil lady on the plane, who is a bit too evil; I could buy that she could be bought off, but her sociopathic tendencies seem to rise purely out of the plot requiring it. It’s explained by her being a “crazy bitch” but her motivations are pretty weird.

At the same time as all the plane stuff, the supporting character Esther (played by Alexa Havins) is going through some bad stuff that comes straight out of a CIA movie, with the classic element of “the Company” turning on its own, to protect itself or someone who knows something incriminating about it.

The paedophile (played by Bill Pullman) is coming into his own and seems to be developing well. 

Another thing that’s good to see about him is that Pullman doesn’t seem to be slurring his words as much as he was in the last episode. I get that he was doing it to sound creepy and seedy but it actually made him quite difficult to understand.

He’s also the vessel through which we’re introduced to what appears to be the villain for the series, which appears to be a drug company.

It might a bit early to do this, but I actually have to commend Davies for the themes of this series; as far as we know it’s presently not some alien race forcing humankind to the edges of it’s morality, but a drugs company that already has pretty iffy morality and seems to have come across as way to deliberately go to the darkest parts of it.

I’d say that this episode makes up for the lacking parts of the previous episode. The acting’s good, the story’s solid and the story elements now set up seem to be taking off.

Thoroughly recommended.