Something something ticking time bomb something something.
"The 21st Century is when everything changes." These are the immortal words that Captain Jack Harkness tells Gwen Cooper in "Everything Changes," the premiere episode of Torchwood. Never has this been more true than with the premiere episode of Miracle Day. What would happen if death was a thing of the past? Disease, illness, injury, pain...they all still exist. But death? Death takes an extended holiday. All I know is that, one-tenth of the way into the story, it is quite the "What if?"
If you don't recognize three of these people, it's cool.
They're already dead. Oops. Spoilers.
Now, even if you haven't seen an episode, you've surely heard on Doctor Who. Torchwood, a spin-off of the show, may be completely alien to you, though (Pun!). So, before I start the review, let me give you a very brief, probably totally spoiler-ridden synopsis of what Torchwood is, and what you've sadly missed.
This. I mean, other stuff too, but most importantly this.
The Torchwood Institute was founded (in the Whoniverse) in 1879 by Queen Victoria, after an incident with the Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, & werewolf-like creatures. Clearly, she was not amused & had the Institute created to defend Great Britain against alien threats. Throughout the years, TWI collected an array of alien technology, eventually retrofitting it and putting it to use for the glory of Britain. Eventually, five Torchwood divisions were created. Torchwood One was based in the Canary Wharf section of London, though it owned many a holdings throughout the city. Unlike Torchwood Three (which I'll get to soon), TW1 was lead by a group of people who saw all aliens as bad, and hoped to get as much alien tech as they could, regardless of the consequences.
Also, to quote Tommy Saxondale, she's "a bit of a dick."
They pretty much all got killed, and, thusly, TW1's doors were closed for good. Huzzah. AnyWho, Torchwood Two is the original headquarters for the TWI. The entire Institute was named for Torchwood House, later renamed TW2. Not too much is known about it, except that before its apparent closure sometime before September 2009, it was run by a really strange man who may or may have not been named Archie. Torchwood Three is the TWI that the television show is based on, which is set in Cardiff, Wales. Why Cardiff, you ask? Good question. Real answer: DW & TW are filmed in Cardiff. It's always easier for the stories to be set where the show is being filmed. Less inconsistencies. Canon answer: Cardiff is located on a spacetime rift, so TW3 was built to contain, maintain, and protect the inevitable spills from said rift. It is lead by Captain Jack Harkness, and consists of Gwen Cooper, Dr. Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Ianto Jones, and, at one point, Suzie Costello & Dr. Martha Jones (no relation). Captain Jack was "coerced" into TW service in 1899, though this is an older version of Captain Jack than is seen in DW's "The Empty Child." Just accept it. It's all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff. Though that team is originally shown as also bing dickish, Captain Jack is able to change the view of TW3 & tries to reimagine it more in The Doctor's image.
James Marsters shows up, too. Also?
Totally gay for each other. But it's cool. Their "omnisexual."
That's totally a thing.
Torchwood Four was lost. Not to an alien attack or whatnot. It's officially "missing" and has been since at least 1941. Finally, there's Torchwood India, formerly located in Delhi. It was closed by Captain Jack in 1924, right before the Raj lost power. In the "Torchwood employees are "bit of...dick[s]" department, TWIndia employees apparently tried to turn the 2009 world back to 1924 using some do-dad (wibbly-wobbly again). They were stopped, and TWIndia was officially closed for business. So, basically, awesome stuffed happened in the first two seasons, leading up to the epic miniseries TW: Children of Earth, which comprised season 3. In it, we find that back in the day, Captain Jack delivered a dozen British children to the collective known as the 456 (four-five-six, not four hundered fifty-six). They came back, and refused to take any less than 10% of the world's population of children. In an attempt to stop word getting out of their previous involvement with the 456, the British government starts liquidating those still alive that had a hand in the exchange, Captain Jack, especially. Due to this, Torchwood is closed and Gwen, Jack, & Ianto are branded outlaws. And everybody lives happily ever after. Oh wait...nope. That's not he way it ends. Also, Gwen gets pregnant. And Captain Jack's been immortal the entire time. That's important as all get out.
Hero.
Also, I'm sure he draws the line at bombs...
The Review
Miracle Day opens on the lethal injection of a child molester/murderer played by Bill "This is our Independence Day" Pullman. Therefore, for the duration, I will be referring to him as Molester Bill Pullman. Anyway, the lethal injection doesn't stick, just really, really hurts him.
"Address the nation. There's gonna be a lot of frightened people out there."
That's from ID4.
Turns out, nobody's dying, and it's up to the remnants of the Torchwood team (Captain Jack & Gwen) to figure out why. This, along with a blast message saying only "Torchwood" to the world's clandestine government agencies, cause CIA agent Rex Matheson, with help from analyst Esther Drummond, to hunt down Jack & Gwen to solve this problem. Also, when Captain Jack gets injured, he doesn't heal right away. In a world where death isn't an issue, the immortal man is the only one who can die.
It's awesome, but when people are shooting RPGs out
of Defenders, who cares about the plot, good as it may be?
Though I wasn't really feeling the initial few scenes with the US constituents of the cast, they started to grow on me. I'm sure I'll come to like them, except for Molester Bill Pullman, over the next few weeks. I'm digging the fact that, as of now, Rex is a classic example of one of the worst kinds of Americans abroad: loud, brash, and a know-it-all, and how he clashes with the TW team. More importantly, I love how the writers made a point to show that, unlike the Captain Jack of the past, while people can no longer die, they don't have fast, regenerative powers. A man exploded, yet he was still, somehow alive. But Jack, well, Jack gets a bruise, or a cut, and we don't even know if good ol' Captain Jack will heal from that.
The new Torchwood team, being all
American with their guns drawn.
I simply cannot wait until the next episode. You should be watching this.
I mean, look how happy that baby is.
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