Torchwood: Miracle Day: Rendition
What a difference a week makes.
Last week's edition of Torchwood was good. It boded well for the following nine episodes. Sadly, that quality has not been maintained into the second week.
Don't get me wrong, this episode was not a disaster. A few of the plot strands were geuninely interesting. The Danes strand is getting more and more interesting. The idea that he could gain redemption through blubbing on TV is interesting although not 100% convincing, especially given he is a murdering paedophile who said that his victim did not run fast enough. I appreciate that the world has changed with the suspension of death, but I'm not quite convinced that the public would be willing to forgive such a character so quickly. What is interesting, though, is what Danes's agenda is and precisely where this strand is going. What is behind his repetance? What are the implications of this sudden popularity? Furthermore, while the idea of the CIA turning on its own is hardly original, it was done with an element of panache particularly as Esther Drummond realised that her own organisation was setting her up. Her escape from her employers was well done - I mean, it was clear that she was always going to escape, but her initiative was good to see. It showed a quiet resourcefulness that the show as a whole could do with more of. And the full implications of the "miracle" are being admirably expanded upon - the rise of drug resistant disease and the need to change the way medicine operates being two good examples. In fact, what was happening in the US was far more interesting that what was happening to Torchwood.
Indeed, whoever said it was far more interesting to travel than to arrive clearly never saw this episode of Torchwood. The flight was about six hours long and despite the episode being circa 50 minutes long, I could swear to God that I was there for every minute of that flight. The plane sequences were boring and nothing more than padding. The whole Jack-being-poisoned-thing added nothing to the story - we already knew that he is mortal and therefore vulnerable at the same time as knowing that the CIA is against him and Torchwood - and ended up with a craptacular sequence when Gwen and Rex did an A-Team style thing to combat the Arsenic poisoning. Furthermore, the cheap shots about the male flight attendant were not funny and drifted towards casual homophobia. And what happened when they got to the USA? They immediately escaped. All the flight stuff seemed to be about was making their journey to North America more interesting. And in that, it failed.
I hope that the series picks up - and a big way in which it could do that is to get the Torchwood team to engage with the ongoing action. Because as things stand Torchwood are the weakest link, and if things continue as they are, then the sad reality is that Miracle Day will end up being a better series if it didn't have Jack and his posse in it.
posted by The Nameless Libertarian @ 2:21 pm
7 Comments
7 Comments:
Torchwood has always been hit and miss. The first season was mostly dire, and it only slowly established some credibility after a terrible start. But it strikes me as a huge missed opportunity.
One of the big issues that Doctor Who has always avoided is the impact of repeated alien invasions on contemporary society, and the impact of all the alien technology that would have fallen into human hands as a result of those failed attacks. Imagine the consequences of DARPA reverse-engineering a Cyberman.
Torchwood could have explored those effects and could have done so from the perspective of the people who had to decide what to do about them. Do you surreptitiously release an alien technology for commercial exploitation or do you quarantine it? How much do you tell the public, and why? How far do you go in interrogating a suspect who might know something about a potentially devastating alien attack?
It's true that Torchwood has sometimes explored those issues. But imagine what it could have been if it had focussed on them from the start, with a real seriousness of purpose.
We're all familiar with the police procedural. Torchwood should have been an intelligence procedural, exploring how the secret state responds to exceptional threats, what it does right and what it does wrong. As such it could have used alien invasion as a metaphor for contemporary threats such as terrorism and explored the dilemmas that arise in countering them. It could have been the most topical show on television without ever mentioning specific topical issues.
Instead we get Captain Smug and the Clown Squad alternating between saving the world and endangering it through their own incompetence.
What about some "Blakes 7" reviews? I would find your take intereting and it was a series with much to commend it.
Andrew,
Torchwood is, to some extent, a missed opportunity. It was probably at its strongest during the Children of Earth story, which was all about paranoia and secrets. Sadly, based on this episode, it has reverted back to being big, bombastic and more than a little silly.
SAOT,
I've never actually seen an episode of Blake's 7 in my life, so that would need to rectified before I could do any sort of a review of it.
TNL
"I've never actually seen an episode of Blake's 7 in my life"
Okay the effects suck, it was way before CGI and they didn't have much money, but get past that and the dialogue and characterisations and conflicts are superb. You are in for a treat.
On the off-chance that I ever have a bit of spare cash floating around in my wallet, I'll give Blake's 7 a go. But I think it is fair to say that it won't be happening in the near future...
Oh stop complaining, no series or show today is 100% original, but at least it's not another happily ever after affair. There's some shocks, and interesting ideas ultimately the writing competes with and often exceeds series like lost, battlestar, and others. For a science fiction show it's very well done, especially with a BBC budget.
Anonymous,
Don't tell me what to do on my own blog; I am offering my opinions. Disagree by all means, but try to do so with something more meaningful than what is effectively just comparing the writing to a couple of other shows. Indeed, actually try engaging with the content of my review and what the other, far more articulate and intelligent commenters here have had to say.
Also, get your facts right - this is a BBC co-production with Starz, meaning that they are not operating within a BBC budget. They will have far more to spend than your standard BBC show, and most probably more than the far superior Doctor Who has at the moment.
TNL
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