TORCHWOOD MIRACLE DAY REVIEW
Jul. 12th, 2011 01:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
x_erikah_xI finally got to see the first episode of Miracle Day thanks to my brother. I managed to see it twice before writing this post and I can say that I really liked it.
Unspoilery parts first.
Miracle Day is dark. It’s darker than Children of Earth, but in a good way. It's a more real kind of Torchwood and it is ideal for a new audience. It has references for the old fans, but it also explains a lot of stuff for the new viewers without getting boring for those that already know how the show works. We've got old faces and new faces to ground each section of the viewership. As an old fan I didn't find it rushed or overly explanatory in any way and was intrigued to find out more, the main goal of a first episode. In a way it feels more like a spinoff than a new season.
The fans that didn't like Children of Earth can give this a try, but don’t think this season will be the same as the ones before. The Welsh roots are still there, but it’s a bigger picture now and a larger scale. The budget certainly looks bigger. There’s more action and, dare I spoil you, more explosions. It’s more of an American show now, but it still has references of the past and the episode certainly had a lot of welshness in it too. It’s an interesting mix and I’m eager to find out how it’ll continue throughout the season.
Of course, we have the new additions to the team. Personally I liked both CIA agents, Rex and Esther, but I’m still unsure about Doctor Juarez. She seems competent enough in the parts she appeared. Old characters are changed from their experiences in the previous season and I can’t talk about that in more detail without going into spoilers, so it continues under the cut.
Gwen changed a good deal since she the beginning of the first series, her experiences in Torchwood haunting her personal life. Now, she answers the door with a pistol behind her back while Rhys stands behind the wall with a shotgun, smiling to his daughter. When crisis comes, she is immediately in her element wanting to get involved while Rhys reasons that things are no longer the same, they no longer have a team and now there’s a baby to worry about. The mentions of 456 regulations tell us that the changes happened not only to our team, but to the whole planet.
I’m curious to find out how Gwen will fit her role of a mother to her role of planet savior. The scene when she shoots at the helicopter while holding a baby in her arms showed her badass side, but I thought the action scene at the end, while satisfactory, was a bit short for the episode. Of course, I can’t complain since we got to see a helicopter exploding at the shore of Wales.
I also liked the bits of humor and the parallels between US and UK, especially the bit about the bridge, with Wales being the British equivalent of Jersey. Another parallel I noticed was Esther and Gwen with their similar curiosity investigating Torchwood and how Captain Jack explained things only to retcon them later, to no use of course.
The mystery now is figuring out how Miracle Day happened or how Torchwood is connected to it, with the e-mail being sent anonymously at the moment it all started and NOT by Jack. At first I thought people would all become like Jack was, and I was pleasantry surprised to find out it’s a different kind of immortality. They aren’t immortals, they are undying. Corpses just refuse to stay dead and it only affects humans. There was this morbidly funny scene (in my opinion anyway) with the guy that exploded and continued to live even when they cut his head off. Another intriguing mystery is why Jack is now mortal, getting hurt without healing immediately after and how it’ll affect him. Is this somehow connected to him? I guess we’ll find out.
The consequences to people was a little explored but it will certainly be brought back again in subsequent episodes. People worshiping doctors and massing around hospitals; wars being put on hold by some armies while others mobilize knowing they can’t die anymore now; a death sentence convict being released since his sentence did take place, and the need of new vocabulary and laws to go around the problems that undying humans can cause.
Overall, I thought it was an effective first episode, making me curious to figure out other layers of the problem in next episodes and making me realize that I did miss the good ol’ show.
Unspoilery parts first.
Miracle Day is dark. It’s darker than Children of Earth, but in a good way. It's a more real kind of Torchwood and it is ideal for a new audience. It has references for the old fans, but it also explains a lot of stuff for the new viewers without getting boring for those that already know how the show works. We've got old faces and new faces to ground each section of the viewership. As an old fan I didn't find it rushed or overly explanatory in any way and was intrigued to find out more, the main goal of a first episode. In a way it feels more like a spinoff than a new season.
The fans that didn't like Children of Earth can give this a try, but don’t think this season will be the same as the ones before. The Welsh roots are still there, but it’s a bigger picture now and a larger scale. The budget certainly looks bigger. There’s more action and, dare I spoil you, more explosions. It’s more of an American show now, but it still has references of the past and the episode certainly had a lot of welshness in it too. It’s an interesting mix and I’m eager to find out how it’ll continue throughout the season.
Of course, we have the new additions to the team. Personally I liked both CIA agents, Rex and Esther, but I’m still unsure about Doctor Juarez. She seems competent enough in the parts she appeared. Old characters are changed from their experiences in the previous season and I can’t talk about that in more detail without going into spoilers, so it continues under the cut.
Gwen changed a good deal since she the beginning of the first series, her experiences in Torchwood haunting her personal life. Now, she answers the door with a pistol behind her back while Rhys stands behind the wall with a shotgun, smiling to his daughter. When crisis comes, she is immediately in her element wanting to get involved while Rhys reasons that things are no longer the same, they no longer have a team and now there’s a baby to worry about. The mentions of 456 regulations tell us that the changes happened not only to our team, but to the whole planet.
I’m curious to find out how Gwen will fit her role of a mother to her role of planet savior. The scene when she shoots at the helicopter while holding a baby in her arms showed her badass side, but I thought the action scene at the end, while satisfactory, was a bit short for the episode. Of course, I can’t complain since we got to see a helicopter exploding at the shore of Wales.
I also liked the bits of humor and the parallels between US and UK, especially the bit about the bridge, with Wales being the British equivalent of Jersey. Another parallel I noticed was Esther and Gwen with their similar curiosity investigating Torchwood and how Captain Jack explained things only to retcon them later, to no use of course.
The mystery now is figuring out how Miracle Day happened or how Torchwood is connected to it, with the e-mail being sent anonymously at the moment it all started and NOT by Jack. At first I thought people would all become like Jack was, and I was pleasantry surprised to find out it’s a different kind of immortality. They aren’t immortals, they are undying. Corpses just refuse to stay dead and it only affects humans. There was this morbidly funny scene (in my opinion anyway) with the guy that exploded and continued to live even when they cut his head off. Another intriguing mystery is why Jack is now mortal, getting hurt without healing immediately after and how it’ll affect him. Is this somehow connected to him? I guess we’ll find out.
The consequences to people was a little explored but it will certainly be brought back again in subsequent episodes. People worshiping doctors and massing around hospitals; wars being put on hold by some armies while others mobilize knowing they can’t die anymore now; a death sentence convict being released since his sentence did take place, and the need of new vocabulary and laws to go around the problems that undying humans can cause.
Overall, I thought it was an effective first episode, making me curious to figure out other layers of the problem in next episodes and making me realize that I did miss the good ol’ show.
