The end of Miracle Day

Hi Torchwood, we go way back. You know, that episode of Doctor Who where Queen Victoria started you, and then the whole Cyberman/Dalek invasion bit and even those odd seasons on BBC whatever, with Welsh cannibals, space whales and the occasional good episode. Then there was Children of Earth and I was like, "wow, maybe there's something good here."

And then there's Miracle Day, which remained mediocre for the first few episodes, until number 5, when you killed off the only interesting character of the newcomers.

And that's why I'm killing you off as well. No more Miracle Day for you. The central mystery has some intrigue, but the characters around it (apart from the longtimers Jack, Gwen and Rhys) have been so, so awful, but in creation and acting, that it has become nearly impossible to watch. The politics are so blatant as to be laughable, and the attention to detail is absent. (For example, a screen card read "Washington D.C. City Hall" on this episode. It took literally five seconds to find out the actual name of the building, the John A. Wilson building. Details always make a story more believable, especially on a fantasy/SF show like this.)

So, bye bye oddly restrained Capt. Jack and plucky Gwen. I'll read up when the series is over to find out who the bad guys really are, and wait for Aug. 27 when the Doctor is back in business with a showrunner that seems to have an idea about how to craft a show.

Torchwood: Miracle Day, episodes 1-3

Just a few thoughts now that I'm caught up with the latest, super sexy installment of the Doctor Who spinoff.

The story is finally starting to move a bit, even if it does rely on the "evil drug company" motif. It's not that I object (or disagree), it's just that shadowy, evil big businesses are the second most popular bad guy these days (right after shadowy, evil big government, also present here).

I don't believe the Bill Pullman as "evil killer who turns evangelist" one bit, in part because there's a real fundamental misunderstanding of current American law here. Sex offenders can be kept in prison long after their sentences are up, including a child-killer like the character.

The new characters are still struggling to find their roles, but have some potential in a science-fiction "24" kind of way.

On the upside, John Barrowman and Eve Miles still have great chemistry together (Capt. Jack and Gwen have always been the engines of the show, even more so now that the rest of the originals have been offed) and there are some wonderful, seat-of-their-pants action set pieces that keep it all moving. And they do science! I'm not sure if any of it really makes any sense or not, but it's not just a matter of magic hand waving over the super computer (OK, there is some of that too).

Best of all, Jack is still his old omnisexual self and definitely gay, as his hook up in the third episode proved.