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Torchwood Miracle Day - "The Gathering" - OAD 9/2/11 - *spoilers*

2422 Views 29 Replies 16 Participants Last post by  hapdrastic
This was an okay episode, though I didn't enjoy it as much as the prior two. Hard to believe there's a way to resolve everything (in a satisfactory manner) in one final episode. Off the top of my head, here are some of the issues, questions, and loose ends that must be addressed, and plot points that must occur:

1. Why/how (give me some scifi mumbo-jumbo, I'll accept just about anything creative) does the Blessing bisect the earth? What is it, exactly?
2. What is PhiCorp's connection to it?
3. What is Jack's connection to it, and to PhiCorp? Why did Miracle Day happen, and why did it happen now?
4. The CIA mole must be revealed to the characters, so she can get her comeuppance
5. Oswald and Jilly must get some form of comeuppance, too
6. Jack must be restored to immortality
7. The natural order of things in the world (eg Death) must get back on track, including the death of Category 1's (like Rex)
8. There must be some explanation offered for Jack's blood acting the way it did

Kind of a lot to squeeze into an hour.
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Yeah - that's going to have to be some final episode next week.

I also don't see any reason why we had to jump 2 months into the future - other than Jack's gunshot wound.

This 10 series season could have been done in 5.
Well, I strongly suspect that Oswald buys it, since we was clear with Jack that he wanted to die.
Kind of a lot to squeeze into an hour.
Might be more than an hour (Doctor Who/Torchwood/BBC/Starz aren't shy about taking extra time when they need to). But your point remains almost as true at 1:15 or whatever.
Crap. My TiVo only recorded 32 minutes of this for some reason. Now I've got to record an SD version this afternoon.
I don't think they necessarily need to do/answer all of those questions from post #1. I believe anyone thinking all the questions to be resolved will only be upset once this ends.

It seems the plot completely revolves around Jack. I think the rest of the cast, maybe including Gwen, are just red shirts. There have been quite a few red shirts already in this season. Considering Torchwood might not return next few years, or ever I believe the cast is disposable to make the plot work.
So they figure out that some how jacks blood is important. It looked like Esther had drawn at least 10 pints of jack's blood. Thats just not physically possible in two months time.
It looked like Esther had drawn at least 10 pints of jack's blood. Thats just not physically possible in two months time.
It is PHYSICALLY possible, but it would leave a normal human seriously anemic (low red blood cell count) if not dead. Everything in the blood (fluid, white blood cells, platelets, plasma) except the red blood cells can be replaced in a few days. But the red blood cells take weeks to be replenished naturally by the body (iron supplements could help a little). But Jack's blood is magic, so who knows what is possible.
So they figure out that some how jacks blood is important. It looked like Esther had drawn at least 10 pints of jack's blood. Thats just not physically possible in two months time.
Jack wasn't weak from the gunshot wound. He's weak from blood loss! :D
I'm wondering if somehow the visible portal to the time vortex that we saw in the Doctor Who episodes The End of Time has somehow manifested inside the earth as The Blessing. Since Jack's immortality was originally created by the time vortex (via the TARDIS when the energy was poured into Rose), that could explain the blood thing. One of my many problems with that theory is that it requires too much understanding of the back story that Starz can't expect many folks to know, and I don't think you can explain it in a couple of lines of dialog. That and it sounds like a crazy resolution.
I have no idea how they can end this in a satisfying way within one episode but I hope they do. I just hope that creepy British Category 1 hunter guy dies a particularly nasty death.
I actually liked this episode as much as the last two and agree that we could probably have had this done well in 5 episodes. These last three really have made me love this show.

Does anyone else notice similarities to "24?" The obvious mole stuff, the crazy sister subplot, even the opening with the numbers changing on the human population and the beeping noise (instead of the clock ticking and that beeping noise). Maybe a stretch, but it make me think of it a few times now. ;)

At any rate, I am very much looking forward to the final episode next week.
I, for one, did not know there's just one hour left. Do we know, for a fact, that it's not going to end in a cliffhanger?
I, for one, did not know there's just one hour left. Do we know, for a fact, that it's not going to end in a cliffhanger?
I really doubt it. "Miracle Day" is the name of the season/story arc. I might be worn but I don't seem them carrying this arc into another season. There's been question as to when if ever another season will be planned.
I hope this show comes back next year and learns from its mistakes in this year. I'm probably in the small minority in that I hope this cast comes back intact next year. Yeah, Rex is annoying, but he's right - Torchwood acts like a bunch of amateurs. Now, Rhys... He can get hit by an asteroid for all I care.
... I just hope that creepy British Category 1 hunter guy dies a particularly nasty death.
and again, we're treated to the Gwen's father story arc which serves zero purpose and is totally not believable. With all the category 1s out there, the British authorities are spending an awful lot of resources tracking this one dead guy; with the Nazi hunter theme and all sorts of theatrics that take years to develop. The whole arc is so ridiculous.
and again, we're treated to the Gwen's father story arc which serves zero purpose and is totally not believable. With all the category 1s out there, the British authorities are spending an awful lot of resources tracking this one dead guy; with the Nazi hunter theme and all sorts of theatrics that take years to develop. The whole arc is so ridiculous.
Actually, the purpose it serves (at least in a better show than this one seems to be) is to show how much effort the government is taking to track down and eliminate the Category 1s.

Which I've wondered about since they introduced the ovens...it makes no sense that they would be that eager to get rid of them this early in the whole Miracle Day business, and that people would go along with just letting the government kill their loved ones. Who knows what will happen in the days, weeks, months, years ahead? Maybe they'll get better; maybe they'll heal altogether; who knows? Killing people just because it's inconvenient to let them live seems unspeakably monstrous; I've never understood why the people of this Earth are so passive in accepting it. Is that a major plot-point, or just a gaping plot-hole? At this point, probably gaping hole. I've really lost any sense that Davies & Co have put much thought into what Miracle Day would really mean to people.
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Yeah, I don't quite understand why there isn't rioting in the streets. I think they'd have to shoot me on site if they were trying to haul off my wife to the ovens.
Heck, I'd be handing mine over regardless of her being categorized. :eek:
Heck, I'd be handing mine over regardless of her being categorized. :eek:
The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead.
[a man puts a body on the cart]
Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one.
The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: What?
Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better.
Large Man with Dead Body: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
The Dead Collector: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I don't want to go on the cart.
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, don't be such a baby.
The Dead Collector: I can't take him.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel fine.
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, do me a favor.
The Dead Collector: I can't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
The Dead Collector: I promised I'd be at the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, when's your next round?
The Dead Collector: Thursday.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I think I'll go for a walk.
Large Man with Dead Body: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel happy. I feel happy.
[the Dead Collector glances up and down the street furtively, then silences the Body with his a whack of his club]
Large Man with Dead Body: Ah, thank you very much.
The Dead Collector: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
Large Man with Dead Body: Right.
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