Torchwood (TV Series) Miracle Day: The Blood Line (2011) User Reviews

A decent conclusion despite its flaws

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 17 September 2011]

So this it is; we will finally learn what caused people to stop dying and see how the Torchwood team will set things back to normal. Jack, Gwen and Oswald are searching for one end of The Blessing in Shanghai while on the other side of the world in Buenos Aires Rex and Esther look for the other end. It doesn't take them too long as they need plenty of time for The Family to tell the audience just how they engineered The Miracle using Jack's blood and for Jack and Rex to discuss how they will stop them! Not all of the action involves the Torchwood team; back at CIA headquarters they are trying to help them as well as trying to find the leak.

I must admit that there were some part of this finale that disappointed me; they seemed to spend far too long at the mouth of The Blessing explaining what was happening; it might have been better to have explained some of the details to the audience by having a family member tell Jilly Kitzinger what was happening or have the Torchwood team discuss their theories rather than having them stand around together with guns drawn as they talked things though. This wasn't enough to spoil the episode though; the makers had clearly saved enough of their budget for this episode, as there were plenty of exciting explosions. While several characters did not make it to the end of the episode it was clear that the creators are hoping for another season as the ending was hinting that The Family had other plans… I certainly hope there is another season.

Brilliant series

[seanoneill26 · 10/10 · 16 September 2011]

This series has gotten a lot of criticism for it's lack of aliens and alien technology but in all honesty I can't see what the issue is. A lot of Sci-Fi fans will preach that the greatest movies and series are basically great stories that have space, aliens, spaceships et al thrown in. Thats where Torchwood, Miracle Day has gone off the beaten track - this series has taken a huge chance in creating a story that didn't really involve anything alien or awe inspiring and instead relied on some fantastic writing. The finale was excellent, with the usual Torchwood twist just to throw you at the end. The casting on both sides of the Atlantic was inspired and it's been great to see the Americans integrated into the Torchwood lore. I loved the story and its the first show I've watched religiously every week for a very long time. I would recommend this to first timers and seasoned fans alike

Does No One Know How To Structure TV Drama Any More ?

[Theo Robertson · 4/10 · 20 September 2011]

One day no one dies . The next day no one dies . The day after no one dies and as this freak of nature continues one thing science discovers is that the new curse of immortality means that people aren't immune to illness or injury . People will live forever are condemned to live forever in a painful sickened condition

The above premise for the fourth season of TORCHWOOD held great promise . As a self confessed anti-theist I can't imagine anything worse than eternal self awareness being racked with pain. It's also a premise that's simple which is the perfect antidote for the timey wimey making it up as we're going along mess that DOCTOR WHO has become under Moffat but there's a serious problem that has destroyed MIRACLE DAY - it's at least twice as long as it needs to be

The producers try to get around the over stretched idea by including subplots but no amount of plotting can disguise the fact that there is no possible way that you can disguise the fact that you've diluted a four hour premise in to ten hours . Put it like this : you go in to a bar and order a pint of beer and what you get is a 1.2 litre bottle composed of watered down beer This is a great pity because the series showed great promise . It has a tone of gravatis so often missing in DOCTOR WHO these days but this quickly disappears under the plotting as does the characterisation . Oswald Danes is the best example of this . A convicted pedophile and child killer he is the first documented " victim |" of immortality and becomes a potentially Messianic figure but becomes sidelined as more and more superfluous characters often entitled " plot device " abruptly appear then disappear . In fact in the final episode Danes becomes a plot device himself called " man who has to blow himself and the cause of immorality up in order to end the series "

I don't want to rip apart a BBC telefantasy show that is both serious and has a simple premise . Unfortunately I find myself in agreement with the TV critic who suggested people who watch TORCHWOOD are doing so only because it's a DOCTOR WHO spin off

Possibly the worst torchwood episode!!

[tyrell-divers · 2/10 · 30 June 2013]

Right, where to start? Well I got into torchwood last week and I've watched all three season and whatever you want to call this "Miracle Day", and I really enjoyed it, the first three seasons are great and i was hooked early on but that's not the case with Miracle Day. I thought the whole season was a bit too stretched out and they tried to cram just a bit too much in to this episode, even though it still would have been bad even if they used two episodes. So we start off with a monologue by Gwen about her father which I thought was good, apart from the music which just didn't fit in at all, and then she goes off to find the "Blessing" in Shanghai. With Rex and Esther (2 characters I learned to hate pretty quickly) there's an explosion and everyone thinks they're dead, but they still get to the "Blessing" in Argentina. The "Family" is waiting for them at each location, in Shanghai a woman who looks like a bug and Jilly whatshername, in Buenos Aires there's a stupid bald man and some Argentinian goons. The Family is this crazy organisation who thinks that making everyone immortal is a good idea but it only uses up resources and space and so on. Right here comes the completely illogical

part of the big finale to the worst season of Torchwood: Jacks blood is the key to the whole thing. Now for those of you who haven't watched Doctor Who, and those who ignored his statements about his blood not being special this may seem okay or even good, but there is a huge problem. HIS BLOOD IS NOT SPECIAL, his blood is not the reason that he's immortal. Jack is a fixed point in time as the Doctor said, Rose brought him back to life using the energy she got from the TARDIS and he later on becomes the face of boe. Now if his blood isn't special why does it trigger a reaction from the hole in the earth? No idea, not explained, the writers were hell-bent on making Jacks blood special. Oh and also with Jack and Gwen in Shanghai is Oswald the annoying pedophile that they should have retconned in Wales. Jack and Gwen find out that Rex and Esther are alive but they lost the blood and to reverse this whole thing they need to have Jacks blood on each side of the Blessing. Some more pointless talking and we learn that Rex has Jack blood in him so this reverse polarity could still work, although I don't see how because his blood isn't special but anyway I'll move on. After hearing this the bug lady in shanghai and the bald man in Buenos Aires aren't too pleased, the bald man in a desperate attempt to stop Rex shoots Esther, here we are again at an incomprehensible act of which there have been many in this season. Why didn't he tackle Rex to the ground, attach him somewhere to stop him pulling off the bandage (Oh and I can't understand why a bandage would and some tape would stop all the blood in Rex's body being sucked out of him but that doesn't matter the episode is way past comprehension but this point anyway). Anyway Glen tells Rex to continue and she shoots Jack to empty his blood, the whole thing is reversed and people die again, yippee. Gwen has a fight with Jilly goes back to get Jack because he can't die again then they get up and boom, thanks to our friend Oswald who had a bomb vest strapped to him. Later on after Esther's funeral Rex finds out the name of the mole get's shot and then comes back to life, HOW?! THe blood isn't what makes Jack unable to die so how? No one knows and no one ever will. To those who aren't whovians and didn't watch the early Torchwood this finale might have been OK, but there's too many things that were forgotten and just plain stupid for me to enjoy this episode/season. I think instead of the credits they have played the song No one Knows by Queens of the stone age, because that's the answer to the questions that people are asking themselves at the end of it all. At least it's over now, no more.

Miracle Day: Enjoyable cross between 24 and Children of Earth – has weak spots but mostly holds it together (BIG SPOILERS)

[bob the moo · 20 October 2011]

I recorded this whole season and even when I decided to start watching it I was still in two minds. I had heard so many negative things while it was on from people of all ages and all tastes and generally the consensus was that it was fairly average stuff. Having enjoyed Children of Earth, I decided to give this a go, conscious of what others had said. To be frank I needn't have worried too much because the show pretty much grabbed me from the start because the central idea is both a simple one but also a good one. Great sci-fi is not about how cool the effects are or big guns, but rather about ideas and about people, in this regard Miracle Day gets it right.

It does well to hold onto this idea for the majority of the season and expand it as it goes even if it keeps its focus on those involved in the main plot. So while we also need to progress the plot, the passage of time also allows us to see how the world responds to this "miracle" and what measures ultimately have to be taken in the new world. I found it engaging as an idea and I liked how it went along. I liked where this took us and I particularly liked the way the show was not afraid of the darkness – maybe I am naive but I never saw the "ovens" coming and it was a genuine shock to me to have a main character lost at the same time as that reveal. The conclusion of the show chickened out of repeating this darkness and, while I recognise they have to leave things open for another season, I would have liked more darkness and more of a feeling of sacrifice (Esther's death was good – but didn't have the same impact as the sacrifice Jack made at the end of the previous season).

The US connection had worried me. When I first heard of this show, I presumed it was a US remake, rather than a joint venture; but even the joint venture worried me as the trailer looked a bit weak. However in reality the combination has worked pretty well as the show has changed yet again – and in my mind it is a generally positive change in terms of entertainment value. So, as with season 3, Torchwood keeps the base of a good simple idea and exploring it into dark territories that allow the viewer to consider what they would do and also confront what has to be done in the greater good. Onto this appears to have layered aspects of the TV show 24. By this I do not mean that the show is in real time, but rather that the writers recognise the power of forward motion. The forward motion and solidly paced events and action here means that the viewer is constantly engaged in the solid plot but at the same time is kept focused on the moment sufficiently so that no one detail is examined too closely – allowing you to get away with some loose ends or plot holes.

Miracle Day benefits from that a bit more often than I would have liked, but ultimately it worked well and only really shows some strains in the final third of the season. It shows this strain because, staying with the 24 reference, the season does have moments where basically Kim is trapped by a cougar. Early in the season we have a few examples of unnecessary scenes – Rex visiting his father, Jack picking up a bartender, etc, none of which really do too much harm but they don't feel like they add anything other than filling time. Later in the season we have a complete episode (related to Angelo) that feels like a waste of time and a break of pace. While Angelo is used as a plot device, his main use is to take up time and almost two episodes are taken up to advance the plot only slightly. Following this we have a jump in time before getting into the conclusion to the story – but I did agree that at this point the show felt like it was being stretched to hit the 10 episode order, rather than working much better in about 8 episodes.

The show also has a few characters that felt like maybe they were used more often than they needed to be and were maybe filling time. For example Oswald is a good character in regards allowing us to see the hysteria and the politicking of the miracle, but he perhaps is given too much time overall. That said, I thought they used the UK characters better than in previous seasons – previously I used to feel the show sag badly whenever Rhys came on the screen, but here Gwen's family is part of the action just enough so that they work. Generally the cast were pretty good – I think Barrowman and Myles were better again, while Phifer led the cast well with a tougher action role. Havins is a little soft but I liked Tur and her death was a great impact point. The supporting cast has probably too many recognisable faces – I quite liked the feeling of legitimacy that brought, but not the fact that I kept muttering "Newman!" when Knight did something evil! Overall I really enjoyed this season of Torchwood and consider it another positive step away from the general mess of the first two seasons. It isn't a perfect ideas-driven sci-fi, nor is it the perfect thriller but it merges ideas and moral complexity with the forward motion of 24 to good effect. A little baggy and lazy here and there but generally I found it very enjoyable and engaging television.

Terrible conclusion for a terrible season.

[jhallstr · 1/10 · 20 February 2023]

Terrible conclusion for a terrible season. What a waste of time and money. Taking all my Torchwood DVDs to Half Price Books to sell.

To even insinuate that Torchwood is related to Dr. Who is sad. Once in a while they put in a reference to a Dr Who, like that is a Blessing which is supposed to legitimize this sad sad excuse for a show.

The early Torchwood episodes held some promise, but Miracle Day totally lost premise, plot and any semblance of entertainment.

AVOID!!

I'm just glad it's over. How the heck did they convince Pullman to do this show? He couldn't have been THAT hungry, could he?

Major spoilers- sad waste

[barbosa-vicki · 3/10 · 30 April 2017]

I have to begin by saying that I love the Dr Who series,and have enjoyed Torchwood and its actors from its beginning. That said, I watched the first 3 episodes and the last one of Season 4,Miracle Day, and didn't waste my time on the rest. I was already disgruntled with the ending of Children of Earth, Season 3, since although it was a fascinating season, in the end Jack saved the world's children by killing his nephew, totally unnecessarily. This is the Dr Who universe, where no one needs to die -- there is always a gizmo to pull out of a hat, or some unknown scientific fact to pull you out of a hole. No need for brutal murder of children.

Season 4 started charmingly, death has stopped, the world is suffering from a surfeit of dying and disabled people, chaos is imminent: an interesting premise. By the end, in a reversal of the Christian story, death has been destroyed but it is a tragic event, and death is reacquired at last and the world saved by the sacrifice of a once-immortal, clearly sinful man, whose blood restores salvation.

I suppose the writers think it clever to twist the message of Christ's sacrifice, but the truth is, I much prefer the original. And I found the episode of gay sex unnecessary and offensive. Heroic and tragic though Captain Jack may be, he leads a twisted life and is not someone we should emulate or admire. Hope the next season may be less nausea inducing.