★★★★☆

Yes, I’ve seen Torchwood Miracle Day quite a few times. Starz network ran Miracle Day quite often and I think a few other channels snagged onto it afterward. The point is, I recently finished watching the DVD set for this in the privacy of my own home. I don’t remember ever seeing the episode lead ins with “Captain Jack” and Russel, they were a nice touch.

What brought on the purchase and the complete viewing was a bit of Web searching to find out when a new season was going to happen. This lead me to a site which had a fan forum, I know, I know, fan forums are populated by perfectly normal people who have refused medication for a while. Most of the posts were as expected, alternative lifestyle fans were bashing Miracle Day because it tried to add some content to keep the straight audience interested. Some of the posts peaked my writer’s interest though.  These posts were making tons of claims that the show had “jumped the shark” making Rex a second immortal, arguing about Jack being a fixed point in time, nothing in the blood, etc.

As a Writer

As a writer who just finished writing “John Smith – Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars”, I was a bit interested. While it is true that most of those people haven’t taken their medication recently, sometimes they do find a flaw in the story line. Since the show was on my list to acquire I ordered it from Barnes & Noble and then watched it over several evenings and a weekend.

Those who don’t write, even as a hobby, don’t understand the pressure a writer has when it comes to dropping clues without giving away the story too soon. When I watched the show this time it was on DVD. I paid attention to the dialog and never had to miss any of it for a bathroom break. The simple truth is that the writers didn’t jump the shark, they explained it fully, but in pieces. The truth is, because the show was on Starz without bathroom breaks, those who didn’t get it missed the explanation due to a bladder or fridge run.

The Blessing

Captain Jack explained it without understanding it. The Blessing exists in a symbiotic relationship with humans. It thought it was under attack when “the 3 families” dug down to it.  When they fed Jack’s blood into from both ends the first time it recognized the blood had come from a fixed point in time. It made humanity immortal as a gift. When the same thing happened in reverse, it made humanity mortal again. The Blessing also recognized the death of the two vessels which carried that blood to it. The Blessing chose not to kill that which it had a symbiotic relationship with. To those two vessels it chose to impart one final gift for hiding it again, it made both of those vessels fixed points in time.

It was a subtle hint. One that sets up a delicious set of episodes to explain it all. In the world of science fiction it sets up a near limitless course of story lines to be explored. Does The Blessing choose to monitor and protect its two points in time? Will either Jack or Rex, after seeing too much and living too long approach The Blessing once again to return the gift?

Bill Pullman

One thing I must commend is the performance of Bill Pullman as Oswald Danes. It is too bad they don’t give Oscar awards for TV movies or series. I’ve seen Miracle Day many times and never once associated him with the role of the President in Independence Day. He disappeared that completely into the role. A person looking at his acting BIO would wonder why someone who had played such a hero would consider a role as a murdering pedophile. Watch episode 5 of Miracle Day. Pay attention to the speech he gives at a stadium during the Miracle rally before a crowd filled with many who want nothing more than to kill him. Pay attention as he silences the crowd by telling them

“The truth is I know what I am. I know what you are too. Yes, I do. Each and every one of you. Because I know for certain what has happened to the human race. I know, because this has happened before.”

The entire speech is phenomenal writing. It is the kind of thing a writer will get to write maybe twice in their life. It is the kind of speech an actor may be offered once.

I’ve had arguments with authors who both blatantly say and believe Hollywood views writers as a necessary evil and tries to pay them $5K for a script which took a year to write. Perhaps that is why the BBC is really kicking ass. There the writers are even more important than the actors. Don’t believe me? Check out “Downton Abbey,” the “Torchwood” series, the “Dr. Who” series and “Sherlock.”

Reason for 4 stars

The reason I gave this miniseries 4-stars instead of 5 was because it was a bit too heavy on the gay male sex scenes. Especially since it offered very little red meat for the hetero crowd while offering nothing for the gay female crowd which could have also served double duty, so to speak, for the hetero male crowd. Before you cast me into the pit of Hell for saying that, you need to realize the series itself, over its short run, chose to offer something for everybody. Fans of the series, myself included, expected it to honor that tradition if it included sex scenes at all.

Need to take a moment to inform those of you unfamiliar with British television what constitutes a sex scene for their “post-watershed” timeslots. They may show a tush, but if they show a breast it will be from such an angle you never see a nipple. Definitely not what most American studios refer to as a “sex scene.”

The Dr. Who connection

“Torchwood” was/is a more adult spin-off from “Dr. Who.” You would have to watch a few episodes of the rebooted series to understand, but “Dr. Who” kind of “Sesame Street in Outer Space.” Something the entire family can watch as long as you don’t mind your children hearing the occasional “damn” or “hell.” All though in their defense, if you hear the word “hell,” and I cannot for certain say I have, they will actually be talking about “Hell.” “Torchwood” left all of that behind. It’s still science fiction, but it is black leather, guns and the 30-something crowd living life to the fullest. Definitely not something for the little kids to watch.

I highly recommend you watch this on DVD where you can skip through those few scenes which aren’t your cup of tea because the rest of the miniseries is incredible!

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.