SPOILERS/SPECULATIONS - Torchwood: Miracle Day - STARZ/BBC1 - discussion
Just thought I'd open a discussion on the latest incarnation of the show, Jack, John, Mekhi, immortality, etc. Feel free to bitch and moan - I do it often enough - but expect to get responses positive and negative. It makes for a good discussion then!
As much as I had a huge amount of trepidation on Torchwood being joinly produced by STARZ and the Beeb and my fears over Jack and his fate - I have to say that I am enjoying the show. I love NOT having commercials - which we got on BBC America when they aired the earlier series and I LOVE that it appears that STARZ has poured a significant amount of money into this production. In the past despite some of the best efforts of the production - I got the impression that the Beeb was horribly stingy when it came to funds for the show. They might pour the bucks into 'Doctor Who' but Torchwood which has been a surprising success each step of the way has never seemed to be treated well by the Beeb. And honestly it doesn't feel like an 'American' show to me - there is a definitely original 'Torchwood' feel to most of it despite the increase in budget.
Onto the storyline and the characters....
The storyline is an intriguing one - especially as pointed out by Bill Pullman in one of his interviews - this is immortality without the good side-effects. A fate of a lingering near-death state forever is truly a horrifying thought. The idea of aging forever but not dying is also horrifying - we had a little of that with Jack as he did mention to the Doctor that he was apparently aging albiet at a hugely slowed down rate. But now people are aging as normal but they just won't die. It's a scary thought.
On the flip side we have Jack being mortal something he has not been for a very long time - after all in cumulative years he's older than the Doctor now. He's uniquely vulnerable in a world where no one else can die. Makes you wonder if his immune system is up to it as well because now he could potentially die from a virus or infection. On the other hand - mortality is something he's wanted for so long - before he finally caught up with the 10th Doctor we know he was looking for the Doctor to 'fix him'. It's the ulitmate irony that the moment he gets what he's longed for - it's for the wrong reason and apparently tied to what happened to world.
It's also fascinating to watch Bill Pullman as Oswald Danes - and sad that some people are reportedly giving MD a skip because it glorifies a paedophile and murderer but it doesn't. Clearly Danes is not a beloved character at the start but there is so much happening to him and to the world that perhaps it gives a different view on the man himself.
I like Dr. Vera Juarez - she's smart and she's no nonsense and cuts to the quick rather than beat around the bush.
Rex Matheson on the other hand as of this point I want to slap him upside the head until his ears are ringing. He has the nerve to call the British arrogant or Torchwood - i.e. Jack, Gwen or Rhys? Right from the start the man is totally NOT the poster boy for 'Mr. Empathy/Sympathy' when he's gleeful in his sharing of the news of a colleague's wife serious illness because it will mean he get the guy's duty post - what a prick! Then HE decides to retrieve Torchwood - whether they want to be brought to the U.S. or not - he never questions them if they might have any connection or knowledge of what's happening he just does it! He separates Gwen from Rhys and Anwin because it's expedient and because he doesn't want to deal with extraneous matters. He then goes on to tell Jack and Gwen that he thinks they're not very bright and that the only reason he's got them is because he thinks someone else connected to what's happening wants them. He calls them idiots later on because they didn't realize they could just walk out of the baggage claim area - I don't think Jack does a lot of plane traveling on earth and I doubt Gwen has done much beyond maybe going to Spain [for her honeymoon]. From the trailer for the next ep - he says that Jack got all his teammates killed and Jack said they were his friends and Rex says 'dead friends' asshole and prick! Jack maybe arrogant and annoying at times but he has reason - he's lived longer than any human on earth - hell he's older than the Doctor at this point - PLUS he has all the schooling, training and experience from the distant future - so he damn well does have more knowledge and insight to many things that most people on earth at this day and time would have no clue about. Rex on the other hand ain't that great no matter what his ego is boasting about. I can't wait to see him squirming when he has to take orders from Jack - from the head of an organization that he's been sneering about since it was first mentioned - serves the bastard asshole prick right! and he would still deserve a few dozen slaps upside the head even then!
Esther I like alot. She's naive but intelligent and quick on her feet and apparently loyal to Rex.
Jilly Kissinger on the other hand gives me the chills. There's something about her that puts my teeth on edge. Maybe it's the superficially bright and bubbly smile and personality that covers the darkness underneath. I want to know how far up the food chain she is FiCor.
Gwen is by for my least favorite Torchwood character of all time and will remain so. But I have to say I did like her taking control when Jack was poisoned and ordering Danny, the other flight attendant and even Rex in an effort to save Jack and I do love that knock out punch she delivered to Lyn the assassin agent.
And I have to say that they've used John's working out to get in shape for the sex scenes to their advantage:
he looks positively skeletal with the make up used for the onset of the arsenic poisoning [click on image for fullsized cap]
on the other hand once they were back on the ground in D.C. - damn - Jack looked absolutely drop-dead [no pun intended] gorgeous! and sexy!
[click on image for fullsized cap]
