Torchwood 4.06 The Middle Men
In which John Shiban from the X-Files is back for writing duties, and promptly gets the Deep Throat scene. Also the women continue to be awesome and this is the first episode minus either Oswald or Jilly.
This episode settled (for now) one of my concerns from last episode, to wit, that everyone involved in such an enormous thing as cremation of living - excuse me, Category 1 - people would just be presented as a uniform mass going along with it. We got varied, individual reactions - Coltrane the soldier has had no idea (and is horrified by the murder of Vera Juarez already), Dr. Patel in Britain does know but shoves it away in her mind to a corner labeled "can't be helped, is just like the plague", and, most interestingly, two Phi Corps middle level managers have no idea and the one who does find out commits the closest thing the Miracle allows to suicide. Opening the episode from a within PhiCorps scene where one of the "middle men" of the episode title tries to find out what's up with the Miracle and the preparations for some was a great way to overturn expectations and make it clear we're dealing with human beings, not automatons.
Mind you, the conversation later with Jack in the restaurant was terribly expositiony, couldn't be helped, and also John Barrowman was glaringly outacted, bless, but I still like the new character and the way he's neither particularly heroic nor a sinister villain.
Mind you, that other middle man, Maloney, is an illustration of how every day middle level vices like sexism, pettiness, bureaucratic tyranny can do terrible damage if a person like this ends up in a genuine position of power. It felt really satisfying to let Esther, not Rex, be the one who kills Maloney (well, the first time around), because despite the lack of sexual violence the fact he killed Vera and how this came about was very much tied to his attitude towards women. Also the way the fight was staged felt very real - Esther hasn't practive in hand-to-hand-combat, she's an office worker, she's just horrified and enraged and uses whatever she can. It's an uncool and nasty fight and she wins it, and then she feels sick. Which ever since Vir on Babylon 5 killed Cartagia is a fictional trope I have a soft spot for - letting a character who has killed for the first time feel the horror and the impact of that, even if the person he/she killed was scum, but it was still a living human being, and he/she is not used to this.
Sidenote: though there is no explanation whatsoever why Rex and Esther went in with their real names, and I can't fanwank one. Whatever happened to pseudonyms, people? If Gwen can get an Yvonne Pallister alias, why not you?
Speaking of Gwen: Eve Myles deserves some kind of award for her performance in this episode. From her confrontation with Dr. Patel onwards (that rage she had, not expressing itself via shouting but relentless!) to the final tag scene/cliffhanger, she was outstanding. Also, I'm usually not that impressed with explosions, but Gwen blowing up the modules and driving away on her motorcycle was just awesome. As for the cliffhanger, my guess is that they'll play the audience and the hostage takers both by letting us assume Gwen will go along with the demands and then at the confrontation scene reveal she told Jack who goes in prepared.
Jack's scene with Janet were a reminder of the nastier, bitchy side he has, but as I said: as soon as he's with Ernie Hudson is a case of actor being hopelessly outclassed. Though I will say Jack was supposed to be shocked by the realisation the Phi Corps middle level manager has no idea how the Miracle came about, either, so the expression fits.
Now: the Blessing, is it? And in the middle of the 90s. Hmmmm. Other than the illfated American DW movie, I can't think of a specific Who/Torchwoodverse event taking place there, and I very much doubt the Miracle Day story is tied to The Film That Flopped, not least because they're trying to keep it understandable for viewers who have no idea how to spell TARDIS.
I am glad that Team Torchwood got the video footage out to the world by the end of the episode because I was secretly afraid there'd be some contrived reason why they wouldn't and this would be dragged out.
Lastly: because the opposite is often remarked upon, I can't help but notice a great many of the Miracle Day characters, both in bigger (Ernie Hudson, Dr. Patel,) or minor roles (Esther's co office worker Rachel, the Shanghai office Phi Corps guy) are played by actors of colour, which has been the case throughout this season. There are a lot of American shows, some of which I love dearly (Fringe, Damages, looking at you) which don't reflect the mixed chromatic nature of the population that well.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/705224.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
This episode settled (for now) one of my concerns from last episode, to wit, that everyone involved in such an enormous thing as cremation of living - excuse me, Category 1 - people would just be presented as a uniform mass going along with it. We got varied, individual reactions - Coltrane the soldier has had no idea (and is horrified by the murder of Vera Juarez already), Dr. Patel in Britain does know but shoves it away in her mind to a corner labeled "can't be helped, is just like the plague", and, most interestingly, two Phi Corps middle level managers have no idea and the one who does find out commits the closest thing the Miracle allows to suicide. Opening the episode from a within PhiCorps scene where one of the "middle men" of the episode title tries to find out what's up with the Miracle and the preparations for some was a great way to overturn expectations and make it clear we're dealing with human beings, not automatons.
Mind you, the conversation later with Jack in the restaurant was terribly expositiony, couldn't be helped, and also John Barrowman was glaringly outacted, bless, but I still like the new character and the way he's neither particularly heroic nor a sinister villain.
Mind you, that other middle man, Maloney, is an illustration of how every day middle level vices like sexism, pettiness, bureaucratic tyranny can do terrible damage if a person like this ends up in a genuine position of power. It felt really satisfying to let Esther, not Rex, be the one who kills Maloney (well, the first time around), because despite the lack of sexual violence the fact he killed Vera and how this came about was very much tied to his attitude towards women. Also the way the fight was staged felt very real - Esther hasn't practive in hand-to-hand-combat, she's an office worker, she's just horrified and enraged and uses whatever she can. It's an uncool and nasty fight and she wins it, and then she feels sick. Which ever since Vir on Babylon 5 killed Cartagia is a fictional trope I have a soft spot for - letting a character who has killed for the first time feel the horror and the impact of that, even if the person he/she killed was scum, but it was still a living human being, and he/she is not used to this.
Sidenote: though there is no explanation whatsoever why Rex and Esther went in with their real names, and I can't fanwank one. Whatever happened to pseudonyms, people? If Gwen can get an Yvonne Pallister alias, why not you?
Speaking of Gwen: Eve Myles deserves some kind of award for her performance in this episode. From her confrontation with Dr. Patel onwards (that rage she had, not expressing itself via shouting but relentless!) to the final tag scene/cliffhanger, she was outstanding. Also, I'm usually not that impressed with explosions, but Gwen blowing up the modules and driving away on her motorcycle was just awesome. As for the cliffhanger, my guess is that they'll play the audience and the hostage takers both by letting us assume Gwen will go along with the demands and then at the confrontation scene reveal she told Jack who goes in prepared.
Jack's scene with Janet were a reminder of the nastier, bitchy side he has, but as I said: as soon as he's with Ernie Hudson is a case of actor being hopelessly outclassed. Though I will say Jack was supposed to be shocked by the realisation the Phi Corps middle level manager has no idea how the Miracle came about, either, so the expression fits.
Now: the Blessing, is it? And in the middle of the 90s. Hmmmm. Other than the illfated American DW movie, I can't think of a specific Who/Torchwoodverse event taking place there, and I very much doubt the Miracle Day story is tied to The Film That Flopped, not least because they're trying to keep it understandable for viewers who have no idea how to spell TARDIS.
I am glad that Team Torchwood got the video footage out to the world by the end of the episode because I was secretly afraid there'd be some contrived reason why they wouldn't and this would be dragged out.
Lastly: because the opposite is often remarked upon, I can't help but notice a great many of the Miracle Day characters, both in bigger (Ernie Hudson, Dr. Patel,) or minor roles (Esther's co office worker Rachel, the Shanghai office Phi Corps guy) are played by actors of colour, which has been the case throughout this season. There are a lot of American shows, some of which I love dearly (Fringe, Damages, looking at you) which don't reflect the mixed chromatic nature of the population that well.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/705224.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.