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Trotzky Lord high Xecutioner from 3 km North of Torchwood Since: Apr, 2011
Lord high Xecutioner
#352: Sep 16th 2011 at 5:24:01 PM

I am confused. Is this what happened?

There is a rift from Shanghai to Buenos Aires, Psi-corp poured Jack blood down both ends and stock-piled pain-killer pills. Then the Blessing happened.

In the finake, Jack and Rex poured Jack-blood in both ends. Instead of making the Blessing bigger, it switched off the Blessing.

Was that it? Or was it that the Blessing turned Jack into a Muggle and so the second dose of Jack-blood was different from the first dose?

Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!
TheBatPencil from Glasgow, Scotland Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: I'm just a hunk-a, hunk-a burnin' love
#353: Sep 16th 2011 at 5:38:25 PM

Essentially, there's a big vagina in the middle of the earth that has a symbiotic bond with the human race. When the Families discovered it, they began toying with it and found that the application of Jack's blood would, as he is immortal, serve as a template to turn the entire human race immortal (only without his healing powers for some reason).

Phi Corp were essentially unwittingly working for the Families, who have enough influence to control the market into preparing, without knowing it, in advance for their own ends. When that was done, they enacted the Miracle.

That changed the "template" for the human race into being immortal and, for some reason not fully explained, turned Jack completely mortal. Because Jack was mortal, applying his mortal blood to the Blessing switched the template around again, making everyone mortal, making Jack immortal again and for some reason turned Rex immortal.

There's a lot of stuff that wasn't explained in Miracle Day. But judging by the Families still being active and unfazed we might get more information next season.

edited 16th Sep '11 5:39:23 PM by TheBatPencil

And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
PiccoloNo92 Since: Apr, 2010
#354: Sep 16th 2011 at 5:53:53 PM

[up] Not sure how I feel about that really. I'd much rather next series had some kind of new threat or villain. I know the family had fall back plans and that this was apparently a trial run but I'd hope it's not the basis for the next series as it's nice for a bit of variation. But that's just me as I was a little disappointed by this series and kinda want Torchwood to move on.

Also anyone think Rex will go on with Torchwood? I'm thinking that for thematic reasons it may not work so well if we have two characters who have death resistance as that'll be like half the team immune from the anyone can die trope tongue

TheBatPencil from Glasgow, Scotland Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: I'm just a hunk-a, hunk-a burnin' love
#355: Sep 16th 2011 at 7:54:12 PM

I think Rex, whichever remains of Ablemarch, Costerdane, and Frines and a few others things would have to be explored next series. I mean, there's a lot of unanswered questions here.

And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
TParadox Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: The captain of her heart
#356: Sep 16th 2011 at 7:56:08 PM

Ten hours of exposition to set up the next series. Barely any plot for this series.

Fresh-eyed movie blog
TheBatPencil from Glasgow, Scotland Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: I'm just a hunk-a, hunk-a burnin' love
RexBeavers Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#358: Sep 17th 2011 at 5:08:43 AM

Also anyone think Rex will go on with Torchwood? I'm thinking that for thematic reasons it may not work so well if we have two characters who have death resistance as that'll be like half the team immune from the anyone can die trope

Torchwood has had two immortal characters before in season 2, and it didn't stop them from killing Owen. Speaking of Owen, I've been thinking since early on in the season that Rex is basically a black, american Owen. Same dickish, womanizing personalities and now both of them have gained immortality.

Overall, this was the worst season. Too slow, too many episodes, too many new characters, many of which weren't very likable. They only needed about 4 episodes, 6 tops. I also would've liked to see them expand on some of the unanswered questions from seasons past, like the little immortal girl. I do hope they make another season, though.

PiccoloNo92 Since: Apr, 2010
#359: Sep 17th 2011 at 5:33:15 AM

[up] But Owen's case was different to that of Jack and Rex's as he couldn't recover from injuries. He was for all intents and purposes a walking corpse and not really immortal at all.

Agreed that after the improvements of series 2 and Cot E that this felt quite a bit underwhelming in comparison.

edited 17th Sep '11 5:34:16 AM by PiccoloNo92

ZheToralf Floating Advice Reminder from somewhere in Germany Since: Dec, 2009
#360: Sep 17th 2011 at 7:17:37 AM

yeah, Miracle day was WAY too long. I hope next season is gonna be better. Frankly, i'd like to have the Monster of the Week back. Children of Earth was great, but it also was short. This full season arc did not work well for me, and if this trend continues, I call Torchwood Jumping the Shark with Miracle day.

edited 17th Sep '11 8:23:51 AM by ZheToralf

You lost!
PiccoloNo92 Since: Apr, 2010
#361: Sep 17th 2011 at 8:03:00 AM

Well they tried a bit of an experiment with this series which didn't come off too well. Tbf the monster of the week formula can get a bit tired and stale but this approach didn't really work. I think it should be done similar to Moffat's run on Doctor Who. Have a monster of the week adventure but with a strong theme running throughout the series which builds to the finale as I think that works well.

edited 17th Sep '11 8:04:49 AM by PiccoloNo92

TheBatPencil from Glasgow, Scotland Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: I'm just a hunk-a, hunk-a burnin' love
#363: Sep 17th 2011 at 8:57:07 AM

I liked a lot of things about Miracle Day, it had a pretty cool premise and it was interesting when we got to see how the impacts of the Miracle played out. The problem for me is that the plot was dripped in too slowly and by the end there were a lot of things left dangling. It didn't give enough focus to either the effects of the Miracle on the world nor to the central plot. But maybe they'll clear things up next year.

How did everyone feel about Oswald Danes' last speech, by the way?

edited 17th Sep '11 8:57:31 AM by TheBatPencil

And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
TParadox Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: The captain of her heart
#364: Sep 17th 2011 at 2:32:37 PM

it felt kind of weak for all the buildup he got, but very fitting.

Fresh-eyed movie blog
pagad Sneering Imperialist from perfidious Albion Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Sneering Imperialist
#365: Sep 17th 2011 at 4:08:42 PM

Oswald Danes was my favourite thing about this series. His send-off was deliciously evil.

With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.
Nicknacks Ding-ding! Going down... from Land Down Under Since: Oct, 2010
Ding-ding! Going down...
#366: Sep 17th 2011 at 9:52:27 PM

Kind of felt like his raison d'etre. It's the evil, self-imposed Bond One-Liner to his "Should have run faster." I get the feeling that they knew that he was going to say that line from the very beginning, even if they didn't know how else he'd factor into the plot.

(Though the irony of the preacher man who's a child abuser reversal had to have been within the character's DNA from the start. It's kind of funny; most televangelists have their paedophilia revealed. Danes was a paedophile who was revealed to be a damn good evangeliser.)

This post has been powered by avenging fury and a balanced diet.
OldManHoOh It's super effective. from England Since: Jul, 2010
It's super effective.
#367: Sep 18th 2011 at 1:09:25 AM

I'm sure I'm being pedantic, but Bond One Liners come after death.

Nicknacks Ding-ding! Going down... from Land Down Under Since: Oct, 2010
Ding-ding! Going down...
#368: Sep 18th 2011 at 1:12:42 AM

Pre-Mortem One-Liner!

(Thanks man.)

edited 18th Sep '11 1:12:56 AM by Nicknacks

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Tasther Odd. Since: Aug, 2011
Odd.
#369: Sep 18th 2011 at 3:04:19 AM

I wish they'd picked up some of the things more than once, like the Soulless and the North Korean zombie army.

He's the Doctor. He could be anywhere in time and space.
TParadox Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: The captain of her heart
#370: Sep 18th 2011 at 1:16:21 PM

Why did the Colasantos' first plan to get Jack to come see them involve abducting Gwen's family to coerce her into taking him to them? Woudn't it have worked just as well to send the message "Hey Jack, Angelo Colasanto is alive and wants to deliver some exposition"?

And actually, what did that ultimately have to do with anything? The big event of that whole sequence was that Angelo used a null field to die, but that just confirmed what they were already pretty sure of (that the Miracle was done with a morphic field) if even that. Since a null field can cancel pretty much anything, it means the Miracle could still be pretty much anything.

I'm left with the conclusion that the main thing Angelo had planned in bringing Jack to him was to get Jack to take the null field, which suggests that Angelo was still doing Torchwood things without Jack, but doesn't keep him relevant to the plot, and there goes another two episodes that didn't contribute to the arc.

Fresh-eyed movie blog
PiccoloNo92 Since: Apr, 2010
#371: Sep 18th 2011 at 2:11:03 PM

Well with Angelo the whole flashback episode showed us how the family got hold of Jack's blood which they used for the blessing and Angelo played a part in the events which lead to Jack being tortured and his blood taken. Though Angelo's relevance for the rest of it is up for debate. Also I guess the abduction thing was just to add extra drama and to develop the dynamic between Jack and Gwen. And the whole morphic field thing too.

edited 18th Sep '11 2:14:04 PM by PiccoloNo92

SomeSortOfTroper Since: Jan, 2001
#372: Sep 21st 2011 at 2:31:43 AM

Y'know, I'm thinking that the writers may have felt that they did answer the "Why use Jack's blood?" question but not too well. Family Woman did say that The Blessing made people at either end match the world average of life span and it produces this all-connecting morphic field. Maybe more emphasis should be made on that life span issue. Jack has a huge lifespan already and the Blessing can detect that and the Blessing just seems to want to change how long you live for some reason (after all the people in Buenos Aires and Shanghai don't even look like each never mind a world average of how people look so it seems like the only issue is life span). So if you put some of Jack in it goes "Wow, people are living a lot longer than I thought!" but also for some reason "This Jack Harkness is living a little too long, methinks" and that's it.

As for the choice of how to construct the season- I liked it, the concept, there was also how they dealt with the concept's impact on the world, thought the characters worked and all. Really it's just a matter of the length and the reveals. Underwhelming with the revelations and this length choice is rather unique.

If you are at 6 episodes you have a choice between "Each episode is like its own movie" or "One really big movie". If you are at 23 you can have a big arc but one which develops slowly while other things also happens, you can have something really episodic and fit in a dramatic finale at the end if you like or you can even try several miniarcs of about seven episodes each, which happen within a bigger arc which gets a couple of episodes for itself. Now with 10 or 12 episodes it's more like being 23 episodes but with, as I would expect, that last option gone but that's what they choose to do: Season 3 Veronica Mars pattern but only with 10 episodes and I think it two thirds worked.

MercuryInRetrograde Since: Oct, 2009
#373: Sep 23rd 2011 at 9:10:41 PM

If they're going to continue to have Owen—I mean Rex as a main character could they please give him some Ex Lax so he can emote something other than 'furiously constipated'?

OldManHoOh It's super effective. from England Since: Jul, 2010
It's super effective.
#374: Sep 24th 2011 at 2:27:44 AM

Well, his wound in his chest is gone now, that was a massive part of his anger.

OldManHoOh It's super effective. from England Since: Jul, 2010
It's super effective.
#375: Sep 29th 2011 at 1:33:04 AM

On the Doctor Who thread, T Paradox pointed this comment out from a group of podcasters he wasn't fond of.

while Miracle Day was on they had cause to constantly restate their opinion that season two was just as terrible as season one).

Can someone explain this viewpoint? I know, opinions, but I never, ever understood that.


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