Torchwood: Miracle Day – What is Torchwood? & “The New World” Review
For the uninitiated, Torchwood is an adult spinoff of the British staple Doctor Who starring John Barrowman as the mysterious, omni-amourous Captain Jack Harkness and Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper. It’s darker, sexier, and far more crass than it’s comparatively family friendly counterpart. Complete with awesomely cheesy BBC effects, aliens, sex, and sex with aliens, death and comedy. It seems to have no qualms killing even its primary characters keeping in mind Torchwood’s heart, Harkness is immortal.
After its first two seasons of sex, death and aliens, Torchwood took a new approach with the 5 installment mini-series “Children of Earth”. It was brilliant, dark and dramatic, but it also killed off most of the remaining cast members save Jack and Gwen.
Now embarking on its fourth season Torchwood has taken an ever larger leap across the pond. Produced by American Starz network and penned by the fantastically talented Jane Espenson who has been a part of all sorts of amazing sci-fi and fantasy geekery on TV Torchwood’s fourth outing takes a similar approach to “Children of Earth” telling a brilliantly dark sci-fi story story over the course of 10 episodes. I’m excited to see what Espenson will do with Captain Jack and the Torchwood crew, and what kind of changes will be made to accommodate for American audiences. Already it’s been made known that Captain Jack will be portrayed as straightforwardly gay rather than his usual boy/girl/alien sexuality. Yes, a lot of talk about sex, but watch the first two seasons and you’ll see why it’s so important. Keep an eye out for the pterodactyl.
“The New World”
It’s strange to basically re-start a series in its fourth season. I found it off to a slow start but I imagine it would be a different feeling for new viewers; all I was waiting for was Jack to show up. We find Gwen and Rhys hiding out with their new baby girl in a secluded cottage in Wales while being introduced to our new American characters over at the FBI.
When the FBI is inundated with a mass messaging of Torchwood everyone is willing to let it go except a low-level researching who tracks down the files. At the same time reports begin to spread that no one has died, all over the world.
As soon as Jack appears on the scene sweeping in to save Ester in the archives guns are a blazing, bombs are exploding and people are diving through glass windows into fountains. I love his chaos. But this is the dark chaos, nothing will ever be like it was before Children of Earth, all aliens fun and sex, also with the violence and death, and heartbreak though.
Rex (Mekhi Phifer), a totally obnoxious FBI guy with (un?)mortal wounds after being hit by a truck gets on board with Ester’s theories. He flies to Wales to find Torchwood and bring them on board to solve this crisis.
Unfortunately, Rex seems to be created as a a caricature of the obnoxious American. I hope that gets better because he’s ruining things for me.
Meanwhile in a unrelated storyline a psychopathic murder Oswald Danes, played hauntingly by Bill Pullman, is released from prison after a failed execution due to the immortality of the world. For the first episode his story remained completely separate, but it’s going to be really interested to see how he figures in to all of this.
There is an amazing helicopter/massive gun fight that Gwen fights not afraid with her smiling child in her arms; this is the Torchwood I’m talking about, and with better American budgets.
Luckily for us longtime fans this version of Torchwood does throw in a few treats for existing fans, Jack introducing himself as Owen Harper and the explicit reference to “Children of Earth” with the use of the code “456”
A New World has set up a whole of lot of questions and with the series format we can safely be assured they will be answered:
Jack’s arm got a scrape and it’s not healing, it seems that the world’s immortality has come at the expense of his own. Is he part of the cause?
Who sent the Torchwood email to the FBI? What’s their angle?
What’s the deal with Bill Pullman Oswald Danes?
You’ve brought the violence, now bring on the sex Torchwood!
Future episodes will star total babes Lauren Ambrose, Dichen Lachman plus lots of other awesome and talented folks.
Catch Torchwood: Miracle Day on Starz Fridays @ 10 and on Space Saturdays @ 9
