Torchwood: Miracle Day Series Review (Spoilers)

In some ways, Torchwood: Miracle Day has excelled in quality over this season's Doctor Who.  Why and how is this possible?

Some Spoilers

Before I get to the main point of this series review I want to set the stage. The first season of Torchwood, in my opinion, was garbage. Not only were the characters unlikable and had no redeeming values, but the writing was immature and forced. I felt the series was being written by a child who was trying to make it adult. When I heard an adult series was being made, for a second, I hoped for a level of sophistication, logical character development and involved stories. Instead we got none of that and I was very disappointed.

Now, I stuck with the show and each series since has improved. Sure, there are some of the existing issues that I have but I am more amazed at the turn around this show has made.

After “Children of Earth” I felt the show was in a good place and had redeemed itself. The show had some intense moments and handled the tough questions. “Miracle Day” does this again with a scenario that tasks the world into a new way of thinking about life and death. This whole aspect was the most fascinating to me and in staying true to Russell T. Davies’s bleak outlook of mankind and the government, the world spirals downward into chaos while Torchwood tries to stop it.

I say Torchwood but really only two of the original members are involved. At times I felt that “Torchwood” was more important than the story. While everything was going on, the bad guys are afraid of Torchwood, the CIA and FBI want to know more about Torchwood and so on. Who cares!! Now ultimately Torchwood is more involved in this than just a couple of stubborn agents blowing things up and being all smug about it. We find out that Captain Jack Harkness is at the center of attention yet again. The viewer may think Torchwood is not important at the start of this series but RTD says, not only are they the most important part of this story, but they are responsible. In the case of “Children of Earth”, Torchwood kept their place as protectors of Earth rather than running around telling everyone they are better and more important.

Interestingly this story could easily be a stand alone series, even an ongoing one with all new characters and no Torchwood at all and I think it would have made for a better story. The Torchwood concept distracts from the main story and even though the two become more cohesive later on, for the most part the “Miracle Day” is a concept not seen to its full potential.

The ideas and how people deal with Category Ones and the lack of death is fascinating and for the most part, realistic. While I am not sure the government would have given up on the people that quickly (as they did with the children in the previous season) it gives Torchwood more to do as they battle personal battles against the process of Category One disposal. This idea delivered some of the best moments and acting in the series as Rex sees the horrible burning of his doctor girlfriend and Gwen tries everything in her power to keep her sick father from the same fate. These personal problems derail the main story from time to time but in a good way.

My dislike for Torchwood cast still stands but the majority of the new characters in this series were outstanding. Rex and Ester are great additions to the team while many of the minor performers, such as Jon Delancie do a great job. My biggest target of attack for this new series was Danes, the convicted pedifile. The original description scared me into thinking RTD was going to shake the molds and make a deplorable character such as Danes a hero and likable guy. Thankfully this was not the case. It was still fascinating to see what direction Danes and Jillian would end up in this story.

To come full circle, I cannot believe that I enjoyed this season of Torchwood given my feelings for it in season 1. I like the single plot for a whole season idea. I enjoyed the characters, even Gwen had her moments. To even say that Torchwood has, for the most part, been superior in almost every level to Doctor Who this season is hard for me to say. It goes against my dislike of RTD as a writer and my love for Steven Moffat as a writer and yet, the two have temporary switched spots on my list. Who would of thunk it?

“Miracle Day” delivers a complete story with an excellent conclusion to an already well paced and thought out story. The final episode shows us some great performances and goes out with a bang. This is really important because so many times these types of stories have a let down of an ending but in this case, the pay off is perfect.

Beyond the smug “Torchwood is great” segments, the show certainly can appeal to any viewer. You do not need to have seen previous seasons and in a way, it may be better to come into this without seeing anything before. Of course there would still be some nagging questions about the origin of Captain Jack but new viewers shouldn’t need to go back to Doctor Who 2005 to find those answers.

Despite the quality and what appeared to be good ratings, the future of the series is up in the air. But that is what they said toward the end of “Children of Earth” so anything is possible.