Stars: John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Mekhi Phifer, Alexa Havins, Kai Owen, Bill Pullman, Lauren Ambrose, Candace Brown, Sharon Morgan, William Thomas, Marina Benedict, Paul James, John De Lancie, Tom Price, Teddy Sears, Frances Fisher
Writer: Jane Espenson and Russell T. Davies
Director:  Billy Gierhart
Network: Starz, airs Friday nights
Original Telecast: September 9, 2011

The latest TORCHWOOD series MIRACLE DAY has drawn to a close at last with “The Blood Line”. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I have very mixed emotions involving not only the wrap-up of the series, but also about various character’s fates and plotlines that have been left out for a potential fifth series.

Basically we now know that ‘the Blessing’ is an Earth based event. It is something that runs through the heart of the Earth, and when it was fed Jack’s (John Barrowman) blood it did something to the people living on the surface of the planet making them immortal (and by proxy making Jack mortal). So basically the two teams have to infiltrate both bases owned and guarded by the families who started this whole mess and dump Jack’s blood into the giant crevice to reverse the effect.

Jack is on one end and Rex (Meki Phifer) is on the other filled to the rim with Jack’s blood. They offer it up and ‘the miracle’ reverses. That’s basically the long and short of the major plot thread that needed resolved within this series. There’s some nice DOCTOR WHO references from Jack as he tries to figure out ‘the Blessing’ which gives it a nice tied to continuity touch.

There is a beautifully touching scene narrated by Gwen (Eve Myles) where you see the immediate effect of the reversal. Rhys (Kai Owen) sits at the bedside of Gwen’s dad as he passes to the sound of his wife presumably saying goodbye over Rhys’ phone. PC Andy (Tom Price) holds the hand of a young Jane Doe as she passes, and the entire scene is so well-written and executed that it is impossible not to cry.

The families endure beyond this setback as a meeting between Jilly Kitzinger (Lauren Ambrose) and her contact reveals a plan B that they are plotting to set into motion. Honestly, if TORCHWOOD does come back for another series I would like to stray away from the families and their machinations. I don’t need to see anymore of them, and I feel since MIRACLE DAY has them as the big bad, the next series should have a new one.

Oswald Danes (Bill Pullman) doesn’t end up being quite as significant as some of us might have thought, but he still gets in a few here and there and takes out Mother Colasanto (Frances Fisher) with a bang. No future series for them.

Several people including Shapiro (John de Lancie) die in an explosion in the CIA building engineered by the mole working on the inside but that sort of gets glossed over in the overreaching storyline of the episode.

Speaking of CIA deaths I am really sad that Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins) buys it in the last portion of the episode. Honestly making Rex immortal bugs me and I would much rather have Esther around. Rex started this series laughing about a promotion he got because someone’s wife had leukemia, and I’m not entirely certain that he ever grew enough for me to like him and want him around forever. Which also brings me to the point- Jack was made immortal by the TARDIS and it’s energies through Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) so even though he said earlier on that his blood wasn’t special there must have been something about it if Rex caught immortality from having it within his body. Only Who knows.

This episode is a pretty satisfying wrap up of the series. As I’ve said before the plot meandered for me around the middle episodes, but then got back on track as we headed towards the finale. There were some nice moments between Jack and Gwen that we’ve never seen before in the course of this TORCHWOOD, but perhaps expanding the cast out as much as they did watered it down too much in places for hardcore fans that only really wanted to see Jack, Gwen, Rhys and other familiar faces.

Everything is left wide open for a fifth TORCHWOOD series, but I would honestly like to see it return to a more episode by episode style of storytelling instead of a single serialized adventure, or if they need to make it an overreaching serial have the single episodes with more subplots and bang and less of the talking heads we ended up with on this one.

In the end, I’m just glad there has been more TORCHWOOD. I loved the first season of the show and have been an avid viewer ever since. None of the series are ever the same and I like the fact that the producers and writers are still trying to find new ways to make it fresh for a broader viewing audience.

AGREE? DISAGREE? LET US KNOW HOW YOU FEEL – COMMENT BELOW!

Click on link: Exclusive Interview with BBC Worldwide’s Julie Gardner – Part 1

Click on link:TORCHWOOD – “The Blood Line”  – Review #1

Click on link:TORCHWOOD – “The Gathering”  – Review #1

Click on link: TORCHWOOD – “End of the Road”  – Review #2

Click on link: TORCHWOOD – “Immortal Sins”  – Review #2

Click on link: TORCHWOOD – “Immortal Sins”  – Review #1

Click on link: TORCHWOOD – “The Middle Men”  – Review #2

Click on link: TORCHWOOD – “The Middle Men”  – Review #1
Click on link: TORCHWOOD – “The Categories of Life”  – Review #1

Click on link: TORCHWOOD – “Dead of Night”  – Review #2

Click on link: TORCHWOOD – “Rendition”  – Review #2

Click on link: AX’s 10 Things About Torchwood You Need To Know

CLICK HERE for AX’s List on “THE FIVE QUESTIONS WE HOPE DOCTOR WHO – SERIES 6 ANSWERS”

CLICK HERE for Neil Gaiman talking about scripting his Season 6 DOCTOR WHO episode

CLICK HERE for brand new photos from DOCTOR WHO – Season 6 – including new poster

CLICK HERE to view the new EXTENDED SEASON 6 DOCTOR WHO trailer

CLICK HERE for Actor Mark Sheppard talking about his role in a Season 6 episode of DOCTOR WHO

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Review – TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY – “The Blood Line”

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