Captain Jack (John Barrowman) and Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) are called out of retirement when 'Miracle Day' happens... and everyone on earth becomes immortal, except for Jack. Cue CIA assistance, a death row paedo, incineration units and a whole host of bad guys and evil stuff for international Torchwood to deal with.
bollocks...
Torchwood's first and second series were patchy affairs at best, with unlikable characters, gratuitous plots and a general air of trying too hard to be 'adult' in comparison to Doctor Who. Series 3, Children of Earth, was properly brilliant, a serialised, single story, with real menace and heart. Miracle Day, the first Torchwood American-UK co-production has a bigger budget than the previous series, and mixes the best and worst of what has gone before - so there's an imaginative, genuinely intriguing plot catalyst, with lots of interesting ideas (what would be the implications for society and the planet if no one died anymore?), but played out with more unlikable (American) characters, streaks of nastiness and a whole lot of nonsensical explanations.
Miracle Day wasn't a complete disaster, but it was also no where near as good as Children of Earth. Jack and Gwen were reliably ballsy and funny, when they got a chance to be. There was far too much time spent with angry, shouty Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer) and pathetic Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins). And then there was the utterly pointless story of Oswald Danes (a creepy Bill Pullman), a convicted child killer - were we ever supposed to feel sympathy for this character? He got grandiose speeches about not very much and kept popping up at odd times - and once the whole purpose behind the miracle was explained... well there still didn't seem to be any point in his manipulation by the Blessing. Likable Dr Vera Juarez (Arlene Tur) was dispatched far too early on, while sledge-hammer subtle Rex and useless Esther hung around til the end, and sadly one of them remained.
Ok, it wasn't all bad, and that was mainly down to the Welsh/British sense of humour that didn't appear often enough, and some great guest casting, chief among them Lauren Ambrose as Jilly Kitzinger. A world away from Six Feet Under, Ambrose lit up her every scene and made her character much more interesting than she had any right to be - especially when, like Danes, there appeared to be absolutely zero point in her being co-opted by the families, except perhaps to act as a way in for the viewer. It's implied she'll come back should this mess be given another series, so that's potentially good news. Kai Owen's return as Gwen's long-suffering husband also offered a welcome breath of light air in his too-few scenes, as did new character Allen Shapiro (John de Lancie) - so naturally the funny, likable CIA guy was blown up. Torchwood doesn't like to keep personable characters around, just the obnoxious ones.
briefly...
A truly original premise that promised big things is let down by traditional Torchwood nastiness and hokey explanations. If this comes back, and I'm not bothered if it doesn't (I mainly watch it for Doctor Who continuity!), lets hope lessons will have been learned.
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