Torchwood aims for a tender spot in American life, with surgical accuracy...

“Miracle Day: The Categories of Life”

[Spoilers Within]

Russell T. Davies has never been one to shy away from throwing a blaring spotlight on the current political clime, and this week’s episode of Torchwood proves it. Jane Espenson is back on writing duties to give us a scathing look at medical care, insurance battles, pharmaceutical company practices, and most frightening, the true ugliness of human nature. If you can make it to the end of this episode without a lump in your throat and disgust for medical bureaucracy, you need to check your pulse.

The overflow camps are hiding something big, and the team is heading in to find out what that is. With Gwen back in Wales to rescue her dad, it’s up to Vera to step up and momentarily join the team. Unfortunately, the secret is nothing short of pure horror. These overflow camps prove to be Nazi-style concentration camps, where the sick are filed into three categories. Most are category 2, which means that they’ll get by. Category 1, it seems, means that you’re what passes for dead in the new world, and you get thrown in a crematorium, burned alive for no crime other than you no longer serve a purpose, and could indeed be a risk to mankind. Martial law is in effect in these camps, with the day-to-day goings on being run by people with little to no experience. While investigating a camp, Vera finds that a low level bureaucrat named Colin Maloney (played with proper snivelly incompetence by Marc Vann) hides sick people in spare areas when they have no insurance, referring to the buildings as “storage”, and that laundry isn’t being done, but left to breed disease. When confronted, Maloney justifies his actions by saying he was “under budget”. And worse yet, Vera pays the ultimate price for his terrible behavior.

The episode really shows the harsh state of medical care today, but especially in America. While we’re arguing about whether or not everyone deserves access to proper medical care and medicine, this episode takes our current medical system and all of its “red tape” to task, forcing the viewer to take a hard look at it. While it seems silly that we would still be denying care to those who truly need it in this country, there are those that believe that we are still doing a great job and that the current system is fine, with no need of fixing. If nothing else, I hope an episode like this gets some discussion going, which is really what good drama does.

Rex is undercover as well in the overflow camp and gets himself transferred into one of the modules, obtaining some video footage of what they contain: Patients that have no hope, and are essentially “dead”, with no chance of recovery. And worse yet, he witnesses their true nature, when he finds Vera in a locked module, and watches as she is burned alive in the oven. Phifer shines at this moment, going from concern to fear as he can’t get the module open, to acceptance and finally disgust and heartbreak as he turns the camera back on and films it, documenting the horror for posterity. It’s difficult to watch, and even more horrible when one realizes that this could happen. For as evolved as we would like to think we are, we’re not that far removed from the horrors of World War II, and it wouldn’t take much for some to allow themselves to justify such actions.

There’s also the Miracle Rally, where celebrities are meeting to hold a big show for the public, and one of them is newly dubbed saint Oswald Danes. Jilly has arranged for him to give a speech, which seems to keep changing to fit Phicorp’s needs, much to Danes’ chagrin. He also is confronted by Jack, who wants to use him to get the truth out to the people. But in the end, Danes does what he does best. He changes the rules, and makes himself larger than life, and the people eat it up, which says more about the general public than anything else. According to him, mankind has evolved again – no longer man, but angels.

Pullman is fascinating to watch in this role, because he can play the duality of the character pitch perfect. He seems to feed off of the public’s adulation of him, and he gives it right back, bringing himself up and taking what he feels is his rightful place as our spiritual advisor. If nothing else, it’s an interesting look at most people’s need for something 'greater' in their lives. Danes is making himself out to be the second coming of Christ, and the people love him for it.

This week’s entry in the Torchwood saga is a brilliant episode, full of emotion and scathing looks at the current state of affairs in the world. I applaud the writing staff for being brave enough to tell this story and to take a hard look at our medical practices. It’s a travesty that there are those who are in need of proper medical care, but can’t get it because of how pencil-pushers run things in this country. Really great performances from everyone, and especially from Vann, who perfectly portrays someone who is completely over their head in an emergency state, but feel the need to run things like a business. He is listed in upcoming episodes, so I certainly hope he gets his just desserts for his cowardly actions. Bravo, and keep up the good work. This was an episode not to miss.

See also Caleb's previous review:

Torchwood S4E4 review

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE HELP SUPPORT OUR SITE, AT NO COST WITH ONE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK 'LIKE' BUTTON BELOW: