The Families' plot is revealed, but can Jack & Rex thwart it in time?...

Miracle Day:  The Blood Line

Spoilers Within

Russell T. Davies has a history of going out on a high note when he finishes a series, and he doesn’t disappoint this time. While during his tenure with Doctor Who finales meant alien invasions and familiar faces from the past making an appearance, here he teams up with Jane Espenson to tie up just about every loose end from Series 5 (more on that in a bit) and in true Shakespearean form, kill off a lot of the cast. Or does he?

Our two teams finally make it to see the blessing, dodging barriers set up by Willis, the CIA mole. The blessing, it turns out, is far from being an alien threat, but more of a McGuffin, set up more for some scathing looks at how the real world works. As it turns out, the vast cavern that rests in the planet contains an open space, which itself is alive. And the Families fed it Jack’s immortal blood to awaken the morphic field which caused the miracle. All of it, as it turns out, wasn’t so much for immortality, but to disrupt the status quo so that they could step in and take over the world. First to go is social order, then the world economies. They planned to step in to take over the banks, and then the governments, so that they could rule the world as they saw fit. Gwen sees it for what it truly is – a world where only the rich and elite would be allowed to survive. She is merely informed that that’s how the world already works; the Families are just making it official. Jack, being mortal, plans to use his blood to reverse the effects, but the blood has to be introduced simultaneously in both cities. Enter Rex, who transfused himself with Jack’s blood, and together they save the world. A job well done.

There was so much to love about tonight’s episode.  Even with the major event of the episode, there was still room for some really fine, touching moments between characters. One such moment happens between Jack and Oswald. Oswald tells Jack that he notices that his team trusts him, and at times they even love him. But every now and then, they fear him. He explains that his time in prison gave him the opportunity to see the smile of someone who has done terrible things, and he wants to know where Jack comes from. Jack reveals that he’s from the future. He then goes on to tell Oswald that he’s seen the universe, and seen the vastness of it, and he wishes that Danes could see it as well, to see just how small he has made his life.

Eve Myles shows some real emotion throughout the episode as Gwen deals with the complications of stopping the blessing. Either way her father dies, but it’s how he dies that truly matters. Better to allow nature to take its course than to have the state incinerate you. Rex and Esther also seem to come quite a way together, and might have ended up a great couple. But unfortunately, in an effort to keep Rex from stopping the blessing, one of the Families’ flunkies shoots her, and she ends up not making it. The episode finishes at a memorial service for Esther, where Gwen, Rhys, Jack, Rex and Charlotte are all in attendance. It isn’t until Charlotte is leaving the group that Rex’s phone starts to pull the final information from the CIA computers that was being processed before Charlotte blew them up. It was a cell phone trace to find out who the mole was, revealing it to be Charlotte. Rex runs to stop her, but she shoots him, only to be shot dead herself. The group kneels around Rex, only to have him come back to life in Jack fashion, to everyone’s astonishment. Rex just looks in fear, yelling “What did you do to me?” Guess who just joined the Torchwood team full-time? And Jilly, who had been seen in the midst of an explosion in Shanghai, is last seen in a park waiting to see if her contact to the Families shows up. He does, and offers her a better placement than before. It seems there will be more mayhem to come from the Three Families.

Symbolism is not missed here, either. In the scene where Jack prepares to be shot by Gwen to spill his blood, he stretches his arms out in a cross, becoming the savior of the world. Both he and Rex seem to be set up as martyrs for humanity, and the fact that the two come back from death seems to strengthen the Christ parallel. Maybe not all that subtle, but a nice touch.

There were a few disappointments with the finale. One big one was that, with the survival of the Families and Jilly Kitzinger, it felt as though there wasn’t enough of a reckoning, especially in the light of the deaths of characters like Esther and Gewaint. It also seemed like it was a little forced to ensure another series. The BBC and Starz have an agreement for 100 hours of programming, so it’s no surprise that they would try for more episodes. I also disliked Esther’s death. It was done more for dramatic effect than anything else, and she had been the character that had made the greatest journey through the whole series. She had gone from mousey desk pilot to getting out into the field, and being a major force in helping stop the miracle. And all of this only to be shot in cold blood by a stooge to try to keep his lofty place in society. In the end, Esther becomes nothing more than a pawn. I suppose that this is probably true of all of us, but I felt as though her death could have been avoided. There also seemed to be moments where they tried to bestow some humanity upon Danes, which contrasted to the moments when he showed his true nature. I’m certain that the intended effect was to portray a man split by his own dark impulses and how he wanted to be – or, at least, how he wanted to be seen by others – but they should have left him playing the “good” man for the cameras and showing his own monstrous self the rest of the time.

Those quibbles aside, I thought the series as a whole was very well done. Solid acting, great story, brilliant drama and plenty of social commentary. I just hope they don’t make us wait too long for Captain Jack and company to come back to television screens.

See also Caleb's previous review:

Torchwood S4E9 review

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