The Gathering
Torchwood Season 4 Episode 9
The mysteries grow deeper as Miracle Day barrels towards its conclusion with a daring mission on opposite ends of the world.
The Review
In a shocking twist, with the show leaving the world on the brink of a Great Depression, we jump two months ahead with it in full force. As the CIA chief says, the world is becoming a dictatorship: and no one even knows who the dictators are. It’s a bleak future, resistance to Category 1s being burned in furnaces has dissipated in the face of the bleak new reality. A major subplot is the British authorities finding Gwen’s dad in hiding, and taking him away to be killed. On top of it all, Oswald shows up saying he knows who’s behind the Miracle: ‘Harry Bosco’. Turns out, that’s a CIA process for altering translations, but it does allow for videos referencing the Blessing from Shanghai and Buenos Aires to be uncovered. The whole cast was in a room save Rex who was at the CIA, the highlight of the titular gathering being Rhys determined to tear Oswald limb from limb. At any rate, it was good to see the gang together.
Rex is convinced there’s a mole after finding an insanely deep connection but gets stymied by, uh, Charlotte, our resident Family member and mole. Despite Rex’s best efforts, she discovers him and Esther in Buenos Aires anyway. Jack, Gwen, and Oswald are smuggled to Shanghai because it turns out the Blessing is a giant underground thing connecting the two cities through the world. Apparently, it kills some people, and reveals things about them to themselves. It just looks like a giant pink fleshy thing that wind rushes through, and Kitzinger (who is delightful to follow through this episode) is enchanted by it. We finally meet two high ranking Family members, an awkward tech bro and an evil older woman. Most curiously, Jack’s blood is being drawn toward it. I don’t know what’s going to happen, I’m not sure there’ll stick the landing, but points for a bleak episode.
Miracle Day hits harder after nearly two years of the covid pandemic. There’s nothing revolutionary here, but it’s exciting to see things unfolding. I also think I kind of love Esther.
8.5/10 Enjoyable enough episode, nothing that sticks with you except for Rhys and Kitzinger stealing the show
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