The New World
Torchwood Season 4 Episode 1
One day, everyone just stops dying. As you might suspect, that is a bad thing.
The Review
Torchwood goes to America. There will be a lot more to say on this I’m sure as Miracle Day continues on, but so far we just get shots of the CIA headquarters with lots of busy analysts. The CIA gets e-mailed the word Torchwood, and at that exact moment: everyone on the planet stops dying. No matter what. Even if they blow themselves up, it doesn’t matter. It sounds like a good thing, but it’s not, it’s in fact completely horrifying. Oswald Danes, who was to be executed for raping and killing a twelve year old girl, gets released from prison as he said he’d sue that his sentence was carried out. I’m not sure how realistic that is, or how Bill Pullman’s gross character fits, but that’s the first problem sign. The other revealed at episode’s end: Jack is now completely mortal. So whatever this is, Torchwood is directly involved.
The American CIA types we meet are Esther and Rex. Esther gets mind-wiped by Jack after investigating Torchwood, while Rex survives getting impaled Final Destination-style and spends the rest of the episode hobbling around unable to die. He’s an total asshole, and heads right to Wales to pick up Gwen and Jack. It’s a sharp contrast with the thick Welsh accents of Gwen and Rhys, who are absolute joys to see again. With much of the story left to go, I’ll say this: the premise is fantastic, but the mash-up of the very Welsh character of the show with the 24-style American drama…not working quite yet.
At the end, Torchwood is made part of the CIA. So, it’s going to get weirder from here.
8/10 An entertaining debut, but cracks are already there
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