Rendition

Blimey, Torchwood really can't catch a break, can they?

First, Gwen is torn apart from Rhys and their child when they are refused the chance to go with them to America. And then a CIA agent poisons Jack!

I do think Torchwood is at its best when people are out to get them; that was one of the things that worked so well about Children of Earth. The idea that the authorities see them as a threat that needs to be taken out; it's not just the aliens they are fighting, but humanity themselves. The CIA agent is taken out a little too easily by Gwen though (Seriously, she's a CIA agent and all Gwen has to do is land a single punch in the face?). It would have also been nice to have seen a little more of Rhys, who only appears briefly at the beginning.

Apart from that though, this was a really interesting episode. I'm loving the exploration of immortality, and the questions this Miracle Day plot is already posing, such as whether suicide would still exist, and the stuff about food shortages because people are living longer is fascinating.

As is the stuff with Oswald Danes, played superbly by Bill Pullman. It shows how unusual this world is, that this convicted peadophile and murderer is invited onto a news programme for an interview, and that such an obviously distasteful interview is deemed appropriate to air. It's like humanity has just become so obsessed with this notion of living forever and what it means for somebody who was serving a life sentence when a 'life sentence' suddenly gained no meaning, that that fascination overrides any thoughts about the victims' families and friends. When faced with an impossibility, we give into our selfish nature and our curiosity takes over.

I'm intrigued to find out what the deal is with the woman who keeps showing up and flashing her card, first to Oswald and then to Vera. There's something fishy about her for sure.

Rendition is the second part of Miracle Day, which I will be reviewing piecemeal to avoid getting fatigued over the thing. This episode is tightly paced and has some fun moments as Torchwood heads on over to America. It's some good action and great set-up for the story to come, even if the rest of the series wouldn't always deliver on that. Not the best but far from the worst, especially for this particular show.

They have built up a nice concept, and I like the claustrophobia of spending most of episode 2 on a plane, but even for Torchwood some of this is intolerably silly. Developing an antidote mid-air using what’s available on a plane on the advice of Doctors pulling ingredients out of the air… that’s ridiculous. And the CIA assassin was ridiculous. High drama this is not.