This is definitely the peak of Miracle Day.  A rough look at the extent of human depravity through a sci-fi lens on a level comparable to even the bleaker moments of Children of Earth, The Categories of Life feels like everything Miracle Day had been building to.  A solid, solid episode, marred only by the fact that the writers of this season simply didn't have enough story around this idea to fill ten episodes.  I contend this episode along with a few other gems are proof positive that if Miracle Day were only five episodes like Children of Earth, it would have been viewed just as fondly.  A real shame.  This story has a lot to say and really shows the horrors of a concentration camp in a new but mortifying lens.  I was surprised to learn Jane Espenson is the writer for this, in that she is a pretty big name, but it makes sense in that this is solid television.  As a major figure behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Battlestar Galactica, and co-creator of a personal favourite of mine, Warehouse 13, Espenson is a talented writer.  It's also cool that New Who was modelled on Buffy only for Torchwood to eventually get Buffy's best writer.

This was pretty fire. Pun intended.

Bloody hell, I know Torchwood has had its fair share of dark moments, but this episode is REALLY dark.

The concentration camps of people who should be dead is a truly horrifying concept, especially when you find out what the 'module' is where 'Level One' patients go. The burning revelation of what the 'Module' is really shocked me in just how ghastly and macabre it is. It seems in this new world there really are no limits as to what is or is not considered the 'right' thing to do.

The whole concept of the 'level' system brought to mind the current 'tier' situation of COVID 19 that our UK government has in place. It's a neat demonstration of how much these governments like to categorise, in order to shirt all moral responsibility. Just like with COVID we have areas that should be in lockdown which aren't, here we have people being taken to these camps and just left to suffer, with no visitors allowed or anything of that sort.

It what was great also to see Vera join Torchwood; I have been really enjoying that character. She is immensely likeable and charming, and I've been rooting for her to join Torchwood since I started watching Miracle Day. Rhys thankfully finally gets to join in on the action again himself, and with Gwen still in Cardiff it looks like there will be more of him helping out to come.

The man who gives Vera the tour of the concentration camp in L.A. must be easily one of the creepiest human villains in the Whoniverse. He's really disturbing to watch, and the actor who plays him Marc Vann does a brilliant job at playing such a creepy character.

Also: was that Ernie Hudson I spotted in the next time trailer? Did Ernie Hudson actually appear in Torchwood?

RTD promised in DWM around this time that the cliffhanger to episode 5 would shock me to the core, perhaps it would in another context, but all the plot developments are too convenient, too coordinated, too contrived. I’m just not able to believe this as a piece of fiction. Children of Earth this is not.