Torchwood: Miracle Day

[altariel]

Right. Obviously Miracle Day is thoroughgoing bobbins (and rather bland and dull bobbins too), but last night's mad magic potion sequence made me feel fond of Torchwood for the very first time. Eve Myles the best thing in it by a country mile.

To my mind now obviously has nothing to do with SF/F any more, but has turned into action adventure with a hundreds-and-thousands sprinkling of technobabble. Seems to be feeling its way towards Burn Notice: small team of outcasts solving problem of the week with slightly preposterous use of whatever is to hand (Burn Notice obviously owing lots to The A-Team). But Torchwood nowhere near as savvy or well-crafted as Burn Notice. And Torchwood has nobody to compare with the Dream Team of Bruce Campbell and Sharon Gless.

To my complete surprise, I am going to watch episode 3.

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

To my complete surprise, I am going to watch episode 3.

"Democracy is the worst system of government, except for all the others"

[altariel.livejournal.com]

"This is the worst season of Torchwood, except for all the others."

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid no money in the world could make me watch any show completely centered around Gwennie-Sue. Having her taking screen time away from much more interesting characters in TW the Original was bad enough.

But again, it's a matter of taste, I guess. After all, I can't stand Sharon Gless, either.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I can't stand Sharon Gless, either

Ha! No, neither of these shows are for you!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I've learned to intensely dislike Sharon Gless while watching "Cagney and Lacey", back in the Stone Age. I loved that show and every single character it - except hers. But it took me unti Queer As Folk US to really, really hate her. Assuming we're talking about the same actress - I tend to mix up the names sometimes.

I started off liking Gwen in the Torchwood pilot, actually. But it didn't last. I just can't stand Mary Sues.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I didn't like her all that much in Cagney and Lacey either, but she's marvellous in Burn Notice (she plays the lead character's evil genius mother). I didn't see QaF US. She's the one in Cagney and Lacey with blonde hair and the awkward relationship with her father. Tyne Daly is the one with dark hair that's married. (Tyne Daly appeared in a recent episode of Burn Notice, which was fun.)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It *is* the same actress, then. I never watched "Burn Notice" - planned to, but German TV showed it at a time that wasn't convenient for me. So yeah, she's the one I don't like. I liked Tyne Daly a lot, though, but only in Cagney and Lacey. In "Judging Amy", she was a lot less likeable, although interesting. And Sharon Gless had a guest apperarance in that one.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I was the other way round with Gwen, I think - I found her dreadfully Mary-Sueish at first, but she developed into enough of a real character for me to tolerate, despite occasional slips back into specialness, by the second season.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree then, since I find her even worse in Season 2. (TW ends for my with S2, by the way) But that's okay. Life would be terribly boring if we agreed in everything.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, she did have a baby in November 2009, which explains why she looked so convincing as a recent mother...

It has suddenly occurred to me that I do have an icon more topical than Owen.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Aha, that would make sense...

Is the woman in the icon the PR character?

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Yes, Lauren Ambrose. Or Ms Morden, it has been suggested.

[muuranker.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not Torchwood, but it is McGuiver.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Never seen that one...

[muuranker.livejournal.com]

I probably misspelled it! Let me check ... ah, yes, MacGyver.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen that either! ;-)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

That's a shame! You missed Richard Dean Anderson disarm nuclear bombs with the help of paper clips on the weekly basis. Plus him being young and yummy, of course. Not that he weren't yummy with grey hair, mind you...

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

MacGyver and The A-Team were compulsory Saturday teatime viewing in our house When I Were A Lass...

[Wanders off whistling theme tune to the latter - why can't I remember the MacGyver theme?]

[muuranker.livejournal.com]

It was fun. The eponymous hero had an un-American quirk in that he Did Not Like Guns. Each episode saw him in a situation where he had to use science or engineering knowledge to escape the Terrible Situation.

Because of fear that, should you show young people that you can blow the doors off a barn using things found in a barn, they will imitate this at home on the farm, the solutions were often far from the obvious ones.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I didn't put down my knitting after all, but Eve Myles is the only person in it worth watching. Pity she's ended up in something so dreary and homogenised.

And apparently the devil is stalking the earth, proffering temptation in the form of a red-headed woman. There's lovely.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

And apparently the devil is stalking the earth, proffering temptation in the form of a red-headed woman.

They'll never take me alive.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know all that... but... it's Torchwood and I rely on huge helpings of WSoD (willing suspension of disbelief). It's Captain Jack after all. And while I would much prefer to see him reintegrated into Doctor Who I'll take Torchwood if it's all that's on offer.

Hmmm, actually, thinking about it, I'm not sure how Captain Jack and Eleven would be together onscreen. Maybe not the same chemistry as with Nine and Ten. Captain Jack and River Song, however would be fabulous together - maybe teamed up with Jenny (the Doctor's daughter).

Re Gwen. I like her. And she doesn't fit any definition of Mary Sue I've ever come across. Wish fulfillment for the writer? Hardly. For the audience? Definitely not.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know all that... but... it's Torchwood and I rely on huge helpings of WSoD

:-) I know I forgive sins that I simply wouldn't in any other show.

My real hope is for a spin-off series with Madame Vastra and Jenny (not the Doctor's daughter).

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Yes, the mad magic potion sequence was brilliant, and Eve Myles gave a bravura performance. I hadn't been a Gwen fan previously, but I am now. I was rather luke-warm about Miracle Day after the first episode, but this episode was much better. Still not up to the standard of Children of Men, though, which I thought was very well done.

I haven't watched Burn Notice, but the style and content of Miracle Day reminds me of Flashforward, though without such a large cast or convoluted plot (at least not yet). And like Flashforward, I'm having trouble making out some of the dialogue because of the actors speaking in the jumble that seems to have become fashionable.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Oops! For "jumble" read "mumble".

[manna]

I love Torchwood with unconditional devotion. At this point, I'm pretty sure there's nothing that will change that (bar Steven Moffat taking over, I guess). Torchwood is also the only show on TV where you start each new series with no idea of what it's turned into this time, which I assume is how RTD stops himself getting bored with it.

Also, they tested the ageing process of the unkillable humans by looking at their telomeres, and I went all giddy. Telomeres!