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Saturday 10 September 2011

EXCLUSIVE Torchwood: The Blood Line Spoiler-Free Review (5/5)

Torchwood: Miracle Day has rested a lot of fans' hopes on its finale, building up very slow-burning plot threads throughout the ten episode season, and quite frankly I was worried the finale The Blood Line wouldn't live up to our expectations, even with showrunner Russell T Davies back and sharing the writing limelight with Jane Epenson (who's already given us Dead of Night, The Categories of Life, Immortal Sins and End of the Road, the former two amongst my favourite episodes of Torchwood so far)...turns out my fear was unnecessary. Episode 10 is by far the best instalment of this year's run, never letting up the ante in its fifty minute running time and providing perfect closure for every character who's either been with Torchwood since its inception or was introduced this series. It's thrilling (Davies' huge globe-spanning setpieces that helped him revive Doctor Who in 2005 are back in full force here), disturbing (wait until you hear Oswald's final speech of the season), heartbreaking and so much more, taking the best elements of Miracle Day and combining them for a huge and masterful piece of television. You won't necessarily be happy with all of the character resolutions, but what's great about that is it won't be because the resolutions are shallow and unfulfilling, rather because you will have grown so accustomed to seeing the menagerie of main characters (Jack, Gwen, Rex, Esther, Oswald) that when more than one of them bites the dust in spectacular fashion, you'll be so attached you just won't want to see them go. I haven't been able to say that about many on-screen deaths in a drama for a while, and it certainly wasn't a statement I thought I'd be levelling at Miracle Day anytime soon! I shan't say anymore for fear of spoiling things for you all next Thursday, however I can tell you that Russell T Davies intentionally sews seeds here throughout for the inevitable fifth season, even going so far as to end on a classic cliffhanger which simply begs for more Torchwood to be commissioned by Starz and BBC Worldwide. I wouldn't have said that based on last week's episode the show deserved a new lease of life, but now based on The Blood Line, I don't want to live in a world where there's no more Torchwood on the way! Here are a few teasers of what you've got to expect in five days time...
1. "The nicest man in the world- and today's the day I kill him."
2. Jack's blood is, as you'd imagine, vital to the entire episode!
3. Jilly Kitsinger plays a bigger role than usual...
4. ...as does Oswald Danes- Bill Pullman is without doubt the star of the show for the season as a whole, but Eve Myles and John Barrowman match him stunningly this week.
5. What must Jack do to stop the Blessing? What will happen to Rex, on the verge of death but kept alive by the Miracle, when death returns? Can Gwen's father be saved? All is revealed...

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