Torchwood: Dead of Night Review (5/5)

Finally stepping away from all the build-up of the lacklustre opening episodes, Dead of Night was a brilliant action romp that really felt like Torchwood was before moving to the US, an exciting adventure blending sex, gunplay and gags in a way that mother show Doctor Who never could. The story saw Rex, Jack, Esther and Gwen form as more of a team unit, discovering that the sinister PhiCorp organisation knew that the Miracle was coming and that an eerie group called the Soulless marched on the streets to protest against said blessing. It was certainly the little touches that made this one such a hit: Esther teaching Gwen the vocab of America, Jack's jokes being a 'little too gay' for Rex, and ultimately Jack's captivating confrontation with Oswald Danes- Bill Pullman just seems to flourish more and more in his intriguing anti-hero role every week- all came together to keep the audience enthralled throughout. This time around, the acting from all involved (even Mykhal Phifer as Rex) was spot on, and that brings me hope that in future instalments Miracle Day may come close to matching or topping Children of Earth, even if its first two instalments were decent rather than great. Testament to how much I was enjoying this episode was that when we hit the sixty minute endpoint, I had not realised that an hour had passed and was itching to see more, despite the climax not really being anything but a lead-in point for Episode Four. Previously, I was ready to see the episode end as the storyline had been overdrawn and lengthy, but that that's not the case now bodes really well for this season of Torchwood. I'm not saying Dead of Night is the best piece of television of 2011 so far, as it isn't, yet in comparison to previous stories this was absolutely pitch-perfect. At one point, Esther says that lemonade is "fizzy in the UK, flat in the US", to which Gwen replies "that just about sums all this up". Sadly, before now I would have said the same of Miracle Day, however now the show is on very promising form, and I simply cannot wait to see what's coming up next.