Torchwood: End of the Road Review (3/5)

We're just two episodes away from the end of Torchwood: Miracle Day, and yet even as End of the Road comes to an eventful climax it's hard to shake the feeling that we're little closer to finding out who's really behind the Miracle and why they wanted to send our planet into chaos. The first twenty minutes are so are spent briefly reintroducing Angelo Colosanto, as his granddaughter Olivia reveals he's worked with the elusive Three Miracles to gain immortality, and then Angelo's swiftly written out thanks to an alien panel allowing the first human death in months. From there, the CIA take over, and this stop-point second act is easily what drags Episode 8 down the most- having Rex call in his organisation, only for Jack and Esther to beat a hasty retreat which results in the former character's surprising death, seems a convoluted way to move the main plot arc forward. Elsewhere, Oswald Danes tries to woo a prostitute, and once again Bill Pullman proves he's the best asset the series has gained in its move to America, a disturbingly pitiful antagonist whose storyline I'm sure has the potential to develop magnificently in the final two episodes. But sadly, this isn't the instalment for Danes to take big strides forward, and as such like so many elements of the episode- Jack's long winded 'panel talk' with Esther and Rex, his strangely unemotional reunion with Angelo (after all the build up in Immortal Sins, Jack barely cares about Mr Colosanto?), Gwen's weird phone call to the Coopers- feels pointless in context. This certainly isn't a bad episode, and it's nice to get answers to some questions and an intriguing cliffhanger, but I hope that the 'Two Months Later' move forward we've been promised by the next episode brings us some proper plot developments rather than a host of vague concepts and theories.