A Miracle, or the Day of reckoning for Torchwood?Opinions on the latest season of Torchwood, Miracle Day, are still wildly mixed half a year on from its broadcast, so with the release of the fourth series on DVD, I thought I'd watch through the run again and give my verdict on the set...
THE EPISODES
THE NEW WORLD (7/10)- A bold opening to the series if there ever was one, although The New World lost its focus between the American and British contrasts and started to show the shortcomings of the exchange which would plague the whole run.
RENDITION (4/10)- The less said about this tedious 'race against time' to save Jack on an airplane ride, the better.
DEAD OF NIGHT (9/10)- Easily one of the series' highlights, Dead of Night promised to bring us closer than ever before to the reality of the Miracle, even if later episodes proved its revelations to be red herrings. It featured one hell of a speech from Bill Pullman's antagonist to boot!
ESCAPE TO L.A. (7/10)- Another story where the Brit/American gags were taken that little step too far, and where very little actually happened to the main cast save for one or two minor arc developments.
THE CATEGORIES OF LIFE (9/10)- This episode really managed to pack a punch, revealing that the Category One patients of Miracle Day were being shipped to Auschwitz-esque ovens. Daring stuff!
THE MIDDLE MEN (5/10)- A weak conclusion to the Category One two-parter that focused totally on the '15-rated' parts of Torchwood with its excessive violence and gore for the sheer sake of it.
IMMORTAL SINS (8/10)- Definitely a nice departure akin to those made for Jack in Series One-Three, this look backed at Harkness' past, and despite more reliance on gore than ever before, hit the right notes all the same.
END OF THE ROAD (6/10)- The series' writers seemed to be trying to buy themselves time by this point, throwing in random barriers and delays to stop the team reaching their destination before the finale. A weak time-filler that made terrible use of Angelo Colosanto's brief immortality.
THE GATHERING (6/10)- Another time-filler, this time made even worse by the treachery within the CIA remaining hidden for the entire hour, once again making for tedious viewing.
THE BLOOD LINE (8/10)- Thankfully, the season ended on a high with The Blood Line, wrapping up many of its major plot threads in relatively successful ways. Nevertheless, that so much was still left open and we're now left yearning for a movie to close the series in 2013 is a bad way to go.
THE EXTRAS
A pretty weak roster of bonus material here- some Character Files are included, but these must have been essentially promo advertisements over in America leading up to the series' launch to update newcomers on Jack and Gwen's lives, while the Web of Lies motion comic is just plain useless with regards to its 'parallel timeline' to Miracle Day. Other than those, there are a few Commentaries and Trailers, yet nothing really worth spending your cash on if you've already got the episodes taped.
THE VERDICT
The latest season, then, has sadly turned out to be the worst so far- Torchwood: Miracle Day has its high days, but boy oh boy, does it have its lows too, and when you reach them, you will know. The extras on the set aren't substantial enough to warrant those of you who've already taped the episodes buying them again, so only get this set if you missed the series or are a diehard fan.
No comments:
Post a Comment