Torchwood: S04E01 - The New World

After 2009’s epic ‘Children of Earth’, the latest installment – ‘Miracle Day’ – likened only to relighting that of a long-dead fire, and with financial backing from the American channel Starz, it seemed set that series four of Doctor Who spinoff, Torchwood was only going to alienate and distance itself from the fans it had gathered since it’s first series. Or so it was to be believed…


When the BBC decided to cut back on shows like Torchwood (and indeed Who – a one year break, honestly!), only commissioning a run of a bleak five-episode series back in mid-‘09, many of its viewers felt disheartened, even betrayed and Russell T Davies must have felt somewhat the same – heck, maybe it was one of the factors that eventually made him want to move to the U.S., I don’t know, but what IS known is the fact that, despite it’s single-week span, Children of Earth proved to be both outstanding and the bullet-point end of Torchwood’s reign on television (and after only two and a bit series’). It was done, accepted, finished.

Then, early last year, came the rumors of a completely American Torchwood, a re-launch financed by mass-US media mongrel, Fox. The re-launch seemed to be a serious consideration on the cards, and then nothing – Fox had dropped it and Russell said no more. Then, out of the blue, there was sudden confirmation, official news: Series Four! Now backed by newbie on the block, Starz, it looked set to be a weird and, yes, Americanized show, but with the foundation of the Welsh show at heart, especially with the essential castings of Kai Owens (Rhys), Eve Myles (Gwen) and of course Captain Jack Harkness himself, John Barrowman, and with Russell T and Julie Gardner still at the helm, it didn’t look as bad as the Fox re-launch had sounded. Yet still there was the matter of the concluding few minutes of Children of Earth to get by; Gwen and Rhys’ child, Jack’s leaving Earth and of course the Torchwood Hub’s destruction.


Not all were answered in Miracle Day’s first episode. In fact only two things were answered; that of the fate of Torchwood (disbanded, the Hub most likely gone) and the Williams’ own fate, with Gwen, Rhys and their child Anwen (Welsh, I know, but love the familiarity with Lord of the Rings name ‘Arwen’) living in the middle of nowhere in Wales, which I find somewhat extreme, just to remain safe from her past at Torchwood, then again, considering the fact that she’s the only surviving member of the team (discluding Jack, of course) it might be somewhat sensible in the bigger picture.

Of course, with that in mind, one has to look to the future, to Torchwood’s continuation and the two new members – though not official as yet – Ester Drummond (a very inquisitive young woman, similar to Gwen and one has to wonder if those two would clash at some point) and Rex Matheson (who is just plain stupid; leaving hospital a DAY after having a pipe removed from his chest and even getting a plane to England). Also one has to look at the main plot and physical villain, which leads me nicely to the wonderful Bill Pullman and his President-turned-Pedophile (okay, that was a lie but I just couldn’t resist the limerick in that phrase) character of Oswald Danes.


Pullman’s character is a very clever creation; not only is he the first survivor of the ‘Miracle Day’, but he also has brains, even after ‘recovering’ from the lethal injection (how much pain must Danes be in, seriously?), he realised that technically he couldn’t be held in prison any longer having served his sentence, even up to the injection – very good. Then there’s the Miracle Day thing to consider: what caused the human races’ mortal immortality, could it truly be alien, and who (or what) sent information on Torchwood to the American Central Intelligence Agency the moment the Miracle Day started?

Finally, let’s talk Captain Bollocks, also known as Jack. Suddenly mortal in an immortal world, he’s the only man who can die, so could it be possible that he holds the key to effectively save the human race from a fate of overpopulation, cannibalization and simply Hell? And can he survive long enough to fulfill said task? With nine episodes left, and the relocation to America for the old team, only Russell T Davies knows the true answer…


Now shall we go Who style? Oh hell yeah!

• Jack = 9/10 – Fantastic way to bring the character back! And I loved the reference to Children of Earth, with the bomb victim on the gurney, similar to Jack in Day Two of Series Three.
• Gwen = 9/10 – A brilliant way to bring her back too, still looking sexy and sassy with a gun and how cute is her daughter, Anwen, smiling through most of her scenes.
• Rhys = 9/10 – He’s the Torchwood Rory (or Mickey, though we love Rory more), by the means that in Series One we thought nothing of Rhys and now we love him. Everyone loves him and you HAVE to love Kai himself!
• Plot = 8/10 – Brilliant setup, fantastic beginning and one of the best ways to bring back the Torchwood team.

Rating for the episode: 9 out of 10; solid, with a strong script, excellent acting, slightly bad editing but fantastic effects to make up for it. Way to go Russell – see, we trust you with Torchwood, just keep a distance from Doctor Who. ;)