Torchwood Miracle Day: Episode 1

Well Torchwood is finally back, with 'Miracle Day'. Boasting a bigger budget and a high concept idea on a truly global scale, many people have been calling it a 'Rollercoaster ride', but how does the first Episode meet with that idea? Well although the shows scale and format has changed I thought it was a pretty fun idea that was chock full of interesting stuff. Highlights for me were the gruesome Autopsy scene, Gwen going to see her Dad in hospital and that action packed finale (which showed off its bigger budget with style). Yes it's been Americanised, but seen as an American broadcaster is now half running the show you can't expect it all to be set in England now, can you? Just because America features heavily doesn't mean the show has changed at all, its just moving location. Besides, you can't expect all of the big world threatening events to happen in England now, can you? I think its quite cool to see the show's (Doctor Who included) starting to globalise your audience, because everything seems to be centered around Britain these days. This story needs to be global, no MASSIVE what with the so called 'Miracle' happening and all. Although I will criticise some of that American 'LETS BLOW CRAP UP' attitude being heavingly added to Torchwood, the bit when they blew that Helicopter up with a bazooka was a biiiit pushing it (but it was cool I suppose). The new characters are all Americain as well, and some of them don't have alot of Story yet (particulary Esther) but we've got nine Weeks to build on them, the first Episode has the tricky task of setting everything up for the rest of the season and had to juggle alot of stuff around. But hey, for the first Ep it was pretty entertaining throughout. Bill Pullman's character was extremely off-putting, I mean that guy has done some really sick stuff, but what has he got to do with the main storyline so far? He seemed a bit disjointed from the rest of the Story and so far feels like a meaningless addition that had no purpose whatsoever in the grand scheme of things. 

I found the Miracle part to be extremely interesting, and it looks like they're going to milk it for all its worth. Doctor Who would have glossed over it in a 45 minute episode that barely would have touched upon all these different consequences and merely hinted at them. Torchwood now has a whole series to look at the bigger picture of this world changing event and it doesn't seem to hold back so far. No doubt we'll get more than a few Zombies over the coming Weeks...   

Oh and one more thing, JACK IS BACK! It was so nice to see Gwen and Harkness finally encountering one another at the end, but smiling at each other while two army guys were being roasted alive inside that helicopter did seem a bit out of character for those two. And the fact that nobody can die makes it even more unsettling. Still it was nice to see the old team (or what was left of it) back together again, even if it was only for a few brief moments at the end.

So while it was Americanised a tad too much for some peoples liking, I found the first Episode of Miracle Day to be a nice re-introduction to Torchwood, even though it isn't 100% perfect (yet). The show has alot of potential left in this 'Miracle Day' idea.