Rate Torchwood: Miracle Day Episode 9 "The Gathering"

Angelo was a red-herring.  The CIA are now involved.  And we still have the families Ablemarch, Costerdane and Frines to be met, at least in the present.  Gwen has been deported back to Wales.  And Oswald Danes is now on the run, as his handler about to receive "the blessing".  The stage is set for the penultimate episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day.  

So, what did you think of episode 9?

As is normal procedure, this thread will remain locked until North American transmission of the episode on STARZ, roughly 11:00 PM Eastern Time.

Jack's blood can crawl across the floor by itself. That alone is worth seeing.

We finally got our first glimpse of The Blessing. And was definately nothing like what I was expecting. Remember the old jokes as a kid about digging a hole to China? Well, there's apparently no need to do that, as one already exists: a fissure from Shanghai to Buenos Aires. And it resembles, after a fashion, the untempered schism. I don't mean merely in appearance- this is, after all, a hole in the Earth, rather than a rip in the fabric of space-time. But it seems to have a similar effect on those who view it.

Watching Jilly react to it, and hearing her say it's shown her she was right, was actually rather disturbing.

Now, the plot line with Gwen's father became rather silly. Okay, she's managed, a couple of episodes ago, to get him out of the Wales module for Category 1's, and it just so happens that her dad has been spending his waning days in the basement, in a secret room. This episode starts two months after the events of the last episode, so why is it now, all of the sudden, there's a government official who springs not one, but two surprise raids on Gwen's residence? Hasn't he got anything better to do?

That two month interval between episodes 8 and 9 has also produced something of a surprise: apparently, a wounded Jack and Esther have managed to smuggle themselves into Scotland. And the man who readily admits he has the most recognizeable face on the planet, Oswald Danes, has managed to get himself out of the US and into Britain, conveniently in time for the second raid on the Cooper residence. It'd be nice to learn how he did that.

This story did have some nice touches to it: watching Rhys figure out that Shanghai and Buenos Aires were at exact opposite ends of the planet on an inflatable globe was cute. Please tell me that inflatable globe is a toy for the baby, though. And seeing Rex piece together the history of The Families from, of all things, a mid-30s pulp novel, was great fun.

I'll say this for it, this episode definately got me hooked to see what happens with the concluding episode. 4/5.

Your post about sums up my view of the episode, good and bad. I gave it a 4 as well.

Spoiler:

Patrick wrote:

Spoiler:

No doubt. Hrmph, some victory.

With just one episode remaining, I find myself in absolute agreement with a certain Fast-Living Admin; that what this series sorely needed was at a decidedly more hands-on attitude when it came to the scripting stakes from a certain Russell T Davies. Because what we’ve had – while enjoyable – could and should have been so much more.

OK, I have issues with this episode.

They started the moment we had "two months later". As some of you may know, I loathe that sort of thing. It's a cop out followed by info dumps. If you want to move the narrative forward then do a Children of Earth: Week One, Week Two etc.

And I know it has had plot holes from the start - but honestly. When did old 2 up 2 downs in Swansea have large cellars ? For sure no.27 is dimensionally transcendental. And there's loads more nonsense plus massive plot leaps with nothing in the middle. One minute they're in Swansea, next thanks to some old Torchwood gun running route they're in Shaghai - even though China is closed.

Some good bits allow me to score this 2/5.

At least I'm now ready to watch the final episode on UK premiere, the first time all series!