Here's a favourable sign of good horror: I dreamed of being in Torchwood's world of the non-dying last night. The new series is based around the premise that one day, everyone on Earth (with the exception of the previously immortal Captain Jack) doesn't die. This isn't a Hallmark kind of immortality -- what it means is that even people with horrible injuries like previously fatal burns or decapitations remain alive. Thanksfully, some of the more repulsive manifestations of this -- like the previously dead spontaneous abortions -- are only dicussed and not shown.
As usual, Russell T's main strengths are his characters. The most compelling for me are Lauren Ambrose's amoral PR girl who just says the most disgustingly cynical things, and Bill Pullman's repellant but fascinating child-killer. John Barrowman and Eve Myles remain wonderful as ever -- since the beginning, they've been the heart of the show. Their new American CIA sidekicks are okay, but they're still a clear level down from the stars and so far not as interesting.
But still, this Welsh show has lent itself well to a shift across the Atlantic, a move that doesn't seem too discordant with the previous season. The pace of this season is slower than in Children of Earth -- and last night's episode felt a little padded, especially with Jack's gratuitous sex scene with a barman. Gratuitous not because it was shocking, but because it felt randomly plonked there to fill some airtime. (The other sex scene between Rex and the doctor actually forwarded the plot.) But so far, Miracle Day's sustained the high standards I've come to expect since Children of Earth, and I'm already looking forward to subsequent horrors....
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