Miracle Day ep 4.

[elisi]

- Still shiny & American & nicely entertaining. (Feels a bit like 24 or similar, but with Torchwood-y guest stars.)

- Still zero thoughts, and no particular attachment to anything.

- Have decided that Jilly is my favourite though. (Amy icon in honour of her, what with the shared awesome ginger-ness!)

ETA: Rex's grumble at how Torchwood 'see it as a game' rather grated, to be honest. Not that I don't know what he means, but this is quite simply how they deal with things. This is their life. (Or was, and they slip easily into back habits.) They've watched all their friends die. They know the stakes far better than Rex does. And the way they deal is by treating it as a game, because otherwise they'd end up like Suzie and put a bullet through their brain, y'know?

Also, I'm really tired of Jack being a blank. It's a little like S1 all over again. I'm not THAT bothered, because I'm not really invested, but I'd like to know what's happened to him since we last saw him. Because currently I've got zero idea of what's going through his head.

(This brought to you by Thoughts In The Shower.)

Comments

[elisi]

Am on my way to bed, but re-watched ep 4 tonight (Darcy had not seen it) and...

*sneeeerK* Know your genre conventions!
On first watch (which was impeded by lots of family & children chatting) missed this statement by the Bad Guys:

"We are everywhere. We are always. We are no one. And soon the families will rise."

Fabulous, isn't it? I think I shall firmly forget about the 'Torchwood' label (a little hard, they mention it about every ten seconds) and just settled for genre entertainment.

Oh and:

Well, now you're pitting my love of conspiracy against my hate of RTD's leaden handling of Evil People Controlling Everything . . . I'm gonna end up watching this and throwing things, aren't I?
Oh go on go on go on go on go on go on go on ... ;)

ETA:
You are just so entertaining sometimes. That was a good movie, though. Although I'll be one of those people and say the book was much better.
I try my best. (It was the scene where Nightowl asks the Comedian who they're actually protecting people *from*, and the Comedian laughs and says: "Are you kidding me? From *themselves*!") I've not read the books (yet), but I will. Until then I have to settle for loving the film! *g*

I think otherness rarely strikes me as markedly . . . other. Or, at least, not of greater magnitude of otherness than your average human otherness.
Well I like it as a mirror for humanity, as a tool for exploring what it means to be human. A metaphor, you know? MD has... zero metaphors so far. OK, that's not true. Jack is reflected in both Oswald Danes and Rex, but...

Hahaha! Russel T. Davies?!?! I'm shocked! ; )
*snerk* Yes, I know. But still, he could have kept just a weevil or two. Heck, I'd be grateful for a Slitheen right about now... (Darcy and I were joking about this, actually, how it'd be fun if the Miracle was orchestrated by Ebil Alienz who wanted fresh hoomins to eat forever. We're a bit odd, did you know?) Also he - RTD - gets preachy. It's very watchable, but...

I'm having an amusing time imagining all the different things you might be implying by this statement.
*sticks tongue out* She's just by far the most interesting character so far (that is - morally ambiguous, without being a creep).

I was watching some season five the other day and marveling at how far we've come--and in, what, twenty episodes? It's so striking, though, to look from Moff ep to Moff ep and see the sorts of leaps he makes, not just in time but in tone and style . . . every episode something brand new. And there *is* a coherent narrative in there, but you do have to actively construct it <3
*much nodding*

I want answers! You know "Let's Kill Hitler" is going to be something totally different again, though . . .
I love that. So many curveballs!

[promethia_tenk]

Fabulous, isn't it? I think I shall firmly forget about the 'Torchwood' label (a little hard, they mention it about every ten seconds) and just settled for genre entertainment.
Hmmm, I think that would depend very much on context and outcome, but that does seem more promising than a mere corporate/government conspiracy. Trying to think of it not as Torchwood seems like a very good idea, though. I'm sure for what it is it's pretty good . . .

Oh go on go on go on go on go on go on go on ... ;)I've not read the books (yet), but I will. Until then I have to settle for loving the film! *g*
OMG, did you see the trailer when it came out? Even if you did, go watch it again cause you'll get so much more out of it. I still remember the first time I saw it, in a packed movie theater, before The Dark Knight--I think I was hyperventilating by the end, and so was everybody else, and then we all broke into applause and whooping. It really wasn't so much a proper movie trailer as it was a fanvid for the people who already knew the graphic novel. If you didn't know the material already, I can't imagine what you'd think of it . . .

Well I like it as a mirror for humanity, as a tool for exploring what it means to be human. A metaphor, you know?
Oh yes! I can see why it *would* be meaningful, it's just something that never quite gels for me. That said, it never bothers me either--it's just sort of there.

MD has... zero metaphors so far. OK, that's not true. Jack is reflected in both Oswald Danes and Rex, but...
This is my big issue with Sherlock--it's just so flat.

But still, he could have kept just a weevil or two. Heck, I'd be grateful for a Slitheen right about now...
HAhahahahaa! Oh god, don't say that too loud!

Darcy and I were joking about this, actually, how it'd be fun if the Miracle was orchestrated by Ebil Alienz who wanted fresh hoomins to eat forever. We're a bit odd, did you know?
Hee! I am on board for this plot development!

Also he - RTD - gets preachy. It's very watchable, but...
Yeah, this was the heart of Sepinwall's gripe, with the way that manifests in character motivations and cardboard bad guys and general heavy-handed story telling.

[elisi]

Hmmm, I think that would depend very much on context and outcome, but that does seem more promising than a mere corporate/government conspiracy.
rm has an interesting (flocked) post (written after seeing ep 4) where she says (amongst other things):

But the heavy-handed, not allegory, but echo of media response to AIDS is making me very, very angry.

Do you all remember all those TV movies about plague ships for AIDS victims so we'd understand how inhumane it was to put tattoos on people and put them in fenced compounds? There were a lot of TV movies like that when I was in high school, because there were a lot of politicians saying shit like that. You know the cops wore rubber gloves when ACT-UP protested at the White House during the Regan years; you know, in case touching the protestors gave them AIDS?

And all I can do is watch this episode and say, "Oh yeah, I've seen this story; and I've seen this story when it was political, not just in memory of the political. And it's a true story, in the sense of how people behave. But fuck you if I wanted to see it again."

It's like CoE - Torchwood made a vehicle for RTD's agenda. Which you know... His show. But it'd be better without that label.

OMG, did you see the trailer when it came out? Even if you did, go watch it again cause you'll get so much more out of it.
Oh I have watched (and re-watched and re-re-watched) that many, MANY times. Possibly the greatest trailer EVER. Gives me goosebumps. *flails* Also I found this icon last night and it's rather brilliant. ♥

Hee! I am on board for this plot development!
It won't be that though. Not INHUMANE enough. (I mean, they're setting up concentration camps now...)

Yeah, this was the heart of Sepinwall's gripe, with the way that manifests in character motivations and cardboard bad guys and general heavy-handed story telling.
Humans are fucked up, did you know?

[promethia_tenk]

It's like CoE - Torchwood made a vehicle for RTD's agenda. Which you know... His show. But it'd be better without that label.
Well, and yet in CoE I don't know that there was a very focused agenda, you know? It was strongly story/ideas-driven, and inevitably some of his favorite targets came away looking pretty tarred . . . but mostly it was messy. BSG was good at that too--it did sci-fi as political/social/historical allegory constantly, but it was very good at doing it in a loose way that could be alluding to many, many specific situations and in which it was nearly impossible to draw pat conclusions. It's sounding like MD isn't quite managing that . . . finesse?

Poor Torchwood--continually in the throes of growing pains.

Oh I have watched (and re-watched and re-re-watched) that many, MANY times. Possibly the greatest trailer EVER. Gives me goosebumps. *flails*
SO TRUE. I love when trailers reach the level of art <3

[elisi]

It's sounding like MD isn't quite managing that . . . finesse?
That's a good way of putting it. CoE was brutal, but it was also very Torchwood team centric, it moved quickly (both in story terms and how it was broadcast) and there was a sort of inevitability to everything - like watching a fire spread. MD is... like s big flood and you just sit there and wait to see who'll drown next. (It's 9am, I'm not sure my allegories are the best, sorry.)

Poor Torchwood--continually in the throes of growing pains.
Well it *did* grow up with CoE, but I always saw it as a bit of a catch-22? It grew up, but in doing so also destroyed itself. RTD is trying to put it back together, but it's not quite working.

SO TRUE. I love when trailers reach the level of art <3
Word.