Miracle Day ep. 10

[elisi]

Bullet points because I'm too tired to write proper thoughts.

- *headdesk repeatedly*

- Gwen was awesome and Jack was pretty (and even had a good Jack-moment)

- (No headdesking over those points)

- So SLOW

- *headdesk repeatedly*

- So RIDICULOUS (and not in a good way)

- *headdesk repeatedly*

- HOW - considering that he INVENTED IT - can RTD NOT UNDERSTAND how Jack's immortality works???

- *headdesk so many times there's a dent in my head. And in my desk*

- At the end, Darcy and I agreed that it'd be more interesting if everyone had turned into doughnuts (apart from Jack - he'd be a cream puff).

- Miracle Day: The Whoniverse equivalent of the Star Wars prequels. And for the same reasons. (And yes, I know some people love them. I am sure there are good points, they - and MD - just didn't work for me.)

ETA: Personal canon: The crack ate Miracle Day.

Comments

[unfeathered]

It really was ridiculous, wasn't it? And slow.

But yes, some very nice Jack moments. And Gwen. And Rhys. Hell, even Andy, bless his cotton socks.

I guess that's that, then. Still don't have a clue what was going on, or when the Angelo episode was set, didn't get much character development. Pretty meh.

[elisi]

But yes, some very nice Jack moments. And Gwen. And Rhys. Hell, even Andy, bless his cotton socks.
Pus, none of those 4 died. That had me worried.

I guess that's that, then. Still don't have a clue what was going on, or when the Angelo episode was set, didn't get much character development. Pretty meh.
I just... So much potential. So little payoff.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

it'd be more interesting if everyone had turned into doughnuts

Kaaaaaark! (Or the doughnut equivalent thereof.)

[bobthemole.livejournal.com]

Mbbbbppfffff!

[elisi]

Kaaaaaaaark!

[calapine.livejournal.com]

At the end, Darcy and I agreed that it'd be more interesting if everyone had turned into doughnuts

Both delicious and making JUST AS MUCH SENSE.

[elisi]

/o\ Makes me sad.

[promethia_tenk]

I am laughing so hard right now. It's just . . . it's like looking in a mirror. That is my exact reaction to, oh, most every other RTD finale. (How does that work? TV is a mysterious thing.) Anyway, welcome to my world *hands you aspirin and an ice pack*

Personal canon: The crack ate Miracle Day.
I am ok with this. It is what the crack is for, after all. But I need Gwen to remember shooting Jack. Because that was amazing.

[promethia_tenk]

Tell me you can see the potential DW parallels, though? With Jack looking into the Blessing World Vagina and realizing that, on balance, actually he'd done pretty good, and then being ready to die, and Gwen being like "I've got this" because she is hardcore now but also Gets It (god, if it's not Amy in that suit, and then I'm gonna be so confused), and then everything being magically alright again, and then suddenly Jack was not the Last of the Immortal Guys.

. . . I hope that doesn't suggest Jack/Rex is gonna be a thing. *fumbles for brain bleach*

[elisi]

I am laughing so hard right now. It's just . . . it's like looking in a mirror. That is my exact reaction to, oh, most every other RTD finale. (How does that work? TV is a mysterious thing.) Anyway, welcome to my world *hands you aspirin and an ice pack*
Thanks. I can cope with almost any amount of crack, as long as the characters ring true, but this was so slow and silly that I just didn't care.

I am ok with this. It is what the crack is for, after all. But I need Gwen to remember shooting Jack. Because that was amazing.
Oh I'm sure that she will. She's been exposed to enough timey-wimey shenanigans to remember.

[rothas-writing.livejournal.com]

Now that it's on the Iplayer - and I spent all week playing catch up - I'm about to watch it. Ugh, having seen your review, good luck to me, eh?

On a hopefully more cheerful note I bring you Roda's new timeline, including Alex (with reference) and an OC from another friend (with reference) and at this moment in time, still within a timeline pre-Children of Earth/Miracle Day. http://the-redjay.livejournal.com/186287.html

[rothas-writing.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear Gods. I could stand it, but I've just sat and yelled into my pillow THAT IS NOT HOW JACK WORKS!!!!

[elisi]

On a hopefully more cheerful note I bring you Roda's new timeline
Oooooh neat!

[ladypeyton.livejournal.com]

Miracle Day: The Whoniverse equivalent of the Star Wars prequels.

Does that mean that Rex is JarJar Binks? Because I'd be on board with that.

[elisi]

Oh I like Rex. Also he's smart and competent (a RARE quality in TW), so not at all JarJar. *pets Rex*

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

HOW - considering that he INVENTED IT - can RTD NOT UNDERSTAND how Jack's immortality works???

He probably could come up with a theory, but I think it was a deliberate choice that neither Jack nor the audience know what the Blessing is and what exactly happens to Jack, or why.

I always thought Jack's immortality was essentially a metaphor for the mystery of existence, and the ending of MD reminded me of green_maia's post about how the universe was bigger than the Doctor in RTD's DW, and the discussion that ensued... Jack told Oswald Danes that he regretted he'd never see the future Jack knew, because then he'd realise how small he'd made his life. Oswald Danes and the families wanted control over life and death, although for different reasons, while Jack in the end submits — to the Blessing, to death, to the inexplicable and mysterious.

[elisi]

He probably could come up with a theory, but I think it was a deliberate choice that neither Jack nor the audience know what the Blessing is and what exactly happens to Jack, or why.
These things happen when you're on a Hellmouth... Yeah. It just annoys me incredibly much. And I think it's lazy. (Sorry. It made me grumpy.)

Oswald Danes and the families wanted control over life and death, although for different reasons, while Jack in the end submits — to the Blessing, to death, to the inexplicable and mysterious.
Yes, Promethia also pointed this out above (and how this applies to the current season of DW, although it also fits with the Doctor sacrificing himself to the crack in S5) - I appreciate that, I really do, and Gwen shooting Jack was just lovely. Mostly the stupidity of the plotting got to me:

I always thought Jack's immortality was essentially a metaphor for the mystery of existence
I can understand that, but if you change the way something works in the middle of the story it really undermines everything. I mean - just look at how cross people got when River said that the vworp vworp sound was because the Doctor left the brakes on. And that was a jokey throwaway line. This is a massive, massive continuity break. (The concept of the soul in the Jossverse was often used to illustrate whatever the writers wanted it to, but there was still a basic, overall consistency.)

(Didn't mean to grumble at you - I truly appreciate that you manage to find meaning in it, and wish I could do the same. RTD's themes are just only my cup of tea in certain circumstances...)

[bobthemole.livejournal.com]

There was so much crack that the ass-crack of the world choked on it.

The good things about MD:

Every scene with Gwen. I love her so much more than I did in earlier seasons. Most Badass Women (TM) in fiction can be unrelatable because their badassery comes from chosen-ness or solemn duty or super-powers. Gwen's badassery comes from exasperation with the status quo and hard-earned experience.

All the Welsh actors. All the scenes in Wales. I did wonder where all the Weevils went.

Anwen and the sheer GLEE on her face when Mummy and Daddy pulled out the heavy artillery.


The bad things:

It was "Plot? What plot?" with barely any porn. How does that happen?


The face-palm moments:

Every single time John Barrowman tries to Emote and looks like he has menstrual cramps.

Also every time JB picked the least appropriate inflections for his line delivery.

Still love the man. Still giggle at him.

[elisi]

There was so much crack that the ass-crack of the world choked on it.
Word.

The good things about MD:
Agree v. much on all of these - esp. Gwen.

It was "Plot? What plot?" with barely any porn. How does that happen?
I don't know. :( (Well TW was never brilliant with plot, but this was ten endless hours... I think, actually, that it was the anti-CoE. CoE was so taut and sharp and just dragged you along, heart in mouth. This killed all my excitement.)

Still love the man. Still giggle at him.
Oh I ADORE him. AA Gill had a lovely review (*cough*) where he remarked that he couldn't for the life of him work out how JB had ended up in Serious Sci-Fi, and figured that JB didn't really either, coming across as constantly, pathetically, grateful to have escaped a lifetime in musical theater... ;)

[stlscape.livejournal.com]

Re your face-palm moments, I wasn't impressed with anyone's acting, for the most part, and I have been with the TW actors sometimes, so I'm thinking that a lot of *my* acting face-palm moments may have been due to the director, and not the actors.

I did get a bit tired of Gwen pulling out another Super!Spy!Skilz episode after episode, when she didn't have them at the end of COE, and MD (based on Anwen's size) began about 9 months after Jack left earth in COE. (But I've never liked the character, from the very first time I saw her in S1.)

And the whole Jack's immortal/not immortal makes my *headdesk* go *headdesk*. Jack's *always* been mortal, so his blood is mortal all the time. He dies, so when the Blessing made everyone immortal, Jack should have been made immortal too. ::checks blood pressure and shuts mouth::

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the most recent episode (and possibly the one before that) yet. Should I bother? For the lulz?

[elisi]

It... is (almost) as crack-tastic as s8 (although not offensive, hurrah for awesum wimmins!), so yeah, for the lulz. :)

ETA: OK, not completely inoffensive - there's some good, some bad.

[owlboy]

(larfs at everyones pain, like an awful person)

[elisi]

I just... WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?

(Someone in a different post wondered if time-line-wise this was the same summer Amy and Rory spent in Leadworth waiting to the Doctor to find baby Melody... It would be a rather lovely explanation for why they're still travelling with him. Back home they were shoving people into ovens... *rocks back and forth* The crack ate it, the crack ate it, the crack ate it...)

[silverusagi]

HOW - considering that he INVENTED IT - can RTD NOT UNDERSTAND how Jack's immortality works???

GAH, I KNOW.

[elisi]

SOMEONE SLAP HIM! *sadface*

[debris4spike]

I didn't really like season 3 ... well, I liked it but didn't think it was "Torchwood", as such ... the same can be said for Season 4.

I liked both seasons, but to me they were completely different to Seasons 1& 2.

[elisi]

I thought S3 was utterly brilliant, but yes, very very different. (RTD even talked about how he felt he had cannibalised his own show, which was very true.)

This was different again. Like... they took away almost everything that made CoE brilliant, and didn't put anything else in its stead. Thank goodness for Gwen.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

You see, I'm fine with Rex turning immortal, because the theme was about balance in everything--which would ultimately have to include Jack, too. How much of Jack's pain was because he knew he was the only immortal in existence? Even the Doctor's gotta die for real sometime. So by having an immortal playmate (*snerk*), he no longer needs to bear an overwhelming burden--what's the saying, "Better with two"? :-P Also, Rex himself is a polar opposite of Jack in many ways.

HOW - considering that he INVENTED IT - can RTD NOT UNDERSTAND how Jack's immortality works???

Why do you think they never explained how the Blessing worked? Jack's immortality was an unintentional effect of Rose bringing him back to life, so as I see it, Rex's immortality was an unintentional effect of the Blessing's reversing immortality. There's a kind of symmetry there.

Oh well. At least it's over?

[elisi]

You see, I'm fine with Rex turning immortal, because the theme was about balance in everything
I can see it, but it still hits all my annoyed buttons. I don't expect a lot of logic from RTD, but he just seemed to go 'Oh and then Rex is immortal because - I say so!' It just feels cheap? Jack was a cosmic accident borne out of Rose's love. This was just an accident. One one which doesn't make sense. *grumblegrumblegrumble* (Don't mind me, but this is hitting all of my Buffy s8 buttons and I don't react well to that. At least I was paid to read that. With this I just feel like my intelligence has been insulted, and I never even got any quality crack. The Giant World Vagina doesn't count.)