TV Review: Torchwood: Miracle Day – “End Of The Road”

As the season of Torchwood: Miracle Day begins to draw to a close, the Torchwood team uncover a terrible secret that could mean the end of the universe as we know it.  The various clues that have been dropped throughout the season begin to fall into place and it seems that we are finally getting to the bottom of the Miracle.

At the end of “Immortal Sins”, the Torchwood team seemed to get the upper hand against the people that had kidnapped Gwen’s family and forced her to turn Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) over to them.  The victory was short-lived as Olivia Colasanto (Nana Visitor) informed them that it changed nothing, that they would certainly want to leave with her as she could take them to the one person who could explain the Miracle: Angelo Colasanto.

“End Of The Road” opens at the plush Colasanto residence in Nevada, USA.  Ever conscious that this might just be a trap, Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins) remains outside, maintaining a communications link with Jack, Gwen, and Rex as they follow Olivia inside.  Jack asks if Angelo is still young, still alive and Olivia answers that yes, he is alive.  For those of us that fell in love with Angelo in “Immortal Sins”, our disappointment at seeing the bedridden and dying Angelo must mirror Jack’s own, as he was no doubt expecting a joyous reunion. 

Olivia explains that Angelo did not cause the Miracle but he did find a way to prolong his life.  She says that it started with three men, each representing a different family.  Jack remembers the three men that had stood before him, negotiating a deal, as he was repeatedly killed in “Immortal Sins”.  Olivia explains that they came to view Jack as the resurrection and this is why his blood was collected. 

Suddenly it all falls in to place and we realise that these are the very same families who proclaimed in the final, terrifying moments of “Escape to L.A.”, “we are everywhere, we are always, we are no one.  And soon, The Families will rise”.   The three families are identified as the Ablemarch, Costerdane and Frines families.

According to Olivia, Angelo was shunned by The Families but he did monitor them (as he monitored Jack throughout the years) and he uncovered significant events in 1998 relating to the Blessing.  This was the same set of events that Stuart Owens told Jack about in “The Middle Men”.  Whatever the Blessing was, the family found it.

Up to this point, the episode had seemed quite interesting, though I was disappointed that we did not have further opportunity to interact with the vulnerable and tragic Angelo Colasanto.  It then descended into chaos as Esther was attacked and the Colasanto residence surrounded by the C.I.A.  Enter Rex’s old boss Agent Brian Friedkin (Wayne Knight) who was responsible for burning Rex in “Rendition”, causing him to go on the run and join Torchwood.  It seems that Rex engineered this whole scene, earlier making a phone call to Vera Juarez’s family, knowing it would be traced.  Using the special Torchwood contact lenses, Rex extracts an admission of complicity from Friedkin which is broadcast on screens across the residence and witnessed by the “real” C.I.A. 

Article Author: Mandy Southgate

Mandy Southgate is a South African expat living and working in London. She finds it hard to concentrate on any one thing for any length of time and so runs three very different blogs on life in London and travel from there, media and entertainment and social justice and human rights. …

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