 |
| The 456 descend on Thames House. (Children of Earth: "Day Three") ©BBC |
In story terms, however, "Day Three" continues to make Children of Earth required viewing. There's a slight sense of breathing room for the Torchwood team, now that they're not actively trying to get their fellow members away from the government. Johnson is still monitoring their phones and things (that's how they find out that Alice is Jack's daughter), but they do seem to be a bit safer than they were yesterday. This means they can be a bit more proactive, as they spend much of the day stealing the things they need to help figure out what exactly is going on with the children around the world. That gets them set up to get eyes inside the top floor of Thames House (where the 456 has landed), thanks to the help of Lois, who starts wearing the special contacts we saw in "Reset" so that Torchwood can see what's going on. These scenes are by turns fun (as we get a montage of our heroes stealing things like credit cards and laptops and even a car) and tense (the negotiations between the 456 and humanity, as represented by Frobisher), but the common thread is that we're still completely invested in what's going on -- the 456 is as much a mystery to us as it is to the rest of the team.
Well, with the exception of Jack. He didn't make the connection until Gwen mentioned how Clement McDonald -- the old man who was there the last time the 456 visited -- had had his experience in 1965 Scotland, but when the penny drops and he realizes what's going on he becomes far more proactive. It's fascinating, watching him sneaking into Frobisher's home and grabbing Frobisher's wife's phone so that he can talk to Frobisher -- Jack feels like a dangerous man, even though he doesn't actually do anything more than call Frobisher. "Frobisher, tell me, is it them? Have they come back?" Jack asks. After Frobisher affirms it, Jack replies, "I demand to talk to the 456 myself. Think about it. The fact that they've come back proves that they can't be trusted. You need me." But Frobisher won't budge, and Jack's threats to take Frobisher's wife and two daughters (after he learns the government has Alice and his grandson Steven) end up somewhat empty: "Well, how about I go back into that house right now and get your wife? And your children?" Jack says. "Except you won't, because you're a better man than me," Frobisher replies. But while this scene comes to naught in terms of changing anything, it's one of the best moments of the episode, as we see Jack Barrowman and Peter Capaldi lock swords over this. It's great, seeing these two go at it, and even just over a phone you get the sense of powerful men sparring with each other.
But as I said, it comes to naught, and so we're left with just watching what's happening in the special room, as Jack comes back to Torchwood's temporary base, where Clement recognizes him as the man from 1965, and Jack reveals that they had given the 456 twelve children as a "gift" then -- and meanwhile, the 456 have announced that they want 10% of the world's children as another gift...