It's odd; on the one hand there's a sense of finally getting somewhere with the storyline, as we learn about the Families and the Blessing, but on the other hand I'm not sure we actually learn much of anything new by the end of the episode. Well, I mean we've learned a lot of things -- Angelo had been watching Jack from afar all this time, those three men forming a partnership for control of Jack maintained their relationship as the Families, Angelo's worked out a way to die, Charlotte Wills is working for the Families -- but there's little here in the way of major revelations. Or, to put it in
Doctor Who terms, we're eight episodes in and we're still basically in part two of a four-part story.
There are some nice moments here -- the picture of Jack with a moustache is particularly great, and I like the way CIA official Allen Shapiro (John de Lancie, probably still best known as Q from various
Star Trek series -- so yes, another well-known genre actor) immediately takes charge from the second he appears. This is a man who will brook no nonsense and doesn't care who knows it -- the way he has Gwen deported just to get what he wants, without a second thought, is a perfect example of this. And it really is special how Jack slowly comes to the realization that no, Angelo really is dying from old age, in defiance of everything we know about this new death-free world.
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Esther and Rex listen to Jack as he operates the null field
panel. ("End of the Road") ©BBC Worldwide, Limited |
Of course, this leads to the big moment at the end. Halfway way through the episode, it finally looked like Torchwood would have to stop running, as Shapiro seemed willing to listen without locking them up or killing them. (Well, except for the "deporting Gwen" thing, but that was to gain leverage against Jack.) But then they discover the null field generator panel thing -- "I knew this stuff the second I saw it," Jack tells Rex and Esther. "Yes, it's alien technology. The only examples of it on Earth were in the Torchwood hub. They were buried in the ruins. ... [Angelo] must have salvaged it, knowing the Miracle was coming" -- and Jack knows he has to head out on the run with the piece that makes the generator work, lest it fall into the wrong hands, as the generator could give people "control over life and death, and we've seen that that doesn't work." So it's back to being a fugitive for Jack and Esther -- although Jack's been shot while trying to escape, so that might go badly in the next episode.
But despite things like this, we don't actually learn much. We confirm that those three men making the agreement are behind the Miracle and that they're known as the Families, and we learn that their last names are Ablemarch, Costerdane, and Frines (and that they've been incredibly good at erasing those names from all records), and that the Miracle is tied to something called the Blessing -- which might be related to Jack but isn't actually his blood. And that's really about it. It's an entertaining episode, and it does feel like they're finally getting this story back on track, but those hoping to learn what's really going on will have to wait.
