“Torchwood: Miracle Day,” Episode 6

Episode 6

I LOVE THE NEW VERSION OF SKYPE: Eve Myles (on-screen), John Barrowman
I was late to watch the previous week’s episode, “The Categories of Life,” so I missed the recap. Which is just as well, because I mostly hated it, but I found the latest, “The Middle Men” to be an improvement. Still, the new one reminded me of how much “Miracle Day” fails to live up to Children of Earth,” “Torchwood’s” superb, shocking five-episode third season. I’ll elaborate on that in a minute.


In a twist, the episode begins with a new character, Winston Zeddemore Stuart Owens, the chief operating officer of giant, evil pharmaceutical company PhiCorp. Owens seems to be having an affair with his secretary, but PhiCorp may not be all that evil after all. Owens wants to get to the bottom of some of the Miracle Day-related shenanigans, and he asks an operative in Shanghai to investigate some murky real estate holdings. On the news in his office, we learn of a Hemlock Society-type group called “The 45 Club,” which suggests that the only way for the suicidal to permanently lose consciousness, in a death-free world, is to leap off a building higher than 44 stories.


We see Owens’ man in Shanghai sneak around a dark alley that could be the Chinatown set in any action show, and he sees something on the other side of a fence. But he talks to Owens, the guy denies seeing anything important right before he jumps off we can only assume is the top of a 45 floor skyscraper.