- Title: Torchwood: Miracle Day – The Middle Men
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As Rex (Mekhi Phifer) and Esther (Alexa Havins) discover the truth in the Los Angeles overflow camp Gwen (Eve Myles) and Rhys (Kai Owen) attempt go save her father from the same fate of Vera (Arlene Tur) and countless others who have deemed undesirables and burned alive in giant ovens.
The concentration camp metaphor is done without an ounce of subtlety (Gwen even uses the exact phrase to a doctor) and, although monstrous, it never has the insidious feel it should. This maybe because the reality of the situation isn’t really dealt with as the characters are forced to immeadiately move on to save their own lives and those of their loved ones.
While the rest of the team is merely trying to survive, Jack (John Barrowman) sits down with one of PhiCorp’s executives (Ernie Hudson) to try and figure out what’s really going on. Although his team is able to expose the situation to the world, Jack’s mission is far less successful as he realizes the conspiracy is far above the pay grade of even a PhiCorp muckety-muck. Much like the doctor (Marc Vann) Rex and Esther fight, he’s nothing more than a middle man.
Although the episode struggles at times it is able to keep a constant level of tension that’s almost palpable. Now more than halfway through the season I’ve already given up getting anything as good as Children of Earth, but this series, although flawed, has had its moments. I’m also a tad concerned on the episode’s final reveal of what has happened to Gwen’s family and where the storyline seems to be headed with the next episode.