“Because most women that bitter have slept with you.”

–Shapiro, explaining why he assumes Rex has slept with Gwen

While far from perfect—and nowhere near as fun as its parent show’s season premiere—”End of the Road” is a lot closer to what I expected from Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Title: “End of the Road”

Cast and Crew

Written by Ryan Scott and Jane Espensen
Directed by Ryan Scott

John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness
Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper
Mekhi Phifer as Rex Matheson
Alexa Havins as Esther Drummond
John de Lancie as Shapiro
Wayne Knight as Brian Friedkin
Lauren Ambrose as Jilly Kitzinger
Bill Pullman as Oswald Danes
Marina Benedict as Charlotte Wills
Nana Visitor as Olivia Colasanto
Kai Owen as Rhys Williams
William Thomas as Geraint Cooper
Sharon Morgan as Mary Cooper
Tony Strauss as Jonathan Spencer
Constance Wu as Shawni Yamaguchi
Constance Dean Brown as Sarah Drummond
Teddy Sears as Mysterious Nordic Guy

Additional cast and crew information may be found here.

Premise

Jack finds Angelo alive and in possession of alien technology, but he’s not quite the link to the Miracle that we were led to believe. We’re reminded that Oswald Danes is a creep, discover Jilly Kitzinger is being scouted, and see that the producers have cast another Star Trek alumnus. The CIA intervenes, Torchwood returns to being almost-legitimate, and they discover the names of the mysterious families behind the Miracle:Ablemarch, Costerdane and Frines.

We learn at the last moment the CIA has a mole they haven’t whacked.

High Points

Miracle Day has me engaged again, though several of the problems in this episode get resolved rather easily in order to set up for the final episodes.

John de Lancie brings a breath of fresh and witty air to the show.

Low Point

Easy resolutions, the contrived removal of Gwen Cooper, and the variable competence of the CIA, all annoyed me to varying degrees. An entire room full of trained agents don’t realize the Torchwooders—whom they don’t really trust—have gone on mute?

The Scores:

Originality: 4/6 The last two episodes have thrown unexpected developments at us.

Effects: 5/6

Story: 4/6

Acting: 5/6 The episode boasts some fine performances by guest cast/new characters. Was it just me, however, or was Nana Visitor’s portrayal a little flat?

Emotional Response: 4/6 I enjoyed this episode, but I find my response blunted, because it took so much slogging for Torchwood to get here.

Production: 6/6.

Overall: 5/6 Could they have done anything more to make Danes creepy and annoying? Classification O is too good for him.

Overall, the best episode since the last one. After too little too often, the show finally appears to be going somewhere.

In total, “End of the Road” receives 33/42