Doctor Who “The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe” Review

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE AND ALL OTHER CHRISTMAS SPECIALS

The Christmas Special as a concept is stuck in a weird catch 22 position, does it go for a intense, plot driven episode which is very much part of the overarching mythos or does it try a fluffier, more simplistic story?  The Doctor Who Christmas Special, despite only being in its seventh year has become enshrined as “traditional” now in the UK and Steven Moffat’s previous Christmas episode effort definitely favoured being “Christmassy” rather than just another episode that was the norm in RTD’s reign. This years effort was more of the same from Moffat’s preferred Christmas story telling, with “The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe” being a standalone, simplistic tale with and strong emotional core at its heart.

While the story itself was probably too simplistic for its own good, lacking in Moffat’s usual head scratching plot twists and favouring the crowd-pleasing ending of having Alexander Armstrong’s character being saved its emotional center and the outstanding cast carried the day to result in probably the most satisfying Christmas Special to date. It was funny yet heartbreaking without being maudlin, the story worked well and the effects work, particularly the wooden King and Queen, who were eerily effective.

The credit for the episode’s overall success must go to Claire Skinner as Madge Arwell, who was utterly compelling as a heartbroken mother desperately trying to keep Christmas sacred for her children and deal with the grief of cruelly losing her husband to war, she hit every note perfectly, in particular the scene where she is forced to witness her husbands death brought tears to my eyes. The two actors playing her children must also be recognized, I loved Maurice  as Cyril, being very believable as a kid mostly stunned into wide eyed silence. Matt Smith is always so good that these days you take his excellent performances for granted, the scene at the very end where he wipes away an all too human happy tear upon being reunited with The Pond’s was simply beautiful. If I have a complaint about the episode is that it almost seem to go by too quickly, the hour absolutely tore past at breakneck speed, Bill Bailey, Arabella Weir and Paul Bazely seemed to be barely on screen as the three tree harvesters from Androzani Major (a very pleasing shout out for us old hands, along with a lovely reference to the Forest of Cheem) and so it sadly seemed like a waste to cast them at all.

It is surprising, looking back on previous Christmas Specials how important they have been to the larger world of Doctor Who, take for example “The Christmas Invasion”, it establishes David Tennant as The Doctor, sees one of the first glimpses of Torchwood in action and prematurely ends Harriet Jones’ reign as Prime Minister, opening the door to The Master’s eventual take over of the world two seasons later. Even “A Christmas Carol”, on the face of it a fluffy modern interpretation of the classic Dicken’s tale has proven to be immensely important, establishing the eleventh Doctor’s willingness to use time travel to manipulate people to his own benefit and obliquely setting up The Silence, don’t believe me?  Go back and listen to Katherine Jenkins’ song at the end, doesn’t she say Silence a lot? In particular the line “when you’re alone/Silence is all you’ll know” seems pretty haunting in retrospect. So this being said what can we infer is coming for series 7? For me The Doctor’s assertion to Madge that he can’t feel as deeply as she does sticks out for as a possible future plot point, also the episodes underlying theme of motherhood and strength is ripe for further exploration, Amy Pond referring to River Song with a very maternal “shes a good girl!” is full of potential.

In summary, “The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe” was perfect Christmas fare, emotional and beautifully made and for us ubernerds, full of intrigue for the future as the long wait for series 7 begins.

Review: The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 5

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

 

Its an odd feeling of joy and sadness as I write this series of mini-reviews for The Sarah Jane Adventures as the show comes to an enforced end due to the untimely death of Elisabeth Sladen. The Sarah Jane Adventures was, for me at least, by far the most consistent and best of the Doctor Who spin offs and to say goodbye to such a fun, interesting and at times emotionally affecting show, and indeed its star is just cruel.

For those who maybe unaware of events leading up to this point, Elisabeth Sladen passed away on the 19th of April 2011 after a battle with cancer, due to her illness production on The Sarah Jane Adventures was split and three episodes (making up the first 3 installments of series 5) were filmed. Filming for the remaining three episodes was scheduled to begin in early 2011 but this was first postponed, then canceled as the BBC announced that with Lis Sladen’s death, The Sarah Jane Adventuress would be brought to an end.

So, lets have a look at the three episodes that make up the truncated series 5, firstly:

“Sky”: Something The Sarah Jane Adventures always excelled at was putting in scripts that entertained kids with bags of action and adventure while providing lots of little nods and plotting that will keep the adults in the room engaged too, “Sky” was a great example of that at work. To the kids this episode was another hour of Sarah Jane sorting out the baddies and gaining a new daughter, for the grown ups this was a Terminator pastiche with some lovely subtle comedic moments from Lis Sladen as Sarah Jane struggles to cope with first  a tiny baby who then turns into a 12 year old. Thats not to diminish the work of the rest of the cast,  Daniel Anthony (Clyde) and Anjli Mohindr (Rani) putting in their usual excellent turns. The episode itself is solid if not spectacular, the plot was pretty basic with the war between the Metalkind and the Fleshkind getting rather pushed into “B” story territory as the focus turned to Sky and her integration into the full time cast. If anything this episode almost had too much going on with Rani’s parents popping up for not much of a reason and the surprise reappearance of The Shopkeeper and The Captain hinting at a plot arc which would sadly go unfulfilled. I feel this episode was intended as a back door reboot of the series, introducing Sky and reestablishing Clyde and Rani’s roles within the show as they become surrogate aunt and uncle to her, a canny move on the part of the production team faced with a cast who in story terms are about to follow Luke out of Ealing and off to university.

“The Curse of Clyde Langer”: Its always a bit of worry when a kids show devotes an episode to ISSUES! In this case homelessness as Clyde, cursed via Portentous Sci-Fi Injury by a scary looking totem pole and is rejected by everyone who cares for him is forced to roam the streets of London. It came as a relief when the episode was a really strong one, Daniel Anthony was at his excellent best as Clyde and this episode acted as a wonderful showcase for the character. When we first meet him in “Revenge of the Slitheen” Clyde is very much a stereotypical secondary school clown and slacker, wisecracking and coasting his way through, trying to disguise a vulnerable kid inside. Clyde’s rejection by his family and downfall is really painful to watch and I think thats a tribute to the brilliance of the writers and a reminder of how central Clyde is to the show as whole. Clyde is the beating heart of the team, a lovely counterpoint to Luke (a Geordi to his Data is you will) and a great comedic foil to Rani. The big issue of the episode, homelessness, is actually beautifully handled and the script doesn’t shy away from the issue or try to sugar coat it. For instance, the fate of Ellie, who befriends Clyde on the streets remains unknown as Clyde is forced to leave her behind. I thought the show would go down the easy road of Clyde somehow rescuing her from her situation but that was passed by in favour of a more “realistic” ending where she simply disappears and Clyde is left with the realisation that he probably didn’t even know her real name. I wonder if Ellie would have made another appearance had the show continued?

“The Man Who Never Was”: Its fitting that the last episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures is very much Sarah Jane’s story as she, with the help of her gang of young apprentices helps to take down a unscrupulous business man and rescue some aliens from slavery. As with “Sky” this is on the face of it a pretty simplistic tale but it does the job extremely well as it mixes genuine laughs (check out the absolutely filthy joke Clyde makes in part 2!) with some great action and a interesting morality angle. Apparently this episode was intended to be the finale of series 5 had the season been made in full, this is somewhat borne out by the episode as to me it felt a little disjointed, as if plot points and character development that was planned but we never got to see were taken out. In spite of this episode was excellent with particular praise going again to the central SJA team. Lis Sladen was a hugely underrated comedic actress and her skills were beautifully showcased here, especially during her confrontation with the holographic Mr Serf. I think it very fitting that Sarah Jane gets involved in the story because shes one of the top journalists in the country, a lovely way for the writers to remind  us of how awesome Sarah Jane is in ‘real’ life, not just in world saving. Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindr were on their usual great form, again working wonderfully with the comedic aspects of the script. Tommy Knight (Luke) and Sinead Michael (Sky) have never come across as the most accomplished actors however this actually worked in their favour as they awkwardly tried to bond as brother and sister.

Overall looking over this truncated series the episodes were up to the excellent standard set by previous series, however its very much tinged with sadness as I’m left with an almost overwhelming sense of lost opportunities. The unexpected reappearance of The Shopkeeper and The Captain hints at an arc for the series that they were unable to expand on. The alien slavery story line is ripe for more exploration and it would have been awesome to see Sarah Jane putting a permanent end to it. There is a distinct possibility that Ellie would have reappeared and that could have been a brilliant way to explore the bubbling romance angle between Clyde and Rani (or ‘Clani’ as Luke had dubbed them) or even as a way to get the brilliant Trickster back to the series. I’m also sad that we’re not going to see any more of Sky’s story, presumably in series 6 when Clyde and Rani would be moving on to university we’d have a story with Sky’s friends discovering the attic and Sarah Jane embarking on a whole new set of adventures with some new youngsters.

Despite my sadness that there will be no more Sarah Jane Adventures the coda at the end of the episode gives us hope that somewhere, Sarah Jane is in an attic being brilliant and saving the world, and in that way, she’ll live forever. What a wonderful tribute to a phenomenal character and an amazing actress.

Doctor Who: “The Wedding of River Song” Review

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE 

Well I never…

This episode was always going to have quite the challenge to resolve all the issues that were raised in this series and to do it in a way that was satisfactory even more so. So lets take the first issue, did it answer all the questions raised?

Well, sort of, no doubts there will be plenty of viewers crying “cop out” at the posing of yet another mystery to be solved but the episode was successful in answering the questions that series 6 threw our way and sorted some stuff from previous years. Eye patches? Check. River Song’s marital status? Check. The Doctor’s fate? Check. The nature of The Silence? Check.

And here lies the issue, the episode was so geared towards tying off loose ends that the episode whizzed by at such a thunderous pace as to leave me feeling somewhat bamboozled and underwhelmed, there were some fun little moments, the appearance of Charles Dickens, the carnivorous skulls left by the Headless Monks, The Doctor’s attempt to get Captain Williams to ask out Amy and River and The Doctor’s shotgun wedding. It was well acted, I loved Karen Gillan’s work in this episode, her coldness in allowing the death of Madame Kervorian was awesome and more than a little terrifying. The visual effects were overall excellent and the fate of The Brigadier brought a tear to my eye.

Despite these bits I found my eyes flicking towards to clock, wondering how on earth they were going to get this to a conclusion and trying to keep everything straight in my mind. More than a few times I found myself thinking of this episode as functional rather than entertaining. You could sometimes see the plot points being hit rather than a fluid move from cause to effect. Problem is how could the show do anything else? By setting this series up to move towards an event that could never really take place without ending the whole show, whether this was a wise decision on Steven Moffat’s part is going to be a debate that keeps fandom going for the rest of time I think.

I think people really weren’t expecting things to be this straight forward, that there would be an immense universe imploding shock to the system that we go with “The Pandorica Opens”/”The Big Bang” but we should know better than that by now, with Steven Moffat things are never really that complicated when you scratch at the surface and I think when push comes to shove that will disappoint more than a few viewers. I wasn’t disappointed by what I saw, it was the logical conclusion of  the last two series, in fact I’m looking forward to going back to series 5 and 6 and seeing how it works in retrospect, armed with the knowledge we have now. As I said earlier in this post the episode itself suffered under the weight of the purpose it had to fulfill but it was still a good piece of television. As series finales go it certainly wasn’t the worst we’ve been given, it wasn’t the best either but with me I’ll tolerate stuff from The Doctor that I’d never countenance from anyone else.

I’m sure as I type this the internet is ablaze with “MOFFAT MUST GO” and I think that was going to be the reaction whatever happened in this episode, it was always going to be seen as a cop out and thats a shame because whatever this episodes faults it doesn’t deserve that harsh a verdict. In 20 years time when people are writing clever books about series 6 and youngsters are discovering it for themselves I believe this episode will be held in much higher regard, much like series one’s “Boom Town”, hated by nearly everyone on transmission has now been subject to a great deal of revisionist praise.

So in conclusion I thought it was good albeit flawed, a lot of you who read this will think it sucked and Moffat should be hung from the nearest yardarm… as it always was and as it will always be, and when you think about it isn’t that just a tiny bit marvelous….?

Doctor Who: “Closing Time” Review

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE

I’ve got a funny feeling that this episode is going to prove somewhat divisive.

There will be people out there who dismissed this episode before it even aired because of their impression of James Corden, the people who hated “The Lodger” and people who will have watched this and been disappointed that it wasn’t a direct continuation of that episode and do you know what thats a massive shame because this episode was a pure chunk of loveliness albeit with a few… issues

James Corden was brilliant as Craig and it was nice to see him being The Doctors straight man in some really lovely scenes,  the chemistry between Matt Smith and James Corden that obviously exists in real life came through on the screen and that really helped the scenes with just the two of them sing. I’m particularly fond on the scene of the sofa where The Doctor finally confesses to Craig that his death is imminent only to find his friend has fallen asleep. Also how wonderful was Alfie? or Stormageddon as he preferred to be called, it pretty hard to make a tiny baby a character in his own right but somehow this episode managed it, The Doctor’s monologue to little Alfie was wonderful and was a timely reminder to us old hands that The Doctor was once a Dad himself which added to the thread of melancholy that weaved through this episode. Another welcome sight for old fans was the guest appearance of Linda Baron, formally Captain Rack of the classic serial “Enlightenment” who was absolutely wonderful in her role as a shop assistant. I also loved the return of the Cybermats, I forsee a new Doctor Who toy in the offing for Christmas!

Despite all this lovely stuff there were a few problems, The Cybermen felt more than a little show-horned into the script as The Doctor needs a peril  to fight and their ultimate defeat was straight out of the RTD book of deus ex machina monster beating solutions. The River song scenes at the end of the episode also felt tacked on, although a lead in was needed to go into next weeks finale. The plot was more than a little reminiscent of the Tenth Doctor as we see him at the beginning of “The End of Time”, on a final pre-death “grand tour”.  Ultimately there will be plenty of viewers who will dub this episode a waste of time as it didn’t do much with the Cybermen, didn’t advance the overall plot and brought back a hated (by some) side character. On the other hand if you’re like me you really enjoyed this heartwarming tale where The Doctor came to town, beat the baddies, helped a Dad connect with his son and remember why he does what he does.

 

Doctor Who: “The God Complex” Review

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

Well, where on Earth do I start with this one?

After the triumph that was “The Girl Who Waited” last week I wondered what could possibly be store for us this week, on the face of it “The God Complex” is a straight forward and classic a story as Doctor Who gets. Trapped in a weird place with his faithful companions and a bunch of hapless/brave canon fodder characters The Doctor must find a way out and save the day, Doctor Who fans even have a name for this type of story “The Base Under Siege” and we’ve been watching them for 45 years now (on and off), so really this should have held no surprises.

Then once again the production team on this series subverted our expectations, theres so much to unpack from this story I think that The God Complex will pass into fan legend for its pick-apart-ability. The discussion of the concept of faith in this episode was something that will keep people far more intelligent and more qualified than myself going for a while I think. For me it wasn’t a criticism of religious faith, it was an criticism of the blindness of faith; “whatever goes wrong *insert belief here* will make it alright”, problem is, sometimes it just won’t. Nearly everything you would put money on happening in this episode is turned on its head as your focus is drawn away from the usual monster/companion shenanigans and forces you to really think about The Doctor’s nature. In a way it reminded me of “The Waters of Mars” as The Doctor is shown a reflection of himself, but where in The Waters of Mars The Doctor succumbs to arrogance here The Doctor opts for humility. He admits to all his failings, his destruction of Amy’s childhood, his interference with her marriage and his habit of letting her down. Did you notice how the door number of Amy’s door was the number 7? That was the age she was when she first encountered The Doctor and he didn’t come back like promised. I liked the way the parallels were drawn between the Minotaur stuck in a huge, sprawling maze feeding off the people trapped within and The Doctor trapped in his impossibly big TARDIS taking along people because they flatter his ego. It also brought back memories of “The Curse Of Fenric” where The Doctor destroys Ace’s trust in him, albeit in a far more unpleasant way (all of those people complaining that Doctor Who has gone ‘too dark’ go check that out, and that was 22 years ago). The post 2005 series view of The Doctor is that of “The Lonely God” and thats very much who were left with at the end of The God Complex as The Doctor forges on, alone again.

The performances in this episode were up to the high standard of this whole series, David Walliams who could have well overshadowed the whole affair was excellent and his character was also a neat subversion of expectations, I also loved Rita as played by Amara Karan, I’m sad that (seemingly) we wont see any more of her. Matt Smith was the star of the show in this episode, his speech to Amelia being particularly effective. I also loved the design and direction of the episode, at time recalling “The Shining” with its long gazes down corridors. The humour on display despite the heavy themes on show were both welcome and genuinely funny which contrasted with some brilliantly creepy moments.

To sum up I thought that The God Complex was a great little story and one that Doctor Who fans will be discussing for years to come, I mean after all, just what was behind door number 11…..?

 

Torchwood: Miracle Day “The Blood Line” Review

So this is it people, the final episode of the “Miracle Day” saga is upon us. Will all our questions be answered? Will any of it make the slightest bit of sense? Who will survive and what will be left of them? Will Emma have an acute RTD-induced Myocardial infarction whilst watching?

Well, I managed not to have a heart attack (just) but RTD didn’t half do his best to make me give up out of sheer frustration, at this point in the show the story should be accelerating to a huge climax, it should be breathlessly action packed and exciting but this episode seemed content to stick with the new Torchwood formula of endless chit-chat interspersed with the occasional explosion. The info-dump reveal of the true nature of “The Blessing” and the reason why the Families bothered with this at all felt so underwhelming I almost shouted “is that it?!”  at the TV. The other problem comes when you think about the plot for more than 10 seconds and realise that its got holes you could drive a tank through, lets just pluck one out of the air at random. Jack being alive is a problem because his mortal blood is the only thing that can reset The Blessing back to “mortal” setting. The Families have people everywhere, see the apparent ease with which they get a suicide bomber into that Brazilian special forces unit, why didn’t they just assassinate him any of the least half dozen times Jack parades around in the open, unprotected?

As if plotting idiocy wasn’t enough RTD then commits his greatest crime of the whole sorry affair, the utterly needless, pointless death of Esther. I mean other than deny the audience a “happy ending” what was the point of killing off the only character that had any sort of depth, likability, compassion and heart? Well, its not Torchwood unless we’re murdering its members left and right is it? It felt to me that RTD just felt that Torchwood’s victory over The Families lacked shock value and so duly killed off the best character in the show by miles. Also it seems RTD has told the audience a bit of a porkie in saying that Miracle Day would be an entirely self contained story as the seeds were sown for a possible series 5, but a series 5 not only without the lovely Esther but an immortal Rex? I shudder to think.

As the credits rolled I was left with the feeling that every possible character and plot point was given the least satisfying conclusion RTD  could think of. Best character killed off, most annoying character granted immortal life, Gwen’s Dad dies peacefully after everyone gives up on him, Jilly gets away with it basically scott free, Oswald Danes still the worlds most gleeful pedophile and The Families abide to continue on with “Plan B”. My mind is also drawn to the sheer volume of plot threads that were in the earlier episodes that came to absolutely nothing. The Soulless, The 45 Club, Oswald Dane’s use as a spokesman was left unexplained, “Dead Is Dead” and Category Zero.

To sum up, for me “Miracle Day” has been nothing short of a colossal disappointment, fundamentally the concept behind “Miracle Day” was a solid one however dumb plotting, impossibly stupid logic, awful characterization and endless padding combined to turn Torchwood from an enjoyably shonky UK sci-fi show into a crass, insultingly moronic “24″ rip-off actioner utterly devoid of  wit, charm or intelligence.

Doctor Who: “The Girl Who Waited” Review

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR DOCTOR WHO SERIES 6

Every so often an episode of Doctor Who comes along that defies all your expectations, “Blink”, “Turn Left” and “The Girl In The Fireplace” come straight to mind, well now I can add “The Girl Who Waited” to my list. On first glance this seemed like it would be another fairly ordinary, mid season, arc-heavy entry into the canon but as the episode progressed my preconceptions were totally blown away

This was Karen Gillan’s finest performance as Amy bar none, her turn as the Older Amy, investing her with a totally different character, an Ellen Ripley trapped in a solitary hell, notice how she wouldn’t  make eye contact with Rory, she walks differently, she’s had to learn how to survive the hard way and Karen Gillan brings every second of her 36 year solitude to life. It also reminded the viewer about Amy’s ever present dangerous side, the woman who was willing to shoot at The Impossible Astronaut, waved swords at the hapless pirates of “Curse Of The Black Spot” and held a gun to the head of her own daughter. The real stand out moment of the episode for me was the Young Amy’s monologue about falling in love with Rory, and their willingness to tear apart the whole of time and space to grow old together. I believe also this was a big signal to the viewing audience that Amy’s bizarre little love affair with the Doctor is now well and truly over. Yes, part of her still loves him and is in love with the grand adventure of running away with her “Raggedy Doctor” but for once Amy’s true feelings that she works so hard to disguise come totally to the surface.

While we’re talking about Karen Gillan’s performance lets take a minute to praise the amazing Arthur Darvill. The true workhorse of this series of Doctor Who he had to carry the emotional weight of this episode and he did so magnificently as hes forced into yet another appalling  decision by the Doctor, surely his relationship with him has been forever changed. All he ever wants is for everyone to be happy and he keeps getting denied. This episode also made sure that we don’t forget about The Doctor even though he is very much not the focus of this episode, we’d better not forget that when push comes to shove the Doctor will make the hard calls, below his outwardly bonkers and jovial exterior the hardened sole survivor of The Last Great Time War is carved out of ice.

I’d also like to gush profusely about the design and direction of the episode, at first the stark white might seem like a cost saving measure but then once props like Rory’s huge magnifying glass and the sculptures in the gallery are added the place came to life. The TARDIS looking especially beautiful as it seemed to pop out of the screen against the blankness. I also really enjoyed Amy’s relationship with her environment and with The Interface. It brought to my mind Chell’s relationship with GLaDOS in the “Portal” series of games, also there were little elements of “first person shooter” in the direction through the use of the camera specs Rory and Amy wear.

It managed to be “timey-wimey” without being confusing, it questioned your morality without being heavy handed and if this didn’t bring a tear to your eye, you might have to check yourself for a pulse. Stunningly shot, amazingly written, directed with a wonderful lightness of touch and genuinely emotionally affecting this was one of the finest episodes since Doctor Who’s return in a series that may well turn out to be the finest series of Doctor Who since 2005.

Torchwood: Miracle Day “The Gathering” Review

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS DETAILED SPOILERS FOR ALL OF TORCHWOOD

Welcome everybody to the review for the penultimate episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day and its been quite the journey thus far hasn’t it?  In the run up to this show I’ve had quite a few chats with my fellow viewers across the interwebz and the consensus seems to be that if Torchwood can  just pull off a competent end to the “Miracle Day” arc then maybe it is not beyond salvation. Despite exceedingly negative reports in the preceding week I tried to maintain some optimism, all this individual episode had to do was not be too stupid and deliver a few revelations in order to set the scene for next weeks finale.

Well, it kind of delivered on those expectations but it felt oh so unsatisfying. The overwhelming feeling of going around in circles that pervaded last week rears its ugly head again as the episode for some reason chose to focus on Gwen’s ram-raiding shenanigans, prescription drug sale racket and the Cooper families desperate attempts to hide Geraint from the entirely too gleeful government official. I understand the need to tie up loose ends in the run up to next weeks final show but why make this the main thrust when you still have the massive elephant in the room of “The Blessing” still to be addressed? If this was a massive plot problem the logical thing to do would have been to have Gwen fail in her attempt to liberate her Dad from The Overflow Camp surely? Miracle Day’s general ability to fill 50 minutes with talking and running from place to place and lots of “serious face” pulling but yet leave the viewer with an overwhelming feeling of nothing having been achieved is quite remarkable. Once again I found myself wondering if the budget from Starz was spent entirely on set dressing as we spent the majority of yet another episode in offices, living rooms and cellars.

Yes The Blessing was revealed… and frankly I’m none the wiser. It appears (at least to Jilly as the Mysterious Blonde Lady seems to imply that you perceive The Blessing according to ones particular hang-ups) as, theres no way to put this delicately, a giant vagina. Make of that what you will. We learn that this is something to do with Jack’s blood as The Blessing appears to be draining Jack’s “life force” as he gets closer to it. Now I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, I can usually follow a plot but to be honest dear reader you find me utterly lost. I have no idea what “The Blessing” is, even though I’ve been shown in explicit detail, why this has got anything to do with Jack, why Jilly has been singled out to run the PR show, why Oswald Danes is still around, what a crappy pulp fiction writer has to do with any of it and most of all why any of it is happening at all. What does anyone get out of this? World domination? Profit? Enlightenment? Will we find out in the finale? I’m not holding my breath frankly.

Taken on its own “The Gathering” isn’t an awful episode, it was moderately entertaining if you can find it in you to excuse yet more forehead slapping gaps in logic. Ester managed to get Jack, shot in the guts, across the Atlantic, to Gwen and then on to Scotland totally undetected. Gwen is able to hide herself and her family with great efficiency but apparently can’t hide her Dad from the poor mans Gestapo, she doesn’t have contacts that could fake her Dad’s records? Ram-raiding a pharmacy in disguise? Make sure you rip off your disguise in front of a witness before you leg it. Oswald Danes is a problem and has given up all his useful information? Then by all means cart him all the way to China rather than, I dunno, smack him on the head with a shovel and drop him in the sea. Taken as a part of a whole then all “The Gathering” achieved was to kill any momentum gained in “End Of The Road” stone dead and obfuscate the truth for yet another episode just to meet its numbers.

I’m now honestly dreading episode ten “The Blood Line”, I do not see any possible way that Miracle Day can come to any sort of satisfying conclusion. Its such a shame that every week I turn on BBC One hoping just for some sort of competently told story, delivered in an entertaining fashion and nearly every week to date I have been disappointed. Actually, roll on  the 15th of September and lets get this while sorry mess over with.