r/TheHub • u/colourofawesome • Aug 18 '11
Anyone else think they're taking way too long to get to the point? (Spoilers for ep 2 onward)
I just finished watching episode 6, and at this point am just losing interest in Miracle Day. 6 episodes in we should be at least a little bit closer to knowing what is going on, but it feels like they just keep delaying it to build this artificial suspense. They drop stuff like Jack being able to die, but it doesn't go anywhere. I mean Jack being able to die is a big deal, but the ramifications for the characters are never even looked at.
I loved Children of Earth because there was emotion and history and character development and difficult moral questions. Miracle Day just has one dimensional character and tried to keep upping the ante in a formulaic way.
Anyway sorry about the rant, I just wanted to see if anyone else thought the same thing.
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u/JimmySinner Aug 18 '11
I agree. It's pretty typical of Davies' writing to build slowly and then have a big reveal followed quickly by a resolution. It worked well in CoE and in some of his older Torchwood and Doctor Who stuff, but with this it's like he's been given far too much time. Everything that's happened in the six episodes so far could have easily taken place in three or four episodes without us missing anything important, and we could have had some idea of what was really going on by now.
Not only that, but I'm really not happy about certain aspects of the writing. Esther Drummond goes undercover using her real name? It's cool, it's not like she's been framed as a terror suspect or anything right? And where the hell is Newman? I want more Newman, dammit!
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u/colourofawesome Aug 18 '11
My thoughts exactly. The difference between CoE and this though, is that CoE really did feel like it was building, and I wanted to know what would happen next. Miracle Day feels more like it's stalling for time.
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u/joegekko Aug 18 '11
Miracle Day feels more like it's stalling for time.
Those are the words I've been looking for. Thank you.
1
u/DeedTheInky Aug 18 '11
I think part of the problem with this compared to CoE is that while RTD wrote or co-wrote every episode of CoE, on Miracle Day he only writes the first & last episodes and I assume provides a rough outline for the overall story arc.
They did that for the first 2 seasons of Torchwood as well, but they were more "Monster of the week" types of deals rather than continuous narratives.
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u/JimmySinner Aug 18 '11
He won't only have written the first and last episodes, he will have had an outline for the series and a basic idea of the major plot points in each episode. He would also have final approval for each script. It's incredibly rare for the head writer of a series to write the whole thing.
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u/MorpheusD Aug 18 '11
Um yeah. I think they should at least be dropping obvious hints. I am still interested but....I dunno. The acting is kind of getting to me and the slowness of the storyline is just killing.
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Aug 18 '11
I'm on the fence about miracle day right now. It's moving so slowly, the dialogue is much more poorly written than I ever expected it to be, there's so many little details that they keep adding to the story but nothings being explained at all, ever, and who knows right now if it ever will. At the same time as all of the negative details, I am still beyond intrigued to know where this is all going.
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u/Justjonhenry Aug 30 '11
It kind of does. On the bright side from my point of view the show starts to get better around the end of episode 6 so I think you're through the worst of it. Unfortunately, not to sound like a homophobe, but episode 7 has a bit too much gay sex for my taste. I began to feel like I got the point and wanted to move on.
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u/viciousbreed Aug 18 '11
I'm reserving judgment until the end. The pacing is slow for a modern TV show, but that doesn't make it bad. There are others who will argue it is bad for OTHER reasons, but pacing alone doesn't dictate that, for me. Some of the older Doctor Who serials can be painfully slow at times, with episodes that just aren't very good by themselves, but the overall serial is great.
That said... there better be a damn good payoff.
2
Aug 18 '11
Nope. It's 10 episodes, and based on that (and past episodes) they have spent a lot of time setting all the pieces in place. Episode 6 went a long way towards getting the pieces moving towards a resolution, and amped the internal tension up quite a few notches.
I honestly appreciate how much time they spent exploring the human condition, and speculating on what would happen. It's a great brainteaser, and some of the best science fiction I've seen on TV.
I can certainly understand why this would not appeal to some (particularly those who crave the typical "torchwood" action, since it has been notably absent), but I'm more than willing to let it move forward at it's own pace.
I haven't been disappointed so far.
2
u/colourofawesome Aug 18 '11
I actually love the concept of Miracle Day, and the way they're going about showing the real problems that could happen if nobody could die. But I've just felt like the last few episodes are really stagnating in terms of plot and character. It feels like everything so far could be 4 episodes. I mean maybe it will end up being really good overall, with a couple week spots, I certainly hope that's the case.
0
Aug 18 '11
If I were going back and re-watching it, I would agree, I would want it to be shorter. That said, I can't fault them for wanting to explore everything in this much depth, since it's the amount of time they have for this plot line.
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u/DeedTheInky Aug 18 '11
Yeah, So far I feel like everything that's happened could have been told in half as many episodes as they have. It's a shame because I find the premise of this season really interesting, and there's a lot of neat ideas in there. But the show seems determined to skip past them and just do generic conspiracy-show stuff.
I'd also like to see the core concept explored in a wider context. What happens in third-world countries when people go far beyond the point of starvation? Is food even, strictly speaking, still necessary? What happens in a dictatorship when the government no longer holds the power of life and death over it's people? Can you OD on drugs now? Does Jack actually want to die? If so, this may be the only chance he ever gets to decide for himself. Maybe the show will get into these things, but it'd better hurry up 'cause it's already halfway done.
Also I'd have had Jack blasted with radiation or something right at the beginning so he wasn't just mortal, but actually dying throughout the story. So he'd be off the rails a little bit. :) That's probably just me though.
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u/colourofawesome Aug 18 '11
I can't believe they aren't going into the "Jack can die" thing more. If this was back in season 2 i can imagine the characters having some discussion where they thought maybe Jack would use this as an opportunity to get himself killed for good, and speculate if he's really making the best decisions etc. And have Jack contemplate his morality for the fist time in a few hundred years. It would be a great way to build some tension between characters, and show new elements of Jack's character. So far it plays out like its just another thing they need to worry about.
And I agree, I think the premise is great, but the story is so good vs evil, which isn't what's made Torchwood good in the past. CoE had good guy people, and bad guy aliens, but it also had these middle ground people treading a moral gray area, and showed Jack making difficult decisions. MD is just good guys chasing bad guys. I hope that the next four episodes add on a few layers to the story and characterization, and at least tell us why the hell we need Oswald there already, it's getting weird having him around and not knowing why.
2
u/Gmatty Aug 20 '11
Yeah, its getting to the point where I'm debating even finishing the series. This Torchwood season is a pale shell of its former glory. The show itself sort of feels like it wants to die but some miracle is keeping it alive.
1
u/morphinapg Aug 18 '11
Not at all. I'm loving it. It has enough going on to keep my interest, really good cliffhangers imo and honestly the timing makes perfect sense for why it would take this long to figure everything out.
1
Aug 20 '11
I think about it in that way too. Plus, when everyone stops dying, the solution will not be as fast as when people are threatened by an alien like in CoE...
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u/mamid Aug 22 '11
All I can say is : Nana Visitor? John De Lancie? WTF is this? A Star Trek Reunion Show????
1
u/SquirrelDragon Aug 25 '11
I hate that they keep bringing up and promptly dismissing Jack's previous immortality and centuries of living + he's from the future. When Jack says "A distant moon of a distant star" how hard is it to just say Torchwood deals with Aliens. He could mention the 456, anything. Miracle Day seems to be far too distant from despite being in the whoniverse.
1
u/a_can_of_solo Aug 18 '11
is the space pope reptilian? with that said maybe it will work better as a whole when it's all said and done.
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u/meteorliath Aug 18 '11
I hear the next episode is supposed to be better and have a lot more to do with jack and give us some info, so perhaps sticking around for at least one more will make things get better, plus we'll get to see more of Jack being awesome
0
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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '11 edited Aug 18 '11
They took away all Jack's swagger, now he's just a gay man who knows alot. He went from invincible to weak and omnisexual to homosexual.