TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY – "Escape To L.A"

The best episode of Miracle Day so far, by some distance, thanks to overdue back-story to humanize Rex (Mekhi Phifer) and Esther (Alexa Havins), and tangible development about exactly who, or what, is behind the Miracle Day phenomenon itself. Buoyed by an entertaining moment of espionage for the Torchwood crew in the second half, "Escape To L.A" was breezy and decent fun, showing signs of improvement I hope will continue into the remainder of this miniseries.

Oswald Danes (Bill Pullman) remains a real headache for the show, which is a shame because the core idea behind his arc has some merit. I just don't see why they decided to make him a paedophile (the least forgivable crime in human society), when having a serial-killer instead become an unexpected figurehead for tolerance in this New World Order would have worked equally well. Nevertheless, the idea to give Oswald a rival in Ellis Hartley Monroe (Mare Winningham), a mayor who's pushing a"Dead Is Dead" campaign that wants to brush the world's problem under the carpet by segregating the "dead" from the living was an intriguing development. It's just a shame the details don't feel very plausible, with Oswald victorious in this political war by giving a supposedly rousing speech to a makeshift hospital of sick people. (Incidentally, why would anyone ask a convicted paedophile to take care of a small abandoned baby girl?)

Team Torchwood are beginning to form a tetchy dynamic now, too. I was pleased to see Rex becoming less annoying, although his understandable frustration with the amateurism of Torchwood dragged his character back to being unlikable towards the end. This was also the hour where we learned something about the show's new characters: Rex is estranged from his vagrant father and trying to heal their relationship because he's starting to suspect he'll die when the "miracle" ends; and Esther has a sister called Sarah (Candace Brown) who's incapable of looking after her two kids, meaning Esther had to call social services to have them taken into protection. Both stories didn't take up much time and weren't hugely compelling—although Phifer gave a decent performance in the scene with his cantankerous dad and Esther felt more human. Considering the difficulties of fleshing out characters when there's an urgency to a story being told, I've seen it done a lot worse.

One thing that's becoming more of a noticeable issue is how extraneous and, frankly, boring Captain Jack (John Barrowman) has been on the show so far. Has removing his immortality neutered the dashing hero of the previous three series? It certainly seems that way. Here, Barrowman's given a few awkward speeches and a key role in an operation to steal information from PhiCorp's servers with Gwen (Eve Myles), but other than that he's almost surplus to requirement. Very little about Miracle Day is working because of what Captain Jack's bringing to the table, in terms of knowledge, expertise or attitude. It's perhaps one of the reasons Miracle Day hasn't gone down so well with fans. And why is the show still making cutesy references to the fact Jack's lived thousands of years? If you're new to the show (and this Starz miniseries was partly designed to introduce Torchwood to newcomers), it must feel very strange.

Overall, most of "Escape From L.A" worked well enough and it was a more capable hour than we've had so far. It's still not especially gripping, but at least we've been given big clues about what's going on: the unseen villains (their "organisation" symbolized by a rotating triangle) are referred to as "The Families" at one point, so are there three alien families behind this? They've also given Oswald Danes this platform intentionally, and must therefore have infiltrated PhiCorp to do that, so there's a feeling this episode has started to draw a few of the subplots together. We'll have to see if Miracle Day manages to resolve the story in a satisfying way, and I'm still not convinced it can, but I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

Asides

• Love the scene with Monroe being crushed in a car compactor, ending up trapped alive inside a metal cube, with just her eye blinking. That's quite a horrific fate to be given, and a more imaginative twist on the common scene of someone immortal being buried alive in a coffin.
• Does anyone care about Gwen's family? I know Rhys (Kai Owen) has his fans, but every time Gwen has to dash off to call her husband while on a mission my attention wanders. And putting her sickly father in jeopardy doesn't feel like a good move, considering all that's happening in Wales. Are we going to see Gwen fly back to Wales for an episode of two to save him? If so, maybe this subplot only exists to stretch the miniseries out? I have a feeling Miracle Day doesn't need 10 hours, and we'll see more padding in the future, like episode 2's plane journey shenanigans.

written by Jim Gray & John Shiban / directed by Billy Gierhart / 29 July 2011 / Starz

Talking Point: are American complaints about Netflix price rises totally unjustified?

I've heard that Netflix have decided to raise their prices, in an effort to effectively get Americans to stop renting discs and instead start streaming content (which is much cheaper for them to deliver).

The unpopular way Netflix have chosen to influence this change has been an unexpected price rise. In particular, Netflix's popular $9.99 per month rental-and-streaming package has risen to $15.99 per month.

Thing is, when you adjust dollars into Pounds Sterling, this "outrageous price rise" looks anything but to British eyes! The pre-existing $9.99 package equals a trivial £6! This means the controversial increase to $15.99 is a deal worth £9.70 in British currency. Yes, Americans are complaining because renting and streaming movies will cost them less than a tenner every month! To me, a $15.99 package would be a bite-your-hand-off-to-get-it bargain!

I subscribe to LoveFilm (the European equivalent of Netflix) and pay about £15 a month for unlimited rental of three discs at any one time, and streaming of content (not including recent releases, where you pay about £3.60 each). This deal is something I've considered reasonable—considering it can cost £15-25 to buy a Blu-ray disc outright.

But £15 in US dollars is a staggering $24! Would any American pay $24 to Netflix, considering they're upset about paying just $15.99? I seriously doubt it. Considering the rumpus Netflix's price increase has caused going up by $6, people would probably cancel their subscriptions if it had gone up by $14.

So today's talking point is: are Americans once again guilty of moaning about nothing, considering the prices Brits pay for an equivalent service? Or are Brits again unaware they're paying extortionate prices, and foolish enough to do so? Or is it a bit of both?

If you live in another country, feel free to say what your own video rental subscriptions are. It would be particularly helpful if you can calculate the cost in dollars/pounds. I'd love to know if the rest of the world have a service that charges similar prices to the US, but I suspect most people are paying similar to the UK. Is that assumption true?

And to any American Netflix users reading this, do you now feel guilty for grumbling about a price rise that Brits would consider a significant reduction?

Yvonne Strahovski is... 29 today!

I couldn't let today pass without mentioning it's the birthday of the astonishingly beautiful actress Yvonne Strahovski, who turns 29 today. Many happy returns! She doesn't read this blog, I'm almost certain, but the thought's out there. Yvonne's a very personable, talented and drop-dead gorgeous actress, whom I hope goes onto bigger and better things now NBC's Chuck is drawing to a close. I can't wait to see what doors open for her next summer.

If you're a fan like me, and you somehow don't already know, you can follow Yvonne on Twitter, too. I'm sure she'd appreciate a birthday wish. In the meantime, as pure indulgence, here's a fun, sexy, action-packed compilation of the birthday girl's work on Chuck:

Trailer: SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE

Most sequels aspire to be bigger and better, and that certainly appears to be true of Spartacus: Vengeance if this NSFW trailer from Starz is to be believed. Liam McIntyre already feels like a worthy replacement for Andy Whitfield as hero Spartacus, the action's as ludicrously blood-soaked as we've come to expect, some fan-favourite characters are back for more (Lucretia, Ilithyia, Gannicus), and most impressively the show looks three times bigger than its predecessors because the rebel gladiators are out on the road.

I'm very excited about this show's return, knowing how magnificently entertaining and shocking it can be, how about you?

SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE returns to Starz in January 2012.

Video: GAME OF THRONES, visual effects showreel

I'm very impressed by the quality of visual effects in TV shows these days. While some things are obviously created using CGI, a huge amount of work goes unnoticed--and that's the best compliment you can give the talented digital effects artists. The embedded video is a compilation of effects created by BlueBolt, who worked on the first season of HBO's Game Of Thrones. As you can see, most of that show's landscapes and buildings were created artificially, often used to embellish existing locations. It's all very impressive, I'm sure you'll agree.

Warning: a few shots in this reel can be classed as spoilers, so it's perhaps not wise to watch unless you've seen the entirety of Game Of Thrones season 1.

GAME OF THRONES returns to HBO in Spring 2012.

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BBC America producing original series COPPER

BBC America are finally dipping their toe into producing original television shows, rather than show imported programming from the UK and repeat US shows like Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. Rejoice!

Their first project will be a New York crime drama set in 1860 called Copper, following an Irish immigrant who works as a policeman. The series is therefore covering ground Martin Scorsese explored in his movie Gangs Of New York, which told the story of how the Big Apple was born, with particular attention on the unruly "Five Points" Irish neighbourhood.

Tom Fonzana (Oz, Homicide) will be writing and producing the 10 episodes, which are planned for summer 2012. Considering the network, one would assume this will be aired on the regular BBC shortly after its US premiere.

What do you think? Is BBC America original programming a win-win situation? American audiences get something homegrown that adheres to BBC ideals, while British audiences get something expensive with US production values? I wonder if British writers/directors will be able to hop across the pond and have fun working on an expensive BBC America show? If so, will there be a mass exodus of UK talent to the States? Or will BBC America recruit from within—meaning, really, that there's no difference between an original BBC America show and whatever another US cable channel like AMC is making?

hayley atwell captain america

Hayley Elizabeth Atwell was born on April 5, 1982 in London, England to a Native-American father, who worked as a massage therapist, and an English mother who was a motivational speaker. Atwell's unusual childhood, which was filled with memories of tarot readings and sweat lodges, helped her get in touch with her feelings, particularly when Hayley Atwell started training to be an actor at The Guildhall School of Drama and Music. After graduating in 2005, Atwell landed a regular role in the miniseries "The Line of Beauty" (BBC, 2006), playing the manic-depressive daughter of a disgraced politician. A few more supporting roles in television movies followed, before Atwell nabbed a major part in the Woody Allen crime drama "Cassandra's Dream," appearing as a stage actress and the scheming love interest of Ewan McGregor's character. In 2008, Atwell earned critical praise for her engaging performances in two high-profile period pieces. Hayley Atwell first starred in "Brideshead Revisited," the big screen adaptation of the 1945 Evelyn Waugh novel about a repressed upper-class family whose beliefs are challenged after they welcome into their home a social climber (Matthew Goode) who becomes the object of affection of both Atwell's oppressed Catholic girl, as well as her brother. Atwell also played a major role in "The Duchess," which chronicled the extravagant life of the 18th century aristocrat, Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire (Keira Knightley). In the visually stunning biopic, Atwell's character was involved in a steamy love triangle between the Duchess and the Duke (Ralph Fiennes).

In 2009, Atwell starred in the remake of the 1960s cult sci-fi series "The Prisoner" (AMC, 2009) as one of the prisoners of a mysterious village and the woman who helped the character 6 (James Caviezel) discover the reason why he was sent to the remote island. By 2010, Atwell's talents finally gained attention stateside. Hayley Atwell starred as the lead character's (Matthew Macfadyen) soul mate on the series "Any Human Heart" (Channel 4, 2010), based on William Boyd's 2002 novel about the life of Logan Mountstuart, a writer who encountered many of the 20th century's most significant figures. Atwell also had a lead part in the highly anticipated action-adventure film "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011) as the superhero's girlfriend who secretly worked for the French Resistance. But her biggest coup was landing a lead role in the epic miniseries "The Pillars of the Earth," based on Ken Follett's 1989 bestseller of the same name. Set in 12th century England, the story followed the construction of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge during the turbulent period in English history known as The Anarchy. Atwell delivered a star-making performance as a haughty and willful aristocrat defeated by religious and political strife during a civil war, a role that earned her a 2011 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television.

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