Torchwood

^ That would be fab, but then anyone would be over what we have now... nope, not a fan of Amy Pondy Pond.

Finished Miracle Day just now. I can't imagine another season of this. That was really reaching by the end.

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Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10

Agreed, SD. It was fun while it lasted, but I think they wrapped everything up as much as I need in order to move on.

It was ... strange in spots. And the explanation felt a little ... cheesy, although that's too strong a word. I guess I meant that they took an interesting explanation but just duct-taped it together. Felt like they didn't properly explain their own explanation.

And sorry to others in this thread, but I LOVE Gwen. Her character stayed consistent and changed only as she needed to along the way. In fact, she felt like the only truly consistent thing/character in the entire series.

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We have the last episode, unfairly, here on Thursday coming.

...which I why I tried to refrain from mentioning specific elements of the finale, just in case. Once we've all caught up, it's Game On!

It was average, I kind of liked the 'we don't know' explanation instead some pseudo nonsense. Rex and Q were the highlights, otherwise not planning to go back and fill in missing episodes from previous seasons

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I thought the end episode was excellent and a wonderful finish to a top notch series, series 3 and 4 have been much better than the first two for me.

Very sad about you know who.

Two episodes into "Children of Earth," and I like it way better than everything that's come before. Some of my gripes are still there, but this is much closer to what I kept hoping the show would be. It's exploring the limits of Jack's immortality, it feels focused and planned (probably because it was, since it aired all in a row and therefore had to be mapped out in advance more), and the increased production values make it a bit easier to take seriously, too.

I think condensing the story to just five episodes helps tremendously. I feel like there was a lot of fat in the first 26 episodes. I would often drift off a bit as I came to realize I could watch the show without really having to give it my full attention. But "Children of Earth" jolted me back to attention, because it's clear right away that, at less than half the normal length, everything that happens now actually really matters and I need to pay attention to all of it. Which is the kind of show I prefer.

So, anyway, yay for that.

Then you might like Miracle Day for similar reasons. Without giving away plot, I'll say that it's also not episodic, tells a single story, does it relatively leanly (ten episodes), and it continues to explore Jack's immortality and history in interesting ways.

I'm rewatching it now as I'm taping it for you ... and I like it better this second time. It does a good job of fully exploring the implications of the situation it creates... right to the end.

That'll probably be enough for me. Exploring these things is important to me for two reasons, one that's just a personal preference, and one that I think is just about good storytelling.

The personal preference part is that I'm just curious about it. Sci-fi or fantasy-ish shows are interesting because they posit new rules for reality, and half the fun is discovering those rules, so when a show just posits them and doesn't talk about what they mean or their implications much, I find it unsatisfying.

The storytelling part is that Jack has, numerous times, sent other people on missions that could easily kill them, when one would think his own immortality would make him a much better candidate for a great many of them if he genuinely cares about protecting these people. The show has to reconcile that somehow, though I already kind of assume it's not going to. But that's where you have to go if you want to have an immortal character, no?

Still can't get over the Eugene thing, though. I probably never will. But to a degree, if it can be this entertaining going forward, I can probably flashy-thing myself into forgetting these things and just treating season 3 as a new interpretation, or something.

Well, they explore Jack's unique qualities and they tell a bit more of his history, but no, they don't explain it.

I'm pretty sure explanations start with Harkness's connection as a Doctor Who character, but I'm only a single episode in on the latest incarnation of the series and don't know anything yet.

I can live without an actual explanation, as long as they establish some ground rules or something. Though the main reason I can live with it is that it seems like the kind of thing they would reveal more about late in the series (series in the American sense of the word), so I'm fine with that being a bit hazy at first. It's the "wait, how does this WORK?" part that bugs me, since it would inevitably alter all sorts of decisions and plotlines.

Miracle Day uses Jack's unique properties quite a bit -- relies on them, really, in a strange sort of way -- and I appreciated that not being just an inconsequential part of the episodes, like it tended to be earlier on.

As for Jack sending others out to possibly die ... Didn't he usually go along on those expeditions? Or are you targeting isolated incidents where he'd stay behind (which I can't recall right now)? Because immortal or not, Jack still needs rest and needs to eat, etc. etc. I guess he needs time off on any given shift/day/whatever just like anybody else.

No?

Sometimes he went, sometimes he didn't. When he didn't, he was usually on radio contact and not sleeping, as far as I can tell. I'm sure there are some scenarios where it can be explained why, but I don't think it can be explained in every instance in which he put other people in harm's way instead of (or in addition to) himself.