Torchwood: Miracle Day/WMG

The other former Doctor Who Companions were off blowing up the Overflow Camps.

Because do you really expect Martha Jones or Ace to sit back and let that sort of thing happen? They would be the best candidates for leading such a thing, seeing as one's UNIT and the other is pretty good with explosives.

The Miracle involves Ianto.

• Okay, part of this is just that I want Ianto back, but they do keep bringing him up: "If this had happened earlier, Ianto would still be alive."--But no mention of Tosh and Owen? Jack tells his dying crazy ex that he "would have liked Ianto." Well, why not mention any other relationships you've had since you last saw him? Like the time you got married? Basically, someone's making sure we don't forget Ianto.
  • Also, Rex is the smartass Lancer, Esther is the pretty smart Girl and... no one's bringing coffee. Granted, Angelo, did have a lot in common with Ianto, but he isn't a team member.
    • Angelo really didn't have that much in common with Ianto, though.
  • Jossed. The Miracle didn't have anything at all to do with Ianto.

The Blessing IS Jack... sort of.

• Not that Jack himself is the Blessing, but considering last season we saw that an arm and a piece of his head could reconnect and rebuild his body... what if that huge gravity blood vessel thing IS Jack? Let's go through this step by step:
  • In Children of Earth, an arm and a piece of Jack's skull were able to rebuild his body. This means some pieces would have to build TOWARDS each other.
  • If the Blessing IS Jack, then his blood moving toward it in Shanghai would let us know that his separated body parts would be naturally drawn toward the largest source on Earth. Currently that's the Blessing. Now here's where it gets interesting.
  • Jack has been physically present on Earth from 27AD until 2010 virtually uninterrupted, and often with multiples (as many as 3) present at the same time. Meaning, the first time he'd have been off planet Earth for an extended period of time... was right after Children of Earth. For about a year.
  • With Jack's blood in Buenos Aires and Shanghai, they were now respectively each other's largest source of Jack. So they'd be drawn to each other. And GROW toward each other. A large lifeform now begins to dig under the Earth, meeting at its core. Just before the Miracle, they burn the blood supplies in Argentina and China, because they are no longer necessary, and the evidence needs to be disposed of before the Miracle happens.
• Therefore, the Blessing is... biologically... Jack.

• And actually, add the fact that this would technically make Jack Harkness himself not the largest source of "Jackness", and a morphic field, and we might have something here...
  • A morphic field using this "Blood Line" as the template would grant the entire planet some facet of Jack's immortality (but not his healing factor).
  • Because Jack isn't the "Jackest" source on the planet anymore, technically he would be drawn to it, and likely would lose his immortality as a result. If you cut Jack in half, you wouldn't wind up with two Jacks. One side would grow, and the other would die. Likewise, Jack is now the "smaller part" that is not immortal, so long as this Blood Line is still intact.
    • Great theory. The Blessing isn't actually Jack. The Blessing is The Blessing. But now it holds a version of Jack stretched from one side of the earth to the other (and in otherwise poor shape), and because you can't have two Jacks (or it would be *really* messy if he got blown to pieces and multiplied) the other one looses his immortality.
    • I'll say it's a good theory, because on Headscratchers I was wondering what would happen if all the skin cells and intestinal lining, etc a person sheds every day were forever immortal, and would clog up the ecosystem if they didn't break down. So this might be all the immortal biomass Jack has discarded or been bled out over the centuries, some of which got into the food chain and got eaten by every human on Earth, some of which migrated collectively into The Blessing. Then, one day, the biomass descended from Jack becomes more powerful than Jack and he's the shed part. But IMHO, sadly, sounds far too sophisticated for the writing so far. They made no mention that cells shed from all these people would remain immortal, and you'd kinda want to establish that in a way that seemed an extraneous problem at the time.
• This gives us a rationale behind why Jack is not healing (because the Blood Line is) and why everyone's immortal (because the Blood Line is). The only piece still missing is the motive. Why would someone do this?

Jack's blood was used to create The Miracle

Angelo took some of Jack's blood in a bottle. And now that Angelo seems to be the man behind everything...

• Confirmed, though I don't recall Angelo himself using Jack's blood.

Jack's coat will play an important part in the series

Because it's been brought up a lot (Gwen on the plane, gay bartender, gay waiter...)

• Jossed.

The Three Families are related to The Family.

Mostly due to using that name and being apparently after immortality.

• Jossed. They're seemingly human, and even if they weren't, they started on the other side of the world from where Son of Mine was left. (The others are in no position to make plans)

The creepy Tarot girl is a member of the Families.

The Families know Jack, and he apparently did them a favor that he doesn't remember. We know he's had encounters with that Tarot-reading girl before (enough to be able to track her down and ask for her help), so it's possible he did her a favor at some point, thus inadvertently helping the Families. Also, the girl clearly isn't human, seeing as she hasn't aged a day in over a century -- the Families have control over life and death, who's to say they can't stop the aging process?

• Jossed. The Families started in 1928, while the Tarot girl first appeared some time after 1892 (when Jack discovered his immortality) and before the turn of the 20th century.

The Ancient Conspiracy of the series is Anonymous.

Come on, now. "We are everywhere. We are no one"? Conspiracy with bleeding edge technology and unfathomable goals? Pretty obvious, really. Unless that's what they want us to think...

• Jossed, at least on the "ancient" part. The conspiracy only dates back to 1928.

The "new society" that the conspiracy wants to build on Earth is something akin to the Daleks

Let's think about this: If all you need to maintain consciousness indefinitely is, for all intents and purposes, oxygenated blood flow to the brain...why not make sure that everything else is being handled by replacable parts? If they want to revolutionize humanity in some form (as has been hinted at), this seems like a likely option.

• Alternatively, Cybermen.

It's the Silence

Come on. "We are everywhere, we are no one"? It would provide an excellent tie-in with Doctor Who as well - something Torchwood hasn't done in a while.

• From the episode 9 trailer, a woman talking to Jilly after she has gone to see "the blessing". Now what does this sound like?

"You're scared, your skin's a little too tight. There's something just out of the corner of your eye you can't quite see, hmm?"

• • Jossed. That's not how the Silence work. You forget about them completely. Also, it's a family of humans.

Miracle Day will explain what happened to Jack's missing memories mentioned in "The Doctor Dances".

Episode 4 had the assassin referring to some forgotten involvement with the Monster of the Series of Jack's, so maybe this loose end will get tied up.

• Jossed. I'm sure Russell stated that only Steven Moffat (who is busy with Doctor Who and Sherlock) would have to wrap this subplot up.

Jack is still immortal

Just Miracle Day immortal instead think about it the keep in saying Jack is mortal but they can't really prove it for that they would have to kill him instead they've just shown he can't heal any more which is the same as what has happened to every one so instead of only him being turned mortal which means they would have had to target him it means whatever happened to everyone else is happening has happened to him as well.

• Jossed as of Episode 4. One of the mysterious assassins is convinced that Jack is mortal.
  • That's just assuming that the assassin or the people who hired him are positive of Jack's mortality.
  • They are. See episode 10.
• Jack's immortality relates to the fact that he is a fixed point in time. And something like that can't just be turned off. The Miracle takes away his healing factor, but because of the whole 'fixed point' thing, Jack still cannot be killed.

The Miracle is a plan by someone to build a slave state of drugged up corpses

• Probably whoever is behind PhiCorp. Firstly, the corpses still move even when they shouldn't be able to. Presumably, this may include starving people. The issue with pain will be settled via pain drugs, which will presumably be doled out to loyal workers in a hell on earth scenario.
• Jossed. It was a plan to create a new world order.

The Miracle is caused by..... (list your speculation)

• The Singularity. This is a in-universe speculation.
  • Jossed.
• A "Morphic Field". Again, this is in-universe and maybe-maybe not confirmed as of episode 8.
  • ...and confirmed as of episode 10, though the Three Families helped by feeding the field-emitting lifeform immortal blood.
• PhiCorp, since they seem to have the most to benefit from.
  • Jossed as of episode 6. PhiCorp is being played and manipulated.
• Captain Jack himself. The Miracle was an attempt by himself to make himself mortal, but it backfired and made everybody immortal.
  • Jossed pretty early on. He does NOT like mortality.
• Tosh and Owen survived and are doing it.
  • Jossed. The plan of the Families predates Owen and Tosh's birth, with the phrase dating back to 1998.
• One of the missing Torchwoods. Think about it - they sent out the word "Torchwood" not to get rid of the existing members but because they are Torchwood.
  • Jossed.
• The Sisters of Plenitude: An order of nuns from Doctor Who who used inexplicably living subjects to research treatments for deadly diseases.
  • Unlikely. Even if they existed in the 21st century, the Sisters only did so once Earth descendants landed on New Earth. They did so out of necessity, not (only) for kicks.
  • And Jossed.
• 456 was very much an arc number in the first episode of the series. This suggests it could be the 456 that caused it, with the intent of making humanity suffer.
  • Jossed.
• THE ZARBI!!!
  • Jossed.
• The Cell from Torchwood season 2. Remember how they said Jack had been "factored into their plans"? Given the vague hints about playing the system in episode 6, an army that makes deep-cover agents as a standard procedure seem like the prime suspects for this. That or this is going to result in the creation of the enemy.
  • Jossed. The Families are human, and the Blessing itself lives underground.
• Q. John de Lancie is going to guest star.
  • Jossed. De Lancie plays a CIA head.
    • Though that doesn't mean he can't be Q at the same time. The CIA head has a very similar personality; maybe Q decided to visit an alternate reality and body snatch a similar person, both of which he did in Star Trek: Borg.
    • Q: Oh great, now I'M dead! Not exactly what I wanted.
• The Trickster's Brigade. At least, the brain-parasite is probably going to play some part in the proceedings.
  • Jossed. The Trickster's Brigade parasite was met and destroyed a year before the Blessing was even planned.

It was actually a lifeform-thing of empty space that emitted a morphic field.

Gwen's baby will be murdered/kidnapped by the man in the start of Miracle Day.

At some point during Miracle Day Gwen's baby daughter will be kidnapped and murdered by the murderer who was executed and then released on the technicality that he was executed and therefore served his sentence. The baby will be still alive because of whatever's going on and will cause Gwen and Rhys angst when they have to decide to fix it and let people die (and therefore their baby daughter) or whether to give into their feelings and let everyone starve in 4 months time because of lack of resources.

• Has Oswald even MET Gwen yet? And would he really interrupt his media circus and Messianic figure to steal a baby?
  • He meets Anwen in episode 9, but the team works with him to investigate the Blessing. No kidnapping.
• Got the kidnapped baby part right, at least.

The 3 Jane Espenson-written episodes of Series/Season 4 will feature Captain John Hart.

For a few reasons. First, James Marsters has said he'd like to return. Second, why not? And third, Jane was a common writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Marsters played Spike on Buffy and is the actor who plays Hart, who, to be honest, is at least slightly inspired by Spike. Write who you know, right?

• Jossed on all five counts (I think since the header was written, it's come to light that she's co-writing two further scripts). I don't think Miracle Day's serial nature as well as the way it tries to introduce new American audiences would allow for a returning villain, even one played by James Marsters.
  • Also, episodes 9 and 10 have led us to the cause of the Miracle, not involving any time travel.

"Johnson", the woman that was hunting Jack and co. at the start of season 3, will be an ally in season 4.

She was talking to Jack's daughter, and she was told that she needed Jack. She may become a member of Torchwood or "muscle for hire".

• The team seems to be pretty well-established as of episode 3. The team ceased functioning following the death of Stephen, plus she wouldn't know where Gwen, Rhys or Jack was once Rex interfered and Jack removed all traces of the name Torchwood on the Internet. No Johnson.
• Jossed.

Lois Habiba will join the team in season 4.

She's a good possibility - Gwen said as much to her.

• See the response to Johnson. Also, Jossed.

In the new season, Torchwood 4 will be found and become the new base of operations.

Makes perfect sense to me; possibly starting with a (mostly) new cast after nearly everyone else is dead or trekking across the universe.

• Seemingly Jossed. They don't have any permanent base of operations, moving across the two American coasts, into Britain and finally, Shanghai and Buenos Aires.

Jack will die, permanently, in Miracle Day.

It's already been revealed that now that the rest of the human race has been made immortal, Jack is back to being normal. Why change something like that if the writers aren't going to use it to the full advantage of maximum angstage?

• Even if he comes back at the end, he may stay dead for a stretch of the season.
• It's already been established that Jack is the Face of Boe in New New......New York in the Doctor Who series so he can't die permanently.
  • No, it's been implied. He's still very much expendable.
    • This seems to be sort of a backdoor pilot to see if Starz, or any US producer, wants to buy Torchwood to produce as an ongoing series. But without Jack, that's pointless. If you remove Jack, the series is done. Gwen and Rex cannot carry the series, that's clear.
    • Are you using an obscure definition of "backdoor pilot"?
• Jossed. He's still very much alive at the end of the season finale.

Jilly Kitzinger is a Time Lord and her business cards are her TARDIS

• Seriously. She's EVERYWHERE.
• Y'know, I was going to reference Jack's line in Ep 3 in the warehouse. Apparently that little room was "bigger on the inside." This is something largely established to be Time Lord technology....wait a sec...Jilly's the Rani!!!!

Angelo arranged the whole thing and is completely batshit

• Because there is no way that they'd introduce the parasites and have him walk away free of infection. Also, it explains the way he handled the whole Jack situation.
  • If he were infected, he'd be dead. The fact that he's still alive suggests that he wasn't infected. Doesn't discount him plotting the thing, of course.
    • On the other hand, something must have kept him alive well past his 100's.
    • If you assume he's in his early 20s at the start, it is technically possible for him to live that long naturally. Unlikely, but possible.
• Jossed.

Jack can die.... but once the Miracle is over he'd come back to life.

• Because it never ends for Captain Jack Harkness....
  • That's pretty much what happened in episode ten, for both Jack and Rex. (Twice for Rex. .)

The Null Field Generator is Gallifreyan/Time Lord.

• It looks sort of Gallifreyan, and the immense power it could be capable of suggests that not just any sort of alien race could create it.

The series will end with a Reset Button.

• "Let's Kill Hitler" has gone past without so much as a mention of the miracle despite ostensibly being set at the same time; assuming the two shows are still in continuity and this isn't simply a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing, this seems to imply that the ending will prevent the miracle from ever happening.
  • This would also explain why Jack, who is from the future, had no knowledge of the Miracle beforehand.
  • Except for the fact that the Miracle was directly caused by him. Thanks to time travel, he ended up in a time that wasn't his own, and his existence in that timeline caused a major change in the flow of events. There's no way he could have possible know about the Miracle given that his time travel interference is what caused it.
  • And Jossed. Four major characters die (though two come back to life), and everyone in critical condition dies right away.

Esther has feelings for Rex.

• It just seems obvious to me, the constant doe-eyed looks she has, appearing uncomfortable with finding out about Rex and Vera. I'm unsure if it'll get brought up at all.
  • Well, Esther did show signs of having feelings for Rex. In episode 9, when the two of them meet up in Buenos Aires, she hugs and kisses him, obviously having missed Rex a lot. And Rex did show signs of having feelings for Esther in Episode 6 and 10. In Episode 6, he was very defensive with Esther, and was distraught when seeing her nearly being strangled to death, and in Episode 10, Rex broke down in tears when Esther got shot, and was reluctant to go along with the plan to undo the Miracle.
  • But ultimately they won't be going anywhere together, as Esther is dead.

PhiCorp / The Family are Phyrexians

• They both use the same symbol...the greek letter Phi.

The Blessing takes a different form to different people

• The message to Jilly was that she's a gigantic cunt.
  • I for one second this notion.
  • Of course, this means the whole cast are gigantic cunts as well since they also-- you know what? I third this notion.
  • Jossed. The Blessing is the negative space, not the stuff around it. Also, while Jilly's message isn't stated, Jack's, Gwen's and Oswald's are, and even Oswald's doesn't quite sound like "he's a cunt".

After CTU was disbanded by the government, the CIA hired on its human resources division.

• Thus explaining how the Families got not one, but two moles into the same CIA office.

Esther is currently Faking the Dead...

• Knowing that the Families are still in play. Jack after finding Jilly's body used a mixture of 51st science and modern techniques to temporary adjust Esther's form to look like Jilly's and Jilly's to look like hers. After all who are you going to send to get all the technical abilities of your hidden enemies. One of the few people Jack trusts absolutely with the skills to back it up. That would explain why Jilly was unscratched, of course Jack couldn't tell Rex for her safety.]] Of course Rex may have other things on his mind at the moment..

Rex's immortality won't last

• Right now, all the blood in his body is actually Jack's. But, over time, his body will replace that blood. When the process is complete, he'll be normal again.

Rex will remain immortal and eventually become the Face of Boe

• A long time partnership with Jack will give him all the relevant knowledge. He'll assume the name in honour of Jack.