'Miracle Day' Part 3: 'Dead of Night' by Jane Espenson

At home, Director Brian Friedkin leaves his bed to investigate why his television has suddenly switched on – and finds himself held at gunpoint by a very angry Rex Harrison, who demands to know why he has been set up. The terrified Friedkin explains that he doesn’t know, and has never met his masters: they have been around for decades, but only make contact with the Director’s via his mobile phone. Learning from Esther that the police are on their way, Rex deafens his former boss with a gunshot, grabs his phone and then races outside to where Jack is waiting in a car; after Gwen lays a spiked strip across the road to deal with the approaching police car, Torchwood make their escape… In Washington D.C., Gwen watches as dozens of people parade through the city holding candles, their faces hidden by stylised masks: they are ‘The Soulless’. Making her way to the abandoned building where Jack has recently been hiding out, Gwen re-joins her makeshift team. While Esther uses her computer skills to trace the calls made to Director Friedkin’s phone, and the origin of the bribe money, Rex and Jack clash over who should lead the team, and Gwen decides to research into Oswald Danes, a man now appearing in interviews on every new channel. Monitoring the C.I.A.’s work, Esther gets a lead on a warehouse that is being covered up; the team immediately set off to investigate, and after Gwen steals a car in her own inimitable way, they soon arrive outside the building. After she and Esther have incapacitated the guard, Gwen hacks the door lock and leads Jack and Rex inside, into a huge warehouse filled with thousands of boxes of PhiCorp painkillers; as Rex happily stocks up, Jack finds a delivery record that goes back a year. Then Rex finds another set of doors, which open onto a massive underground complex full of pack shelves of medical supplies – it seems that PhiCorp knew that Miracle Day was coming… Summoned to City Hall, Doctor Juarez joins the medical panel and hears their latest concern: with no abortions taking place, the population is booming alarmingly. Also present is P.R. rep Jilly Kitzinger: busy drumming up business for PhiCorp, she offers Vera an opportunity to meet her bosses. Back at Torchwood’s hideout, Rex overrules Jack’s decision to investigate PhiCorp in favour of taking the case to someone he can trust; making contact with his former C.I.A. instructor, Rex arranges to meet at a hotel – only to watch as the building is later stormed by cops. With Rex choosing to go it alone, Gwen and Esther go for a stroll and a pep-talk, while Jack nips into a bar for a drink and promptly picks up the barman. Returning home, Doctor Juarez is surprised to find Rex waiting for her; when he collapses from his injuries, she redresses his wounds, and then lets him talk her into going to bed with him. In Atlanta, Georgia, Oswald Danes sneaks out of his police-monitored motel and goes to a diner, where he is recognised by two other customers; when Danes leaves the restaurant the couple give chase, intent on beating him up; running for his life, Danes finds sanctuary with two policemen, who see off the ex-convict’s would-be assailants and then agree to take him back to his motel. But to Danes’ dismay, the cops first drive him to a piece of waste ground, where they proceed to beat him senseless... Lying in bed, Rex tells Vera about PhiCorp’s involvement in Miracle Day; learning of Jilly’s offer of a private meeting, Rex asks the doctor to spy for him, but she turns him down and throws him out in anger. Lying in a drunken, post-sex stupor in the sleeping barman’s bed, Jack phones Gwen and tells her how much he values her friendship and misses Ianto; however, Gwen gets distracted when Esther uses her laptop to set up a video-link to Rhys and Anwen. Dumped on the street outside his motel, Danes meets the ubiquitous Jilly Kitzinger, who persuades him to accompany her to Dallas to meet PhiCorp. Spending the rest of the night on a street bench, Rex receives a call from Vera, who has had a change of mind. The following morning, a hungover Jack returns to the hideout, where Gwen is giving Rex and Esther a demonstration of the only alien technology she kept from her days at Torchwood, the camera-comm contact lenses, which she plans on wearing into PhiCorp… Checking-in at PhiCorp headquarters, Doctor Juarez goes to let Rex in through the fire exit – only to find Gwen waiting there instead. As Gwen makes her way through the building, Jack, Esther and Rex watch her progress through her eyes via their laptop, and see that Danes is also present at the conference. While Jilly shows Danes into an exclusive meeting with the heads of the corporation, Vera takes her seat in the audience of a huge auditorium, keeping her phone on so that Torchwood can listen in. As Jilly arrives, a video presentation starts up, in which a noted congressman explains that a new legislation will be announced later that day, making all drugs available without prescription. With Jack mysteriously vanished, Rex and Esther watch as Gwen sneaks into Jilly’s office and hacks into her PC. On seeing Jilly leave, Vera quickly informs Rex and Esther, allowing them to warn Gwen, who only just manages to hide before the rep enters her office; Vera then phones Jilly and asks that she join her in the screening room, allowing Gwen to make a swift exit. Back at the hideout, Rex and Esther are surprised to hear the Director’s phone ringing; while Esther attempts to trace the call, Rex tries to find out who is on the line – but he receives no reply to his questions, his only clue to their identity being the enigmatic triangular logo on the device’s screen. When the call cuts off before Esther can get a fix on a location, the two agents immediately decide to pack up and get out. Meanwhile, Jack breaks into the green room at WYBS television studios, where Danes is preparing for yet another interview. Pulling a gun on Danes, Jack demands to know why he met with PhiCorp, but the man just laughs in his face; Danes is still very much a monster: he isn’t sorry for murdering Suzie Cabina at all – an act that Jack can relate to, having recently killed his own grandson. As Jack realises that Danes is searching for a way to die, he is overpowered by two PhiCorp agents – Danes’ new ‘protection’. Leaving the men to deal with Jack, Danes makes his latest television appearance, now promoting PhiCorp and encouraging people to join him on the path to salvation. Thrown onto the street, Jack is horrified to learn how people are now seeing Danes as their saviour…

John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Agent Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Agent Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams [Rhys Cooper]), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Lauren Ambrose (Jilly Kitzinger), Arlene Tur (Doctor Vera Juarez), Wayne Knight (Director Brian Friedkin), Dillon Casey (Brad), Richard Gilliland (Congressman Patrick Morganthall), Tasha Ames (Carla), Thea Andrews (Local Reporter), Richard Augustine (George Sayer), Daryl Crittenden (Young Man), Mitchell Edmonds (Senior T.V. Anchor), Matt Eyde (Atlanta Cop), Mary Garripoli (Woman Tourist), Ted Mattison(Phi-Corp Rep), Jason Medwin (Sunroof Screamer), George Murdock (Preacher), Brian Treitler (Doctor Murphy), Randa Walker (Candice Perlmutter), Maurice Webster (Cop), Michelle Wong (Nurse), David Youse (Doctor Rosenbloom)

Directed by Billy Gierhart
Produced by Brian Minchin and Kelly A. Manners
Executive Producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter and Bharat Nalluri
A BBC Cymru Wales, BBC Worldwide and Starz Entertainment production

TX:
US (Starz): 22nd July 2011 & 10.00 pm
UK (BBC1 & BBC 1 HD): 28th July 2011 @ 9.00 pm

Notes:
*Featuring Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Agent Rex Matheson, Agent Esther Drummond and Doctor Vera Juarez

*Censorship: the sex scenes between Rex and Vera, and Jack and Brad, were cut completely from the U.K. transmission