'Miracle Day' Part 8: 'End of the Road' by Ryan Scott and Jane Espenson

Jack, Gwen, Rex and Ester are escorted by Olivia and her aides to the Colasanto Residence in Nevada. Leaving Esther on point outside as insurance, Rex follows the party inside the huge mansion, where Olivia takes them to see her grandfather, Jack’s former lover Angelo Colasanto, now an old, withered man lying in a vegetative state, hooked up to a range of medical equipment and tended to by a team of doctors. To everyone’s surprise Olivia informs them that she has been carrying out her grandfather’s orders to keep them alive. Gwen is also somewhat amused to see pictures of Jack on the mantelpiece, showing him through the ages (and sporting a particularly dodgy moustache in the ’70s!). Olivia explains that Angelo was inspired to live forever by Jack, and has prolonged his life through a strict diet and physical regime, even lowering his body temperature two degrees in the process. When Olivia reveals that Angelo has been working with three men representing powerful families – Ablemarch, Costerdane and Frines – Jack recalls the mysterious trio who tried to buy him back in 1928 in order to obtain the secret of resurrection, and he realises that they must have collected samples of his blood during his torture. Olivia continues: whilst these men kept Angelo privy to their plans, they excluded him from its benefits, deeming him “inappropriate” due to his love for Jack. Angelo eventually took a wife and, acting on advice about the future that Jack gave him, managed to amass a fortune that allowed him to live a life of luxury; he and Olivia have also heard of the Families’ reference to ‘The Blessing’, but have no knowledge of what it means. Watching events via Gwen’s contact lenses, Esther follows Rex’s orders to research into the Families; but she can find no record of them – those three names do not exist anywhere. Esther reports back to Rex, but is interrupted by the arrival of Director Friedkin and a team of armed C.I.A. agents; they lead her inside the mansion at gunpoint, where Friedkin arrests Rex, Jack and Gwen for violation of the Miracle Security Act. When Rex accuses his superior of working for the Families all long, he is taken away and beaten up; then Friedkin points a gun at Rex’s head and gloats how he traced the rogue agent via the phone call he made to Vera Juarez’s parents. Outside, three more SUVs pull up and a team of men in black emerge, led by Friedkin’s boss, Allen Shapiro. As they enter the building and confront the Torchwood team, a nearby television screen bursts into life, showing Rex’s point of view just as Freidkin admits he is in the pay of the Families: Rex has stolen Gwen’s contact lenses, programming them to transmit to all monitors in his immediate vicinity when his pulse rate increases as part of a trap deliberately laid for Friedkin. Shapiro immediately arrests the Director and orders him to be taken away for debriefing along with Olivia; he then turns on the others, clashing with the mouthy Gwen, docking Esther’s pay for deserting her post, before locking horns with Jack and ordering him to pool their resources. As Shapiro storms back outside, Jack and Gwen are highly amused that they are now working for the C.I.A. … Waiting in a car outside, Friedkin panics at the punishment he faces from the Family – he activates an explosive device on his wrist, killing himself and Olivia in a huge fireball. Back in the mansion, Jack sits at Angelo’s bedside, talking to the old man even though he is asleep; vowing to take care of him, Jack kisses Angelo – and then all the monitoring equipment goes off, blaring alarms. Annoyed at the interruption, Jack unplugs the machinery and takes Angelo’s hand – and with shock discovers that the old man is now dead. Confirming Angelo’s condition with his wrist scanner, Jack attempts to give him CPR while yelling for help. Shapiro and the others arrive on the scene in seconds, and are astonished to learn that Angelo is now the first person to die since Miracle Day… After a forensics team takes away Angelo’s body for autopsy, Shapiro confirms that the Miracle is still continuing; he then orders everyone to remain on the premises until it can be learnt what just happened with Angelo. Gwen consoles Jack on his loss, but her friend just suspects trouble… Reinstated into the C.I.A., Rex contacts his team at headquarters in Langley and instructs them to find out about the Families; as Noah and Charlotte get to work, Rex also tells them to watch Oswald Danes, who is about to give another of his inspirational rallies at the Cowboy Stadium in Dallas. All across the world, news coverage reports the imminent crash of the global stock market; as the banks fall, Greece and Ireland declare bankruptcy… Later, in Dallas, Jilly Kitzinger preps Danes for his next wave of public appearances; however, Danes is uninterested, and instead orders her to get him a prostitute for the evening. Forced to comply, Jilly rushes outside and meets Shawnie Yamaguchi, her new intern; pleased at being able to share her pain, Jilly gives Shawnie the task of finding Danes’ entertainment. Shawnie leaves to carry out her task, and also reports in to C.I.A. HQ… Esther phones her sister Sarah, who is being held in a hospital psych ward; after Esther is forced to admit that she reported her sister to the authorities, Sarah tells her that she has found a way out: by volunteering herself and her girls for Category One. Meanwhile, Gwen phones Rhys and her mother in Swansea, and learns that her father’s condition is worsening. Esther re-joins her friends, and notices the platform on which Angelo’s bed was resting – the only part of the room not checked by forensics. Jack tries to stop Esther from informing Shapiro, but the agent defers to her boss’ authority. Under Shapiro’s instructions the floor is uncovered, revealing a golden metal web of strange, complex design. Seeing that Jack recognises its design, Shapiro orders that Gwen be deported; but Jack refuses to give anything away, and his violently protesting friend is escorted from the mansion. One Rex diffuses the situation, Jack admits that the metal web is a null field generator, which transmits morphic fields; Shapiro orders Jack to make it safe so that it can be taken back to Langley… In his hotel room, Danes receives a visit from a prostitute named Claire. Despite knowing his reputation, the girl is prepared to spend the night with Danes; but when he proposes that they go out on a date she flatly refuses, storming out in protest and declaring him to be a Category Zero. Confused, Danes bursts into Jilly’s room and demands to know what Category Zero means, and is furious to learn that an emergency mandate is about to be passed that will apply to those people who have earned a place in the ovens on moral grounds. Enraged, Danes punches Jilly in the face – but she fights back, and he flees from the room, taking the woman’s laptop with him. Back at the Colasanto Residence, Jack instructs Esther and Rex to touch the metal plating: the null field negates their conversation, allowing them to speak in private. Jack reveals that the device is alien technology salvaged from the ruins of the Torchwood Hub; fearful that its misuse could bring about the end of Earth and its timeline, he implores Rex and Esther to help him take its key component, the ‘Alpha Plate’, away. Back in Dallas, Jilly and Shawnie are approached by the mysterious Blue-Eyed Man. After exposing Shawnie as a C.I.A. agent, the man shoots her in cold blood and then offers Jilly a promotion working for a “Family Business”; when Jilly eagerly accepts, the Blue-Eyed Man leads her away and contacts his boss: Esther’s trusted teammate, Charlotte Wills… At the Colasanto Residence, Rex and Esther help Jack to escape; however, when they get outside they are spotted to a guard, who shoots Jack in the stomach. Rex deals with the man and then helps bundle Jack into a nearby car, ordering Esther to drive to safety while he returns inside the mansion. Esther speeds off, but with Jack now bleeding to death in the back of the car, she doesn’t know what to do next…

John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Lauren Ambrose (Jilly Kitzinger), Candace Brown (Sarah), Sharon Morgan (Mary Cooper), Mariana Benedict (Charlotte Wills), John de Lancie (Allen Shapiro), Wayne Knight (Brian Friedkin), Paul James (Noah Miller), Teddy Sears (Blue-Eyed Man), Nana Visitor (Olivia Colasanto), Megan Duffy (Claire), Constance Wu (Shawnie Yamaguchi), David Desantos (Agent Baylor), Nayo K Wallace (Wilson)

Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton
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): 27th August 2011 & 10.00 pm
UK (BBC1 & BBC 1 HD): 1st September 2011 @ 9.00 pm

Notes:
*Featuring Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond