'Miracle Day' Part 4: 'Escape to L.A.' by Jim Gray and John Shiban

Before leaving Washington, Esther sneaks off to visit her sister Sarah; finding the woman in a state of extreme paranoia, Esther fears for the lives of Sarah’s two daughters, and is forced to anonymously report her sister to the welfare services. As Esther drives off in tears, she is unaware that she is being watched from a nearby parked car: inside a black-dressed gentleman reports to his Phi-Corp masters that he has found a way to Torchwood and Jack Harkness… News reports continue to cover the Miracle: while people struggle to adapt to the new world, Phi-Corp is predicting record profits… Jack, Gwen, Rex and Esther arrive in sunny Venice Beach, California. While the team look for a place to stay, Rex is intrigued by the flyers posted everywhere declaring that ‘Dead is Dead’, a new campaign being run by local mayor Ellis Hartley Monroe. Meanwhile, Doctor Juarez and her medical panel are being shown around an abandoned hospital by administrator Bisme Katusi, who tasks them with reopening the building as a facility to deal solely with emergency cases – a ‘plague ship’ approach… As the Torchwood team make themselves comfortable in the run-down beach-side apartment Jack has procured from a local heavy, Gwen takes a call from Rhys in Swansea; heading outside to take the call, Gwen fails to notice that she is under surveillance by the black-clad gentleman… As the Torchwood team begin planning their raid on Phi-Corp headquarters, Jack resolves to continue monitoring Oswald Danes, and also the ubiquitous Jilly Kitzinger. Elsewhere, Danes’ enjoyment of his hotel room is interrupted by the arrival of Jilly, now appointed as his personal aid; she brings bad tidings: Central News has just cancelled their interview with Oswald in favour of Ellis Hartley Monroe – Danes has a new rival… Troubled by the message of the ‘Dead is Dead’ campaign, Rex decides to pay a visit to his estranged father; it is an unhappy reunion, and the two argue over Rex’s lack of family interest before his father throws him out. Returning to Torchwood, Rex joins a briefing given by Esther, whose research into Phi-Corp’s headquarters has provided them with a plan: on the premise that PhiCorp’s most important data is held in its most secure sever, which is invulnerable to hacking, Torchwood can gain entry to the corporation’s I.T. room and swap the main data server with one of their own, preventing any suspicion by making the replacement look fire damaged; the only problem is that the room is keyed solely to the biometrics of the I.T. system designer, one Nicholas Frumkin… Posing as a married couple Gwen and Jack manage to ‘bump into’ Frumkin and his family in the park, using their wits and tech to obtain his voice, palm and retina prints; but once again, they are being watched by the gentleman… Vera and her colleagues have succeeded in getting the hospital operational, but are already being flooded with intakes from other hospices; conditions are terrible and overcrowded, and with no information on any of the new arrivals, Vera complains to Bisme, but the administrator just stonewalls her. Outside the building is Ellis Hartley Monroe, giving a press conference on her ‘Dead is Dead’ campaign; also present is Danes and Jilly, both furious at having their limelight stolen. Taking matters into his own hands, Danes strides past the Monroe and the assembled reporters, takes up a surgical mask and enters the hospital; as the press turn their attention to this turn of events, Danes begins a show of faked compassion and solidarity: promising to champion the patients’ cause, he removes his mask and embraces a sick child, offering everyone the chance to experience his personal rapture, ‘Life is Life’. Watching the proceedings Jilly is overjoyed, but Vera is just disgusted. Furious at being upstaged, Ellis storms into her waiting limousine and accepts the coffee proffered by her chauffeur; but the driver is working for Phi-Corp’s masters, and the drink was drugged… Elsewhere, Frumkin gets into his car and finds himself held at knifepoint by the gentleman – after recording his victim’s voice, the agent cuts off his hand and then takes one of his eyes… Arriving at Phi-Corp, Esther and Rex set up a monitoring station in the back of their van; Esther phones social services to check on her sister, only to learn that she has been admitted to a psychiatric ward, and her children placed into custody. Dressed to kill and posing as executive Yvonne Pallister, Gwen enters the building and, with some help from Esther, convinces the reception guard that she is there officially. Down in the delivery bay, Jack unloads the fake server, explaining to the security guard that he is providing H.R. with a new shredder; meeting up with Gwen, Jack sets off the fire alarm, and, as the building personnel evacuate, the duo use Frumkin’s biometric prints to gain access to the server room. Having swapped the equipment, Jack leaves with the stolen server, while Gwen remains to re-plug the fake – only to be knocked unconscious by the gentleman. Seeing Gwen’s contact lens video signal go down, Ester and Rex inform Jack – but he is already on his way back to the server room, having found the guard lying strangled in the back of the delivery truck. Finding Gwen tied up, Jack immediately goes to free her, but he too is struck down by the gentleman. Rex races into the now empty Phi-Corp building, but to his frustration the lifts have been shut down in the alarm, leaving him with dozens of flights of stairs to climb... Jack comes to and finds himself lying next to Gwen, both of them tied to the server rack and watched over by the gentleman. The agent is intrigued to know why Jack is mortal; furthermore, his masters have hinted of more miracles yet to come, and the gentleman believes that the new society was triggered by something Jack gave his bosses long ago. Jack has no idea what the gentleman is talking to, but the agent refuses to believe him, and holds a knife to Gwen’s throat. Struggling up the stairs, his lungs bursting and his chest wound bleeding profusely, Rex urges himself on to save his friends. Losing patience, the gentleman prepares to shoot Gwen in the head; but Gwen is undaunted, and insists her assailant tell her who his masters are. Squeezing the trigger, the gentlemen is about to say the name when Rex shoots him point blank; as the agent collapses to the floor in a bloody mess, Gwen and Jack are both relieved and furious at Rex’s timely arrival – he shot the gentleman in the throat just as he was about to tell them everything… The news reports favour Danes once again, his ‘Life is Life’ phenomenon making him the new voice of the people… Elsewhere, Ellis wakes up to find herself bound and gagged inside her limousine, which is now parked in a scrapyard; after the radio broadcasts a message from Phi-Corp’s masters, who no longer want Ellis interfering in their plans, the car is placed inside a crusher and compressed to a fraction of its size – with the mangled Ellis still alive inside… In Venice Beach, the Torchwood team regroup and inspect their prize; Ester immediately begins work on decoding the server’s files, and finds construction plans for new hospitals called ‘Overflow Camps’. Then Gwen gets a call from an excited Rhys, who brings the good news that her dad will be getting treatment at new hospital; but Gwen is horrified – Phi-Corp have taken her father…

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), C. Thomas Howell (The Gentleman), Mare Winningham (Ellis Hartley Monroe), Juanita Jennings (Bisme Katusi), Candace Brown (Sarah), Kelvin Yu (Nicholas Frumkin), Desean Terry (Male Nurse), Roger Vernon Burton (Thin Old Man), Katsy Chappell (Woman), April Clark (Young Mother), Anthony Dilio (Lobby Guard), David Fofi (Burly Guard), Teresa Garza (Spanish Newscaster), Roy Lee Jones (Maurice), Roy Lee Jones (Maurice), JoNell Kennedy (Veronica), Masami Kosaka (Japanese Newscaster), Ronobir Lahiri (Simran), Michael D. Nye (Sick Man), Barbara Mallory (Scared Old Woman), Brian Keith Russell (Landlord), Christian Svensson (Chauffeur), Randa Walker (Candice), David Grant Wright (Male Newscaster)

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): 29th July 2011 & 10.00 pm
UK (BBC1 & BBC 1 HD): 4th August 2011 @ 9.00 pm

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