'Miracle Day' Part 2: 'Rendition' by Doris Egan

Driven under police escort to Heathrow airport, Jack and Gwen are manhandled onto a waiting plane commandeered at Rex’s orders, while a protesting Rhys is taken back home to Wales with baby daughter Anwen. Following his captives onto the plane, Rex meets another C.I.A. agent, a severe-looking woman named Lyn, who has been sent to assist him in extraditing Torchwood to the U.S. At C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Esther receives an email advising of Rex’s successful mission; she informs the Director of Intelligence, Brian Friedkin, and offers to help, but the man doesn’t seem all that pleased… Aboard the plane, Jack and Gwen are handcuffed to their seats; Gwen is in a foul mood, and after berating Jack for leaving so abruptly after the dissolution of Torchwood, she rebukes Rex for kidnapping them instead of just asking for help. Rex is unfazed, and also scoffs at Jack’s theory of Miracle Day being linked to morphic fields – but Lyn does listen, and she emails this information to Director Friedkin… At WWCN News studios in New York, Oswald Dames prepares to give his first television interview, while under police supervision; he gorges himself on the free hospitality, much to the disgust of the show’s floor manager. Making contact with an unknown party via his mobile phone, which only shows an enigmatic triangular logo, Director Friedkin is given a one-word instruction, “REMOVE”, which he immediately passes on to Lyn… On the plane, Rex calls Doctor Juarez at City Hospital and offers her the chance to examine the last mortal man in the world in exchange for more painkillers. Accepting the proposal, Vera returns to her work in E.R. and suddenly realises that she and her team are dealing with their patients in the wrong way: they need to reverse their method of triage – by helping trivial cases they can free up beds for severely injured patients. Aboard the plane, Lyn dismisses the steward as he prepares drinks Jack and Gwen; unobserved, she then spikes Jack’s drink with a capsule… At WWCN News, Danes frustrates his interviewer by refusing to comment – until he is shown a picture of Susie Cabina, the child he abused and murdered; to everyone’s astonishment, Danes breaks down in tears and profusely apologises for his actions… Leaving the studio, Danes receives an apology from the now-sympathetic floor manager, and then meets over-enthusiastic P.R. agent Jilly Kitzinger, who offers to represent him; but on hearing that Oprah Winfrey now wants him on her show, Danes tears up Jilly’s business card. Arriving at Washington City Hall, Doctor Juarez makes her way past numerous panels debating the events of Miracle Day, until she finds one of interest; joining in with the medical research team’s discussion, Vera makes a startling observation: the human race has become germ incubators, providing an ideal environment for bacteria to multiply and grow resistant to drugs. On the plane, Jack becomes violently sick from the poison he has unknowingly swallowed – his body has no resistance, because he has never needed to become immune to anything… At C.I.A. headquarters, Esther witnesses two men in black searching through Rex’s office and files; returning to her desk a few minutes later, Esther sees two more men going through her own records and downloading the contents of her computer onto a memory stick. To her dismay, Esther then discovers that her user account has been locked out, and that $50,000 has been transferred to her bank account by an unidentified party based in China. Realising that she is being set up, Esther quickly swaps her I.D. card with that of her colleague, Charlotte Wills, and then makes a hasty exit from the building. Unable to locate their quarry, the two agents inform Director Friedkin, who orders them to find Esther and bring her in. Reaching the car park, Esther quickly locates Charlotte’s car; by distracting the gate attendant with small talk she prevents him from noticing her stolen pass, allowing her to make her escape. With Jack’s condition worsening Gwen accuses the steward, Danny, of poisoning him. When Danny reveals Lyn’s involvement, Rex searches her handbag and finds more poison capsules; he immediately handcuffs his colleague, and then frees Gwen and Jack from their bonds so they can try to determine the type of poison used. With the poison identified as arsenic, Rex phones Doctor Juarez and asks for her advice on a cure; realising that Jack’s only hope is collation - introducing another toxic substance into his system to counteract the arsenic – the doctor turns to the medical panel for their help in working out where on the plane to find the chemicals needed. With Jack’s time running out, Gwen and Rex frantically scour the cabin for the right ingredients, grabbing ammonia, chemicals from a laptop battery, Lyn’s silver pendant and even tearing up the floor panels to get grease from the hydraulics system. Gwen finally completes the mixture with one of Lyn’s cyanide capsules, but as she prepares to inject Jack, Lyn gets free and kicks the syringe from her hand. Gwen promptly punches the agent in the face and then administers the toxin to Jack – the results are painful, but Jack grits his teeth as the two poisons cancel each other out. Gwen is overjoyed – until Rex re-cuffs her and Jack. Informing Director Friedkin of Lyn’s transgression, Rex is advised that a C.I.A. team will meet them at the airport. Meanwhile, at City Hall, Doctor Juarez and the team make another shocking discovery: despite being immortal, people are still aging. Stepping outside for a cigarette, Vera meets Jilly Kitzinger, who manages to ingratiate herself with the doctor after introducing herself as the P.R. rep for PhiCorp, a major pharmaceutics company. Landing at Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C., Rex and his three prisoners are met by two black-suited agents. As the party walks into the terminal building, Rex receives a call from a frantic Esther, who warns him that they are being set up: someone is trying to erase all trace of Torchwood, and anyone they come in contact with. Distracted by the call, Rex fails to see Lyn get free of her handcuffs. On receiving a text from his bank advising of a $100,000 deposit to his account, Rex realises Esther is right; playing along for the benefit of the two agents, he secretly frees Jack and Gwen: they take out their two guards and then Rex deals with Lyn, snapping her neck. Trying not to draw attention to themselves, the trio leave the airport and meet Vera, who hands Rex more painkillers; Rex then urges Jack and Gwen over to where Esther is waiting in Charlotte’s car, a blue mini. As the four of them speed off – avoiding a backwards-facing Lyn, who staggers uselessly after them – Gwen welcomes Rex and Esther to Torchwood…

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), Dichen Lachman (Lyn), Mariana Benedict (Charlotte Wills), Paul James (Noah Miller), Tom Price (Sergeant Andy Davidson), Wayne Knight (Brian Friedkin), Tug Coker (Geoff Reed), Halley Feiffer (Lianna), Finn Wittrock (Danny), Richard Augustine (George Sayer), Amy Benedict (Bridget Howe), Sedly Bloomfield (Man #2), Antonio D. Charity (Airport Security Cop), Erin Chenoweth (Greta), Ewan Chung (Yu-King So), Rachel Leah Cohen (Laurie),Joseph Eid (Man #1), Chrissie Marie Fit (Assistant), Bari Hochwald (E.R. Nurse), Scott Hoxby (Paul Goldstein), Ronobir Lahiri (Simran Baidwan),Don Luce (Gate Guard), David O’Donnell (Doctor Mandell), Jeffery Self (James Percey),Kirsty Senwsson (Woman), Luke White (E.M.T.), A.J. Tannen (Government Clerk), Glenn Taranto (Security Chief), Richard Wharton (Doctor Paul Bell)

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): 15th July 2011 & 10.00 pm
UK (BBC1 & BBC 1 HD): 21st July 2011 @ 9.00 pm

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