Children of Earth: Day Two

Without skipping a beat from its thrilling premiere, the second episode shows us the aftermath of the heartstopping explosion that has flattened Torchwood's "big science-fiction superbase." Gwen has been thrown on the floor, her ears are ringing from the blast, and two guys have captured her. With seemingly preternatural strength she manages to take these two guys down and then proceed to kick ass with two guns aimed at the sniper bent on shooting her. She gets away just as we see Ianto appearing from the rubble. With no time to realize what has happened, he is getting shot at and he escapes by outrunning his assailant. And all of this happened in the first ten minutes or so! I was out of breath just writing all of that!


With the backdrop of everyone still trying to figure out what the hell is happening with the children and what exactly the "456" want from Earth, Gwen and Ianto are on the run from "the government" which Gwen manages to find out from one of the guy who tried to kill her. Gwen grabs Rhys out of bed and both of them go into hiding though unfortunately before they are able to meet up with a bewildered and increasingly paranoid Ianto. But without all of the cool doodads or the presumed authority they had as members of Torchwood, separated from each other and Jack, both Gwen and Ianto must find out what the hell is going on by themselves.

Separating the main characters and making them the victims especially this early on in the miniseries really was an inspired touch since it really allowed new viewers to quickly identify with these characters. These are not superheroes with superpowers, but just normal folk (albeit with kick ass skills) like you and me trying to survive. One of the more touching scenes in the series is when Ianto's sister reads a secret note from Ianto asking her to meet up with him with a laptop and she breaks down wondering what he has done and why he's involving her and her family. Her husband then tells her, "We're the only family he's got." And then there is absolutely adorable scene with Gwen and Rhys inside the delivery truck and Rhys realizing that Gwen is pregnant. Just normal folk living their life under extremely special circumstances. Welcome to Torchwood.

With no one to turn to, the Torchwood team gets help from a very unexpected place in Lois Habiba who works inside the Home Office (government) as a new personal assistant. In her very short tenure, she manages to learn about Torchwood as well as the plot to get rid of them. With this information on hand, she not only helps Gwen and Rhys get some much needed food after being on the run for a few hours, but she only hatches a plan to get them through a super secret base where Jack is being held. With a glint in her eye, Gwen tells Lois that she has a job at Torchwood after all of this is over and I don't doubt it for a minute.


The last few minutes were as thrilling as the first minutes of the episode as Gwen & Rhys infiltrate the base to rescue Jack only to be surrounded by soldiers after discovering that Jack has been imprisoned in a concrete cell, necessary because even exploding to bits couldn't kill him off. When all hope seemed lost, Ianto comes to the rescue as he busts the wall with a forklift. The soldier try to chase them, but Gwen uses her mad skills to blow up a truck on their path. A very naked Jack is then freed and the episode ends with the whole team reunited to prepare for the alien's arrival the next day. After all the message the children are now repeating is "WE ARE COMING... TOMORROW."

Can't wait. Bring it on, pesky aliens!