The Gathering (TV story)

The Gathering (TV story)

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The Gathering
Featuring:	Jack Harkness Gwen Cooper Rex Matheson Esther Drummond Rhys Williams Oswald Danes (joins)
Main enemy:	The Three Families Oswald Danes Ralph Finch
Main setting:	Swansea, Wales St Margaret's Halt, Scotland Langley, Virginia Shanghai, China Buenos Aires, Argentina 2011
Key crew
Writer:	John Fay
Director:	Guy Ferland
Producer:	Kelly A Manners
Release details
Release number:	40
Premiere broadcast:	2 September 2011

The Gathering was the ninth episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Synopsis

As the Three Families plunge the world into recession, the Torchwood team - defeated, powerless and hunted - must strike a bargain with the devil himself.

Plot

Esther and Jack are on the run in Scotland. Esther has been taking blood from Jack; they suspect it is significant to the Miracle, the families and the Blessing. Jack's own blood bank is stored in a metal briefcase if there is a chance it becomes useful. Oswald Danes travels to Gwen Cooper's home in Swansea with information about a man behind the Miracle and the team reconvene in the Cooper residence.

Torchwood discover that Jilly Kitzinger was hired by The Families to rewrite the English translations of foreign news clips, including a man in Shanghai who is actually saying he was saved by the Blessing.

Esther notes blood banks were burnt down shortly before the Miracle in two of the most populated cities in the world: Shanghai and Buenos Aires. Rhys, examining a globe, realises that they are the exact opposite points on the Earth.

Meanwhile, police authorities under reinstated Category legislation have the authority to enter homes if residents are under suspicion of harbouring Category Ones. Considered legally dead, any Category Ones are taken into custody and held until they can be incinerated in the ovens. Gwen's father has been hidden behind wood panelling in the basement. When an inspector returns a second time with a new thermal imaging application on his smart phone, he removes Gwen's father. Gwen begs them to leave him alone, but nothing can be done. She reminds Jack and the others that all she wants is to stop the Miracle and have this authoritarian disaster end.

Rhys' discovery of two geographic points running across the center of the Earth reflects the logo of PhiCorp - a circle with a line running through it. They decide to split up and investigate: Rex and Esther travel to Buenos Aires; Jack, Gwen, and Oswald, who knows too much to be released and who is at risk of being murdered by Rhys if he stays in the Cooper residence, are smuggled by gun runners into Shanghai. As Jack puts it, Torchwood has now gone global.

Meanwhile, Jilly Kitzinger is given an entirely new identity by the families as "Lucy Statten Meredith", ceasing to exist under her former identity and promoted to a position in Shanghai. Meeting an unidentified member of the families, she is complimented on her storytelling skills and informed she was hired to essentially write world history for the families. She is taken to the Blessing, a massive crack or fissure running through the centre of the Earth.

File:Jilly Kitzinger.png

Jilly gazes upon the Blessing

In Shanghai, Gwen discovers Jack has not recovered from his gunshot wound; he is faring worse after travelling. Undressing the bandages, Gwen assesses his wound and a drop of blood falls to the floor of the apartment they are staying in. Oswald notices it as it begins travelling across the floor, as if magnetised by an invisible force. Gwen speculates Jack's blood is being drawn to the Blessing. Jack is connected to the phenomenon of the Blessing.

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
• Rex Matheson - Mekhi Phifer
• Esther Drummond - Alexa Havins
• Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
• Oswald Danes - Bill Pullman
• Sarah Drummond - Candace Brown
• Mary Cooper - Sharon Morgan
• Geraint Cooper - William Thomas
• Charlotte Willis - Marina Benedict
• Allen Shapiro - John de Lancie
• Noah Vickers - Paul James
• Jilly Kitzinger - Lauren Ambrose
• Blue-Eyed Man - Teddy Sears
• The Mother - Frances Fisher
• Ralph Finch - Ian Hughes
• Young Man - Adam Silver
• Chinese Man - Willis Chung
• Surveillance Guy - Danny Szam
• Chinese Worker - Jesse Wang
• Old Man - Gilbert Wynne

Crew

Created by Russell T Davie

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter

Co-executive producer   Vlad Wolynetz

Written by John Fay	Produced by Kelly A Manners	Directed by Guy Ferland	Director of Photography Nate Goodman	Production Designer Edward Thomas	Visual Effects Lion Visual Effects, Inc.
Key Make-up Artist Todd McIntosh	Casting by John Frank Levey, CSA and Melanie Burgess	Score Murray Gold assistant composer Stu Kennedy	Costume Designer Shawna Trpcic	Edited by Michael N. Knue, A.C.E.	Key Hair Stylist Susan Boyd
Science Advisor - John Sotos, M.D.

General production staff Production Executive - Shelley Stevens Associate Producer - Skip Schoolnik Location Manager - Brad Bemis Unit Production Manager - Robert D. Nellans Production Accountant - Vince Robinette First Assistant Accountant - Bethany Andriuzzo Tax Credit Accountant - Jonathan Ross Transportation Coordinator - Heath Culp Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - W. Scott Wolf 2nd Assistant Director - Matt Buckler Camera Operator - Brian Bernstein Key Grip - Isaac Chee Chief Lighting Technician - Don Mosley	Art department Set Decorator - Natali Pope Set Designer - Arthur Chadwick Property Master - Eric Bates Construction Coordinator - Steve Desantis Computer Graphics - Twisted Media	Make-up and prosthetics Special Make-up Effects - Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger General post-production staff Post-production Supervisor - Peter M. Tassler Post-production Assistant - Kris Saintsing High Definition Post-Production - Modern Videofilm, Inc. Special and visual effects Visual FX Supervisor - Michael D. Leone Sound Production Sound Mixer - Julian Howarth Supervising Sound Editor - Walt Newman Co-supervisor - Ken Young Music Editor - Tom Trafalski Re-recording Mixers - Dan Hiland, Gary Rogers Post-Production Sound - Warner Bros.

UK crew

General production staff Producer - Brian Minchin UK Production Designer - Edward Thomas Line Producer - Debbi Slater Production Executive - Julie Scott Unit Manager - Paul Davies Production Coordinator - Sam Baker Production Accountant - Sarah Hulls	Camera, lighting and sound departments Director of Photography - Nathaniel Goodman 1st AD - George Walker Grips - John Robinson, Clive Baldwin Sound Recordist - Gareth Meirion Thomas Casting Original series and UK casting - Andy Pryor CDG	Make-up Make-up Designer - Claire Pritchard-Jones Costume Associate Costume Designer - Lindsay Bonaccorsi Effects Special Effects - Real SFX

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
The Starz broadcast carried a final credit of "Originally Developed and Produced by BBC Cymru Wales". The BBC One broadcast says, instead, "BBC Worldwide Productions for BBC Cymru Wales and STARZ Originals".

References

to be added

Story notes

• Russell T Davies' voice is heard as a radio newscaster.

Ratings

• UK Final: 4.63 Million

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Continuity

• This episode takes place two months after the previous episode. (TW: End of the Road)
• Gwen hides her looted drugs in Jubilee pizza boxes. (DW: Dalek, TW: Everything Changes)
• The first time we see the footage of the Chinese man in the hospital, the Mandarin-to-English subtitles read: "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry". This is one of the Tenth Doctor's frequent statements..

Home video releases

This episode will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on 14 November 2011, alongside the other nine episodes.

Footnotes