The Gathering (TV story)

The Gathering ^[1] was the penultimate 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. While in Scotland, Esther has been taking blood from Jack since they suspect it is significant to the Miracle, the families, and the Blessing. Jack's own blood bank is stored in a metal briefcase in the event it becomes useful. Eventually, when Oswald Danes travels to Gwen Cooper's home in Cardiff with information about a man behind the Miracle, the team reconvene in the Cooper residence.

Torchwood discover that Jilly Kitzinger was hired by PhiCorp 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 populous cities in the world: Shanghai and Buenos Aires. Rhys, examining a globe, realizes 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 such a time that they can be incinerated in the ovens. Gwen's father has been hidden behind some wood paneling 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 centre 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 information 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", effectively ceasing to exist under her former identity, and is promoted to a position in Shanghai. Meeting an unidentified member of the families, she is complimented on her storytelling skills and informed that she was hired to essentially write world history for the families. She is taken to the Blessing, which is revealed to be a massive crack or fissure running through the centre of the planet Earth.

In Shanghai, Gwen discovers that Jack has not recovered from his gunshot wound and is, in fact, fairing 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. It begins travelling across the floor, as if magnetized by an invisible force, and Gwen speculates Jack's blood is being drawn to the Blessing - Jack is connected to the phenomenon of the Blessing.

Cast

Crew

Created by Russell T Davies

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	Production Designer Gregory Melton	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	Key Hair Stylist Susan Boyd
Science Advisor - John Sotos, M.D.

General production staff

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Make-up and prosthetics

Special Make-up Effects - Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger

General post-production staff

High Definition Post-Production - Modern Videofilm, Inc.

Special and visual effects

Visual FX Supervisor - Michael D. Leone

Sound


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

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Story notes

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

Ratings

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Myths

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Filming locations

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Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

to be added

Continuity

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 hospital, the Mandarin-to-English subtitles read: "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry". This is one of the Tenth Doctor's commonly-used sayings.

Home video releases

DVD releases

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Blu-ray releases

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Footnotes

↑ As with all episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day, the episode title was not given onscreen, but comes instead from the official Starz Miracle Day website

External links

to be added

[1] As with all episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day, the episode title was not given onscreen, but comes instead from the official Starz Miracle Day website

[1]