Immortal Sins (TV story)

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Immortal Sins was the seventh episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day. For the most part, it consisted of a flashback in Depression era New York City. It importantly introduced the character of Angelo Colasanto, a lover that Jack Harkness met while standing in line at Ellis Island. Colasanto's grandaughter Olivia — played by Star Trek regular Nana Visitor — also made her debut. Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond were resigned to cameo roles, while Gwen Cooper played an important part in the final acts of the episode. From a continuity standpoint, it was clearly the single episode of Miracle Day which made the most references to the broader DWU, even giving a shout-out to a Sarah Jane Adventures character.

Synopsis

Gwen must fight to protect her family. She takes a terrifying journey covering miles and decades with Jack as the long history of the Miracle is partially revealed.

Plot

Gwen drives Jack through California to bring him to the people holding her family.

Flashbacks are seen of Jack's past. In 1920s New York City, he awaits his visa at Ellis Island. Angelo Colasanto steals it. Jack confronts him, retrieves his visa and visits Angelo in his cell. They talk, and Jack uses technology to create a visa for Angelo.

Angelo is freed and enters a relationship with Jack. At one point, they are retrieving an alien from a base when Jack is shot dead. Angelo is captured and imprisoned. Jack returns to America after Angelo's release. Angelo is terrified by Jack's immortality.

Angelo takes Jack to the butcher shop beneath their room. There are people terrified of Jack. They sadistically attack him with knives, guns and meat hooks to kill him and collect his blood. Three men visit Jack. They seem to know something about his immortality. Angelo, overwhelmed with horror and guilt, eventually lets Jack go. Jack quickly recovers and flees with Angelo to a rooftop, where he explains his immortality before jumping off to his "death". When Angelo reaches the ground, Jack is gone.

As Gwen and Jack arrive, Rex and Esther have contacted Andy Davidson in Wales. He has freed Gwen's family. They train snipers on the three people who want Jack. Jack says he has won, but they say that Jack will come with them anyway. They have the information about the Miracle he wants. Angelo is still alive. He has something to do with the Miracle.

Cast

Uncredited

Crew

General production staff


Camera and lighting department

Art department


 Make-up and prosthetics


General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

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

  • Jack mentions Clarke's Law.
  • Jack and Angelo Colasanto talk about the Doctor and the role of his companions.
  • Jack mentions the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt being Governor of New York and President for at least two terms, World War II and the Trickster's Brigade.
  • Jack tells Angelo, "It gets better. And worse again." The year he first meets him in is 1927. Two years later, the Great Depression will hit America, then the country will recover, only to be swept into World War II by the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
  • When Esther says that Vera Juarez was from San Antonio, Rex says, "Go, Spurs." The San Antonio Spurs are an NBA team.
  • A Firebird is a bird made of fire. It sings and burns bright and only lasts a minute.
  • Oswald Danes is mentioned after complete two-episodes of absence.
  • It is the Fourth of July when Jack and Angelo become lovers.
  • Jack confesses to having sex with triplets, involvement with a naked circus and a sapphic (lesbian) leapfrog jamboree.
  • The Volstead Act is mentioned, as 1920-1933 (the flashback being set in 1927) was the period when Prohibition, the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, was in effect before the repeal was passed. It excepted sacramental wine, which is the "blood of Christ."
  • Angelo is a Christian. Christianity denounces homosexuality, making Angelo uncomfortable in his relationship with Jack.
    • He also accuses Jack to be the Devil after he learns Jack can resurrect and by how he "seduces with confidence".
  • Ammonia refrigeration is being practised in 1927, before refrigeration techniques improved.

Story notes

  • Jack explains that the brain parasite would rewrite history by enabling the Third Reich to win the Second World War. One week and a day after this episode was broadcast in the US and only two days after it was broadcast in the UK, the Doctor Who episode Let's Kill Hitler featured Adolf Hitler in a cameo role and was set in Nazi Germany in 1938. In this episode Melody Pond expressed an interest in killing Hitler.
  • This is the first time that Jack is killed onscreen during Series 4. He is killed at least seven times in this episode, including being shot, being stabbed, being disembowelled, having his throat slashed, and falling from a high place.
  • Writer Jane Espenson cites Immortal Sins as her favourite thing she's written.[1]

Ratings

  • UK: 4.48 million

Filming locations

to be added

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.
  • The final scene in "The Middle Men" happens a little bit differently from the same scene seen in this episode. It's all a matter of how fast the scenes go, the former going a bit slower than the latter.

Continuity

Home video releases

This episode was released worldwide in a box set containing all ten episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day. In the United Kingdom, it was released on Region 2 DVD and Region Free Blu-ray on 14 November 2011.[2] In Australia, it was released in Region 4 DVD and Region B Blu-Ray on 1 December 2011.[3] In New Zealand, the same sets were released on 7 December 2011.[4] In North America, it was released on Region 1 DVD and Region Free Blu-Ray on 3 April 2012.[5]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://www.buzzfeed.com/jarettwieselman/the-write-stuff#.knGpmYoyR
  2. ↑ Amazon.co.uk listing
  3. ↑ EZYDVD.com.au listing
  4. ↑ Mightyape.co.nz listing
  5. ↑ Amazon.com listing
v • e
Torchwood television stories
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
Children of Earth: Day One • Day Two • Day Three • Day Four • Day Five
Series 4
Stories listed here are only those that have been officially licensed by the BBC.
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