The Categories of Life (TV story)

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The Categories of Life (TV story)[1] was the fifth episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Synopsis

Torchwood goes undercover and discovers the terrible truth behind the Miracle. The enemy is closing in, and death is about to make a shocking return.

Plot

The episode opens in City Hall, Washington D.C. Vera is informed that the medical panels are over and a report was submitted by the HHS (Health and Human Services) Secretary directly to Congress. She is further informed that the categories of life have been uniamously approved for legislation. Confused, Vera asks what these categories are. She discovers there are three new categories for the living since no one dies. Horrified at what this legislation may mandate, Vera calls Rex to say she will join the covert investigation he and Torchwood are doing.

Meanwhile, Gwen returns to the UK under her false identity as Yvonne Pallister to find her father, now taken to one of the overflow camps. Rhys greets her disguised as her driver. Her mother has prepared for Gwen's arrival beforehand and has located Gwen's father at the Cowbridge Camp, formerly derelict army barracks closed down in 1996 - now an overflow camp for patients in the whole of South Wales. The next day Gwen travels with Andy to Cowbridge. Andy remarks that though the system is "bloody chaos, at least it works", relieving the pressure on geriatrics and other hospital departments. Gwen remarks that "Who's paying for all this? PhiCorp. You got healthcare being run by private business and believe me, that's just the start of your problems."

Gwen walks directly to admin demanding the release of her father. A military officer suggests she fills in a claims form. Andy tries to support Gwen by fabricating a story about her father being removed under police authority. Told that the camp is not under the command of the Welsh police, she is then handed a package titled "Overflow Camp Health Care Provider Framework". Gwen turns this over and is unsurprised at the sight of PhiCorp's logo. Under the threat of arrest, Gwen, Andy, and Rhys leave Cowbridge. Gwen, infuriated as the thought of red tape stopping her after everything she's experienced with Torchwood Three, tells Rhys "we're gonna break in here, we're gonna find my father, and we're gonna get him out - tonight."

On Venice Beach, in California, Esther confides in Jack about her insecurities about being "useless" to the team. Esther mentions the death of her mom in 2003 and asks Jack about his mom. He vaguely answers "I don't know. Long ago and so far away.". Just as Esther asks Jack where he's from, they both receive text messages from Rex. They meet Rex and are introduced to Vera. Vera mentions she was lucky to catch a flight because most of them were full due to the Miracle Rally later that night.

Back at the makeshift Torchwood "hub", Vera tells off Rex for any assumptions he is making and explains she flew across the country to support her patients who are now being held against their will in the overflow camps. They smile and kiss anyway.

Reconvening with Jack and Esther, Vera asks "Am I Torchwood now?". Jack replies "Welcome aboard". The group, including Gwen via video conference, clarify how the categories of life work. Category one is for anyone without brain function or anyone who would have ordinarily died; category three is for people with no injuries; category two is for everyone in between - people alive and functioning with an illness/injury that will persist, but won't kill. Rex notices the categories are arbitrary - he himself was a category "one", but has become a "two".

Some theories are discussed about who is behind PhiCorp. Rex thinks there is more going on behind the pharmaceutical company and Esther points out the consistent presence of modules at every overflow camp based on building specs she collected from Jilly Kitzinger's desktop. These modules are buildings seen in all the camp plans, but they are sealed off and hidden from view - only revealed in undoctored satellite photographs. Esther lets Gwen know that these modules also exist overseas in the overflow camp in Wales.

Gwen and Vera wonder if these modules are for vivisections: what if category "one" patients are being cultivated for making diseases to make more pharmaceutical customers? Esther thinks this theory would explain the rush to strip category one's of their human rights. Jack and the team agree that they need to infiltrate the camps and find out what the modules are for. Gwen will go on a night shift at Cowbridge as "Nurse Pallister". Esther will join the clerical staff and do paperwork on the module at San Pedro. Vera will join Esther at San Pedro as a medical inspector. Rex warns Vera that infiltration is not a game. Rex argues he will get to the heart of the module due to his sustained injury from a pole running through his chest, which allows him to be taken to San Pedro posing as a patient. Jack (a fragile mortal man according to Esther) is left behind. Jack decides to go to the Miracle Rally in Los Angeles.

Nurse Pallister and Rhys enter Cowbridge. Gwen finds her father, Geraint, who laughs at her nurse get-up. They share a tender moment. She begins explaining that it is not safe for him to stay and that he needs to come with her and get out of the camp as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, just as they reach Rhys' truck, he collapses (from what appears to be another heart attack). Gwen calls for help from any medical personnel around. She is horrified to find out that he is now being labeled a category one because he went unconscious.

In San Pedro, Esther quickly recategorizes Rex to a category one in their computer system and reassigns Rex a red peg (category one) from his blue peg (category two). Esther also passes Rex a video camera to record footage of what he sees while he is moved to the module, where category one patients are kept. Vera is taken to camp supervisor Colin Maloney, who makes some sexist remarks about Vera's body. Commenting that she is as thin as a twig and might snap, Vera answers "I'm getting there, yeah." Vera insists she be taken to the module, despite Maloney reminding her that it is closed. Maloney decides to bring her to see patients first. At first, Vera is impressed by category two's being seen every hour.

Meanwhile Rex is taken to the module. Inside one of the units, he gets up in the dark and sees patients sitting on racks like objects. Rex feels the walls and thinks they may be ceramic. He finds it strange, cold, and similar to a refrigeration unit. He steps outside.

Vera gets off Maloney's little golf cart tour to check out a building. Maloney tries to stop her. She sees patients without insurance left unattended, in filth, some of whom are labeled category one when they are still perfectly conscious. Vera, in a rage, says the system will never work because of men like Maloney who are providing healthcare as a business. He retorts that he's under budget. She warns Maloney she will prosecute him. The situation escalates and in a panic Maloney disarms a military officer and shoots Vera twice. Vera is driven by Maloney to the module and placed in one of the cold units where Rex was previously dropped off. At the same time Rex notices that the module is small - only three units. There is no way all category one patients could be accommodated. As Vera begins crying over her injuries, left in the dark, the scene turns for the worse and Maloney is shown switching "on" the module she is in - releasing gas and flames inside.

In Cowbridge, Rhys finishes his undercover "job" driving "burn victims" to the module. Just then it registers with Gwen that the module houses ovens to burn category one's. She sees smoke piping up from one of the units. In San Pedro, Rex catches sight of Vera inside one of the module units as the interior is engulphed by flames and he desperately shouts her name, trying to open the door. The episode ends with Rex crying, filming the fire.

Cast

Crew

General production staff


Camera and lighting department

Art department


 Make-up and prosthetics


General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound

UK crew
General production staff
 Camera, lighting and sound departments

Casting

 Make-up

Costume

Effects


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".  In the Starz credits, Julie Scott is mis-identified as the production designer when clearly she is the production executive. Ed Thomas is obviously the sole UK production designer.


References

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Story notes

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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

  • Owen's Theme is heard at the very beginning of the episode.
  • Vera's death in this episode is very similar to that of previous Torchwood medic Owen Harper's death two years before. Both Owen and Vera were trapped in a state of "immortality", Owen being undead and Vera being undying. Both had bullet wounds in their upper torsos. Both were vaporized trying to save other people: Owen killed by coolant while trying to stop a nuclear meltdown, and Vera killed by an incinerator while trying to save category one patients. Both also had a love interest, who were also suffering from mortal wounds to the chest, witness their deaths through an electronic device: Tosh was suffering from a bullet wound to the abdomen and saw the room Owen was in get flooded with coolant on a computer monitor, while Rex was suffering from a hole in his chest and saw Vera burn through the the glass in the door and through his video camera.

Home video releases

DVD releases

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Blu-ray releases

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Footnotes

  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

External links

to be added

TVStub.png
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
Miracle Day: The New World • Rendition • Dead of Night • Escape to LA • The Categories of Life • The Middle Men • Immortal Sins • End of the Road • The Gathering • The Blood Line
Stories listed here are only those that have been officially licensed by the BBC.
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