Articles Episode Breakdown: The Blood Line by DJ Forrest

Episode broadcast 9^th September 2011.

One of the best quotes of the entire episode must come from Gwen when she prepares for the mission ahead and what she will be saying goodbye to:

   ‘When I was about five or six, my dad came home from work early and I knew there was something wrong. I could hear voices from the kitchen. So, I looked through the door and I could see him crying. It turns out money had gone missing from work and he'd got the blame. So, I went to get all my pocket money and I put it in his hand. It must've been about £2.50. And he looked at me and he said, it's not about the money. He said, I can't stand anyone thinking I'm not an honest man. And I will always remember that. Always. Because that was the first time in my life anybody had spoken to me like an adult. And then we went to the back garden and we played till dark. So that's my dad, Geraint Wyn Cooper, the nicest man in the world. And today's the day that I kill him.’

After Gwen relays the news regarding Jack’s blood to Esther over the phone, Rex squeezes a drop of Jack’s blood and the droplet makes a beeline towards the location of The Blessing.

   ‘All right, that’s it. I’m done.’ Rex says as he watches Jack’s blood heading out of the warehouse. ‘You know, I’ve seen some crazy shit with Torchwood, but now I’m at the limit.’

   ‘So, we’ve got blood heading northwest, fifteen degrees, thirty eight minutes, thirty nine seconds. What have you got?’ Gwen relays to Esther. Esther confirms her blood course.

   ‘It’s heading southeast, twenty three degrees, six minutes four seconds, south.’ Gwen insists Esther keeps Jack’s blood safe.

   ‘They’ve destroyed blood banks in both cities. That’s got to be important.’ Gwen says.

   ‘I’ve got it. It’s safe.’ Rex confirms.

Jack groans, as the blood inside of him struggles to free itself from him. Rex feels the same way. Jack doesn’t understand how it can affect Rex as much as he, and asks him about it. Esther explains that Jack isn’t the only one affected. The Blessing brought Rex back to life, it could so easily now, take that away from him. Rex however doesn’t wish to dwell upon this and insists that the team return to the mission.

The connection for both Buenos Aires and Shanghai still bother Gwen and Jack.

   ‘If both cities are connected underground, it’s like a pole.’

   ‘A secondary pole. The magnetic pole goes north to south, and now this, from Buenos Aires to Shanghai.’

   ‘What is it?’

Deep in the pit of the Blessing chamber, The Mother speaks Mandarin to three uniformed men carrying wooden crates. She realises that Jilly doesn’t speak Mandarin and apologises.

   ‘Forgive me, but according to our contacts there are forces moving in, so we’re advancing the plan. Midnight tonight, long after we’re gone, we’re blowing this whole thing sky high.’

   ‘Won’t that stop the Miracle?’ Jilly enquires.

   ‘On the contrary. It'll become never-ending. The Blessing won't be hurt, just buried so that no one can ever change it again.’

Gwen decides to follow the blood, using her compass.

   ‘If I keep going fifteen degrees thirty eight minutes north, I'll find it. Wait for my call. And Rex, Esther, you take care, OK? You never know. We might meet in the middle.’

Cynical as ever, Rex tells her, there’s a first time for everything. As Esther wishes her good luck, Rex advises them both to take care.

   ‘Don’t do those stupid, lame ass Torchwood things. Be professional for once.’

   ‘Like you taught me, yeah?’ she teases.

   ‘Yeah, that’s right. Just like I taught you.’

Esther looks forward to meeting up again once all this is over. Danes finds it sickly.

   ‘Speaking as a man who’s walked to his death, can I say I did it with a lot less sentiment?’

Gwen looks back at him.

   ‘Just you wait. If this goes right, murder’s coming back.’ She holsters her weapon and leaves.

Rex speaks to Jack, informing him that he’s had to call in the CIA for backup, because if they do find the Blessing, they’re going to require more support to take down those involved. Jack begs him not to give away their location, and to keep Torchwood a secret. Rex agrees and hopes to meet up with them afterwards, for drinks.

Rex looks over at Esther as he makes a call to Shapiro.

   ‘Well, you always wanted to be a part of Clandestine, didn’t you? Well, you just got promoted.’

Shapiro clears his office, explaining to the team that as of now, Clandestine is running the room. Still unaware of the identity of the leak, he calls for Charlotte to organise translations from experts in Rioplatense Spanish. He explains to the rest of the team that it’s 11:09 in the morning in DC, whereas in Buenos Aires it’s 12:09pm.

The Mother calls her contacts in Buenos Aires, confirming that they’re setting detonation at twelve midnight and asks him to confirm his one pm location. The Cousin does so. He climbs the stairs, giving instructions in Spanish to his guards to start setting their explosives.

Jilly holds her phone up to capture every word from The Mother as she continues to talk about The Blessing.

   ‘Buenos Aires and Shanghai, perfect antipodes, give or take a hundred miles or so. There's a slight deviation, because the Earth's not a perfect sphere. Are you getting all this?’

   ‘Oh, yes. Every word. If that runs right through the centre of the Earth, why isn't this thing a volcano?’ Jilly asks, curiously.

    ‘Again, no idea. Isn't that wonderful? The laws of The Blessing are beyond us. That's why it took us so long to work out what it can do.’  Jilly is curious as to how The Mother discovered it.

   ‘Well, we had to wait until the world grew up, until the information age became fast enough so we could crunch the numbers on a massive scale. Facts became visible that were never visible before, such as a tiny little statistic hidden in the heart of Shanghai Old Town. The average life expectancy of those living within a two mile radius of this point was exactly equal to the average life expectancy of the world, and it always had been. Say in 1998, the average life expectancy from birth on this planet was sixty six years, five months and thirty three days. In this area in Shanghai, it was sixty six years, five months and thirty three days exactly. Try going back a hundred years to 1898. The average life expectancy was forty nine years, nine months and five days. Shanghai, forty nine years, nine months, five days. It was as if something on this spot was calibrating a matrix, subsisting alongside humankind in harmony.’

   ‘But the Chinese didn’t know about it.’

   ‘We paid them to look the other way.’ Confirms The Mother.

   ‘It does make you seem kind of colonial.’ Jilly says.

   ‘Well, is that such a bad word? Besides, we changed the whole of the world, and this is just phase one.’ Mother tells her.

During the Clandestine meeting, Rex introduces Shapiro to Sandra Lopez, who is handling the translation, and to prove it, he speaks Spanish for her to translate.

   ‘He said Good Morning, sir.’ She says to Shapiro.

Shapiro confirms Rex’s request for armed support, informing him of Captain Federico Santos as his point of contact. He makes it clear that the Argentinean Army are not allowed by law to get involved in civil conflicts on their own soil.

     Rex points out that as far as The Three Families are concerned, they would class it as a North American incursion. Changing the subject slightly, Rex adds that Esther is currently with him, adding that she’s helping him. Shapiro, somewhat put out informs him that she’s currently on the run from the CIA.

Noah had a feeling she wouldn’t be too far away from Rex.

   ‘She’d follow him anywhere.’ Charlotte adds.

Shapiro points out that he will arrest her when all this is over. Esther expects that but cuts right into business, requesting checks on properties, residences and businesses falling in the path of this line. She sends the details to him from her computer.

It's a mammoth task that could take some time to filter out. Charlotte isn’t sure that a lot of the information will be even recorded. Sandra informs her however that foreign investment may be rare in Argentina, but they had been tracking contact intensive money since 1980.    ‘The information is on file just waiting to be filtered.’

   ‘Excellent. Good call. Thank you.’ Charlotte replies.

Noah feels it may be time to run the trace again. Shapiro isn’t so sure. Charlotte overhearing asks Noah about the trace.

   ‘Er, it's new software from the DIA. So, the three Families, they use that vine technology to piggyback their calls on fifty thousand different lines. But the trace runs backwards, so it detects vine activity and then follows it back to the source. If there's a mole working in this department, it means we can find him.’

Gwen follows a straights line, despite obstacles and irate Chinese women in her path till she comes up against a shop in her way. The only way through it is out the back door. But the stout door comes with its own problems. The woman speaks Mandarin to her, and despite her protestations, Gwen is refused access.

   ‘No door.’

   ‘No door? Why no door?’

The Chinese woman tells her it’s a bad place. Many ghosts. Gwen offers her money of which the old woman takes, and opens the door. Gwen finds herself down the very same alleyway that Jilly walked down. She picks up a bad vibe and heads back to the shop, closing and bolting the door behind her and sits down beside it.

   ‘Very bad, yes?’

   ‘Very, very bad.’ Gwen confirms. She phones Jack back at their little room. ‘I think I found it.’

Jack gets ready to leave, insisting Oswald get a move on.

In Buenos Aires, Rex introduces Esther to Captain Santos, Fourth Manoeuvre Unit, Second Brigade as Esther informs him of Gwen’s news.

In the CIA office, Noah reports to Rex about the site having had no paperwork since 2001. Access is via an alleyway running between South Pacheco Street and Rivadavia. The alley has no name as it wasn’t designated. Noah confirms that just like The Three Families, it was wiped off the map. He informs Rex to prepare to mobilise. Walking away from the office, Charlotte tries to warn her hidden employers.

Jack informs Oswald that they have to leave, so anything he wants to take with him, now is the time to grab it. With the big mission ahead, suddenly Danes has cold feet. Jack turns on him, as the convicted man questions him, about who he is, his identity, having watched Jack’s friends, who love him, like him, but every now and then, are just a little bit scared of him.

   ‘I’m from the future.’ Jack tells Danes.

   ‘Then you must know.’ Danes says. ‘Do we make it through this day?’ (Suddenly, I had an Independence Day moment).

   ‘The future can change. It’s being written right now. But one thing I do know. I’ve seen the stars. I have seen the Universe. I have seen the human race become vast and magnificent and endless. And I wish you could see it, Oswald. I wish you could see that too, because then you’d know how small you’ve made your life.’ Jack snarls before heading for the door.

In the back of the shop, while she waits for Jack and Oswald to arrive, Gwen phones her family. Rhys welcomes her call, informing her that their daughter says Hello. Gwen quickly bites that down, refusing to believe her baby daughter can say more than a few grunts and squeals. She apologises just as quick. Getting back to business, she asks about the access to the camps. Rhys informs her that Andy can only get Rhys in. Mary accepting of the situation, is quite happy not to be anywhere near the godforsaken place. Rhys informs Gwen that her Dad is still there, not in the Ovens. He wonders if she has anything she wants to say to her Dad. After a pause on the other line, he wonders if he hit a raw nerve.

   ‘I feel like I'm killing him. Because if this goes right, the Miracle ends, my father dies.’

Rhys looks to Mary. It’s a tough situation. As much as he knows having the old man around would be good, the truth of the matter is that, Geraint isn’t well, and if the Miracle hadn’t happened, he would be dead anyway, and both Mary and Gwen have to let go.

   ‘You know what? Let him die. I mean, bless the poor bugger. I mean, he’s had his time. You just come back alive, you got that?’

   ‘She’d better. Tell her for me.’ Mary says from across the table.

   ‘Yeah, you come back or I will be furious.’

 

As the call ends, the Chinese shop owner looks over at Gwen.

   ‘Sad girl.’

   ‘Yes, I am.’ The Chinese woman hands Gwen a cup of tea.

   ‘Crazy girl.’

   ‘Yes, that’s me. Thank you.’ She takes the tea. ‘Cheers.’

As Esther loads her things into the truck in Buenos Aires, Rex finalises details with Captain Santos. She hands over the metal attache case containing the blood bags, glancing back towards Rex as he groans and doubles over. Esther runs back to him. Santos is concerned.

   ‘He was injured.’ Esther tells him.

On board the truck, a soldier breaks into the metal attaché case. Rex groaning, explains it’s an old war wound, dismissing Esther’s concerns that may hamper the mission.

   ‘It’s getting worse.’ Esther whispers.

With the attaché case exposed, the soldier begins to speak in rapid Spanish, as his team turn their weapons against him, exposing another leak in their midst, but it’s too late. He holds up a self detonator, and as his colleague’s pump bullets into him, the truck explodes killing all on board, and destroying the last pack of blood.

Santos tries radioing in but Rex slaps the radio from his hand and smashes it. He tells him with great urgency that as far as anyone is concerned, that everyone in this vicinity is dead. He encourages the Captain to head back inside with them.

Back in CIA office, Charlotte informs them that radio contact has been lost in Buenos Aires. As the satellite feed moves over the warehouse, a spire of smoke reveals the reason for the cut radio signal.

   ‘That’s Special Ops Station Two, sir. That’s Rex and Esther.’

Shocked at the death of his men, Santos is unable to think straight as the impact of their deaths take their toll on the Captain.

   ‘Captain, snap out of it. On your feet. Now, listen to me. I need you to go to that base, okay? But I want you to tell them that we died. Understand that? Now look, you can try to get another squad, but do not tell them that Esther and I are still running, okay?’

Rex convinces Santos that now that people will assume they died in the blast, they won’t be looking for them, and they can make their way to the Blessing undetected. Santos can create another team but nobody must know that Rex and Esther survived the explosion. Santos feels that only two handguns against the might of the Families might not be enough. Esther tells him that their special weapon just went up in smoke. Gwen calls. Rex insists Esther not answer it. To everyone – they’re dead!

Bitter and angry, Shapiro wants to know who the traitor is in their midst. He instructs Noah to run the trace. When Noah informs him he needs clearance, Shapiro tells him that he doesn’t care about protocols.

   ‘I don’t care if it brings down the whole pissing system. Run the trace and find the bastard. Now, let’s go!’

Noah knows that a vine would track it to the right handset, and sees a series of numbers begin to reveal themselves on his computer. Charlotte in the meantime leaves her desk and enters Friedkin’s old office, now used by Shapiro, and retrieves a small package from the back of the filing cabinet drawer. She activates it as she pops it into her bag, and returns to the action. Shapiro and Noah concentrate on the numbers beginning to reveal themselves.

   ‘I hope you catch that traitor.’ Charlotte says, leaving her bag on the desk as she leaves the office. On the way out, she informs the translator that Shapiro wants to see her, and heads for the exit.

     The translator enters the office to ask Shapiro what he wanted to see her for as Noah’s software works on the last digit of the phone number. Shapiro distracted replies that he didn’t want to see her. The translator can’t remember the woman’s name who told her, but all is revealed when the last digit is revealed.

   ‘Charlotte Wells.’

Shapiro spots Charlotte’s bag left on her desk, and realises with horror what that means.

   ‘Oh fuck.’

The explosion rips through the office and knocks Wells off her feet in the corridor. Paper and debris from the blast scatter everywhere.

   ‘What’s going on? What was that? Was that a bomb?’ Charlotte asks loudly, shaken from the force of the blast.

In the Shanghai store, Jack and Danes meet up with Gwen to hear that Rex and Esther are dead, and they carried the only other blood belonging to Jack. Jack feels that they can’t do it now, the mission, but Gwen talks him round, although still with doubt that if he does die, he will never come back.

   ‘That’s the game.’ Jack tells her. They hug tightly. ‘Let’s go.’

On both sides of the pole, Buenos Aires and Shanghai, the Torchwood team knock out guards, snap a few necks and gain access to the Blessing locations. Soldiers are laying explosives around the Buenos Aires site as Esther and Rex enter. The pair wonder how they’ll get to where the chamber is, and there’s a moment of closeness between them.

   ‘I got you in a whole lot of trouble, huh?’ Rex says to Esther.

   ‘I did that all on my own.’ She replies.

   ‘I never did thank you, did I?’

   ‘No, you didn’t.’

   ‘Yeah, well, don’t expect it now. There. Stairs.’ He points on the map. ‘West block hallway. Right here. Come on.’

After a serious amount of neck snapping, Danes begins to question their actions, as Jack and Gwen carry a body out of sight. Gwen suggests he shuts up, wishing they’d never agreed to bring him on the mission.

   ‘You condemn me? You Category One these men with your bare hands.’

   ‘Keep your voice down.’ Jack warns him.

   ‘He's got a point. He's got a point. We're just like bandits. We're just on the perimeter here, Jack. How the hell are we meant to get deep inside?’ Gwen replies, as her phone rings. ‘Damn. It’s Rhys. He’s found my Dad.’

In the Cowbridge Overflow Camp Rhys goes to sit with Geraint in his makeshift bed. He relays messages of love and kindness to him. A nurse looks on, as Andy stands beside her.

   ‘He’s the lucky one. See that girl over there?’ She indicates to a young blonde haired teenager. ‘She was brought in as Category One. She must be fifteen, sixteen. No one's tried to claim her. We don't even know her name. Anyway, you've got till the end of the shift and then we're moving this lot. They're going to the furnace.’

Rhys begs for more time, but the nurse is adamant that as the place is running like clockwork now. Rhys has only 10 minutes before the bodies are moved to the furnace.

   ‘But they’re still alive, and you’re going to burn them?’ Protests Andy.

As the nurse leaves, he sits beside the unclaimed teenager and holds her hand.

In a store room full of wooden boxes, Jack recognises the lettering on them and smiles. ‘I was in China for the Boxer Rebellion, and I know what that lettering means.’ He tears open a box and laughs.

   ‘Oswald. I’ve changed my mind. I’m so glad you’re here.’

Jack’s activities on the site haven’t gone unnoticed. He’s on CCTV.

   ‘I knew it.’ Mother declares. Jilly looks over. ‘You’re about to meet the creator.’

   ‘It’s that soldier.’ Jilly recognises Jack, and he’s not alone. ‘He’s with Oswald?’

Jack, Gwen and Oswald head down in the lift, and Mother and her guards are waiting for them.

   ‘Captain Jack Harkness. At last.’ She smiles. Danes however doesn’t see it that way. He still sees himself as more important than Jack, and with the explosives strapped to his body, feels a little more confident in his approach to the women before him. He notices that Jilly found her calling with her new promotion.

   ‘Madam, you're a fine woman. You should be careful now, very careful indeed. It seems like you've been planning some kind of an explosion, but I'd love to make sure you're still inside.’

   ‘Advantage Torchwood.’ Jack replies with a grin.

   ‘Well, I’m afraid we have a major disagreement here in Buenos Aires.’ The Cousin calls from the overhead comms. ‘I’d say, advantage Families. Say hello to your friends.’

Soldiers point their weapons at Rex and Esther, standing just behind the Cousin, smiling so sickly sweet, you want to knock him off his podium.

Both Jack and Gwen are shocked but glad to hear their voices, although for how long, given the circumstances.

The Cousin taunts the pair as he waves the gun towards Esther’s head. Rex as ever demands that he focus his attention on him only and leave Esther out of it.

   ‘Rex. Hey. I’m OK.’ Esther assures him. Hoping that things won’t escalate further.

   ‘If you hurt her, we’ve got explosives here ready to go.’ Jack warns from Shanghai.

   ‘And don't imagine I won't. Whatever happens here tonight, there's no place on Earth that I can go, and I wasn't planning on coming out of here alive.’

The Cousin lowers his weapon.

   ‘So, who’s gonna lose their nerve first?’ He asks.

   ‘The thing is, we don't need explosives or guns or threats, because I've got the most powerful thing of all.’ Jack tells them, as he takes the few steps towards the edge of the large cleft in the earth. He cuts his finger on a knife and watches as the blood flies into it. ‘It wants me. Mortal blood. The only one in the whole world. So, I suggest you’re very careful with me, OK?’

Danes conveys his own threats, his thumb close to the detonator ready to release. Gwen comes over to join Jack and stares at the sight before her eyes.

   ‘What the hell is that thing?’

   ‘Can you feel it?’ Jack asks, smiling.

   ‘Yeah, I can feel it. Oh, yeah. God, I can. Ok, God. Oh my God.’ Gwen feels a little shaken by the force of it.

   ‘It is said that it reflects your own self back at you. What can you see?’ Mother asks.

   ‘Enough guilt to last me a lifetime. But that's okay. I'm a working mother. I don't need the Blessing to tell me that.’ Gwen replies.

Mother asks Jack what he sees.

   ‘I've lived so many lives. And now I can see them all. Hey. Not so bad.’

Jilly interrupts him.

   ‘Well, you might want to question your choice of weapon, soldier. Let's see. You brought the world's biggest bastard, wired him up to a bomb and then showed him his soul. Hmm, that's good work. You know, I feel really safe right now.’

Jack looks directly at Oswald, and talks to him calmly. Jilly is right. Oswald is a walking time bomb. After a quick pep talk, Oswald calms down, telling himself that the sin he feels, is the sin he’s accustomed to.

     Gwen is confused as she stares into the abyss. What is it she’s meant to be looking at?

   ‘It’s the gap in between. The nothingness. The space. It’s alive.’ He smiles, drawn to it.

   ‘It’s like they broke the world.’ Oswald says.

   ‘You’re the expert, what is it?’ Gwen asks Jack.

   ‘The world's been turning for over four billion years. There's so much buried under its skin. The Doctor used to say there's Silurian mythology, Huon particles, Racnoss energy, an expansion of their hibernation matrix, maybe.’

   ‘You don’t bloody know, do you?’ Gwen asks. Jack shakes his head.

   ‘No.’

   ‘No. It’s been here since the Earth began?’ She asks. Jack can only guess at that. Gwen feels that it is true. ‘We’re so used to these things being extra-terrestrial but this might be the most terrestrial thing of them all. Wow.’

They both stand in awe of this wonder for some time.

In the Buenos Aires chamber, Rex questions the Blessing with the Cousin.

   ‘You worked out this morphic field.’

   ‘The Blessing exists in a symbiotic relationship with the human race. It transmits a morphic field around the planet, binding us together like magnetism, like sunlight.’

   ‘But finding it wasn’t enough. You had to experiment on it.’ Esther adds.

   ‘No, we fed it.’

The Mother continues the conversation over the Comms.

   ‘We fed it the blood of an immortal. We had one remarkable artefact. We found a second remarkable artefact. The combination was inevitable.’

   ‘So, The Blessing absorbed the blood, copied it like a new template. So, the system changed its setting.’ Gwen adds.

   ‘You know why it did that?’ Jack faces the Mother. ‘I think you hurt it. It was being attacked, so it took the blood pattern and made it a gift. It's exerting itself to sustain every person on the planet. This whole Miracle, it's trying to be kind.’

From Buenos Aires, Rex growls through the pain he’s feeling inside.

   ‘You’ve seen immortality. I’m living it. Why would you want this?’

   ‘This is only stage one.’ The Cousin explains.

   ‘But you ruined the world out there.’ Gwen replies, angrily.

   ‘The Miracle shocked the economy. The economy collapsed. We tear down in order to rebuild. And now it's almost within sight. The new world.’

   ‘Yeah, with no room for the poor, the weak or the ones that don't fit in.’ Gwen growls.

   ‘That's the way the world works. Now, we're just making it official. The families have just been waiting. Now we can step in to control the banks. The banks control government. The government controls people. Soon we'll be able to decide who lives, how long, where and why.’ The Mother replies calmly.

Jilly adds her own two penneth, which irks Gwen. Jilly lashes out.

   ‘Listen, you can bleed your liberal heart all over the place, but are you really gonna tell me the world was working before? Because I have worked for the rich and the powerful and the obese. I have stared into the high end of Western society and let me tell you, it is like shovelling an open sewer. These families, they want to make the world fitter, more compact, more disciplined. And I like the sound of that. That sounds like salvation.’

   ‘But before you launched this brave new world, you had to deal with one more thing. Yeah. Me.’ He looks directly at the woman in the pointed suit.

   ‘So as soon as the miracle happened, you sent the Torchwood email.’

   ‘His blood endangers the plan. We had to draw him out into the open.’ The Cousin explains.

   ‘Well you failed. I got to Shanghai. I’ve got the only mortal blood on the planet. If it gets into The Blessing, life switches back. I can make the whole world mortal.’ Jack draws back his sleeve and presses the knife against his wrist, in a defiant suicide action, but stops as he ears the Mother and Cousin laugh.

   ‘No.’

   ‘Oh, no.’

   ‘Sadly not.’

   ‘He’s not listening.’

   ‘He doesn’t seem to get it.’ The Mother explains, with help from the Cousin. ‘Polar dynamics, Jack.’

   ‘Everything on this axis operates in a polar dynamic field.’

   ‘You could reset the Blessing, your blood could make the whole world mortal again, but only by introducing it to both cities at once.’

   ‘Blood in Buenos Aires.’

   ‘Blood in Shanghai.’

   ‘Entering The Blessing simultaneously.’

   ‘That’s how we fed it.’

   ‘That’s how we made the world immortal.’

   ‘And for you, I’m sorry. It’s impossible.’

   ‘You did very well, almost worked it out, but all that spare blood of yours went up in flames.’

   ‘So, I’m just going to have to kill you.’ Mother gives the order to her Chinese army. They raise their weapons. Jack calls a halt to this begging for more time.

   ‘Jack, I know how your mind works. Even now you're ferociously calculating how you can get your blood to the other side of the world. But I can't allow that. Absolutely not.’

While the threats are going on in Shanghai, Rex tries to make his voice heard in Buenos Aires. Eventually, he manages.

   ‘Just listen to me! Jack! Alright. I’m alright. As I was saying, if you need Jack’s blood, how about this?’ He too cuts his finger and watches as it flies into the cleft. The ground suddenly shudders beneath them.

   ‘What was that? What happened?’ Mother is concerned.

   ‘Rex, what did you do?’ Gwen asks as the ground settles.

The Cousin can’t believe it. ‘There’s nothing special about you.’ He remarks.

   ‘Oh, but there is, when I’ve got Jack’s blood flowing through my veins. It’s inside me.’ Rex reveals. Both Jack and Gwen are astounded. ‘See, we knew this blood was important, so as soon as we arrived.’

   ‘We transfused it into Rex. We exchanged his blood for Jack’s.’

   ‘On most days, it might’ve killed me. But we’re all living on Miracle Day.’

   ‘And everyone thought the blood was gone, so no one even suspected. All we did was keep one final bag, filled the rest with Rex’s blood, and Jack’s mortal blood.’

   ‘Just walked right in. Hey, Oswald, you want to be a walking bomb?’

Panicked, Mother orders Oswald be removed. Jack pulls out his gun, instructing everyone to remain where they are, congratulating Rex on his initiative.

   ‘You just shut the hell up, alright?’ Rex growls. ‘This shit hurts!’

Gwen still struggles with the prospect of losing Jack, as she will when it all goes down. Mother senses it.

   ‘The Blessing will take every last drop. You’ll both die, gentlemen. You’ll both kill yourselves. You will die in a pit in Shanghai, is that what you want?’

   ‘I think I’ve lived long enough. Are you ready, Rex?’ Jack calls over to Matheson.

   ‘Oh, you know I wish I'd never met you, you World War Two idiot. Good times, huh?’ Rex says to a teary eyed Esther. ‘I’ll see ya.’

   ‘Just one last thing, Jack.’ Gwen says behind him, as he prepares to slit his wrist.

   ‘What is it?’

   ‘You’re never going to be a suicide.’ Gwen aims her gun at Jack. He thanks her and they bid each other farewell. ‘Face front.’

With his hands raised, he braces for that moment of impact. The end of so many lives on the planet, coming back from the dead, reborn, alive, and now this. To die in a pit in old Shanghai. His eyes fill with tears. This is the end. No going back.

   ‘This is it, Rex.’

   ‘Nothing’s going to stop me.’ Rex yells stepping towards the cleft, ready.

   ‘I think this might.’ The Cousin shoots Esther. Shocked. Sickened. Unable to think straight, Rex rushes to Esther’s aid but there’s nothing he can do to save her. Alive but not alive. How can he continue the mission now?

Jack and Gwen call over to Rex, they’d heard the shot, but know nothing.

   ‘You bastard! You son of a bitch! Esther, come here. Oh, God.’

   ‘These are the days of the Miracle, Mister Matheson. She can't die, and we have infinite resources. We can help her. We can make her better.’

   ‘If the Miracle ends, she dies. Is that what you want? All of you with your fine and noble deaths, do you really want to bring about hers?’

Rex is at a loss to know what to do for the best. He asks Jack for advice but Jack is all out of ideas. Gwen however knows precisely what to do.

   ‘I’ll tell you what to do Rex. You carry on. Keep going back to the plan.’

   ‘We’ll kill her.’ Jack tells her.

   ‘I know.’

   ‘This is Esther we’re talking about.’ Rex is heartbroken.

   ‘Yes, I know it’s Esther, and it’s my Dad and it’s everyone who’s ever going to die. But, Rex, we've got to do this and I'm gonna tell you why. Because I'm standing here and I'm staring at Oswald Danes. And he chose when that girl lived and he chose when that girl died. And no one should have that power. Not the rich, not the mad, not anyone.’

   ‘You’re choosing now.’ Danes informs her.

   ‘Yeah, you watch me.’

   ‘You’ll kill Jack, Rex and that girl Esther. All of your Torchwood team. You’ll kill them all.’

Gwen nods. ‘Yeah.’

   ‘Oh you are magnificent.’

Gwen calls to Rex. ‘Ready? Rex?’

Rex kisses Esther goodbye and straightens up, tears moistening his face. The Mother and Cousin beg them not to do it, at the risk of losing Esther, but both know, that life would never be the same again, and doing this would reset it. Did they ever expect to live after the Miracle?

     With Jack facing front, Gwen pulls the trigger, blowing a large hole through Jack’s body, forcing all his blood to enter the cleft in the world, and right across the other side of the pole, Rex tears away his bandage, releasing Jack’s blood into the cleft from Buenos Aires. The two men cry out at the pain before they both collapse on the ground.

   ‘And that's what I did. In a pit in old Shanghai I brought death back to the world. They said it was like a breath. The breath that went around the whole wide world. The last breath. And then no more. We said goodbye to them then, the dads and the mums, the sick and the old, the friends and the neighbours, and the people we once met, and the people whose names we never knew. We said goodbye to them all on the day that death came back.’

As Gwen speaks, her Dad and the young girl pass away peacefully. Mary speaks to her husband via telephone message, conveying her love for the man she would never see again. Rhys broken can only sit and watch the man who he had known for years, finally let go.

Back in the pit, the ground shaking, acroprops falling, soldier’s leaving, she snaps out of her shock of losing Jack, and quickly runs over to find a pulse. There is none. Jack is dead.

Jilly heads for the lift. Gwen has no other choice but to leave Jack as Oswald encourages her to go. The Mother in the grips of Oswald begs for her life, offering him estates and places to hunt, but Oswald is going nowhere, and neither is The Mother.

In the lift, Gwen helps Jilly close the lift doors and head upwards as Jack gasps back to life.

   ‘Hold that lift.’ Gwen instructs Jilly.

In Buenos Aires, the Cousin gathers his paperwork and laptop when Rex grabs hold of him.

   ‘Hey, guess what, death came back.’ Despite his protestations, Rex throws the man into the abyss before collapsing back onto the ground.

In Shanghai, Gwen can’t contain her happiness that the Miracle changed back, Jack is once again immortal. She instructs Jilly to hold the lift, but Jilly has other ideas, and a fight ensues. After several strong punches to the face, Jilly concedes, and Gwen rushes back for Jack. Danes calls for Suzie Cabina, noting that all bad little girls go to hell, and he’ll be coming after her. As Jack and Gwen and Jilly, exit the lift and the building, the entire place erupts burying the pit and the people, forever.

Rex and Esther are still alive, but only just. Santos’ new army arrive and get the pair out before the place crumbles into the abyss.

As Jack and Gwen sit and watch from a safe vantage point, Gwen wonders if she just sealed the fate of Rex and Esther.

Lying on the open ground outside of the building, Rex and Esther are attended to by paramedics.

A memorial service is held for Esther Drummond. Everyone is there including Rex and Charlotte, Jack, Rhys and Gwen and Sarah Drummond and her little family. They’re singing Psalm 42, Verse 8.

On a park bench somewhere in the city, Jilly’s blue eyed man appears, something he never normally does.

   ‘I've got nothing. What the hell am I supposed to do? I had to buy my way out of that godforsaken country. I had to sell my own jewellery! I can't go home. I've got the CIA watching out for me, the FBI, everyone. What do I do now?’

   ‘You start again.’

   ‘With who?’

The blue eyed man offers her a position with them again. As trials went, it was good, he tells her.

   ‘Trial runs for what?’

   ‘Plan B. Interested?’

After much thought, she follows him.

Along the corridor from the memorial, Charlotte passes her condolences onto Rex as she continues along the corridor. He thanks her for it.

   ‘Lucky she got a full service. There’s ten funerals every hour these days.’ Jack says.

   ‘Well that’s made us all feel better.’ Rhys quips. Always like the Captain to put a dampener on the situation.

   ‘You'd think if that Blessing was so kind, it could've shown some sort of grace. Esther died right in front of it. That morphic field could've reached out and saved one last life. Why not?’

   ‘We'll never know. UNIT's sealed those sites up forever. Let that thing stay buried.’

Changing the subject, Rex asks what Torchwood will do now. Will they remain a team or disband and go their separate ways? Gwen looks at Jack, knowing after Ianto and Steven died, he couldn’t leave the planet quick enough.

   ‘You staying?’

   ‘You want me to stay?’

   ‘Please say no.’ Rhys begs.

Rex’s phone beeps. He’s overjoyed and just a little bit shocked. Jack queries him.

   ‘It’s about Noah. You know, the analyst who died with Shapiro? They just retrieved his software from the explosion. The good thing is he told me his password because it's the same place I used to go for doughnuts. His last job was to look for that leak.’

Gwen looks over at the phone showing the details on the software. A name pops up that shocks Rex.

Charlotte Wells currently heading towards the exit hears her name as Rex runs towards her. She pulls out her gun and shoots him in the chest, killing him. Other CIA agents in the vicinity open fire on Charlotte. As Jack tends to Rex, he instructs the agents to get help and clear the area, Charlotte may not be acting on her own.

Gwen is shocked at the suddenness of it all. Rex, despite his gruff exterior had come good at the end, and they were all part of a team and now this. This was not what should be happening.

   Jack confirms that Rex is dead and stands back up as Rex gasps back into life. It shocks all standing,

   ‘What?’ they all repeat. Rex pulls his shirt open to reveal a wound slowly diminishing till it vanishes.

   ‘What?’

   ‘What the hell?’ Gwen replies, unable to take her eyes off what she’s just witnessed.

   ‘That’s impossible.’ Jack says.

   ‘You. World War Two. What the hell did you do to me?’ Rex says, shocked that he’s back in the land of the living. Another immortal on planet Earth.

End of Miracle Day

End of the Torchwood Episode Breakdowns. Thank you so much for your continued support of these, I’ve loved reading all your comments below.