"Torchwood: Children of Earth: Day Four" minicap

‘WOW!” That’s the only word that I can use to evoke the chilling/mind-boggling suspense of Day Four of Torchwood’s Children of Earth.

Warning: Spoilers ahead!!

After the eventful cliff-hanger of Day Three (where it was revealed that Jack had once sacrificed children to the 456) …we find out the truth behind his actions.

It turns out that the aliens were planning on unleashing a flu/virus that would have killed 25 million people, and that they offered Jack the ultimatum of sacrificing 12 children in return for the survival of the human race.

Given that Jack is ‘supposedly’ a heartless ‘realist’, he agreed, believing that the deal was worth it.

After this shocking disclosure, we find ourselves in a British government boardroom, where Mr. Frobisher and other leaders are trying to bargain with the 456. Instead of offering 10% of the world’s child population (the amount requested by the alien invaders) – the politicians instead offer up one child for every million people living on earth.

Who says politicians don’t know how to bargain?

Unsurprisingly, the aliens refuse Mr. Frobisher and his government’s kind gesture. They want ten percent of the world’s children, and they will stop at nothing to get them.

After the negotiations fall through, the children of the world again start chanting, this time ‘356,000’ and other such random numbers. It seems the 456 are using the kids to communicate the exact number of children they want sacrificed from each nation.

Sort of like ordering take-out.

As all of this occurs, a conflicted Jack and Ianto have a tense argument, leaving viewers wondering if their relationship is on the brink of collapse. Can they survive the insurmountable pressure of this alien invasion? Might therapy help?

Trying to grapple with the aliens’ non-negotiable demands, British authorities discuss ways to ‘deal with’ losing ten percent of the world’s child population. One suggestion is to ‘spin’ it as positive mechanism for population control.

Sure it means fewer children, but think of the elbow room!

The officials end up debating how they will ‘choose’ the children to be sacrificed. Would they be picked at random? What? And, potentially put the Royals at risk? Never! 

Instead, the government decides that they will pick the 10% of the lowest achieving/ranking children in national schools – i.e. the impoverished/the ones set up for failure in the modern world. (And those too lazy to do their homework!)

This revelation is unsettling, if only because it acts as an allegorical commentary of ‘real world’ cutthroat government policies.

Unbeknownst to Frobisher and his minions, the government’s elitist plans are being recorded by Torchwood via Lois Habiba (remember the contact lenses installed with the micro camera?)

Meanwhile, news agencies and members of the public start to question what the government might be up to. Under mounting stress, officials scramble to think of a ‘cover story’ so that they can execute their malicious plot to send the children of the earth to the 456, when suddenly they are threatened with exposure.

Lois Habiba reveals that their conversations have been recorded and that Jack Harkness has decided to confront/have a chat with the aliens himself.

At the very same time, Agent Johnson sets out to capture Gwen, only to find that she is conflicted when the administration’s scheming plot has been revealed. It turns out that Johnson’s heart of stone isn’t so impenetrable after all.

Later Jack confronts the 456’s spokesperson, declaring war on them, and asserting that the human race will never give up on their children.

Will the aliens budge, and disappear off the face of our planet for good (without our kids)? With one more episode to go, that seems unlikely.

Instead, they unleash a virus, which results in the heartbreaking death of …wait for it…

Our beloved, Ianto Jones….

Once you’re done shrieking, you can let that sink in.

Jack, our sexy, strong-willed leader is a broken man. Crushed, he grabs his fallen lover and tells him that he will ‘never forget him’, ‘even in a thousand years time’. It probably goes without saying that I, along with my fellow viewing partners, was reduced to tears.

In a tender and beautiful scene, Jack bends down and kisses his dying lover making for a truly ‘historic’ moment in BBC One primetime drama history.

What will become of the children of the earth? How will Jack deal with the loss of Ianto? Will we lose out to the 456? All will be revealed in the gut-wrenching finale that is Day 5…

Brace yourselves!

Editor's note: Please don't give away anything about what happens to Ianto or any other spoilers in your subject line!