"Torchwood: Children of Earth: Day Five" minicap

After the explosive action of Day Four, Day Five screeches in, albeit with less of the pulsating chill found in the episode’s predecessor.

Instead, the atmosphere of the final episode seems to hinge on tying up loose ends, and perhaps (fittingly so), lacks the unnerving tension intrinsic to the rest of the miniseries.

Warning: Spoilers ahead…

The episode begins with a recording of Gwen on a mini digital video camera, signing off her last words before the so-called ‘end of the world’. This is intercut with footage of militias capturing the children of the earth.

We then rewind to the aforementioned action of the previous minicap, where the government is setting up their plan to ‘fool’ the public into giving up their kids.

At the same time, the motivations of the 456 are finally revealed. Apparently, and now this is a bit of a stretch, the children of the earth are like ‘drugs’ to the aliens, another delicious treat for them to consume. Think of them as M&Ms with a delicious candy coating shell! And they just can’t get enough! 

This leads to a rather odd and unnerving scene, where a pale and depleted child lays hooked up to a breathing device causing him to resemble a dying old man. Ick…

As the plot threads unwind, we find out that government informant Lois Habiba has been charged with espionage. John Frobisher is instructed by the Prime Minister to appear on camera with his kids in tow, pretending to give them ‘fake’ inoculations which will supposedly ‘save’ them.

But when the conflicted Frobisher gets home, he walks into his kid’s room, and closes the door behind him.

A quiet silence is followed by a blast of gun shots. One assumes that Frobisher has offed himself and possibly his kids as well.

As the story moves on, dramatic scenes ensue, but there is a strange lack of tension. The music isn’t as bold as previous days, and one gets the feeling that ‘all will be fine in the end’, even if the characters seem to think they are all hell bent on destruction.

Half way through Day Five, Johnson, whose icy façade has already broken down, decides to turn against the devious administration, and gets Captain Jack to help fight the aliens himself.

As Jack scrambles inside the government building, jabbing at computer buttons at warp speed, we witness military soldiers capturing the earth’s innocent children (in other words, we have caught back up to the beginning of the episode).

Gwen, under orders from Jack, attempts to help Ianto’s family, but her efforts soon prove futile.

Since this is Torchwood and it is Captain Jack’s show after all, the thrilling climax naturally sees Jack destroying the alien spokesperson. How does he achieve this, you might ask?

Turns out he sacrifices his grandchild (surprise!) and somehow summons all of the children of the earth together at once. This causes the aliens to overload on their “drug” (imagine how you’d feel eating a one pound bag M&Ms; now multiply that by a billion) and the 456 pretty much explode and die.

Then Jack’s grandson collapses, and also dies.

This is followed by the obligatory scene of Jack’s daughter crying over her son’s death. But on the bright side, he’ll probably have a national holiday named after him!

Back in the Prime Minister’s office, a senior official divulges that she has used Lois Habiba’s video  contact lenses to record their most recent private meetings and is exposing the government’s plot. The Prime Ninister, at a loss for words, is stripped of his power.

Somewhere Tony Blair laughs quietly to himself.

A subtitle appears reading ‘Six Months Later’. A heavily pregnant Gwen (she’s actually preggers in real life by the way) and Rhys walk up a mountain top, where Jack Harkness is standing waiting for them. Of course, he’s donned in his signature retro coat.

Jack reveals he is leaving and won’t be coming back. Indeed, he has hurt far too many people on earth, and it is time he moved on.

Gwen becomes hysterical (and strangely beautiful). Please “come back for me”, she pleads. “You can’t keep running away!”

“I can, just watch me!” shouts Jack, and with that, he’s gone.

Rhys, realizing Gwen still loves Jack, yells “To bloody hell with all of you! I’m going to go hook up with that hot blond number back at the pub!” Okay, I made that up. But it's what he should have said.

Frankly, it’s all a bit anticlimactic. Personally, there were no tears for me. Certainly, after last night’s episode (which was watched by a season high of 6.2 million folks/27% audience share), this was very much a letdown, although I am sure some will disagree.

Still, the show’s creator Russell T. Davies has said in the past that, should Children of Earth perform well, there is another season “ready to go.”

But, after Ianto's demise in episode four, I have to wonder if folks will still be up for the ride.

So is this the end of our journey with Jack Harkness? Or will we get to see him fight another day?

Only time will tell!

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