Torchwood Miracle Day Theory

WARNING: Don't read this if you don't want any potential spoilers or if you just hate listening to other people's stupid plot predictions for shows you enjoy.  If this were someone else's blog, I wouldn't read it.  Other people's theories usually drive me nuts.
Speaking of crazy...

Bill Pullman is watching you and breathing heavily.

I typically try to restrain from forming pet plot theories before big reveals for shows I like.  For movies, it doesn't matter as much, because you'll find out within a couple of hours or less what's really going on.  Usually movie plot twists are easy to see coming, unless the director is trying so hard to keep it a surprise that the clues are obscure to the point of being invisible or there are no clues and the result comes out of left field.  Television shows, though, develop slowly because it takes months (or years) to get the resolution.  Any theories I start out with usually change three episodes later based on new information or because I've simply had more time to think on it.  I find pet theories get in the way of enjoying a series, because I invariably fall into the trap of trying to make all new information fit into my pre-existing notion of how the show should be progressing.  Anything that doesn't fit might get discarded as irrelevant only to later turn out to be pivotal, and vice-versa.  Then I get annoyed with myself for having put blinders on myself and also irrationally at the writers for not agreeing with me on how their show should be playing out.

But watching the latest episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day has stirred my need to theorize, and I don't feel like resisting.  Who cares?  My idea is most likely going to be wrong, the information spurring it will probably turn out to be coincidentally correlational, and anyway no one reads this blog.  Likely I'm seeing similarities between information presented in "Escape to LA" and previous Doctor Who events because they were both created by Russell T. Davies, and typically writers repeat themselves in tiny ways, whether consciously or not.

So once the idea of the "Families" was brought up towards the end of the episode, the first thing that popped into my mind was the Family of Blood from season three of Doctor Who.  What if other families of their species are also seeking immortality?  We know they can take over human bodies.  Of course, the problem is that they only live for a few months, but maybe they put themselves in stasis or have bred countless generations or some other plot device that allows them to be behind all this shit (see, justification for my ideas are already fermenting).  Also, they used a Time Agent Vortex Manipulator when they were hunting the Tenth Doctor; was that the thing Jack supposedly "gave" them? (Whether or not this was a willing gift is obviously up in the air.)  Perhaps after failing to gain immortality through the Doctor, another Family secured the Vortex Manipulator and used it to go back in time to Earth's past and begin long-term plans to ensure their eventual immortality?  Maybe even one of the original Family members was freed from their eternal imprisonment and went on to lay the groundwork for the "miracle".  If so, it seems Brother would be the best choice, since the Doctor just up and left him in a field to watch over England forever.

He'll be making that creepy stalker face for all eternity, otherwise.

Leaks about future Miracle Day episodes refer to the organization behind it all as "The Three Families" (thus the triangle).  Maybe they're three separate alien species, each a family, coming together for whatever nefarious shit aliens get up to in the Torchwood/Doctor Who universe, who knows.  More than likely whoever's behind all this is someone/thing completely new and I'm just spinning my wheels.  But it'd be neat to see more ties between Torchwood and its parent show, no matter how remote, because as much as I respect the show is supposed to develop into its own thing, I'd like to see evidence that it's still in the same universe, you know?

Sorry, Batman; I think I just squeed all over you.

New addiction?  Batman: Arkham Asylum.  It may just prove to be worth all the hype.  I'm only at the Bane fight, but so far?  LOVE it.  The only way I can see me not being happy with this game is if it doesn't naturally get harder as the game progresses, the ending absolutely sucks, or it's too short.  If all three happen I'll be very sad instead of mildly disappointed.

The combat is smooth, visceral, and not too complicated.  As in, not complicated at all, in my opinion.  Yes, it relies on achieving combos through simple button repeats and pairings.  I'm sorry if you gamers out there who love extremely complicated combat mechanics don't like it, but for someone like me who came to gaming after my childhood and adolescence were over, the complicated stuff is too much for my hand/eye coordination and ergo I don't enjoy the game experience.   I thoroughly enjoy kicking thugs into walls, pounding them into the ground, flipping over their heads, and punching them in the face when they're down without having to sprain my hands and wrists to do it.  The camera moves sooooo fluidly with Batman that I never get lost.  Remember the terrible camera work on Legend of Kain: Defiance?  You try to fight an enemy, but the camera switches back and forth so much between four awkwardly-set angles that you just want to scream or puke before it's even half-over?  Not here.  Plus, in BAA the slow-mo in combat is well-timed and feels like the cherry on top of every lil' combat cupcake.  Tasty, tasty cupcakes.  Mmmmmmm...

The Detective Mode is pimp.  Hell, I usually stay in it most of the time, just to be on the look-out for any surprises that might pop-up. The one thing I want more of in this game so far is surprises.  I have this love/hate thing with nasty surprises in video games.  Especially dark and/or spooky ones (Bioshock say what?).  I like the tension to build and build until I'm halfway expecting something nasty to jump out at me, and then still be sort of shocked and thrilled when it happens in a creative way.  Anyway, Detective Mode lets me see through walls and find important objects.  Plus I can see an NPC's heart rate and therefore assess their mental state.  Nothing like picking off a lot of thugs one by one in a large room to raise up the last couple of dudes to a completely terrified state.  Tee hee, I'm mean.

Fun gadgets so far?  I only have a small fraction of them.  The batarang and the grappling gun come standard. Later you pick up the explosive gel dispenser (when you dispense the gel on a crumbling wall, you make a gooey bat shape!) so you can blast your way through blocked off areas.  There are a bunch more slots open and I cannot wait to see what fills them.  The upgrades, however, make the wait tolerable as they allow you to get the most from what you've got.  Experience points buy you upgrades; you can boost your bat armor, learn new combat combos, improve combat techniques and gadget efficiency, and learn new skills to help you defeat thine enemies.  My favorite so far has to be the inverted takedown, wherein Batman hangs upside down from a gargoyle (conveniently located in strategic places around the asylum) and ropes himself a bad guy.  After you've glide kicked ("Doom from above!"), taken down, beaten up, or given the "silent treatment" to all the bad guys in the room, you can cut down the bad guys you've strung up with the batarang, thus dropping them to the floor and rendering them unconscious.  Batman, of course, never kills anyone.  It's his one rule, so he only knocks the bad guys out.

So far, BAA is the perfect mix of everything Batman.  Bats himself is very much Dark Knight style Bats, but without any emo b.s. thus far.  He's the right blend of super-sleuth and ninja master, with a little bit of old-fashioned American hero muscleclature to round him off.  Dude, he's built like an effing ton of bricks.  He's got the Michael Keaton quiet poise with the Christian Bale aggression, and interestingly enough, George Clooney's chin.  The villains are a healthy dose of cartoony with a large dash of murderous psychosis thrown in, and Harley Quinn looks like a BDSM dream nurse come to pixelated life.  Can't wait to ogle Poison Ivy.  I hope she lives up to expectations.  The mood is somehow dark and suspenseful yet still a little optimistic.  Probably because you know that not only are you the protagonist, but you're one of the most bad-ass super heroes of all time.  I mean, you're Batman.  You win.  Duh.  And kids who grew up in the nineties will appreciate the voices of Batman and Joker being reprized by Mark Hamil and... the dude that played Batman in the WB animated series.  I forget.  Look it up on your own time.

There are, of course, a lot of little frills for us gamers who like to get anything and everything extra by collecting stuff.  These objectives are kindly provided by the Riddler, whose vaguely-effeminate voice occasionally gets on my nerves.  Ah, well.  Look for little green "?" trophies and updates on side-objectives as you go.  At one point you can pick up a map add-on that has places where Riddler objectives are located marked out for you.  Now I am hoping Bats can back to previously visited areas to get the stuff he couldn't get at before.  Stupid WayneTech security fields bein' all efficient and stuff.

Well, I need to finish off this segment in the game so I can go remember what sleep feels like.  My doctor will have no sympathy for me when I show up bitching about feeling shitty when she notices the dark circles under my eyes clearly marking me as a sleep-dodger.  If I feel like it, I may add to this review later.  Have fun, kiddies!  (I say this to the 0 people who read this blog.)

EDIT: And if this brief and tatty little review didn't make you want to play it, then check this out: 

10 reasons you must play Batman: Arkham Asylum