Well, the great thing about Jack is it doesn't HAVE to make sense. His VNA (love that) is indestructible. They established his immortality as an extreme example of what was already inexplicable. It's the heart of a TARDIS, of course it's ineffable.
What makes the whole Miracle thing hard to sort out is that they had to do something medically impossible to establish the impact in the first place, but then they're trying to support it using actual medical science.
I actually had to unofficially consult on a murder by immolation case many years ago, but you don't need to have seen pictures to know that, if the head is burned to the point that the entire surface is charred, the eyelids will no longer exist, nor will the eyeballs. So as we struggle to make sense of how the brain is still sending impulses to the eyes, we're missing that the eyes should no longer be there.
This is RTD's world, so a body does not have a soul. The bomber did not have enough of anything left to support even the most basic nerve impulses. Without oxygen and blood circulation, the brain should have died even if it didn't burn. Yet the Miracle causes *something* to remain, to cling to the remains, even. So, IMHO, if there's anything left, the Miracle is going to stick to it like glue.
As for Owen, that was different. It was Old Torchwood, where lapses in logic and science didn't matter so much. Owen's Not Death wasn't the core mystery of an entire season. Heck, it was barely the core of the episode in which he Didn't Die.
But, in the ep, even he and Toshiko agree: "my body will slowly decompose while I watch." Which makes sense. He couldn't drown, and the irradiated coolant may, um, poach him, but he won't die from that, either. So, um, yeah... There are potentially still bits of Owen hanging around in Turnmill, aware. Just depends on how long it takes a human body to decompose and what the mechanism was keeping his consciousness attached to a dead body.
As much as I'm happy for the shout-out to Ianto? They really should have been thinking of Owen at that point, because he's the closest thing they've ever seen to the Miracle.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-15 01:09 am (UTC)What makes the whole Miracle thing hard to sort out is that they had to do something medically impossible to establish the impact in the first place, but then they're trying to support it using actual medical science.
I actually had to unofficially consult on a murder by immolation case many years ago, but you don't need to have seen pictures to know that, if the head is burned to the point that the entire surface is charred, the eyelids will no longer exist, nor will the eyeballs. So as we struggle to make sense of how the brain is still sending impulses to the eyes, we're missing that the eyes should no longer be there.
This is RTD's world, so a body does not have a soul. The bomber did not have enough of anything left to support even the most basic nerve impulses. Without oxygen and blood circulation, the brain should have died even if it didn't burn. Yet the Miracle causes *something* to remain, to cling to the remains, even. So, IMHO, if there's anything left, the Miracle is going to stick to it like glue.
As for Owen, that was different. It was Old Torchwood, where lapses in logic and science didn't matter so much. Owen's Not Death wasn't the core mystery of an entire season. Heck, it was barely the core of the episode in which he Didn't Die.
But, in the ep, even he and Toshiko agree: "my body will slowly decompose while I watch." Which makes sense. He couldn't drown, and the irradiated coolant may, um, poach him, but he won't die from that, either. So, um, yeah... There are potentially still bits of Owen hanging around in Turnmill, aware. Just depends on how long it takes a human body to decompose and what the mechanism was keeping his consciousness attached to a dead body.
As much as I'm happy for the shout-out to Ianto? They really should have been thinking of Owen at that point, because he's the closest thing they've ever seen to the Miracle.