I JUST REALISED!!

[tencrush]

WHY I HATE FROM OUT OF THE RAIN SO MUCH.

It just... so little thought went into this episode when it comes to characterisation, like I and many other people have mentioned, it just DIDN'T MATTER who was the centrepiece of the story, there were no character-related reasons for it to be Ianto, it could just as easily have been Tosh, or anyone. The writing focussed SO MUCH on getting the plot across to the viewer (and IT EVEN SUCKED AT THAT), that no thought went into which character was fulfilling what role.

IF I COULD REWRITE FROM OUT OF THE RAIN, it would go like this, and it's really very simple and it solves a myriad of problems of exposition and such whilst at the same time dealing with some bits and bobs of characterisation and answering some questions that are still mulling around in the minds of your average avid fan:

OPENING SCENE: Carnies. Weirdness. Spooky, yah, cut to credits.
NEXT BIT: Guy does stuff with film, Jack hears spooky music in the Hub, asks Ianto WTF? Ianto tells him to STFU and hands him his coat. Jack and Ianto go to Electro for night out.
REST OF EPISODE: Same, with slightly less exposition needed due to Jack already being clued up, giving us a bit more time to let the baddies actually be scary.

SIMPLE AS THAT. Seriously, if anyone had put any thought into this episode from a character arc perspective, that's how it would have played out. It would have shown us quite cleanly that Jack and Ianto do indeed have a relationship that involves more than sex in the Hub, which I believe is what the writers would like us to believe. At the same time, the resulting spookiness would have amusingly shown us how patently impossible it is for these two to keep their work and private lives separate, which would have been a nice segue into the shagging in the Hub in Adrift (without the shagging in the Hub coming across as QUITE SO CARNAL, but more of an acknowledgement that they're really just going to have to get it where and when they can.) Clean. Simple. Easy as that. AMINORITE? YUS?

Comments

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

I'd have loved that version. It's not that I expect them to live in each others pockets and never do anything on their own, but this is something that clearly means something to Ianto, and he managed to convince a less than enthusiastic Gwen, but didn't even ask Jack? That's a bit weird.

[tencrush]

*nods*
It IS odd, and it just shows up how little Hammond was made aware of the state of play between the various characters. I mean, not only is Ianto not going with Jack, Jack is also THE ONLY ONE who DOESN'T KNOW where Ianto is. If you're looking to make their relationship seem really superficial, that's a pretty good way of going about it.

[rowanswhimsy.livejournal.com]

It strikes me that either Jack/Ianto really isn't that important to the show (or all of the writers would at least be on board enough to write it with some relative consistency) or there is deep division in the writing staff about the relationship (and therefore some of the writers choose to subvert or ignore it).

I recall the writing on BtVS for Buffy/Spike taking on very different characteristics depending on whether the writer in question supported the relationship.

[erinnthered.livejournal.com]

I think a poster a while back who was in the know pointed out that the script writers are not given a background on the characters before writing their scripts. All the scripts are commissions since they don't have staff writers. Buffy did have staff writers.

It really all comes down to RTD and Chibnall for not preparing the writers, and not either hiring competent script editors or not empowering them to do what they need to do.

[rowanswhimsy.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's an interesting fact about how the scripts are commissioned. I agree with you about Chibnall. I wonder if his replacement will do any better or if in a few years we'll be longing for the return of the Chibnall era?