You've made some terrific points here and its really been boiled down to the most irksome factor which is the matter of the individual perception. Jack's almost like a Rorschach test in that everyone can see him in a different way merely because the writers -being many and not of one solid mindset- all have their own pov of him. James Moran saw him as the determined, almost over the edge, serious leader while Catherine Tregenna has him as this lost, love-seeking wounded hero. There are so many POVs just coming out of the gate of Jack that for the viewer to settle on one alone is hard enough.
Secondly, starting the Jack and Ianto relationship buried in ambiguity as they did in S1 made it seem like a dirty little secret rather than chock-full of the h/c that it might have been in reality. I want- as a viewer and fan and writer myself- to believe that Jack wouldn't abuse the canon history of super PTSD that Ianto ought to/has shown glimmers of having or held their relationship over Ianto's head in any way that could be 'wrong' or questionable. Because that is what anti-gay protesters say ARE gay relationships and that is the last thing Jack/Ianto should be upholding; the flawed perception of what could be a supportive and healthy -despite their die at any moment job- relationship. It has always bothered me why they're not more up front with it considering it involves the MAIN character of the show, why we've never seen his inside POV of things with Ianto but we know almost more about his back and forth with Gwen instead. Which implies that the writers are at odds with Gwen and Ianto while the characters, from what we've seen, have little issue with each other and Jack smack in the middle of them.
Ambiguity can only be a tool for so long before it just ends up hurting a character by leaving gaping holes like this that can only become interpreted as flaws.
Another random note, but Ianto himself gets a lot of sexual imagery aimed at him by more than just Jack. Captain John, Adam, Owen's teasing are all from a negative place which would make sense to balance it out with positive reinforcements from Jack that not all of teh ghey on TW is BAD GAY. But we, as an audience, lack the scenes that could easily mend that. Little things, touches of shoulders or hands, even Jack spending a half-second to show concern about Ianto's well-being at one point or another would fix this whole debate in seconds! Its one that's fixed in the books easily enough (see the last chapter of 'Hidden' which had about 0 J/I until that point but because of Jack's chosen actions it wasn't necessarily something he'd do with Owen, the other male character around if Owen and Ianto's situations were switched) and it seems a shame that it can't be fixed in the show with just MINOR tweekings. What's the fear of making it seem like Jack cares about someone beyond his general team love who's NOT Gwen?
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Secondly, starting the Jack and Ianto relationship buried in ambiguity as they did in S1 made it seem like a dirty little secret rather than chock-full of the h/c that it might have been in reality. I want- as a viewer and fan and writer myself- to believe that Jack wouldn't abuse the canon history of super PTSD that Ianto ought to/has shown glimmers of having or held their relationship over Ianto's head in any way that could be 'wrong' or questionable. Because that is what anti-gay protesters say ARE gay relationships and that is the last thing Jack/Ianto should be upholding; the flawed perception of what could be a supportive and healthy -despite their die at any moment job- relationship. It has always bothered me why they're not more up front with it considering it involves the MAIN character of the show, why we've never seen his inside POV of things with Ianto but we know almost more about his back and forth with Gwen instead. Which implies that the writers are at odds with Gwen and Ianto while the characters, from what we've seen, have little issue with each other and Jack smack in the middle of them.
Ambiguity can only be a tool for so long before it just ends up hurting a character by leaving gaping holes like this that can only become interpreted as flaws.
Another random note, but Ianto himself gets a lot of sexual imagery aimed at him by more than just Jack. Captain John, Adam, Owen's teasing are all from a negative place which would make sense to balance it out with positive reinforcements from Jack that not all of teh ghey on TW is BAD GAY. But we, as an audience, lack the scenes that could easily mend that. Little things, touches of shoulders or hands, even Jack spending a half-second to show concern about Ianto's well-being at one point or another would fix this whole debate in seconds! Its one that's fixed in the books easily enough (see the last chapter of 'Hidden' which had about 0 J/I until that point but because of Jack's chosen actions it wasn't necessarily something he'd do with Owen, the other male character around if Owen and Ianto's situations were switched) and it seems a shame that it can't be fixed in the show with just MINOR tweekings. What's the fear of making it seem like Jack cares about someone beyond his general team love who's NOT Gwen?