What I mean by 'information balance' in this case is that Jack holds his knowledge very close and doesn't share easily. I'm not saying that there aren't things that he should keep to himself, but he is a pretty lousy communicator and doesn't trust people with things they probably should know, or at least, that would go a long way toward opening paths of communication that would be good for the team. Especially in season 1, his leadership style is the quintessential 'my way, or the highway' authoritarianism that just doesn't fly so much, these days. He's always telling people to just do as he says without explanation, and the trust diminishes over the season to the point where they all disobey/betray him over the course of the last two episodes.
You're quite right about the way that Ianto accepts Jack, both in 'Fragments' and throughout the series, in general. I noted and loved it in 'Fragments,' but I had come to expect that of Ianto, particularly after 'To the Last Man.' What I hadn't expected was for Jack to just let it slip that he was a time traveller from the 51st century. You're also right about the events in KKBB, and I agree very strongly that Jack would never have to ask Ianto to accept him for who he was, although he probably had to come pretty close to doing that somewhere after 'Cyberwoman,' at least in terms of earning Ianto's trust. (Obviously, this last would have to be mutual, and Ianto would have the lion's share of that work.)
What you say about Ianto's quiet acceptance prompting Jack to reveal more to him than he does anyone else is right on the money, I think. It's interesting watching Ianto trying to find his feet with Jack in 'Fragments.' He tries a number of ways of being (rentboy, hungry and desperate for work, stalker, pushy) before he settles on confident professional ready to get down to work and assert himself without asking Jack for anything in return. I really love that dynamic between them, and although I do think that Ianto gets whumped a lot in TW, it is done in such a way as to show his enormous strength of being. This is why I cannot see him as Jack's unwitting or unwilling sex toy.
Thank you for letting me ramble about this! I love discussing these two. :)
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Date: 2008-05-14 04:15 pm (UTC)You're quite right about the way that Ianto accepts Jack, both in 'Fragments' and throughout the series, in general. I noted and loved it in 'Fragments,' but I had come to expect that of Ianto, particularly after 'To the Last Man.' What I hadn't expected was for Jack to just let it slip that he was a time traveller from the 51st century. You're also right about the events in KKBB, and I agree very strongly that Jack would never have to ask Ianto to accept him for who he was, although he probably had to come pretty close to doing that somewhere after 'Cyberwoman,' at least in terms of earning Ianto's trust. (Obviously, this last would have to be mutual, and Ianto would have the lion's share of that work.)
What you say about Ianto's quiet acceptance prompting Jack to reveal more to him than he does anyone else is right on the money, I think. It's interesting watching Ianto trying to find his feet with Jack in 'Fragments.' He tries a number of ways of being (rentboy, hungry and desperate for work, stalker, pushy) before he settles on confident professional ready to get down to work and assert himself without asking Jack for anything in return. I really love that dynamic between them, and although I do think that Ianto gets whumped a lot in TW, it is done in such a way as to show his enormous strength of being. This is why I cannot see him as Jack's unwitting or unwilling sex toy.
Thank you for letting me ramble about this! I love discussing these two. :)
Catherine