A) Jack is a broken man. He puts on the heroic, "I'm in control and nothing bothers me" front, but the truth is Jack is terribly insecure and needy, he has horrific abandonment issues and, in many ways, believe he thinks he has nothing to offer anyone. He trys to protect himself from all these things through off-handed banter, turning everything into a punchline, being as mysterious as possible and keeping people at an emotional distance. The fact that Ianto even gets him to agree to try more than just shagging is a minor miracle.
Gwen is important to Jack and always will be because she has been the catalyst in helping Jack realize that cutting himself off emotionally to keep himself safe or to better deal with the job isn't working. For him or for the people he is trying to protect. She has also been, since her engagement, a constant reminder of what was (I would guess)one of the biggest relationship disasters and heart breaks of Jack's life. And based on what we know about Jack's personality, I'm sure what he regards as one of his biggest failures or areas of inadequacy (I say this cause based on the time period of the wedding photo I'm thinking that may have been when he realized his immortality). Jack's immortality will NEVER allow him to have the life that Gwen and Rhys will have. And after having cut himself off emotionally for so long, Jack is mourning that all over again. What does he have to offer anyone? How can he open himself up to anyone knowing he WILL lose them? All those things he lists to Gwen as reasons Rhys will be such a good husband are things he doubts that he will ever be able to offer anyone. He is a truly broken man.
B) No one seems to be giving Ianto enough credit. Why is there this assumption that Ianto is madly, puppy love crazy about Jack? Were there scenes where Ianto started bringing Jack flowers and candy and writing sonnets about his undying love that I missed? It is clear that Ianto is very fond of Jack and cares about him on a deeper level, and there is basically his statement that he wants an opportunity to get to know him better and expects the same in return when Jack asks him out, but I think that people too often cross the devotion and loyalty of Ianto's working relationship with Jack and his personal one. Employee Ianto worships Jack. He would do anything for him. Follow any order, lay down his life, defend Jack to the end. Personal Ianto has plenty of his own emotional baggage and he knows it. He also knows Jack. Ianto wants it to be more than shagging because, while that got them through a tough time, it does neither of them any good in the long run. There has to be an openness to something more or it isn't healthy for either of them. It's just them hiding from themselves. At the beginning of season 2 Ianto has decided he is ready to start trying to reach out again emotionally and if Jack still wants to be with him, he expects Jack to at least try too.
Yeah, I want to see more emotional development (and hopefully we are gonna get some coming up), but these are 2 dysfunctional people working on something that is going to take serious time and patience if it's going to work at all. I don't know that either of them expect to succeed, but I think they both know they have to try.
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A) Jack is a broken man. He puts on the heroic, "I'm in control and nothing bothers me" front, but the truth is Jack is terribly insecure and needy, he has horrific abandonment issues and, in many ways, believe he thinks he has nothing to offer anyone. He trys to protect himself from all these things through off-handed banter, turning everything into a punchline, being as mysterious as possible and keeping people at an emotional distance. The fact that Ianto even gets him to agree to try more than just shagging is a minor miracle.
Gwen is important to Jack and always will be because she has been the catalyst in helping Jack realize that cutting himself off emotionally to keep himself safe or to better deal with the job isn't working. For him or for the people he is trying to protect. She has also been, since her engagement, a constant reminder of what was (I would guess)one of the biggest relationship disasters and heart breaks of Jack's life. And based on what we know about Jack's personality, I'm sure what he regards as one of his biggest failures or areas of inadequacy (I say this cause based on the time period of the wedding photo I'm thinking that may have been when he realized his immortality). Jack's immortality will NEVER allow him to have the life that Gwen and Rhys will have. And after having cut himself off emotionally for so long, Jack is mourning that all over again. What does he have to offer anyone? How can he open himself up to anyone knowing he WILL lose them? All those things he lists to Gwen as reasons Rhys will be such a good husband are things he doubts that he will ever be able to offer anyone. He is a truly broken man.
B) No one seems to be giving Ianto enough credit. Why is there this assumption that Ianto is madly, puppy love crazy about Jack? Were there scenes where Ianto started bringing Jack flowers and candy and writing sonnets about his undying love that I missed? It is clear that Ianto is very fond of Jack and cares about him on a deeper level, and there is basically his statement that he wants an opportunity to get to know him better and expects the same in return when Jack asks him out, but I think that people too often cross the devotion and loyalty of Ianto's working relationship with Jack and his personal one. Employee Ianto worships Jack. He would do anything for him. Follow any order, lay down his life, defend Jack to the end. Personal Ianto has plenty of his own emotional baggage and he knows it. He also knows Jack. Ianto wants it to be more than shagging because, while that got them through a tough time, it does neither of them any good in the long run. There has to be an openness to something more or it isn't healthy for either of them. It's just them hiding from themselves. At the beginning of season 2 Ianto has decided he is ready to start trying to reach out again emotionally and if Jack still wants to be with him, he expects Jack to at least try too.
Yeah, I want to see more emotional development (and hopefully we are gonna get some coming up), but these are 2 dysfunctional people working on something that is going to take serious time and patience if it's going to work at all. I don't know that either of them expect to succeed, but I think they both know they have to try.
This is the longest comment ever! Sorry!