tencrush: (Default)
tencrush ([personal profile] tencrush) wrote2008-03-06 07:40 am

How they killed my Janto, dudes.

I'm still full of hate after Something Borrowed, and I'll attempt to explain why.

In Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, we were given a promising glimpse of Ianto-with-a-spine. He basically stated he wasn't interested in being Jack's part time office shag and wanted more, or no deal. Jack seemed to be au fait with this and looked to be pursuing the relationship. My little shipper heart went YAY, and that didn't really change, especially after To The Last Man, when I, along with everyone else in the world, pretty much saw what appeared to be a declaration of love from Jack. OMG WOW. Then... what the fuck happened?

I started to develop hate when Ianto said he and Jack 'dabbled'. While I could defend Jack's trying to hide the relationship based on what he said in Meat (he has an emotional investment, it makes you vulnerable, and he really shouldn't be forming EMOTIONAL bonds with his team, because it affects his abilities as their leader, yeah? Fine.), here, though, we suddenly have Ianto downplaying what I had assumed was an emotional attachment to Jack, and why? Dead Man Walking, again, shows Ianto on the defensive with regards to the relationship. "It's not like that", right, OK. Funnily enough, Ianto seems too unsure to expand and tell Owen what it IS, in fact, like. He's become almost apologetic, and why? Oh, roll on Something Borrowed, HERE'S WHY! He's IN LOVE. He's a lovesick puppy, thinking about wedding dresses and looking to settle down. If there's one thing we know about Ianto, you see, it's that he is wickedly loyal, faithful and, one would assume, MONOGAMOUS. Yet suddenly, since Adam, the relationship seems to have taken a turn into roleplaying toy-based sexamalympics. There's been no emotional connection since the kiss in TTLM. What bugs me is that Ianto is shown to be perfectly satisfied with this turn of events. It's almost like the Date Conversation never happened.

Now, I can buy that Jack is capable of loving more than one person. I can buy that Jack loves Gwen. I can even buy that Ianto is perfectly happy to know this and not care. That all makes perfect sense to me. What I can't buy is that Ianto has become such a lovesick boytoy, so impressed with Jack's avant garde sexual prowess, that he is happy to settle back into his role as office based shag, taking whatever nuggets of affection Jack sees fit too throw his way. And it's not Ianto's character making me think that that's how the relationship has progressed, it's Jack's, yet again. Jack, who makes these grandiose declarations about the nature of love to Gwen. Jack, who pines after a long dead wife. Jack, who we thought perhaps was a bit more flexible when it came to who and how many people he gives his heart to, who is QUITE OBVIOUSLY showing us that he believes in OMGONETRUELOVE, and between the lines quite blatantly showing us that Ianto isn't in the running. NO AFFECTION, throwaway lines about red caps and "doing Ianto", that's no longer a guy trying to hide the fact that he's in love with one of his subordinates, that's an omnisexual slut, not at all embarrassed about what he and the teaboy do with hockey sticks. AND I WOULD BE FINE WITH ALL THAT. If it weren't for the date conversation telling me that Ianto wants more, and Ianto's fawning in this episode blatanly telling us HE IS WICKED IN LOVE WITH JACK. Why is he settling for this? What have they done to my boy? Who said in the first episode that some fetishes should be kept to yourself? How many fetishes have he and Jack been broadcasting to the world since Adam? There's something so OFF in this relationship, and I think it's something you either see and hate or you just don't notice AT ALL.

One of the things that squicks me is Jack's flippancy about past conquests (all male, have we noticed yet??) and his obvious love for Gwen and DeadWife. It's almost like the implication is that while dabbling and sexual gymnastics is something Jack does with men, settling down is something he does with women. And Ianto and that dress? Just makes me feel like Jack hasn't yet let Ianto in on that fact, and the joke's on him. Ha ha.

NONE OF THE ABOVE MAKES ANY SENSE, I AM AWARE OF THAT, I JUST CAN'T PUT MY FINGER ON WHAT IS WRONG IN JANTOLAND. I JUST... HATE IT.

[identity profile] tigercheetah.livejournal.com 2008-03-06 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
According to JB himself, Jack views Owen as a son, not as a mate or potential lover.

It's pretty poor of RTD to protray a male/male relationship as being about nothing but sex and a male/female relationship (Jack/Gwen, Jack/Estelle) as having more of an emotional element to it. Homophobics properly have a field day when it comes to Torchwood.

And frankly, Jack feels sorry for hismelf just as much as Ianto. And Jack cuts in on the Bride and Groom as they dance together - a very rude thing to do.

[identity profile] karaokegal.livejournal.com 2008-03-07 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
According to JB himself, Jack views Owen as a son, not as a mate or potential lover.

Yeah. And there's no Daddy/Son role-playing in the gay community. And Jack isn't (apparently) all about the games.

So John (much as I love him) can peddle that elsewhere. He might also want to stop making the chemistry so palpable between Jack/Gwen and Jack/Owen IF he thinks is all about J/I.


Was Ianto's cutting in on Jack/Gwen in their private moment (joking about him, btw) more or less rude than Jack cutting in on Ianto?

It's the "Jack fucks women, but loves women" that's been pissing me off for months, for exactly the opposite reason. I want an Omni-jack who can fuck or love both and do it at the same time with multiple partners in multiple species, but at the very least I want confirmation that he is NOT JUST GAY, because that's not who I fell in love with.