Torchwood - Fragments

[tencrush]

Fragmented because this one kind of killed me a little and I don't think I've quite recovered.

Okay, story by story, then:

Jack

• Again with the overacting, JB! Get a grip. You're dead, we get it.


• Yeah, okay, so maybe the Victorian steampunk lesbians were a bit over the top, but I do kind of like the implication that once you start working for Torchwood and associating with alien life forms, human categories of gender and race and such perhaps do start to seem terribly arbitrary. Even in Victorian times.


• I wish bustles were still in fashion. They're kind of hot.

Tosh

• I thought this one was kind off dull, I must admit. Though Tosh is a technical genius, it's always nice to see that on screen, they don't show enough of her l33t skills.


• And WTF happened to UNIT?? I've mentioned Guantanamo before in discussions about this season, but really. UNIT? I never thought they'd go there.

Ianto

• Jones, Ianto Jones. Wait... is that a l33t manwhorespy I see before me?? Remember when that was a funny thing I made up? I'm so glad they went with it. I really, really, really am.


• His background story is a plant, yes? Give me one good reason Yvonne Hartman's Torchwood would hire a 20-year-old average-student drifter from Wales... with a shoplifting conviction? NOPE, NO WAY. Also, the excerpts from his diary in Adam seem to imply he has some sort of engineering background, he seems highly skilled technologically, and he seems to know all sort of non-technical stuff as well. Basically, he seems to be REALLY CLEVER. See also "surviving Canary Wharf and getting his girlfriend out"


• HIS FAMILY ARE ALL DEAD, YES? I'm not going to say it again, peeps, pay attention. (Either that or he really is the Doctor's son, right? Ianto, John junior?)


• The Ianto Jones school of being a manwhorespy is a really thorough one, isn't it? The Dressing and looking and walking and talking like you're cruising the park for gay sex module is one where he paid a lot of attention, I noticed. Adjusting your wardrobe until you hit the right kink and then running with that as hard as you was can also a popular subject. And when all else fails, make coffee, catch a dinosaur, roll around the floor... in short, cheat. I like this school.


• Oh, and I'm usually the first to be annoyed when Ianto cries, as well you know, but that small bit there was the nicest bit of characterisation I've ever seen in this show and was absolutely fucking wonderfully done. I don't want this boy to EVER be off my screen AGAIN. I LOVE that he's attracted to Jack even while Lisa's still alive, I still maintain they were probably having no-strings sex right from when he was hired, or at least at whatever time Ianto felt the need to REALLY distract Jack from the cyberchick in the basement. And I love seeing how he feels about whoring himself out like that. Beautiful.


• I'm very tempted to say the "51st centrury pheromones" line is just a continuity error on the part of the writers that nobody picked up on. If not, it's HELLA INTERESTING.


• Can you tell this was my favourite bit?

Owen

• Nah. Don't try to make me care about him this late in the proceedings. It's not going to wash.


• Though: brain eating alien? Coooool.

Don't know what I made of Captain John. I'll wait and see.

Comments

[rowanswhimsy.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not sure we're going to be able to find any evidence either way because the evidence for either scenario likely looks the same and it comes down to interpretation. That's frustrating because I'd like to know, too. I think unless they tell us outright, we'll likely never know.

I agree that the tears suggest the former. But the tears could also just be sheer relief that he achieved his objective and was going to be able to help Lisa. He was under so much strain at that point that it's probably really hard to figure out what's causing all of it. One of the reasons I could never go along with the 'Ianto should have been fired and retconned' line of thinking was because I really think he was suffering from PTSD. It's amazing to me that he was even functional given what had happened at Canary Wharf and what he was trying to accomplish with Lisa.

My guess is that given that Ianto was laughing in a rather carefree, artless way right before that moment with Jack, I think Ianto felt the
attraction too. It seemed like a moment where all of the feelings were entirely shared between them and they were sort of swept up in the moment and then Ianto's brain kicked in.

I've always thought given how angry Ianto got at Jack during CW and how he denied that Jack was his last kiss in CC that Ianto was genuinely attracted to Jack while Lisa was still alive and those feelings of guilt were part of what was making Ianto act so irrationally. If he was genuinely attracted to Jack (and not just stringing him along to blind him to what Ianto was doing) then his guilt over betraying Lisa like that might have made him even more determined to save her when otherwise he might have come to his senses.

All of this backstory is making my brain explode.

[off_coloratura]

We won't be able to find evidence either way, because "ambiguity" is this show's middle name and is the primary way it keeps people watching. By making things deliberately vague they draw us into guessing what might be going on, discussing much like we're doing now.

Not to mention vagueness covers up a multitude of bad-writing sins. And then when they DO get specific, like in tonight's episode, it uncovers holes in the world and the characterizations big enough to drive an SUV through.

But of course, that just gives us more fuel to wanwank with.

[erinnthered.livejournal.com]

a big yes to all of what's been said here. And I do believe that was genuine emotion with Jack, and his reaction was part of the shock of realizing a real attraction despite his devotion to Lisa. It just makes the whole first part of the first season so much more heartbreaking. He was betraying both of them, in a way.

Except, while I can absolutely believe this was Ianto's first attempt at manwhorespying, I don't think that this was his first con job. I don't know. Just an impression.

[rowanswhimsy.livejournal.com]

I think they did an excellent job showing us some of Ianto's story but raising lots of interesting questions for the future.