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

[erinnthered.livejournal.com]

What I thought was rather brilliant was the Myfanwy scene because that was the moment when the costume and the act was sort of stripped away and we had just Ianto and Jack, having fun capturing her and then having that adrenaline rush end up transforming into a jolt of sexual desire. I think Jack hired Ianto not just because he wanted to get in his pants but because he had a moment of connection with the real Ianto that made him want him on the team. And on Ianto's part, the moment was real, too, hence the breakdown.

If you expand on their first meeting - hunting weevils - and then their first attraction - catching Myfanwy - it makes Jack's scene in Adrift so much more meaningful.

Jack has these new pants and he's getting ready to go out. He's really excited and that's clear when he tells Gwen he's going weevil hunting with Ianto. We could easily figure out that was some sort of date, and that they liked to this together from that scene in Adam. But then add that this was the way they met, and it makes it sort of sentimental. Perversely romantic even. More than just guy bonding. It's relationship building. They are sooo in love. Hee.

[rowanswhimsy.livejournal.com]

Perversely romantic may be the key phrase for this relationship. Jack and Ianto are perversely romantic! :-)

One of the comments that Gwen threw at everyone in Meat was that she is the only one with a relationship outside TW. That is certainly true because TW makes relationships almost impossible and also because most of them seem to either have no family or be estranged from that family.

But Ianto and Jack have found a way to forget a relationship inside TW. They go on missions together. They presumably 'christen' every room in the Hub. They spend time together in the Hub after everyone goes home. We're starting to be able to tell that they discuss things that the others don't know about because they get referenced in episodes. Ianto is, I think, pretty much the perfect companion for Jack in a lot of ways because he's willing to fashion himself to what Jack needs to a certain extent by allowing the relationship to flourish within the confines of what TW will allow. Now whether Ianto will continue to find that fulfilling or whether Ianto will want something more traditional, who knows.

Whereas Gwen built her relationship with Jack through talking, Ianto built his relationship with Jack through actions. And Ianto is good at ferreting out things that Jack might not want everyone to know. :-)

I'm still unsure exactly what Jack feels for Ianto. I really want to see a big ILY on screen because I'm a soppy romantic that way. Just once. :-)