Torchwood, series 2

[rm]

Great use of music. Great use of pacing. Nice structure.

Jack, this is your fault, and YOU CAN'T EVEN LOOK OWEN IN THE EYE? I'm not impressed.

I thought Ianto was fascinating in this episode. He was radiating a lot of power and absolutely no one was going to get through him to make Jack's life any worse, no matter how distasteful he was finding the whole mess.

Also, what the fuck was with Owen's interaction with Ianto? I wasn't aware it was a competition either (although this supports one of my theories below, in the sense that the team is a bunch of children squabbling for daddyJack's affection).

I also feel like that conversation gave us one of the most interesting Jack/Ianto tidbits we've had yet. Owen notes that Ianto is shagging Jack and Ianto says, "it's not like that."

Well, what did he mean?

Options:
- it's not just sex.
- it is just sex.
- it's sex as the binding force between this weird mentoring relationship they have. Jack is always going to have to let go of everyone he loves. Therefore, isn't it easier on Jack to try to take on a parental or mentoring role in which the expectation of letting go is built in, as opposed to a more traditionally romantic role? Ianto is a powerful man, and he's learning to use that under Jack's leadership. Gwen might be the one who runs Torchwood while Jack is missing, but it's Ianto I envision running the place for decades if Jack was to drop out of the world for some huge swathe of time -- Gwen wants to do the right thing, Ianto is ready to shoulder the unacceptable burden because his brokenness is just more similar to Jack's. I'm not sure if I'm convinced of this (because I also like in-love Jack/Ianto), but I often think of a fellow I once met briefly who was in the gay BDSM scene and showed me around his home and talked both about his lover and his boy (a guy in his 20s, for the record) as he gave me and some friends a tour of his home. One of my friends, who has no shame about any questions ever, asked what that meant, boy and the man explained that one day he'd leave when he was ready to take on a different role/obligation. I really, really see some of that in Jack/Ianto.
- it's not happening that frequently.

Comments

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

This is one of my favorite episodes. Something about it touches me every time. I'd always liked Owen up to this point, but it was in that kind of 'he's an asshole, but he's our asshole' sort of way. Only when he died did I really start to love him, and this episode really is just a stepping stone to his transformation as a character. I particularly love the montage of him cleaning out his apartment, the bleakness of him listening to Tosh talk as if everything is fine. It almost brings me to tears when I watch it, thinking that yes, they really did illustrate what it would be like to be DEAD but alive, captured the feeling of being here but not really. I've used it as a metaphor for dealing with my disconnection issues.

And the end with the Pulse? That's just gorgeous.

As far as Jack, I've never had much of an issue with him bringing Owen back as some other people seem to have. He needed those codes, after all, and he wanted to prepare Owen for what was coming and say goodbye. Selfish? Of course. But he could hardly have predicted the final outcome. Now that Owen is back (sort of) Jack is lost on how to deal with it, as he never planned for it. I think his kind of aloofness, while not ideal, is a believable reaction as he tries to just go on with things in that way he does.

For the Ianto question, I would personally go with your third explanation. I love Jack/Ianto in all sorts of ways, from just sexxin' to deep love and all theories in between. But the reality of the situation basically comes down to what you've said. They have a distinctly unique relationship that kind of defies categorization. Sex is definitely a binding force, but it's not the point, therefore Owen referring to Ianto and Jack as 'shagging' would be wrong to Ianto. Whatever it is, it's the most important relationship of his life. Calling it 'shagging' demeans that, which is why I've always thought he got defensive there.