Children of Earth, Day 1

[rm]

It may be high drama and high action, but wow, Torchwood is still REALLY cracky.

Jack and Ianto have no idea what the fuck they are doing, do they? It's sort of great though. You get the sense Jack is seriously out of practice at having a relationship (something it seems he's decided he's doing as you move through the tie-in novels that lead up to this and the radio plays) and Ianto seems to be not just unsure of himself re: Jack and re: his own sexual orientation, but it also clearly struggling against his own biases -- like not wanting his neice to hear about it. It's a great detail, and it hurts to watch. Also, fucking adorable. He's smitten like anything and that whole "It's not men, it's him, only him" thing? delivered so it could have as easily been "it's not people, it's him, just him." Thank you, GDL for making kinda sucky dialogue work and say something meaningful about queer identities.

Also (I know, I know, I can't shut up), Ianto is so clearly proud of being with Jack and proud of Jack, but sort of totally not proud of himself. It's like he's getting to be the young 20-something guy with the world showing him wonders that he didn't get to be when he had to spend all the time being responsible for Lisa, and he's now both too young and too old for his age and has all this shit about himself he never sorted and never knew he needed to sort and now he has no time, and that unevenness of self shines through in pretty much every line and eyeroll. It's really, really nice stuff.

I loved Alice. I love her look, and I bought her instantly as Jack's daughter. Interesting scene, because she really does seem like the one who's the adult there. And that's necessarily the case. There are certain responsbilities Jack will never have to face just one chance to get right, and that means in some ways he will never have the opportunity to grow up. Jack is a case study in why eternal potential is so awful. And what was it like for Alice when she was eight-years-old or fifteen-years-old or twenty-years-old and figured out her father wasn't like other people?

Ianto's sister, also cast awesomely. And where did they find that little girl? -- same damn pout as GDL. Hilarious.

Gwen scritching the little pic of Tosh and Owen!

Gwen! Gwen was hilarious and sweet. And the pregnancy thing was really well done. John Barrowman can act in small quiet scenes when he's directed well (which it seems he often isn't), and there we got a really nice moment. Jack trying to be encouraging, trying to hold back his own reaction, trying to deal with his own regrets there -- nice shit!

Clem. Instant love for Clem, and really, that's hard, as that character could have been a walking, boring cliche.

Rupesh -- what's with these really anglo looking SE Asians who die right at the beginning of things? That said, his death and Jack being shot those two times in a row -- the bruality of that -- it made death feel much realer on than it does 80% of the time on Torchwood, and it really made Jack's existence seem horrifying, and that was great.

That poor temp in the home office. She's quite fetching, isn't she?

I knew about the bomb in Jack's stomach and it still freaked me out.

Jack having to drag Ianto out of the Hub. Loved it. And my, that kiss was quite a bit more hotness than I was expecting there. I'm sorry, this is trivial and lame, but I need to note: tongue. I am full of shame.

Ianto and the car. No matter how many times he says it -- no one cares!

Also, Jack's car -- Does Jack own a car or did he steal it (since it seems like in half the tie-in properties he's always nicking other people's vehicles)?

Finally, one word: TUPPERWARE.

ETA: Yet more of my nattering on Ianto's coming out process: http://rexluscus.livejournal.com/333615.html?thread=3829807#t3829807

Also, Gwen and the racist joke? Appalling, but I'm appalled at Gwen, not the show writers. People say shit like that. Also, there had been a series of news items around when that script was written regarding peopel adoptiong children from abroad and then having them be household slaves -- if the thing had aired then it might have seemed more current events and less racist, but hey, Gwen had a racist moment. She was a cop in Cardiff... do you really think she never, ever would?

SPECULATION:

Clem can smell things like honesty and aliens. He also smells that Gwen is pregnant. First episode of Torchwood, Jack comments on the oestrogen in the rain. Is this a clue?

Much has been made about the soundtrack titles and how this indicates Ianto's possible doom -- something I'm prepared for, but am really hoping isn't going to happen, although I'm in a tizzy about it. My sense? From this first episode and the use of the musical themes? Rhys is a goner. And the infamous "Ballad in Ianto Jones" track is actually going to be some big trauma/reunion with Jack/them getting on the same page moment (before something else terrible happens in the bigger plot arc. Musically and narratively the set up for Rhys to die feels bigger to me right now.

Comments

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Oh, Rupesh. I was stating odds on him aloud with J each time he did something that made him a candidate/not-a-candidate. I am sad about him, but you're right. He's a man!Suzie without resurrection potential, poor sod.

Also, him in conjunction with the PoC bodies thing? Hm.

The sheer level of Jack/Ianto cluelessness is so beyond anything I had imagined. I feel like every series has me scaling back their relationship in my fic. By S5 we'll all be cruentum. ;) (I say this with love, N!)

And yeah, GDL knocked my damned socks off. Sad panda Ianto! Awkward around his family Ianto! Uncomfortable with his orientation outside of his social sphere Ianto! Damn, he's good.

Tupperware.

And Jack totally stole commandeered that vehicle.

And if Rhys bites it, who will get naked all the time? *sad*

[rm.livejournal.com]

I just think Jack has no patience for people who doubt him and gets irritable fast, so while Ianto is being all insecure about the couple thing (in like eight different directions) Jack's just all "I don't have time for this" when of course, he does have time for it -- it's Ianto who doesn't.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

I think that Jack runs into the cluestick about that on occasion, but not nearly often enough. (See Also: "The Dead Line")

I think I'd also argue that Jack's got some hang-ups about relationship styles that we see poke through on occasion, whereas Ianto sort of wants those things if he can have them. Bless.

[rm.livejournal.com]

yeah, but I don't think Jack was opposed to the word couple in that little snit he had, so much as he was opposed to Ianto clearly wanting to ask him something about it, and refusing too. Major passive aggressiveness from both of them there.

[debitha.livejournal.com]

OK, that whole bit about Ianto? YES! A lot have people have been going, "WTF, get over it," and I couldn't really explain why it actually made complete sense to me. Yes, he's a bit backward and forward and uneven - he's supposed to be. Thank you for being more coherent than me.

Clem. I have been saying this every chance I get: That actor is AMAZING.

Rhys can't die! He is an awesome and funny secondary charac- Oh man, he's toast, huh?

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

Rhys can't die! He is an awesome and funny secondary charac- Oh man, he's toast, huh?

Oh god. I'd just about convinced myself that Ianto wasn't going to die and it was all going to be okay. *clutches at Rhys*

[debitha.livejournal.com]

I know! This is my first brush with these rumours, but Rhys is being all smart, and funny, and they're buying a house, and Gwen's pregnant, and he'll be thrilled about it.

Why don't they just slap a red shirt on him, and be done with it?

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Damnit.

That reminds me of a drabble I read wherein Kirk and company show up at Torchwood. Jack sizes up the situation and immediately orders Ianto to "go change out of that red shirt!"

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

I loved the detail with his neice as well, and I really love how they're not making this thing simple and obvious for him. It also makes me think even more that maybe he's not the most reliable reporter of his own internal state re being gay only for Jack. He's still dealing with it being Jack at all, let alone the wider implications there.

[melebeth]

I actually am betting we get new Home Office girl as a Torchwood member by the end of the season, just from the way they're setting her up. After all, they need someone who is good with computers...

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

I loved Ianto's reactions at his sister's. What at first looked like a cliched fanfic trope, was more of a "Why can't I just be with Jack? Why does there have to be this whole set of expectations and assumptions and identity to go along with it?"

Which is really interesting and makes sense in the context of Torchwood. When your last relationship ended in robots, being with a man seems somewhat less remarkable.

[rm.livejournal.com]

When your last relationship ended in robots, being with a man seems somewhat less remarkable.

THIS IS THE GREATEST SENTENCE EVER.

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

I can't claim credit for the "ended in robots" bit, unfortunately. Someone else said it somewhere else. Wow, my memory is going.

[neifile7.livejournal.com]

It was a_ac, in one of the last sock posts -- sorry, can't place it; Sam will know.

Also: yes to Ianto's uneven maturing, being confused as hell about how to handle Jack outside the TW bubble, and being so smitten that he really, really doesn't want it subjected to outside scrutiny. It's as much the being in love again as the love being a man that's fucking with his perspective, I think.

This is precisely the Ianto we know, who hid Lisa, wouldn't trust his colleagues, deflected and teased Martha, screwed around in the brain probe chair, etc. etc. -- all that too-young too-old shit. The image of GDL biting his lips when his sister interrogates him is going to stay with me for a long, long time.

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

See, I knew it was someone way more clever than me!

[wemblee.livejournal.com]

Man, this write-up is so eloquent and insightful, I'm loving it.

[satora-chan.livejournal.com]

I am really, really curious about all the race-issues in this episode:

- There was that Filipino line, which was, y'know, not cool, though your explanation of real life events influencing the script makes a lot of sense. It does allow Gwen to have another character flaw, but I'm still rather upset at the writers themselves.

- The entire "subplot" that Dr. Patanjali fed Torchwood about the fact that all the bodies disappearing from the morgue weren't white. Though, haha, I wonder if this is some sort of meta poke at themselves because they keep killing POC characters? Though, seriously, I'm really curious about why the writers wrote the fake storyline that way instead of, y'know, just "bodies disappear from the morgue! RACE IS NOT AN ISSUE."

- Dr. Patanjali becomes an Evil character. Also becomes Dead.

- There are discussions about the new secretary (name?) and whether she's going to be Evil or Dead or the new Torchwood tech person.

So, yeah, just points I'm going to keep watching out for in the rest of the episodes.

I loved, loved GDL's acting in this episode. So good. I also love Ianto's "You just got killed again" comfort hug.

[satora-chan.livejournal.com]

Also, when Jack says, "Ianto, we're havin' a baby," and Ianto comes rushing in with this happy little smile, and then loses it for just a second when he realises what's actually happening... my little heart, it went "awwww poor Ianto ): "

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming that the icky race stuff with the dead people was related to the fact that Cardiff's pretty white, so it creates an anomalous pattern that becomes interesting to Torchwood, and also as a way of highlighting the levels of internal betrayal going on with Patanjali. I'm always deeply hesitant to look at British programming through my American understanding of race as their race issues are very real but quite different than ours, but that whole situation struck me as "okay, I think I know how this made sense in your head, but this translated to reality very badly."

[satora-chan.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this comment. I completely forgot about the racial makeup differences between the two countries. That does does help quite a bit.

[raaven (from livejournal.com)]

Can you perhaps point me at a DL? My usual sources are failing me, and I am CRAZY with the wanting to see this.

[marchek.livejournal.com]

I think the next time I cosplay Ianto I need to have tupperware with me.

[madambackslash.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the blue car was Owen's. Stands to reason Torchwood kept it around.

[favoritedarknes.livejournal.com]

I know I am late but I had to let you know I agree with everything said. Poor choice of words, I know, but you've done such an amazing job at describing everything :-)

Ianto's sister, also cast awesomely. And where did they find that little girl? -- same damn pout as GDL. Hilarious.
That kid is adorable. Great casting for the relatives.

[gement.livejournal.com]

I'm late to the party (I've seen it all now) - I've little to add except a note on my reaction to Gwen's racist joke, which is that I thought it said a lot of things about the Gwen/Rhys relationship all at once, so I'm afraid my first reaction was that embarrassment for her that she'd been caught on camera saying such a thing, and the second was "aww, that's sweet."

My chain of thought:
1) They're nervous about this whole buying-a-house thing.
2) Rhys brings up the extra nervous about the having-a-child idea.
3) Gwen goes through the chain of thought (for the thousandth time) "Torchwood+pregnancy=no way in hell" -> "Well, could we adopt?" -> "Torchwood+small child=very unfair to the small child." -> "I feel guilty for even wanting this/Rhys still wants this so bad."
4) This fuses in her mind with stories about poor waifs kept in attics, since Rhys just mentioned an attic nursery. (I think. I need to rewatch.)

Result:
She responds with a joke that translates in my mind to, "Sure, we could go into the human trafficking business," references some recent news issue in the UK I haven't heard of, and includes a racial reference of the kind you don't make in public.

What it communicated to me was: "I feel guilty about the very idea, so I'm going to make light but gently remind you just what a terrible idea it would be. It would be like doing this other terrible thing. By the way, I love and trust you enough that I can make a joke about being a horrible person who does horrible things including buying into racism, and I trust that you know me better than that."

Whatever the social validity of making jokes like that under any circumstances, that was the character development I got from it.