Torchwood: Children of Earth, Day 4

[rm]

Ianto Jones was a brave little toaster.

*sniff*

But seriously guys, that was exquisite. EXQUISITE. And I have to say sorry in advance, because my ability to post both cogently and non-personally about this is pretty much nil.

Eventually, this was going to have to happen. We all knew that and most of us hoped it wouldn't happen until a theoretical season 4. But knowing it would have to happen, I always had certain criteria for it in my head: I wanted it to be a moment, I wanted it to echo the themes of the show and I wanted it to be true to the characters. I wanted it to be a fine thing and very, very mono no aware ("the beauty of sadness"),

It delivered on all of those things in spades, and I am so so so glad. Ianto Jones was never going to have a long life, but I wanted him to have a complete one. I feel like he went out knowing he was loved (regardless of Jack's inability to say it, which annoyed me for a second, and then I was like WHATEVER) and trusting those around him even if he had never quite learned to trust himself. If I had had to kill him in that format at that point in the story, this was exactly what I would have done as a writer.

And as someone who did 200,000 words leading up to a Ianto death? Man, I almost broke in half when Jack said "don't go." Two lousy words, but to hear it outloud was pretty crazy.

Anyway, let's talk about something other than the death scene for a moment, because it was all great: the 1965 stuff ("we need someone who doesn't care"); Jack blurting about his family (all the Jack/Ianto relationship development in this was just made of love for me and felt very true and like a full life); Lois standing up; the long epic montage of trapped dying people to music (something I'm sort of a sucker for -- I know the bleakness of the show is getting to people on top of Ianto's death, but it's actually the anchor that's allowing me to cope right now); the discussion of children as units, and again, finally, the use of silence.

Look, on a personal note, I just gotta say, it's (as I suspected) a billion times worse when the love interest of the character you identify with bites it than when the character you identify with bites it. The Snape thing was nothing compared to the fetal in a ball on my bed crying after this. Jesus. And you can laugh at me all you want, but if my partner, who is not a Torchwood fan, is chill with that, y'all need to just be nice about it, okay?

So hey, some other things:

- wiggle room -- I don't think Ianto is going to be brought back to life in Day 5 (it's a possible for a possible S4, I'd argue), but I also don't think he's going to be buried. There are still avenues to go with writing him post this event -- many, and that's great; I am still totally engaged in this fandom.

- We still don't really know what the 456 want with these kids. What if these are the same horrible creatures that destroyed Boeshane Penninsula, just 3,000 years earlier? How great an idea is that?

- Keeping this secret was clearly a really big pain in the ass and probably emotionally hard on the people who had to contractually keep this a secret. I don't have the time or energy to write a big angry post about this, but laying into James Moran about it (which has happened today) is uncool; so's laying into GDL (which I haven't seen yet, but suspect I will) and so's laying into Barrowman (of which I've seen scads). These people didn't say us fans would love the show to jerk us around and be cruel, they said it beccause the show is exquisite and romantic and happens to include this awful death which works for some people into Jack/Ianto and feels like a betrayal to others. Be angry, be a critic, but please don't ascribe nefarious motives to folks that Make Nice Stuff. I find it kinda heartbreaking (and my heart is already broken enough right now, thanks), and I bet they don't enjoy it much either.

- Euros Lyn is the most amazing director ever. How the hell is he getting these performances out of people? I can't mention my respect for him enough here.

Anyway, it was lovely, guys. And now I want to tell you a story:

When the sixth Hary Potter book (which contains a particularly crazy Snape cliffhanger situation) came out, I was just starting rehearsals of a play with a girl who I'd been in a show with several years before when book 4 had come out. We hadn't kept in touch particularly, but we had talked about Snape constantly back during that earlier show. On the first day of rehearsal, which was a day or two after the book 6 release, she buzzed to get into our space and I went to fetch her. when I opened the door, before she even said hello to me, she grabbed me and hugged me and asked "are you okay?"

I didn't need her to do that, but I will never forget it, because it's one of the kindest things anyone has ever done in reponse to the way I live with the power of story.

So just, you know, be nice to each other today, okay?

P.S., I'm sort of toying with, when I go to get some much needed touch-up work done on one of my old tattoos, getting a new one, that just says "be grand" in script. We'll see.

Comments

[coffee-kris.livejournal.com]

Rach, I see a lot of the beauty and the rightness of this - the personal sacrifice that Jack and Ianto made that those assholes who gave up the "units" weren't willing to do, the fact that Ianto was so important to Jack and that Ianto called him on hiding behind him being all "surface" and that he told Jack everything, the newness of the couple thing - which I personally thought was more about how close they had recently gotten than Ianto's unease at being part of a couple (hello, Lisa was his soulmate, he knows how to be in a couple) or being part of a gay couple, and just the way he comforted Jack when he died and wanted to share those experiences with him. It was all good.

And perhaps in the late of day, when I'm not so strung out and disgusted and furious and hurt and betrayed, I will be able to get more distance and appreciate the arc of this story and why RTD felt Ianto had to die. But right now, I'm just glad that I'm far, far away from RTD. Because I am so hurt and angry and broken that I really just want to do anything that might make him feel some small part of my pain.

And the worst part is that I really think he did this to hurt his fans. Because I've seen way too many interviews where he basically says "fuck the fans! I write the show. They can watch or not but I'm not here to make them happy." Well, Mr. RTD and the BBC, I'm not going to be spending any more of my money on your products. No more books (own them all) no more DVDs (why would I want to own that horrible, horrible death where Jack couldn't even say he loved Ianto), no more CDs, no more mags, no cons, no watching the BBC America version. I'm done. Because I think you betrayed us - there were 15 different ways you could have given us the climax of that story, including Jack sacrificing something else that he holds dear, just like you seem to manage to do for Gwen and Rhys. And the fact that you take delight in making me feel this bad doesn't make you a good writer. It makes you a bad bad producer who doesnt give a shit about me, your viewer, your consumer, and for that, you have lost me.

Sorry, that was quite a rant. And I do see the points you make RM, I'm just emotionally incapable of processing or appreciating them right now. But thanks for giving me this forum to rant and rave. :-)

[adjovi.livejournal.com]

And the worst part is that I really think he did this to hurt his fans.

yup. i feel exactly the same way. that he doesn't give a flying fig about the fans--actually takes delight in upsetting us in this way.

[coffee-kris.livejournal.com]

What is making me even more furious is this quote from an interview with RTD in April:(thanks to tencrush):

"You’ve got to be merciless. People will say ‘You love your characters’. But nobody loves their characters that much. If you really write, and you love them, you are the God of them and you can kill them with the click of a finger. It’s joyous to do so."

It's the idea that making people hurt is joyous that makes me dislike him. And distrust him. Why would I ever want to watch his characters again? So he can merciless? That's not the kind of entertainment I signed up for.