Torchwood: Children of Earth, Day Three
So yes. I finally managed to write a reaction post. Damn you, Americans and non-GMT people for getting on the internets and being amusing when it's 3am my time and I'm asleep. So apologies in advance if I don't reply to your comments till tomorrow morning, my time. On the other hand, I might just go with completely altering my circadian rhythms. WHO KNOWS!
Right, so it advanced the plot by what can only be described as a MINUTE INCREMENT. And the Torchwood team did basically nothing. But on the other hand, it did mask its plot-filler role (understandable!-- Wednesday was always going to be the hardest episode to do) by giving us a hell of a lot of awesome, which I present to you in a rambly, disjointed and by no means comprehensive way:
-TORCHWOOD THREE ON THE GRIFT!!!!! I think that might have been the most adorable little montage in the history of adorable montages. And what have I been telling you all about the team taking Jack's roleplaying comments from 'The Dead Line' seriously? Clearly, they've been taking some tips.
-IANTO BRINGS ESSENTIALS, WHICH INCLUDE JACK'S ARMY SURPLUS COAT. I just-- have no words for how in love with Ianto Jones I am right now.
-Ianto's family are bloody awesome. Despite Ianto being a terrible brother in many respects, he still makes sure he sends them a signal so that they know he's all right. This is important.
-I was desperately worried by Ianto's emo speech, because it was a bit emo. Which then turned into an incredibly lame and creepy proposition of sex. THANKYOU FOR STICKING TO TRADITION, GUYS, I LOVE YOU. "Bloody beans" indeed. There really needs to be a hell of a lot more of Jack/Ianto touching, intimacy or sexytimes. Beyond that kiss in 'Day One' we've basically been subsisting on innuendo and suggestion. And I'm not JUST saying this because I want mansnogging (though I do, dear god, I do) but also because: they seemed a lot more tactile and casually intimate in 'Day One'. Yes, they certainly seem to have a work/life distinction, but this is emphatically not an everyday situation, and Ianto is CLEARLY okay with shagging when the world is ending. What are you waiting for, Harkness? WHAT?
-Basically, Ianto's speech to Jack re: dying and immortality was slightly clunky Ianto/Jack 101 for the BBC1 kids who haven't been watching Torchwood. More thoughts on Ianto, queerness, & timeline fuckaboutery in this comment-exchange.
-As a sub-note, I think Jack's response to Ianto here is understandable in terms of the character. Ianto doesn't normally push so hard or ask these kinds of incredibly morbid questions, they obviously don't actually talk about their feelings. Jack is rubbish at it, clearly. He doesn't have to want to spell this stuff out to Ianto (whether that's, er, quaint or BLINDINGLY MORONIC is a question for another day) and I think the gratitude is writ large on his face when Ianto turns it into a proposition, when Ianto tells him, basically: I can deal with your immortality, I can take now. That acceptance and ability to deal is obviously part of what attracts Jack to Ianto, and even though this scene is very-- detached, and then sexual, and bit off-key, I think there is clearly caring, even love, in the way the actors play it. JB looks distinctly pained when he has to tell Ianto that yes, he will just get up and keep going when Ianto dies-- in light of Alice and Lucia, there is no other response he can legitimately give Ianto to his question but 'yes'.
-Jack running off. For fuck's sake, Jack. It's very in-character, and just an absolutely irritating trait. Jack, you are, quite often, a massive twat.
-The pillar of fire was some damn fine SFX work.
-Spears to Lois: "Don't bloody think you're the first". So Spears/Frobisher & Spears/Jack when she first starts working for the government is pretty much canon, right?
-Alice is one bad mother. She's her father's daughter, but also her mother's-- Lucia Moretti was Torchwood, and as mentioned when Alice tells her kid "stay quiet, just like the games grandma used to play with you", she obviously believed in being prepared. Interesting backstory, I want fic! (This entire scene just really worked for me. The jeopardy, Alice's fear, Jack's helplessness later on when Frobisher brings up his family-- worked)
-TORCHWOOD CONTACTS: Gwen and Rhys finally get some innuendo. This scene was so well-played, hilarious and silly. Ianto: "Been there, done that. It was fun, though." Just a lovely moment between the three of them.
-Frobisher's scenes with the alien were brilliantly written, I think. He's trying to hold on to formality and politesse in the face of everything he knows and holds dear being threatened, being ripped from under him. He's hanging by a thread, and the diplomatic language he uses is alternately detached and unintentionally funny, in an absurd way that just nails what's so strange, creepy and comforting about the nature of bureaucracy.
-Clem: "Who's the queer?" And Ianto's immediate, angry and strident response is to whip around and say loudly, "OI." Then he composes himself a little bit, remembers professionalism, that Clem is their asset, he can't make this personal. But he still says, "It's not 1965 any more." Lovely little way to play into Ianto's obvious insecurities and issues in terms of being with Jack, what that makes him even more than what that makes them, and, I think, a very good character note to hit. Ianto Jones isn't going to take that bigoted shit from anyone. (Really, I don't think I could love this boy more if I had love surgically grafted into my heart.)
-We want 10% of the children of your world. That was rather creepy. A big enough offering that it's monstrous, but small enough that it's just about within the realm of possibility to argue that it might be better to comply, especially if the alternative is annihilation. Make the cost a village, RTD, you bastard.
-Nobody was surprised by the reveal that Jack gave the kids to the 456 in 1965, right? Come on, RTD, up your game.
IN SUMMARY: NOTHING HAPPENED, BUT NOBODY REALLY NOTICED.
Right, so it advanced the plot by what can only be described as a MINUTE INCREMENT. And the Torchwood team did basically nothing. But on the other hand, it did mask its plot-filler role (understandable!-- Wednesday was always going to be the hardest episode to do) by giving us a hell of a lot of awesome, which I present to you in a rambly, disjointed and by no means comprehensive way:
-TORCHWOOD THREE ON THE GRIFT!!!!! I think that might have been the most adorable little montage in the history of adorable montages. And what have I been telling you all about the team taking Jack's roleplaying comments from 'The Dead Line' seriously? Clearly, they've been taking some tips.
-IANTO BRINGS ESSENTIALS, WHICH INCLUDE JACK'S ARMY SURPLUS COAT. I just-- have no words for how in love with Ianto Jones I am right now.
-Ianto's family are bloody awesome. Despite Ianto being a terrible brother in many respects, he still makes sure he sends them a signal so that they know he's all right. This is important.
-I was desperately worried by Ianto's emo speech, because it was a bit emo. Which then turned into an incredibly lame and creepy proposition of sex. THANKYOU FOR STICKING TO TRADITION, GUYS, I LOVE YOU. "Bloody beans" indeed. There really needs to be a hell of a lot more of Jack/Ianto touching, intimacy or sexytimes. Beyond that kiss in 'Day One' we've basically been subsisting on innuendo and suggestion. And I'm not JUST saying this because I want mansnogging (though I do, dear god, I do) but also because: they seemed a lot more tactile and casually intimate in 'Day One'. Yes, they certainly seem to have a work/life distinction, but this is emphatically not an everyday situation, and Ianto is CLEARLY okay with shagging when the world is ending. What are you waiting for, Harkness? WHAT?
-Basically, Ianto's speech to Jack re: dying and immortality was slightly clunky Ianto/Jack 101 for the BBC1 kids who haven't been watching Torchwood. More thoughts on Ianto, queerness, & timeline fuckaboutery in this comment-exchange.
-As a sub-note, I think Jack's response to Ianto here is understandable in terms of the character. Ianto doesn't normally push so hard or ask these kinds of incredibly morbid questions, they obviously don't actually talk about their feelings. Jack is rubbish at it, clearly. He doesn't have to want to spell this stuff out to Ianto (whether that's, er, quaint or BLINDINGLY MORONIC is a question for another day) and I think the gratitude is writ large on his face when Ianto turns it into a proposition, when Ianto tells him, basically: I can deal with your immortality, I can take now. That acceptance and ability to deal is obviously part of what attracts Jack to Ianto, and even though this scene is very-- detached, and then sexual, and bit off-key, I think there is clearly caring, even love, in the way the actors play it. JB looks distinctly pained when he has to tell Ianto that yes, he will just get up and keep going when Ianto dies-- in light of Alice and Lucia, there is no other response he can legitimately give Ianto to his question but 'yes'.
-Jack running off. For fuck's sake, Jack. It's very in-character, and just an absolutely irritating trait. Jack, you are, quite often, a massive twat.
-The pillar of fire was some damn fine SFX work.
-Spears to Lois: "Don't bloody think you're the first". So Spears/Frobisher & Spears/Jack when she first starts working for the government is pretty much canon, right?
-Alice is one bad mother. She's her father's daughter, but also her mother's-- Lucia Moretti was Torchwood, and as mentioned when Alice tells her kid "stay quiet, just like the games grandma used to play with you", she obviously believed in being prepared. Interesting backstory, I want fic! (This entire scene just really worked for me. The jeopardy, Alice's fear, Jack's helplessness later on when Frobisher brings up his family-- worked)
-TORCHWOOD CONTACTS: Gwen and Rhys finally get some innuendo. This scene was so well-played, hilarious and silly. Ianto: "Been there, done that. It was fun, though." Just a lovely moment between the three of them.
-Frobisher's scenes with the alien were brilliantly written, I think. He's trying to hold on to formality and politesse in the face of everything he knows and holds dear being threatened, being ripped from under him. He's hanging by a thread, and the diplomatic language he uses is alternately detached and unintentionally funny, in an absurd way that just nails what's so strange, creepy and comforting about the nature of bureaucracy.
-Clem: "Who's the queer?" And Ianto's immediate, angry and strident response is to whip around and say loudly, "OI." Then he composes himself a little bit, remembers professionalism, that Clem is their asset, he can't make this personal. But he still says, "It's not 1965 any more." Lovely little way to play into Ianto's obvious insecurities and issues in terms of being with Jack, what that makes him even more than what that makes them, and, I think, a very good character note to hit. Ianto Jones isn't going to take that bigoted shit from anyone. (Really, I don't think I could love this boy more if I had love surgically grafted into my heart.)
-We want 10% of the children of your world. That was rather creepy. A big enough offering that it's monstrous, but small enough that it's just about within the realm of possibility to argue that it might be better to comply, especially if the alternative is annihilation. Make the cost a village, RTD, you bastard.
-Nobody was surprised by the reveal that Jack gave the kids to the 456 in 1965, right? Come on, RTD, up your game.
IN SUMMARY: NOTHING HAPPENED, BUT NOBODY REALLY NOTICED.