More brief Torchwood meta
Jul. 13th, 2009 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snorkackcatcherA quick reaction to reactions to Jack's actions in Children of Earth. (That's not spoilery, is it?)
I'm getting the sense that some people feel that Jack sacrificing Stephen was somehow out of character. Um, what? This is Jack, not the Doctor. He does that. He's even sacrificed a kid before, in fact (see Small Worlds, which takes on a new resonance after COE, doesn't it?) He's a very flawed hero and always has been -- as the colleague in the flashback to 1965 said, actually they picked him for the job because they wanted someone who would be able to do it and not care. He clearly doesn't want to be like that, hence the anguish it caused him, and the way he tried to remodel Torchwood in the Doctor's image, but he falls back on being coldly ruthless when he needs to be. Even as late in the canon sequence as Asylum, he's still being an asshole and getting called on it by the rest of the team.
And that is why Ianto's death as the precondition for sacrificing Stephen that easily does make storyline sense. The relationship with Ianto gave him some kind of anchor for a while, bringing out his better side in the process, and there does seem to be at least an implication that the same probably applied to his relationships with Alice's mother and other loves (as opposed to shags) in his past. With that gone, he's clearly adrift again and reverts to type very quickly when he has to make the decision about Stephen.
I'm getting the sense that some people feel that Jack sacrificing Stephen was somehow out of character. Um, what? This is Jack, not the Doctor. He does that. He's even sacrificed a kid before, in fact (see Small Worlds, which takes on a new resonance after COE, doesn't it?) He's a very flawed hero and always has been -- as the colleague in the flashback to 1965 said, actually they picked him for the job because they wanted someone who would be able to do it and not care. He clearly doesn't want to be like that, hence the anguish it caused him, and the way he tried to remodel Torchwood in the Doctor's image, but he falls back on being coldly ruthless when he needs to be. Even as late in the canon sequence as Asylum, he's still being an asshole and getting called on it by the rest of the team.
And that is why Ianto's death as the precondition for sacrificing Stephen that easily does make storyline sense. The relationship with Ianto gave him some kind of anchor for a while, bringing out his better side in the process, and there does seem to be at least an implication that the same probably applied to his relationships with Alice's mother and other loves (as opposed to shags) in his past. With that gone, he's clearly adrift again and reverts to type very quickly when he has to make the decision about Stephen.
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Date: 2009-07-13 07:48 pm (UTC)Yes to everything you said. I think you've really hit it, and this is one of the central anchoring points of Jack's character that a lot of people seem to forget. Even when we first meet him, all he wants is a bit of spare cash, and he's willing to sacrifice any number of people for it. While I think this aspect of his character is muted during his travels with the Doctor, it resurfaces after Parting of the Ways, and is always hovering in the background in Torchwood.
The relationship with Ianto gave him some kind of anchor for a while, bringing out his better side in the process, and there does seem to be at least an implication that the same probably applied to his relationships with Alice's mother and other loves (as opposed to shags) in his past.
Yes. This. Presumably these are the things that remind him of the parts of his psyche that are still human. Of course, it's difficult to keep that in mind if you can't die.
(I really need a Jack icon, don't I?)
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Date: 2009-07-14 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-14 09:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-14 10:48 pm (UTC)