The Titanic thing was totally thematic - because just when we thought he had nothing left to lose the last and most permanent thing he does have - the Tardis - is grievously wounded by a bloody great ship bashing through it. For me it was hugely poignant and the emotional sting at the end of the episode. Anyway, you need something to say 'the story goes on' because even if it was just a teaser that is still very important, otherwise things would have been too neatly rounded off.
It's awfully easy to forget when watching these episodes that the Jack we see on Torchwood is not a nice guy, his team is not made up of good people, and that they're still engaging in questionable extralegal activities.
I see the Torchwood team as incompetent (that's the fun of it) but I wouldn't say they were bad people. And what they do isn't that questionable or extralegal - the PM knows all about them (even if Jack does avoid talking to him, but that is standard civil service behaviour) and they were originally established by the Crown, so the only slightly doubtful thing is that they sometimes drug the whole of Cardiff. But honestly, who doesn't occasionally want to do that?
The PM knows all about them, but it's established in the Christmas Invasion that the PM isn't supposed to know about Torchwood, so it seems to operate without Parliamentary oversight. And since as far as I can tell contemporary interpretations of the British unwritten constitution have the Sovereign's power originating in Parliament, Torchwood is thus a criminal organization.
And I don't know if I'd call them bad people, but they're certainly not good people. That's pretty much established in that montage from the first episode, but driven home most forcefully in the Gwen/Own relationship, in the torture scene in Countrycide, the parallels with Suzy, etc.
It's awfully easy to forget when watching these episodes that the Jack we see on Torchwood is not a nice guy, his team is not made up of good people, and that they're still engaging in questionable extralegal activities.
I see the Torchwood team as incompetent (that's the fun of it) but I wouldn't say they were bad people. And what they do isn't that questionable or extralegal - the PM knows all about them (even if Jack does avoid talking to him, but that is standard civil service behaviour) and they were originally established by the Crown, so the only slightly doubtful thing is that they sometimes drug the whole of Cardiff. But honestly, who doesn't occasionally want to do that?
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And I don't know if I'd call them bad people, but they're certainly not good people. That's pretty much established in that montage from the first episode, but driven home most forcefully in the Gwen/Own relationship, in the torture scene in Countrycide, the parallels with Suzy, etc.
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