Okay, so everybody else has probably already read this AfterElton article
Um, is there anybody still wanting CoE spoilers cut? As opposed to just trying to ignore its existence, I mean. Well, the title of the article is pretty spoilery, so I'll cut just in case.
A couple of posts in a couple of places have referred back to an article from late July at AfterElton.com: "Buffy" vs. "Torchwood": Which Did a Better Job Killing Its Gay Character?
I remember some of the outrage on the Buffy discussion board at Delphi when Tara died. I was not aware, up till that point, of the long-standing tradition of lesbian characters ending up evil or dead, so I hadn't seen it through that lens. I was crushed by Tara's death, and some corner of my brain still wants to write an alternative ending to S6 in which it's Tara's love that pulls Willow back from the brink after something else pushes her into Darth Rosenberg mode, but I wasn't outraged. Others were, and after learning a bit more about the history of how lesbian characters are often handled, I can see why. Still, on a basic story level, it worked. It hurt like hell and still makes me cry when I rewatch that ep, but it worked.
After CoE, I did do a bit of thinking about just why Ianto's death was so gutting, even compared to Tara's and to other characters I've cried for when they died. Part of it, I realized after a bit, was that it brought up a whole subscription of issues around a friend's death that I really hadn't dealt with. I still haven't, really, though I've done more towards "dealing with it" over the past few months than I'd done over the preceding seven years. But another part, one that keeps coming up as a theme in TFTWSD, is that the whole storming of Thames House was just fucking stupid. It does. Not. Work.
I sort of get it on a character arc level. The Doctor could pull off a grandstand like that, and there's a definite move towards turning Jack into an echo of the Doctor.
However.
Storming in to face aliens that he fucking knows had released a deadly virus 44 years earlier, then held the antivirus out as a trade for the dozen kids they wanted then, with no plan what-so-fucking-ever is a level of stupid that just doesn't fit. At all. He knows they have weapons at their disposal that don't require them leaving their atmospheric containment tank. Which, duh, is fucking bullet-proof.
Not to mention, it comes to mind after rewatching "Day One" (as in "the alien sex gas episode," not CoE Day 1) that the team used to have gas masks handy. Yeah, yeah, I guess they got stolen with the SUV. Still. Stupid to go in without anything against an enemy you know has no compunction about using biological warfare. Hell, an N95 mask might've done it, and you can get those at any fucking hardware store, though if it's not properly fitted it might not be worth a damn. At least trying to use something like that would represent an attempt to use basic common fucking sense.
Aside: people (including GDL, e.g. "killed by an alien fart") keep talking about it having been gas that was used, but I could swear it was a virus. Not quite up for watching Day 4 again to check, and unsurprisingly that's the one episode nobody has had the stomach to complete a transcript of, but seriously, wasn't it a virus? Tardis Wiki agrees with me anyway. In which case, yeah, an N95 mask should've been enough of a defense, though eye covering wouldn't go amiss.
And frankly, even if Jack is that guilt-ridden and desperate to show Ianto he really can be the man Ianto believes him to be ... Ianto is Mr. Plan Everything Guy. The guy who worked out how to sneak a fucking Cyberwoman into Torchwood Three and hide her there for months. How the fuck are we meant to believe he was all for storming in there with no plan, never mind a back-up plan or five?
In short, it reads a lot like Snape's death, without the readily available excuse that of course he was faking it and had every reason to do so, meaning that RTD wanted him dead and wasn't fussed about how well it worked to get him there. This seems to be backed up by subsequent insistence from RTD that there is no way Ianto's coming back, which is actually in direct contrast to the DVD interview post-"They Keep Killing Suzie" in which he said that anyone can come back from the dead at Torchwood at any time. And seriously, fans have found plenty of ways, some more credible and workable than others. Ianto's harder to bring back than Snape, what with not being a Potions Master who has expounded on the Draught of Living Death and has every reason to fake his death, but not impossible.
Also? The 456 were driven off. That's all. One member of the species was damaged and possibly killed, but that's it. Do we really think that's the last we'll see of the ruthless alien junkies jonesing (groan) for a fix? Which makes Stephen's death nearly as pointless as Ianto's, as all it does is buy a little time ... which Jack has squandered by wandering the world in grief for six months before swanning off the planet entirely.
I feel compelled to note that ultimately, Stephen's death is actually much more horrifying, but we're less invested in him as a character, having only just met him. Hence the relative lack of outrage over his death, though the linked article addresses some of the narrative problems with that death as well.
Unlike many, I will watch S4 if it happens. But if none of this is in any way addressed, I'll be sorely disappointed. You can't have it both ways, wanting to create serious drama and then leaving stuff like this waving in the breeze.
(And even if they can't/won't bring Ianto back, surely there's room for the odd flashback? Hmm?)
The AfterElton article does a better job comparing how Tara's and Ianto's deaths (and the aftermaths thereof) work (or don't) from a narrative sense than I have. So if you haven't read it, I recommend it.
A couple of posts in a couple of places have referred back to an article from late July at AfterElton.com: "Buffy" vs. "Torchwood": Which Did a Better Job Killing Its Gay Character?
I remember some of the outrage on the Buffy discussion board at Delphi when Tara died. I was not aware, up till that point, of the long-standing tradition of lesbian characters ending up evil or dead, so I hadn't seen it through that lens. I was crushed by Tara's death, and some corner of my brain still wants to write an alternative ending to S6 in which it's Tara's love that pulls Willow back from the brink after something else pushes her into Darth Rosenberg mode, but I wasn't outraged. Others were, and after learning a bit more about the history of how lesbian characters are often handled, I can see why. Still, on a basic story level, it worked. It hurt like hell and still makes me cry when I rewatch that ep, but it worked.
After CoE, I did do a bit of thinking about just why Ianto's death was so gutting, even compared to Tara's and to other characters I've cried for when they died. Part of it, I realized after a bit, was that it brought up a whole subscription of issues around a friend's death that I really hadn't dealt with. I still haven't, really, though I've done more towards "dealing with it" over the past few months than I'd done over the preceding seven years. But another part, one that keeps coming up as a theme in TFTWSD, is that the whole storming of Thames House was just fucking stupid. It does. Not. Work.
I sort of get it on a character arc level. The Doctor could pull off a grandstand like that, and there's a definite move towards turning Jack into an echo of the Doctor.
However.
Storming in to face aliens that he fucking knows had released a deadly virus 44 years earlier, then held the antivirus out as a trade for the dozen kids they wanted then, with no plan what-so-fucking-ever is a level of stupid that just doesn't fit. At all. He knows they have weapons at their disposal that don't require them leaving their atmospheric containment tank. Which, duh, is fucking bullet-proof.
Not to mention, it comes to mind after rewatching "Day One" (as in "the alien sex gas episode," not CoE Day 1) that the team used to have gas masks handy. Yeah, yeah, I guess they got stolen with the SUV. Still. Stupid to go in without anything against an enemy you know has no compunction about using biological warfare. Hell, an N95 mask might've done it, and you can get those at any fucking hardware store, though if it's not properly fitted it might not be worth a damn. At least trying to use something like that would represent an attempt to use basic common fucking sense.
Aside: people (including GDL, e.g. "killed by an alien fart") keep talking about it having been gas that was used, but I could swear it was a virus. Not quite up for watching Day 4 again to check, and unsurprisingly that's the one episode nobody has had the stomach to complete a transcript of, but seriously, wasn't it a virus? Tardis Wiki agrees with me anyway. In which case, yeah, an N95 mask should've been enough of a defense, though eye covering wouldn't go amiss.
And frankly, even if Jack is that guilt-ridden and desperate to show Ianto he really can be the man Ianto believes him to be ... Ianto is Mr. Plan Everything Guy. The guy who worked out how to sneak a fucking Cyberwoman into Torchwood Three and hide her there for months. How the fuck are we meant to believe he was all for storming in there with no plan, never mind a back-up plan or five?
In short, it reads a lot like Snape's death, without the readily available excuse that of course he was faking it and had every reason to do so, meaning that RTD wanted him dead and wasn't fussed about how well it worked to get him there. This seems to be backed up by subsequent insistence from RTD that there is no way Ianto's coming back, which is actually in direct contrast to the DVD interview post-"They Keep Killing Suzie" in which he said that anyone can come back from the dead at Torchwood at any time. And seriously, fans have found plenty of ways, some more credible and workable than others. Ianto's harder to bring back than Snape, what with not being a Potions Master who has expounded on the Draught of Living Death and has every reason to fake his death, but not impossible.
Also? The 456 were driven off. That's all. One member of the species was damaged and possibly killed, but that's it. Do we really think that's the last we'll see of the ruthless alien junkies jonesing (groan) for a fix? Which makes Stephen's death nearly as pointless as Ianto's, as all it does is buy a little time ... which Jack has squandered by wandering the world in grief for six months before swanning off the planet entirely.
I feel compelled to note that ultimately, Stephen's death is actually much more horrifying, but we're less invested in him as a character, having only just met him. Hence the relative lack of outrage over his death, though the linked article addresses some of the narrative problems with that death as well.
Unlike many, I will watch S4 if it happens. But if none of this is in any way addressed, I'll be sorely disappointed. You can't have it both ways, wanting to create serious drama and then leaving stuff like this waving in the breeze.
(And even if they can't/won't bring Ianto back, surely there's room for the odd flashback? Hmm?)
The AfterElton article does a better job comparing how Tara's and Ianto's deaths (and the aftermaths thereof) work (or don't) from a narrative sense than I have. So if you haven't read it, I recommend it.