SPOILERS - Torchwood: Miracle Day 1.07/4.07 Immortal Sins

pfyre

SPOILERS - Torchwood: Miracle Day 1.07/4.07 Immortal Sins - reaction

Aug 20, 2011 14:20

As they kept trying to do in the BTS videos - to sum it up in one word - to sum up 'Immortal Sins' in one word - would be 'wow'. But while there is excitement behind that 'wow' there is also horror and disgust and compassion and understanding and heart-wrenching angst and anger so-so much more!

First let me say - I was VERY relieved that when all was said and done that Jack did NOT immediately forgive Gwen. As I've stated elsewhere that I hope the rift between Jack and Gwen doesn't 'just disappear' with via his understanding and forgiveness - she was truly willing to kill him, to offer him up as a sacrifice to save her daughter and there was and is no damned way that 'the bad guys' would simply let Anwen much less anyone else go.

Yep, I do "get" the whole mother-thing, I do. But while initially I can see her doing things in a desperate panic - they drove apparently for hours! The panic wears off but by that time she got into her holier-than-thou, sanctimonious mindset - berating Jack, scolding him, blaming him, wagging her finger at him and never got out of it. Then near the end when she's trying to justify what she's doing, what she's about to do? It was nauseating for her trying to say that Jack's long life was a good exchange for him giving his life her daughter. It truly is one thing when someone volunteers to give up his life for another - it is completely different when that choice is taken from them. We've seen Jack more than willing to do ANYTHING to save the team, his friends and the world and I have no doubts whatsoever that this mortal Jack would have been willing to put himself into the exchange to save Anwen but Gwen NEVER ever gave him a choice. Hell, it didn't even seemed like she gave any other possible considerations a serious thought. So much for the kick-ass superTorchwoodagent Gwen Cooper. The same woman that admits that she loved the danger and the excitement of Torchwood even as she was complaining about it. The same woman who said she loved it when they lost teammates because it meant she was a survivor and special! *gag*

*deep breath* *deep deep breath* *letting it go*

What we learned of Jack and his history was positively eye-opening. I've always felt that the Jack we met at the start of Torchwood had gone through hell and back after he parted ways with the Doctor to make Jack as we saw back at the first series premiere. I've always loved the multilayered portrayal of Jack that John has gifted the show and viewers with. The smiling, charming, shameless flirt who can be making double-entendres left and right and can be doping you with Retcon to protect Torchwood and its secrets without batting an eye. A man who can make the hard decisions - even decisions no one should ever ever have to make and stand behind them and live with the consequences. RTD and John were absolutely right - this is a keyhole insight into what has made Jack the way he is. It also explains his reticence in sharing knowledge of his immortality, his reticence in showing or allowing himself to care, to fall in love and why he had such a hard time acknowledging just what Ianto was to him.

The torture at the hands of the fanatics was difficult to watch - not because of the blood - because honestly we did not see alot of it - it was the intensity of the scene - Jack begging Angelo to save him, the relentlessness of the crowd, the hopelessness Jack must have felt, the helplessness....

Several people have been pointing out the religious aspects of the ep - I'd be willing to bet that Jack was never Christian at least not in the sense of the current terminology. He's never indicated in the past either when he was with the Doctor or in the eps of Torchwood that he was Christian. Now it could be said be said that this incident with Angelo and his betrayal of Jack to the fanatics that tortured him and then tried to sell him - did cause him to 'lose his religion' or in other words his faith in love and humanity.

I 'get' that Angelo was freaked out by Jack's apparent resurrection and conflicted over his own nature versus what the church had taught him since childhood but there is no way that Jack would not see what Angelo did as pretty much the ultimate betrayal. We know that Jack found it in himself to forgive his team at the end of 'End of Days' and I do think in his way Jack did and does forgive Angelo but he doesn't forget easily. I'm certain it's not something that he likes to bring to mind often but faced with Angelo he would never forget that the man he fell in love with, the man he came back for killed him and then gave him over to fanatics that tortured him by killing him repeatedly, horrifically.

It also throws a new light on Jack's reactions to the 'Year The Never Happened' and the horrific tortures at the Master's orders AND his reaction to his team being so hostile when he showed up at the start of series 2.

It explains the sheer depth of his anger with Ianto when they discovered that Ianto has smuggled his partially converted girlfriend into the depths of the Hub - that Jack did view it as yet another betrayal.

I wanted to reach into the screen and comfort Jack. He's been through so much pain and betrayal and been told that he is 'wrong' by the Doctor no less.

Ultimately, it's a wonder that Jack is as sane and well adjusted as he is. And thank god, John has the strength and personality and talent to bring Jack to life in such a resonating, 'real' manner.