On the fourth day of Torchweek

[redscharlach]

Trivia fact of the day:
I have just found out about the existence of the Cave of the Crystals in Naica, Mexico. What a flabbergasting place! I can't get over the fact that those pictures are really real, and not just tiny pictures of explorers photoshopped onto a big picture of a crystal paperweight for a laugh. If I saw it on Star Trek, I'd think it was unrealistic. Sadly it's impossible to go there unless you're a high-powered scientist with loads of equipment because it's blazing hot and ridiculously dangerous. But still. Land of the Giant Crystals. Wow.

And now Torchwood. Here are my thoughts on Children of Earth: Day Four:

• Well, stop all the stopwatches, throw away the coffee pot, and let the Weevils wear black overalls. Ianto Jones is dead.
  
  On the fourth day of a five-day story, just when I thought it was safe to put off worrying about his dramatically imminent demise until tomorrow. Perhaps I should have guessed -- especially after all that (Day) Four-shadowing. At least I had some tissues in the house.
  
  My poor Welsh sweetheart, loyal as loyal and brave as brave, and believing in Jack just a stupid, stupid amount, far more than Jack does himself, or probably deserves.
  
  Let the record show: he died with his tie straight.
  
  
• You know, I sort of want to hit Jack for being all distracted and stand-offish and non-committal towards Ianto throughout this week, yet at the same time it makes perfect sense: we know exactly why Jack is the way he is, and so does he, but he just can't make himself behave any better. And then, when Ianto tells Jack that he loves him, Jack says "Don't". Now there's a piece of advice for anyone that was thinking of falling in love with Jack: don't. He'll only fuck it up.
  
  
• "I've only just scraped the surface, haven't I." In this lovely scene where Ianto challenges Jack to actually TELL him something rather than just going charging off on his own, I note that the wall of rectangular windows behind them created a rather poignant visual parallel with that original stopwatch flirting scene, with all the morgue drawers behind them, way back when. Even the way they were standing relative to each other: Ianto looking at Jack, Jack half looking back at him, half looking away. 'Twas ever thus.
  
  
• Will Ianto somehow feature in absentia in tomorrow's episode anyway? Flashback? Goodbye message? Something he set up secretly somehow being a crucial plot point? Simply as a motive for Jack to get his bloody act together, for once? Some sort of implication that Jack will actually manage to remember Ianto for a thousand years? (Although I suppose if you count the two millennia in a coffin buried under Cardiff, this probably was Jack's longest relationship ever.)
  
  
• Apparently, some other things also happened in this episode, including the British government being utterly reprehensible (totally chilling, but great television), Nick "EXTERMINATE" Briggs playing a human being for once (and ironically, one who was even more repellent than a Dalek!), Lois being noble and upstanding (quite literally), Mr Decker being the self-serving civil service cockroach he always admitted he was (boo! hiss!), and Plainly Evil Assassin Lady (a.k.a. Mrs P.E.A.L.) being demoted to Newly Questioning Assassin Lady (which messes up my acronym, but those are the breaks).
  
  
• And another side note: the BBC TW website now contains wallpaper that allows you to see what the 456 really look like. The answer is: a lot less scary than they are when gloomily looming out of the mist. No surprise there, then. Small puppet zombie child not visible, however, which is just as well, because that would make a REALLY disturbing desktop pic.
  
  
• To change the habit of a lifetime, I actually watched the trailer for tomorrow night, because now that Ianto is dead, there doesn't seem to be any reason to fear watching it any more. (Doesn't my imagination work in strange ways?) But, as is traditional with season finales, it didn't tell you anything except that there will be lots of ominous soundtrack and people doing angst-ridden facial expressions. And that, dear viewers, I could have guessed. Nonetheless, I shall be there to ride this one to the bitter end. Do join me, won't you...