On the fifth day of Torchweek

[redscharlach]

Trivia fact of the day:
As you might imagine, this week has been a bit of a drain on my trivia supplies, so instead, here is a delightful medieval drawing of an elephant. If you're curious to know what the heck is meant to be happening in the picture, it's explained over here, but I think its charm speaks for itself even if you don't know the

Comments

[amythest_n_ice]

What bugs me the most is that it always seems to be Jack expected to make the decision about sacrificing children. A better plot idea would have been to have forced Gwen to make the choice, she was so high and mighty about Jasmine in the faeries episode (yes the others were all angry, but she was the worst, also, only one still breathing). Perhaps then she would have seen that there isn't always another way.

[thinkzinc]

'The only development was that Ianto had been lying about himself all along to hide his very ordinary background, which makes him sound even more ineptly lonely than he was before. Great. Now I'm even LESS cheerful.'
I totally agree. The Debenhams line was almost too much. I kind of felt RTD was kicking the Ianto fans in the gut when they were already down on the ground sobbing their eyes out. Tsk.

Great screenshot btw :-)

[caledonius72]

I felt that bit about Debenhams ws a cheap shot, and has had me angsting a lot.

How could Ianto, after the Cyberwoman, cannibals, exit wounds, Daleks, and all the other TW weirdness STILL have lied to Gwen and poss. Jack?

There's a big difference between being private and being a liar.

It didn't serve the plot, and it felt like RTD had stuck the knife in with Ianto's death and then twisted it with making Ianto still a liar. Are we now to doubt every single thing that Ianto has said?

[san_valentine]

Yeah, although on the whole it was a good story, I was disappointed in how the whole Alien-Demanding-Children thing (you know, the central plot) was resolved

[redscharlach]

And why did PC Andy take his body armour OFF before getting into a fight?

In order to disassociate himself with the fascists who were trying to take the kids away, I think. Otherwise he might have got beaten up by the mob himself.

Everything else you point out is true. Torchwood IS as useless an organization as everyone else always thought it was, apparently. Great moral, there.

[sabra_n]

As far as I'm concerned, Jack has been an asshole on Torchwood from the start, so I really wasn't getting all the shock about him sacrificing children at some point in the past. Torchwood Jack is happy to torture people, gave up a child to fairies, and thinks it's funny to wipe people's memories. So I guess I thought he lost his Doctor-inspired better self long before this season came along.

I will say, however, that there is some resonance to the death of Stephen. Forty-something years ago, Jack took care to sacrifice kids he thought no one would care about. This time he was sacrificing perhaps the one child he cared most about and getting a dose of what it feels like from the other side.

[redscharlach]

I know Jack has often been a dick in the past: I think that somewhere in my brain I was expecting him to be redeemed from eternal dickishness.

I have little to no idea why I thought this, however. Clearly I've got an inner streak of fluffy naivety that I try to hide!

[caledonius72]

I've been struggling for most of the day to work out the motivation for Jack's actions in the first section of Ep 5

[scifinut]

My only comment is that in the span of SIX FUCKING EPISODES they've managed to kill off or get rid of every single major character IN the title agency except for one. What a great way to keep a Series Four on the books, guys. Serious fail, there.

I agree that Torchwood didn't act like Torchwood. They acted like a bunch of immature young adults who have been told that they're on the run. They didn't DO anything, and in the end they all paid for it with everything they had left.

[wheeler]

I suspect they're not terribly interested in having a season four. I think this was a creative decision to clip this spur of the franchise off before the new broom comes in, pardon my mixed metaphors. I suspect Sarah Jane Adventures may also come to a close. Whether Moffat will bother with spin-offs of his own, I can't guess, but I suspect it's not big on his to-do list.

[scifinut]

If SJA dies off as well, then I'm giving up on Eleven and quitting British TV altogether. Far too much hassle, and at this rate, far too much pain.

Nine, Ten, Donna, Ianto, and possibly Sarah. They're killing off EVERYONE I LOVE!!

[redscharlach]

If it's any consolation, I'm sure SJA will come to an end, but surely not with Sarah Jane actually dying. It's a children's programme, we don't make them THAT grim.