Torchwood 4x07 "Immortal Sins" meta: 3 parallels
Surprise! My favorite episode of Miracle Day, so far, is the one that involves historical flashbacks, dysfunctional romance, a long conversation about friendship, and no exploding helicopters. Okay, not surprising at all. I didn't like the earlier episodes enough to post about them, but I loved "Immortal Sins," and have some thoughts that I'd like to get down. I'll try to make sense of this by focusing on three parallels that I see in the episode: (1) Gwen and Angelo, (2) Jack and the Doctor, (3) sexuality and immortality. Warnings: spoilers for Miracle Day Ep. 7, excessive manpain, and brief analysis of things that should really have a proper meta. [ETA: revised version of this post--now with more gender!]
1) Gwen and Angelo
The episode intercuts between two stories in different historical moments: in the present day, Gwen kidnaps Jack and has a heart-to-heart conversation with him during a night-time car ride through California; in 1927, Jack lives in a sepia-toned Little Italy, and has a love affair with Italian immigrant Angelo Colosanto, which eventually goes horribly wrong. The plot connection between the two stories (Angelo is the man who knows how the Miracle started) is only revealed at the end of the episode. But there are more subtle connections between the two stories--although I didn't realize this until I saw the episode twice, and had a conversation with the fabulous 51stcenturyfox.
In both stories, there are people--Angelo or Gwen--who love Jack, but end up trying to destroy him anyway, because Jack symbolizes their own feelings of guilt and conflict. Angelo's struggle is more obvious, and heavily flagged in the dialogue: he is a Catholic man in 1927, and feels tormented by his sexual relationship with Jack, even as he eagerly grasps at this chance for love and adventure. His discovery of Jack's immortality pushes him over the edge, and--at least for one disastrous moment--he comes to believe that Jack is the devil, sent to seduce him. As it turns out, Gwen also sees Jack as a seducer and tempter--the person who lures her away from her family and into the deadly adventures of Torchwood. In "Immortal Sins," Gwen is suddenly confronted by a seemingly stark choice (hand Jack over to his death, or lose her family). It turns out that she is leaping to conclusions. There is actually a third option (Rex and Esther to the rescue!), and the Mysterious Triangle People may not even want to kill Jack (they just ask to see him). But Gwen's train of thought--"I will see you die like a dog to get my daughter back"--reveals her own struggle with guilt. Although Gwen is not consciously religious in the same way as Angelo, she also wants to repent of her sins, and uses Jack as the scapegoat. Jack embodies the allure of Torchwood for her, so now she has to prove--to herself above all--that she is willing to sacrifice him for her family.
Gwen's dilemma, in contrast to the Jack/Angelo relationship, does not fundamentally center around sexual attraction, and I find that refreshing. For all the UST and early speculation about a Jack/Gwen romance, the real danger for Gwen has never been mere sexual infidelity, but rather the lure of power, adventure, and specialness. Whether fans like it or not, her sexual relationship with Owen in S1 went by without any lasting consequences for anybody. But Gwen has not been free from other conflicts or consequences--she has constantly been negotiating between family and Torchwood. For me, the crucial episode in dramatizing this struggle was "Adrift," where even Gwen's most generous impulse--her wish to help a bereaved mother--estranged her from Rhys and fed her egotistic sense of being the One Chosen Person to solve every mystery. In that S2 episode, Gwen declared that she could never have children, because you can't schedule the Apocalypse around childcare. Then, in Children of Earth, she become pregnant and decided to keep the baby, but she never had to figure out how to balance this with Torchwood--because Jack disappeared into space, taking the last vestiges of Torchwood with him. Now, in Miracle Day, Gwen's choice between Torchwood and family has become the single most defining feature of her character, and the plot is set up to turn this ongoing dilemma into a deadly conflict.
So, while Angelo's guilt comes from internalized homophobia, Gwen's guilt comes from her struggle with conflicting gender roles. In the MD pre-show publicity and in an iconic image from Ep. 1, Gwen appears with "gun in one hand, baby in the other," tenderly putting earmuffs on baby Anwen's head before firing off a round. While these early, darkly humorous images suggested that Gwen might be able to "have it all" (sound familiar, working women?), her story arc in MD goes on to accentuate the tension between motherhood and heroic violence. In contrast to TW S1-3, where we often saw Gwen looking for non-violent solutions (for example, through her empathy with Beth in "Sleeper" or with Clem in CoE), MD emphasizes her gun-toting badassery in ways that more overtly challenge norms of femininity--but also more overtly set up this gender-reversal as a source of guilt and irreconcilable conflict. I'm not actually sure whether the show is brilliantly dramatizing the real social struggles of working women, or whether the writers are giving into social stereotypes by portraying Gwen--rather than any male member of Torchwood--as defined by family responsibility. What do you think?
[ETA: I've added the last paragraph, in response to a great comment from lynnenne, below. I thought maybe I should actually say a few of the things about Gwen and gender that have been going through my head, even if I am still confused about what it all means!]
Okay, part 1 was super-long, so the next "parallels" are going to be quick notes:
2) Jack and the Doctor
This is more obvious, anyway, but I found it so touching: poor Jack is in trouble whenever he tries to be the Doctor. This was implicitly true in CoE, when Jack took a Doctor-like stand against the 456 (basically "I am coming in here to stand up to you, with nothing but courage and my faithful companion") and just ended up getting Ianto killed pointlessly. And it is even more explicitly true here.
To back up: like many fans, I was overjoyed to see direct references to Doctor Who in this episode. Not only does Jack talk about the Doctor and ask Angelo to be his Companion, but that whole section of their story is filmed in deliberate tribute to the mother show: the fast pacing, the peppy music, the adventure, the alien, the big-name historical character (FDR), the iconic command "RUN!" Even Jack's speech about the alien parasite is a DW tribute--or is it a DW parody? Like a good Companion, Angelo eagerly asks for exposition ("Tell me more"), and Jack obliges with technobabble and whimsical humor ("It tastes like oysters"), Doctor-style.
But then it all goes to pieces. Because this is the fallen world of Torchwood. And, while I love the connections between the two shows, I also love the fact that they are working in two different fictional worlds--one of hope, and one of despair, but both with lovable characters and psychological reality. And both with Jack, whose plans always go wrong, starting with that Chula warship...
3) immortality and sexuality
Throughout Jack's appearances on both shows, there's such a complicated relationship--parallel? or opposition?--between his openness about queer sexuality, and his secrecy about immortality. This goes for the shows' representational techniques, as well as for Jack's psychology: even as DW and TW both ostensibly celebrate Jack's omnisexuality (and implicitly congratulate themselves for breaking taboos), there are so many tropes of secrecy, shaming, and "wrongness" about his immortality. (I especially noticed this in DW "Utopia," where the Doctor and Jack are exchanging all these sidelong glances and dark hints about immortality--even while Jack is gloriously exhibiting his omnisexuality by flirting with every man, woman, and blue insect lady.) Is homophobia--together with the old literary tradition of the "crime which cannot be named"--sneaking back into the representation of Jack, this way? This is something I've been meaning to write meta on ever since I first saw Jack in DW, and this new episode has given even more to think about. And now I've run out of time for this week (unless someone can hand me a working Vortex Manipulator?). So I'll just say that "Immortal Sins" adds a lot of new material for people who want to discuss this issue. In this episode, Jack makes his most impassioned and overtly political statements about sexual openness and love between men--yet he does NOT tell Angelo about his immortality. And that is, arguably, what destroys him.
Dropping by to read this? Have any thoughts? I would love to read them, but I may take a while to write back, because I have just spent an hour writing meta instead of doing work for my MASSIVE ACADEMIC DEADLINES.
Bloody Torchwood.
1) Gwen and Angelo
The episode intercuts between two stories in different historical moments: in the present day, Gwen kidnaps Jack and has a heart-to-heart conversation with him during a night-time car ride through California; in 1927, Jack lives in a sepia-toned Little Italy, and has a love affair with Italian immigrant Angelo Colosanto, which eventually goes horribly wrong. The plot connection between the two stories (Angelo is the man who knows how the Miracle started) is only revealed at the end of the episode. But there are more subtle connections between the two stories--although I didn't realize this until I saw the episode twice, and had a conversation with the fabulous 51stcenturyfox.
In both stories, there are people--Angelo or Gwen--who love Jack, but end up trying to destroy him anyway, because Jack symbolizes their own feelings of guilt and conflict. Angelo's struggle is more obvious, and heavily flagged in the dialogue: he is a Catholic man in 1927, and feels tormented by his sexual relationship with Jack, even as he eagerly grasps at this chance for love and adventure. His discovery of Jack's immortality pushes him over the edge, and--at least for one disastrous moment--he comes to believe that Jack is the devil, sent to seduce him. As it turns out, Gwen also sees Jack as a seducer and tempter--the person who lures her away from her family and into the deadly adventures of Torchwood. In "Immortal Sins," Gwen is suddenly confronted by a seemingly stark choice (hand Jack over to his death, or lose her family). It turns out that she is leaping to conclusions. There is actually a third option (Rex and Esther to the rescue!), and the Mysterious Triangle People may not even want to kill Jack (they just ask to see him). But Gwen's train of thought--"I will see you die like a dog to get my daughter back"--reveals her own struggle with guilt. Although Gwen is not consciously religious in the same way as Angelo, she also wants to repent of her sins, and uses Jack as the scapegoat. Jack embodies the allure of Torchwood for her, so now she has to prove--to herself above all--that she is willing to sacrifice him for her family.
Gwen's dilemma, in contrast to the Jack/Angelo relationship, does not fundamentally center around sexual attraction, and I find that refreshing. For all the UST and early speculation about a Jack/Gwen romance, the real danger for Gwen has never been mere sexual infidelity, but rather the lure of power, adventure, and specialness. Whether fans like it or not, her sexual relationship with Owen in S1 went by without any lasting consequences for anybody. But Gwen has not been free from other conflicts or consequences--she has constantly been negotiating between family and Torchwood. For me, the crucial episode in dramatizing this struggle was "Adrift," where even Gwen's most generous impulse--her wish to help a bereaved mother--estranged her from Rhys and fed her egotistic sense of being the One Chosen Person to solve every mystery. In that S2 episode, Gwen declared that she could never have children, because you can't schedule the Apocalypse around childcare. Then, in Children of Earth, she become pregnant and decided to keep the baby, but she never had to figure out how to balance this with Torchwood--because Jack disappeared into space, taking the last vestiges of Torchwood with him. Now, in Miracle Day, Gwen's choice between Torchwood and family has become the single most defining feature of her character, and the plot is set up to turn this ongoing dilemma into a deadly conflict.
So, while Angelo's guilt comes from internalized homophobia, Gwen's guilt comes from her struggle with conflicting gender roles. In the MD pre-show publicity and in an iconic image from Ep. 1, Gwen appears with "gun in one hand, baby in the other," tenderly putting earmuffs on baby Anwen's head before firing off a round. While these early, darkly humorous images suggested that Gwen might be able to "have it all" (sound familiar, working women?), her story arc in MD goes on to accentuate the tension between motherhood and heroic violence. In contrast to TW S1-3, where we often saw Gwen looking for non-violent solutions (for example, through her empathy with Beth in "Sleeper" or with Clem in CoE), MD emphasizes her gun-toting badassery in ways that more overtly challenge norms of femininity--but also more overtly set up this gender-reversal as a source of guilt and irreconcilable conflict. I'm not actually sure whether the show is brilliantly dramatizing the real social struggles of working women, or whether the writers are giving into social stereotypes by portraying Gwen--rather than any male member of Torchwood--as defined by family responsibility. What do you think?
[ETA: I've added the last paragraph, in response to a great comment from lynnenne, below. I thought maybe I should actually say a few of the things about Gwen and gender that have been going through my head, even if I am still confused about what it all means!]
Okay, part 1 was super-long, so the next "parallels" are going to be quick notes:
2) Jack and the Doctor
This is more obvious, anyway, but I found it so touching: poor Jack is in trouble whenever he tries to be the Doctor. This was implicitly true in CoE, when Jack took a Doctor-like stand against the 456 (basically "I am coming in here to stand up to you, with nothing but courage and my faithful companion") and just ended up getting Ianto killed pointlessly. And it is even more explicitly true here.
To back up: like many fans, I was overjoyed to see direct references to Doctor Who in this episode. Not only does Jack talk about the Doctor and ask Angelo to be his Companion, but that whole section of their story is filmed in deliberate tribute to the mother show: the fast pacing, the peppy music, the adventure, the alien, the big-name historical character (FDR), the iconic command "RUN!" Even Jack's speech about the alien parasite is a DW tribute--or is it a DW parody? Like a good Companion, Angelo eagerly asks for exposition ("Tell me more"), and Jack obliges with technobabble and whimsical humor ("It tastes like oysters"), Doctor-style.
But then it all goes to pieces. Because this is the fallen world of Torchwood. And, while I love the connections between the two shows, I also love the fact that they are working in two different fictional worlds--one of hope, and one of despair, but both with lovable characters and psychological reality. And both with Jack, whose plans always go wrong, starting with that Chula warship...
3) immortality and sexuality
Throughout Jack's appearances on both shows, there's such a complicated relationship--parallel? or opposition?--between his openness about queer sexuality, and his secrecy about immortality. This goes for the shows' representational techniques, as well as for Jack's psychology: even as DW and TW both ostensibly celebrate Jack's omnisexuality (and implicitly congratulate themselves for breaking taboos), there are so many tropes of secrecy, shaming, and "wrongness" about his immortality. (I especially noticed this in DW "Utopia," where the Doctor and Jack are exchanging all these sidelong glances and dark hints about immortality--even while Jack is gloriously exhibiting his omnisexuality by flirting with every man, woman, and blue insect lady.) Is homophobia--together with the old literary tradition of the "crime which cannot be named"--sneaking back into the representation of Jack, this way? This is something I've been meaning to write meta on ever since I first saw Jack in DW, and this new episode has given even more to think about. And now I've run out of time for this week (unless someone can hand me a working Vortex Manipulator?). So I'll just say that "Immortal Sins" adds a lot of new material for people who want to discuss this issue. In this episode, Jack makes his most impassioned and overtly political statements about sexual openness and love between men--yet he does NOT tell Angelo about his immortality. And that is, arguably, what destroys him.
Dropping by to read this? Have any thoughts? I would love to read them, but I may take a while to write back, because I have just spent an hour writing meta instead of doing work for my MASSIVE ACADEMIC DEADLINES.
Bloody Torchwood.