Way to tear my heart out, Torchwood.
Just finished watching Torchwood: Children of Earth. Some thoughts:
1. First things first: that was some damn fine television. I was impressed by the story, the pacing, and-- good god-- the acting. John Barrowman! There was, like, range! I'm so proud of you, darling. Now go home and hug your husband, because you look done in.
2. This is my obligatory broken-hearted sniffling over Ianto. IANTOOOOOOOOOO. I cannot even. My love for the tea boy is epic and timeless and I was a sniffling, sobbing mess by the end of the fourth episode, and continued for much of the fifth. But-- he called Jack on his shit, and he was so damn brave, and that phonecall to his sister was fantastic and badass and and. I am not going to expect Ianto to be magically not-dead, like Owen. But. I am a fan, and a fiction-inclined fan at that, and-- I think I can work with what they left us. I'm not going to retcon it away, because I think the story was brilliant-- horrible and soul-crushing, but brilliant-- but I think I can work with what I've got. And I gotta say, I'm not crazy about all the TPTB-killed-the-show vitriol that's out there. I'd be pissed if Ianto'd died and the series had been badly written. But it wasn't; it was well done. Hard to watch, but well done. So. Unpopular fannish opinion No. 376: I think RTD was right. For the storyline to work, for Jack to really break, Ianto needed to die. That doesn't mean that we can't write AUs, or work-arounds. And I fully intend to. But I still think that, for the story they were telling, they made the right choice.
(2a. Along that vein: anyone want to cheerlead-slash-beta a post-CoE story for me? I'm going to need to talk this one out to someone, I think. I need help figuring out some tech stuff and timelines.)
3. You know who's awesome? Gwen. They fucking finally figured out her character, figured out how to make her truly compelling and ruthless and magnetic and just a little bit frightening. I can only hope they do another series and actually use Awesome!Gwen, now that they've found her.
4. Other characters of awesome include: Rhys (too many instances to count), Andy (stripping off his uniform and rioting, bless his heart), Rhiannon and Johnny (I await with glee more Ianto and his family stories), and I am bizarrely fascinated by Agent Johnson. I don't know if it's just because I really like her hair or what, but I kind of want to see her again.
5. And Jack. He's... pretty broken right now, huh. I think the next hundred years or so are going to be awfully brutal for him. I'm not completely crazy about the way they got him off planet (sooo, Jack. you were counting on Gwen conveniently bringing you your Magic Wriststrap Escape Device which was lost in the Hub's rubble for six months so you could hail an intergalactic cab? I do not think so), but I do buy that Jack would run away. He's going to hate himself for it-- in fact, I'm certain he was hating himself as he hit the button on that improbable wriststrap-- but it doesn't surprise me at all that he did it.
6. I have... thoughts. About that ridiculous wriststrap. And about Ianto's desperate plea that Jack remember him, a thousand years down the line. And Jack's running away. And the Doctor. Which is why I need a sounding board, because this is gonna take some writing. And might be, um. Long. Or something.
In other news, the Tour de France finished today, and I realized that I have not posted a single, solitary snippet about John Sheppard and his epic race for le maillot jaune this year. I'll have to do something about that.
ETA: OMG, so sorry. Cut tag defective. Fixing now.
1. First things first: that was some damn fine television. I was impressed by the story, the pacing, and-- good god-- the acting. John Barrowman! There was, like, range! I'm so proud of you, darling. Now go home and hug your husband, because you look done in.
2. This is my obligatory broken-hearted sniffling over Ianto. IANTOOOOOOOOOO. I cannot even. My love for the tea boy is epic and timeless and I was a sniffling, sobbing mess by the end of the fourth episode, and continued for much of the fifth. But-- he called Jack on his shit, and he was so damn brave, and that phonecall to his sister was fantastic and badass and and. I am not going to expect Ianto to be magically not-dead, like Owen. But. I am a fan, and a fiction-inclined fan at that, and-- I think I can work with what they left us. I'm not going to retcon it away, because I think the story was brilliant-- horrible and soul-crushing, but brilliant-- but I think I can work with what I've got. And I gotta say, I'm not crazy about all the TPTB-killed-the-show vitriol that's out there. I'd be pissed if Ianto'd died and the series had been badly written. But it wasn't; it was well done. Hard to watch, but well done. So. Unpopular fannish opinion No. 376: I think RTD was right. For the storyline to work, for Jack to really break, Ianto needed to die. That doesn't mean that we can't write AUs, or work-arounds. And I fully intend to. But I still think that, for the story they were telling, they made the right choice.
(2a. Along that vein: anyone want to cheerlead-slash-beta a post-CoE story for me? I'm going to need to talk this one out to someone, I think. I need help figuring out some tech stuff and timelines.)
3. You know who's awesome? Gwen. They fucking finally figured out her character, figured out how to make her truly compelling and ruthless and magnetic and just a little bit frightening. I can only hope they do another series and actually use Awesome!Gwen, now that they've found her.
4. Other characters of awesome include: Rhys (too many instances to count), Andy (stripping off his uniform and rioting, bless his heart), Rhiannon and Johnny (I await with glee more Ianto and his family stories), and I am bizarrely fascinated by Agent Johnson. I don't know if it's just because I really like her hair or what, but I kind of want to see her again.
5. And Jack. He's... pretty broken right now, huh. I think the next hundred years or so are going to be awfully brutal for him. I'm not completely crazy about the way they got him off planet (sooo, Jack. you were counting on Gwen conveniently bringing you your Magic Wriststrap Escape Device which was lost in the Hub's rubble for six months so you could hail an intergalactic cab? I do not think so), but I do buy that Jack would run away. He's going to hate himself for it-- in fact, I'm certain he was hating himself as he hit the button on that improbable wriststrap-- but it doesn't surprise me at all that he did it.
6. I have... thoughts. About that ridiculous wriststrap. And about Ianto's desperate plea that Jack remember him, a thousand years down the line. And Jack's running away. And the Doctor. Which is why I need a sounding board, because this is gonna take some writing. And might be, um. Long. Or something.
In other news, the Tour de France finished today, and I realized that I have not posted a single, solitary snippet about John Sheppard and his epic race for le maillot jaune this year. I'll have to do something about that.
ETA: OMG, so sorry. Cut tag defective. Fixing now.