okay, thinky thoughts ahoy!
spoilers through 3x01
My thoughts on Jack/Ianto in the new canon, let me show you them. Firstly, a couple of meta points about the writers' choices:
Jack being Ianto's first step outside of heterosexuality hasn't been my personal canon, but it's a characterisation I can buy easily enough. I'm kind of torn about how I feel about it, though. On the one hand, I am obviously a fan of the idea that people are people first, genders second, and that Ianto being involved with Jack doesn't necessitate that he label himself any particular way, or indeed at all, and that the writers are trying to say that it really isn't a big deal.
On the other hand, it's the we're-not-gay-we-just-love-each-other trope that is frequently a way for TV writers to side-step discussions about queer identities over and above sex and relationships. Does Ianto still think of himself as straight? Is he unsure? Is he concerned about being unsure? How has any of that affected his feelings about himself and his interaction with and perception of the world at large? It's pretty clear now that the writers aren't interested in delving into that stuff. Which is okay! I mean, this is a minor gripe that I have, really, because Torchwood is never going to be a show directed straight from my brain, but I am just saying that that is what I would like to see and something that we shall have to leave to fanfic for a while longer.
However, a major plus point of the opening of the first episode was that it finally got rid of a bigger gripe of mine! Season Two was, to me, very noticeable for the way it handled Gwen and Rhys, and Owen and Tosh, and then Jack and Ianto as a completely separate thing. Owen/Tosh and Gwen/Rhys got story arcs, Jack/Ianto got snapshots and innuendo. I think you can notice it most in episodes like 'From Out Of The Rain', where it's Ianto and Jack-centric and yet somehow manages not to be about their relationship, in comparison to 'Meat' or 'A Day In The Death', for example.
S2 was so hard to piece together -- they're going on a date, maybe! there are angsty make-outs! Ianto is maybe insecure because of Gwen! he's definitely sexing Jack up and helping her out behind his back at the same time! they're dancing at her wedding! what is going on?! Which is a huge amount of fun, but also frustrating when you're dealing with a canonical relationship.
Now, I've got something I can work with. It looks to me like ultimately nothing definite got decided by either of them until post 'Exit Wounds'. Something happened, then, between the end of S2 and 'The Stolen Earth' that's led to these notions of actually being in a relationship and possibly monogamy (see the 'soldier in a bar' exchange) and who knows what. It leaves just the right amount of wiggle room for fic writers to play in, but something has clearly changed that has caused Ianto to become all awkward around Jack, which I have decided is completely hilarious.
Oh, Ianto. His life is so hard when he has to deal with feelings! I laugh and I laugh. Okay, you know that totally weird hug they had after Jack got shot? That amused me so much because it was such a classic 'we've just decided we're official' move, whereby Ianto felt compelled to do something that goes against his nature, namely showing any affection whatsoever in front of other people, purely because they are now In A Relationship and thus Ianto must be demonstratively supportive. Nothing has actually changed between them, and yet suddenly everything is so uncomfortable! Or rather, Ianto is so uncomfortable. You could feel Jack's eyerolling through the screen. Ianto must long for the days when they were just having kinky clandestine sex and he didn't have to worry about any of this stuff. I think it's been pretty obvious to us, to the other characters, to everyone apart from Ianto, maybe, that they've been kind of in love with each other for a kind of a long time, it's just that now they've gone and actually talked about it everything's gone all weird. I think that it's both very funny and rather sweet. And I want to read and write fic about it like you wouldn't believe.
And finally, apparently I couldn't help myself: have a ficbit, which may be turned into a proper story depending on how this week goes.
jack/ianto snippet, sometime post-2x13
.
"Okay, enough of this 'need to be needed' crap," Jack says. He grabs the coffee mugs out of Ianto's hands and sets them on the kitchen counter in Ianto's flat. "Stop looking after me, and start talking to me."
Ianto blinks. "And what do you want me to talk about?"
"I just --" Jack looks a bit stuck for words, which definitely isn't a good sign. "I want you to want something from me, but I can't figure out what it is."
Ianto shakes his head. "I don't want anything from you, Jack."
"Of course you do, and I'm asking." Jack steps forward and rests his hands on Ianto's hips, his gaze intense and very close. "What do you want, for yourself, selfishly and completely? What is this? What am I to you?"
Ianto opens his mouth to reply, but very little by way of sound comes out.
Jack sighs. "You know, I have really been trying here, and you've been giving me a seriously hard time. You don't want to talk about it, you don't want anyone to know about it, except when you do, and--" He shrugs. "I'm lost. So." He picks up a mug and makes for the other room, sounding exasperated. "In your own time, I wouldn't want to rush you or anything."
Ianto stares after his retreating back, gaping a little until Jack's disappeared from view.
Jack yells back, "Hey, starter for ten! How do you feel about my sleeping with other people? Furiously jealous, turned on, totally apathetic, what?"
"Lord have mercy," Ianto mutters, and swallows his coffee in one. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than that to get him through this conversation.
My thoughts on Jack/Ianto in the new canon, let me show you them. Firstly, a couple of meta points about the writers' choices:
Jack being Ianto's first step outside of heterosexuality hasn't been my personal canon, but it's a characterisation I can buy easily enough. I'm kind of torn about how I feel about it, though. On the one hand, I am obviously a fan of the idea that people are people first, genders second, and that Ianto being involved with Jack doesn't necessitate that he label himself any particular way, or indeed at all, and that the writers are trying to say that it really isn't a big deal.
On the other hand, it's the we're-not-gay-we-just-love-each-other trope that is frequently a way for TV writers to side-step discussions about queer identities over and above sex and relationships. Does Ianto still think of himself as straight? Is he unsure? Is he concerned about being unsure? How has any of that affected his feelings about himself and his interaction with and perception of the world at large? It's pretty clear now that the writers aren't interested in delving into that stuff. Which is okay! I mean, this is a minor gripe that I have, really, because Torchwood is never going to be a show directed straight from my brain, but I am just saying that that is what I would like to see and something that we shall have to leave to fanfic for a while longer.
However, a major plus point of the opening of the first episode was that it finally got rid of a bigger gripe of mine! Season Two was, to me, very noticeable for the way it handled Gwen and Rhys, and Owen and Tosh, and then Jack and Ianto as a completely separate thing. Owen/Tosh and Gwen/Rhys got story arcs, Jack/Ianto got snapshots and innuendo. I think you can notice it most in episodes like 'From Out Of The Rain', where it's Ianto and Jack-centric and yet somehow manages not to be about their relationship, in comparison to 'Meat' or 'A Day In The Death', for example.
S2 was so hard to piece together -- they're going on a date, maybe! there are angsty make-outs! Ianto is maybe insecure because of Gwen! he's definitely sexing Jack up and helping her out behind his back at the same time! they're dancing at her wedding! what is going on?! Which is a huge amount of fun, but also frustrating when you're dealing with a canonical relationship.
Now, I've got something I can work with. It looks to me like ultimately nothing definite got decided by either of them until post 'Exit Wounds'. Something happened, then, between the end of S2 and 'The Stolen Earth' that's led to these notions of actually being in a relationship and possibly monogamy (see the 'soldier in a bar' exchange) and who knows what. It leaves just the right amount of wiggle room for fic writers to play in, but something has clearly changed that has caused Ianto to become all awkward around Jack, which I have decided is completely hilarious.
Oh, Ianto. His life is so hard when he has to deal with feelings! I laugh and I laugh. Okay, you know that totally weird hug they had after Jack got shot? That amused me so much because it was such a classic 'we've just decided we're official' move, whereby Ianto felt compelled to do something that goes against his nature, namely showing any affection whatsoever in front of other people, purely because they are now In A Relationship and thus Ianto must be demonstratively supportive. Nothing has actually changed between them, and yet suddenly everything is so uncomfortable! Or rather, Ianto is so uncomfortable. You could feel Jack's eyerolling through the screen. Ianto must long for the days when they were just having kinky clandestine sex and he didn't have to worry about any of this stuff. I think it's been pretty obvious to us, to the other characters, to everyone apart from Ianto, maybe, that they've been kind of in love with each other for a kind of a long time, it's just that now they've gone and actually talked about it everything's gone all weird. I think that it's both very funny and rather sweet. And I want to read and write fic about it like you wouldn't believe.
And finally, apparently I couldn't help myself: have a ficbit, which may be turned into a proper story depending on how this week goes.
jack/ianto snippet, sometime post-2x13
.
"Okay, enough of this 'need to be needed' crap," Jack says. He grabs the coffee mugs out of Ianto's hands and sets them on the kitchen counter in Ianto's flat. "Stop looking after me, and start talking to me."
Ianto blinks. "And what do you want me to talk about?"
"I just --" Jack looks a bit stuck for words, which definitely isn't a good sign. "I want you to want something from me, but I can't figure out what it is."
Ianto shakes his head. "I don't want anything from you, Jack."
"Of course you do, and I'm asking." Jack steps forward and rests his hands on Ianto's hips, his gaze intense and very close. "What do you want, for yourself, selfishly and completely? What is this? What am I to you?"
Ianto opens his mouth to reply, but very little by way of sound comes out.
Jack sighs. "You know, I have really been trying here, and you've been giving me a seriously hard time. You don't want to talk about it, you don't want anyone to know about it, except when you do, and--" He shrugs. "I'm lost. So." He picks up a mug and makes for the other room, sounding exasperated. "In your own time, I wouldn't want to rush you or anything."
Ianto stares after his retreating back, gaping a little until Jack's disappeared from view.
Jack yells back, "Hey, starter for ten! How do you feel about my sleeping with other people? Furiously jealous, turned on, totally apathetic, what?"
"Lord have mercy," Ianto mutters, and swallows his coffee in one. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than that to get him through this conversation.