Children of Earth, Day 3
Phwoar. That was. Yeah. This nearly contains Jack-meta, but keep in mind this is me we're talking about. Sorry, no caps this time, 'cause that took ages.
The end bit has driven all the lulzy fangirly things out of my head. Because this? This. This! This is the side of Jack's past I have LONGED to see given its due. The creepy, dark shit he did at Torchwood's bidding. Sending those kids off. I can't believe I didn't call that as soon as the flashback hit in the first episode.
And they're all just looking at him in this betrayed horrorstruck way, because here we are confronted with something he can't laugh off. We've had little glimpses and references up to now, but this is the first time that really counts that we're being made to see it and deal with it and will get to watch how it plays out now that it's just Gwen and Ianto who have seen too, too fucking much and are still shocked despite knowing what Jack's capable of.
I think it harkens back to just-following-orders guy on day 1, kind of. I half-expected him to say that, but you know, he wouldn't. Maybe back then. But the Jack of now wants to take responsibility for everything. He's got the biggest big-picture view of anyone, and he's not sorry, just like when he let the fairies take Jasmine (what's it with Jack letting weird beings take kids, anyway?), because he knows it was what had to be done to not get the earth blown up or whatever the current consequence is. Needs of the many, greater good, all that. But it's more than that, in that it's less than that. You can claim greater-good but he does this stuff for a smaller reason, and a lot of it's the people he's fighting for. The Estelles and Alices and Iantos and Gwens of the world. Not having to see another person he loves die horribly. That's both the heroic thing about it and the dark thing about it. He'd rather sacrifice a dozen or a hundred people whose names he purposely doesn't know than one person who's made this eternity of his a little more bearable.
Um, yeah. I don't know. I've never had a good handle on Jack and I change the nuances of my opinion of him about as often as I change my socks. But I really really hope this setup is given its just deserts and we get some serious insight.
OKAY NOW THE LULZY FANGIRLY STUFF.
-I adore the ever-living socks off Johnny and Rhi. Ten quid a kid, indeed.
-My one disappointment was the Rhys-Ianto fake fight not getting more screen time. Oh, that and Frobisher LACKING A FUCKING SPINE.
-The whole touching Jack/Ianto "So one day you'll see me die of old age and just keep going" exchange. Which, because they're Jack and Ianto, promptly turns into:
"Ianto, the world could be ending."
"The world's always ending. And I have missed that coat."
...and trying to kick Rhys out so they can get it on, but the beans are almost ready. ("Damn beans." I lolled.)
-Fanon is confirmed. Ianto supplies the coats and knows shorthand. But does NOT, by the by, have perfect recall, as evidenced by him writing that plate number on his hand yesterday.
-Fun with the camera contacts and Ianto's 'been there, done that.' *sporfle* He so hasn't, and he's so pissed he never even thought of it.
-Alice's mother only died in 2006! Which, depending on your timeline, could make that take place in the latter half of S1, somewhere between They Keep Killing Suzie/Random Shoes and Out of Time. Which knowing TW continuity, I doubt they were really thinking about when they made those, but it causes interesting missing-scene possibilities.