Torchwood 202: Owen and Ianto, Day in the Death

[antelope_writes]

This is the second of a series of metas where I analyze character interaction in TW scenes by body language.  Part 1 is here.  If you missed the three-part discussion of common body language elements in Torchwood, start here.

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR DAY IN THE DEATH, DEAD MAN WALKING, MEAT, ADAM, AND FRAGMENTS BEHIND THE CUT.  Also contains occasional

Comments

[irishcaelan]

When Ianto tells him he wasn't aware they were in a competition, the whole mood changed. That's the icebreaker.

Huge moment. Huge.

You've lost me re: HP because I couldn't manage past a paragraph of that as I have always considered it to be a dumbed down version of Wizard of Earthsea. Then again let's not go into the Thomas Covenant references for Owen.

My bad.

I could drag in Zenna Henderson's "People" but I try to be nice.

[antelope_writes]

The point about Harry Potter and Ianto was that most ensemble stories have a supporting character whose job is to introduce finer detail about the main characters. The main characters are too entangled the bulk of the story itself to be able to provide that nuance on their own. Ianto (and to a much lesser extent Toshiko and Rhys) plays that role in Torchwood. The Gardiners (Elisabeth Bennett's aunt and uncle) play that role in Pride and Prejudice, introducing her to the "other side" of Mr. Darcy. It exists in opera as well...Marzelline, who is romantically attracted to Leonore (dressed as Fidelio), is used to show how well "Fidelio" has pulled off a disguise, as well as flesh out Leonore's unflinching loyalty. I used the HP metaphor as that came from an actual conversation, not because I think HP is a sterling example of the breed. Fun? Absolutely. Best written books ever? Nah

[tencrush]

Fascinating, again. I've really enjoyed the way Ianto and Owen's relationship has developed, and again, it's been very subtly directed and staged to show that progression. Great analysis.

(On a side note, though, I know a lot of people are waiting for these posts and this one's so seriously backdated it showed up 4 pages back on my friendslist, you might want to watch out for that. If I ramble on to myself I always cut and paste to a new post when I'm done to avoid LJ's rather random approach to posting times.)

[antelope_writes]

It's backdated b/c I posted it privately to myself, rather than store it (ahem) on my work computer, and have been grinding away at it for a couple of days. I also let one person read it early for a quick review--not so much a beta as to look for gross problems.

I also posted it to Torch_Wood, so hopefully folks who're friended in that group will catch it.

[tencrush]

Yeah, I do the private post thing too, mainly because I type, feed children, type some more, clothe children, etc etc. I always cut and paste the whole thing to a new post when I'm done tinkering, just because LJ can be SO RANDOM and weird when it comes to timestamps. I once tried to edit the time on a post and it disappeared alltogether.

[antelope_writes]

I just made a new post to it and linked it to the first one.

[twistedlogic_]

Oh, wow. I just read all the bits about body language, and I must say, this is fascinating! Reading this really made me realize how tough an actor's job really is.

I'm tagging the entries, because you are a wonderfully clever person, and you notice just about everything I don't. Well done!

[smirnoffmule]

I love that you covered this scene, because one of my favourite moments from this episode is what follows in the board room, when Owen comes in with the tea and everybody is tense and awkward until Ianto breaks the ice with his TinTin comment, and suddenly there is normalcy and banter. One reviewer of this episode interpreted that moment as snarky, but I felt like it was a generous act from Ianto, and illustrates perfectly the shift in their relationship that took place in the coffee machine scene.

Looking forward to Tosh and Tommy, I love that episode. So much so I almost think it's a shame that their awkward, sweet little love story was somewhat overshadowed by Jack and Ianto's olympic standard tonsil hockey. Almost *g*.

[antelope_writes]

Thank you.

[elven_sg1]

I love these pieces that you are doing about Torchwood, they're so in depth and reveal things that I wouldn't have noticed because I don't know much about body language. Thank you, you're giving me another layer of enjoyment on this show because I now look out for other clues beyond what they're saying.

[antelope_writes]

The actors are all brilliant and it shows.