(The Heart Is) Bigger on the Inside: A Doctor/Jack/Rose Ship Manifesto
The Doctor, Rose, and Jack were together for five episodes back in 2005. I started watching Doctor Who in 2008. Now it's 2011. Six years and five seasons have passed since they graced our television screens, yet I ship them more than ever. The comm devoted to my OT3,
betterwiththree, goes strong, and even gains new writers over time. New ships have become popular while other ships have waned, yet I and many others remain deeply emotionally invested in the OT3. A ship manifesto already exists for Nine/Jack/Rose, but I'm throwing in my hat anyway, because I have so many feelings about it that I don't think I've ever fully expressed.
Before I continue, please let me clarify that the purpose of this manifesto is to share my love for this ship, not to bash on any other. I don't think my ship is morally superior to yours. All of this is deeply personal and subjective, and I want you to squee for whatever makes you happy.
That said, I will express my thoughts on why a trio that technically lasted only five episodes in canon has made such a lasting impression on my heart and on so many others'.
Why polyamory?
Doctor/Rose/Jack is fundamentally a triad. The relationship between all three is equal. There are plenty of fics in which the Doctor and Rose let Jack join their bed for one night only, then reaffirm their love for each other without him. These fics are Doctor/Rose stories, not Doctor/Rose/Jack. The difference is clear. So why polyamory?
To borrow a phrase from the polyamory community, love is infinite. Infinity divided by two is infinity. Infinity divided by three is infinity. If the Doctor, Jack, and Rose have anything in common, it's that their love never runs out. Just when you think they've given all the love they have to give, they reach into their hearts and there's more. That's why I don't ship any of the trio exclusively. I ship Doctor/Romana too, and Rose/Mickey, and Jack/pretty much everyone. They each have the capability to love so many different kinds of people. While I can't imagine Amy with anybody but Rory and vice versa, the love of the Doctor, Jack, and Rose is as broad as the imagination.
I think this infinite capacity for love is clear with the Doctor and Jack, who have each loved many people over the course of their long lives, and none any less than the rest. Jack has as much room in his heart for Angelo as Ianto, the Doctor as much love for River as he once had for his childhood friend Koschei, before he went so terribly awry. Rose hasn't lived long enough to show that she is the same way, but there are some excellent fics featuring immortal!Rose and all her many loves over the years. Could anyone dispute that she has this depth of spirit, that she can give so much of her love away and never run out?
It's no wonder that "love shared is love multiplied" is such a common theme in OT3 fics. The heart is bigger on the inside.
I don't think that the OT3 represents the One True Love of any of the three characters. But I think the relationship fundamentally shaped each of them, and that when they look back on their lives, they each think of that time they were together as a time of happiness and deep transformation.
Shelter From the Storm: Rose and the Doctor
'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form
"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."
Those lyrics by Bob Dylan summarize the bond between the Doctor and Rose better than anything else I could say. While it was the Doctor who let Rose aboard the TARDIS, it was Rose who welcomed the Doctor into herself. It's one thing to be able to travel anywhere in time and space, and another to be able to travel anywhere in time and space and feel like you're home. To quote Jack at the end of Children of Earth:
"Travelled all sorts of places. This planet is too small. The whole world is like a graveyard."
I think this is how the Doctor felt after the Time War. He traveled on, like he did before, but there was little joy in it. The whole universe was a graveyard. He tried to go on as before, tried to help where he could, but it didn't fill the void. (I'm sure Jack was the same way, in his wanderings between CoE and Miracle Day.) The Doctor, the TARDIS, and Rose: together, they create a home. The whole universe was a graveyard, until Rose sheltered him from it. In no episode is this more apparent than "Dalek". Which universe do you think the Doctor wants to live in: one where there is no hope, where bitter feuds last forever and no one can prove that hir heart has turned to better things than war? Or one where even a Dalek can choose not to kill? Rose knew which one he wanted to live in, and showed him that it was possible. That's what I mean when I say that she created a home for him, even if they were living in the TARDIS.
(Incidentally, this is why I think that Ten gave Jack a beautiful gift in "The End of Time" when he gave his farewell. Alonso is a good man, one that the Doctor trusts to do what is right, and he knows the value of loving such a person when one's spirit is broken and the universe seems barren of hope. I like to think that whatever Jack had with Alonso was a healing experience for him.)
And the effect doesn't go just one way. The Doctor did so much more for Rose than whisk her away to a life of adventure. He introduced her to a new moral vision. When Rose objected to the Gelth using human corpses as surrogate bodies, the Doctor told her, "It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home." And she did. Ethicists talk about the "sphere of moral consideration": who do we consider to be a subject of our moral concern? Rose radically expanded her sphere of moral consideration through her travels with the Doctor, starting with Rafalo on Platform One and culminating in her sympathy with the Dalek, which is so powerful that its very nature is altered.
I once read a comment on LJ that read, "I don't see a Jack-shaped hole in Nine and Rose's relationship before he joins the TARDIS team." I understand what the commenter meant, in that the Doctor and Rose together made the TARDIS a home before Jack showed up. He enhanced that sense of home, but he didn't create it. Nonetheless, I can't see a romantic relationship forming between the Doctor and Rose before Jack comes along. More than just adding another person to the dynamic of Team TARDIS, I think his presence adds another dimension to the Doctor and Rose's relationship.
What do I mean, specifically? I think that Jack gives Rose a new perspective on the Doctor. She begins to see him as a man, not just an alien. Jack, like the Doctor, is from a time and place with radically different technology and cultural norms than what Rose knows. Yet he is very clearly a man, with desires (in all senses of the word) and a past that hurts like broken glass and drives him in all he does. I think Rose begins to see that the Doctor is the same way, if less obviously so. She even uses their similarities to her advantage, pushing the Doctor to be better because of Jack. She keeps telling the Doctor through "The Doctor Dances" that she trusts Jack, and that he should too. In a way, asking the Doctor to learn to trust Jack is asking him to learn to trust himself. Jack was in terrible pain because of a loss (of two years of his life) and because of that, he went on to make a mistake that could cost untold lives. Where have we seen that before? Rose knows, and her efforts to get the Doctor to trust Jack not only resulted in "Everybody lives" but in a positive change in the Doctor.
In conclusion: Rose and the Doctor get along very well without Jack. But Jack's addition to the TARDIS team creates possibilities for their relationship that weren't possible before.
There's more here to unpack, but it's difficult because a lot of the change in the Doctor/Rose dynamic with Jack around is so hard to distill into words. All I can tell you is to rewatch the episodes and pay close attention. That's part of the fun of shipping the OT3: going back and reinterpreting what you thought you'd already understood.
"I Give Life": Jack and Rose
Rose likes and trusts Jack from the moment she lands in his arms in his stolen spaceship. Psychic paper isn't mind-reading; if Rose didn't trust Jack, she wouldn't have been so honest (and to such comic effect) on the psychic paper, revealing all of her thoughts. But we, the audience, know that about Rose. Jack just rescued her from great peril. He healed the rope burn on her hands, a minor injury he would have been perfectly within his rights to leave untouched. He's friendly and he has a nice smile. Of course she trusts him.
But consider it from Jack's point of view. He had two years of his memory robbed by his employers at the Time Agency, whom he should have been able to trust. He's been living as a con man for an unknown span of time since. In his world, there's no such thing as trust. Then he saves a young woman hanging from a barrage balloon, and she trusts him right away. It's spelled right out on the psychic paper, so clear that she doesn't hide her true feelings. A person who trusts without reservation: it must have been like a unicorn or a nymph falling from the sky into his lap. It's the sort of miracle that could make a jaded man believe again.
As I mentioned in the previous section, Rose trusts Jack so quickly because of his similarities to the Doctor. So it's no surprise that Rose and Jack have similar effects on each other. Rose believes Jack is a good man, which inspires him to become one. And in turn, Jack opens Rose's eyes to new truths about her fellow sapients. Over the course of Season 1, Rose expands her sphere of moral consideration. But the way Jack lives his gender and sexuality opens her eyes to a completely different culture and morality to hers. The way Jack lives his identity as a masculine omnisexual man, without apology or restraint, is very nearly impossible in the world Rose knows. I'm always struck by the look on her face when she finds that out about Jack in "The Doctor Dances". It's a revelation.
Yet there are differences between the Rose/Jack and the Rose/Doctor dynamics. Jack and Rose are open with each other, sillier and flirtier than Rose and the Doctor usually are. Their relationship also starts off more harmoniously than Rose and the Doctor's. One thing both have in common is they started off manipulating Rose. Jack tried to manipulate Rose into buying the worthless Chula wreck, thinking she was a Time Agent. The Doctor manipulated Rose by taking her to the fiery death of her planet on their first trip. If that wasn't an attempt to put her in her place by frightening her, I don't know what it was. Except the difference is that after his first attempt to manipulate Rose fails, Jack stops. He never does anything like that to her again. The Doctor keeps on doing it: threatening to kick her off the TARDIS if she doesn't agree with his moral judgments (The Unquiet Dead) and tempting her back onto the TARDIS with promises of wondrous destinations when she considers staying home with her family (World War Three). It takes the Doctor much longer than it takes Jack to treat her respectfully.
But if there's anything which shows the power of the love between Jack and Rose, it's what she did as the Bad Wolf. She had nearly infinite power, and she chose to do two things: destroy the Daleks that threatened the Doctor and the rest of the universe, and bring Jack back to life. Not only did she give him life, but she made sure that she could never lose him to Death again. And even though the Bad Wolf's gift was ultimately a curse rather than a blessing, it's so obvious that Jack doesn't hold Rose's actions against her. He doesn't show any bitterness toward her when the Doctor tells him how he became immortal, and the first thing he does when he's reunited with her is to hold her close and comfort her as the Doctor "regenerates" in "Journey's End."
And to wrap up this section, I'll throw in a bit of flirty banter between Jack and Rose, because it never gets old.
ROSE (looking at the hole Jack made in the wall with his sonic blaster)
Nice blast pattern.
JACK
Digital.
ROSE
Squareness gun.
JACK
Yeah.
ROSE
I like it.
"Nice blast pattern"? That may beat out even Jack's most cheesy pick-up lines! (Fic writers take note: Rose can flirt outrageously with the best of them.)
Old Soldiers Fading: The Doctor and Jack
I'll stick to the dynamics between the Ninth Doctor and Jack for now, because if I get too far into the Tenth Doctor and Jack, this section could become a meta all its own.
It's often said of the Doctor and Jack that they start off hostile and over time grow to trust each other. Yet I don't think that's quite true. For comparison, I point you to Adam. If anything, Adam's mistake was nowhere near as bad as Jack's. Yes, the information he left on his answering machine from the future could have changed the course of human history. But Jack's mistake very nearly exterminated the human race altogether. The Doctor puts Jack squarely in his place, pointing out his error with cold fury. But compare this to Adam. The Doctor barely even tries to point out Adam's error, because he knows Adam will never feel remorse for what he did. He just grabs Adam, hauls him into the TARDIS, and unceremoniously dumps him at home without even getting rid of the hole in his head.
So why did the Doctor do this to Adam, while he and Jack were bantering playfully about the size of their sonic tools within a matter of minutes? Compare Adam's and Jack's reactions when the Doctor accuses them of causing harm to people.
ADAM
It all worked out for the best, didn't it? You know, it's not actually my fault, because YOU were in charge -
JACK
That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it.
Both of them try to shift blame from themselves. But that's where the similarities end. Adam knows what he did caused harm, but he claims it "all worked out for the best" and even tries to blame the Doctor. He never claims responsibility for anything until the Doctor produces incontrovertible evidence of wrongdoing. Jack comes clean about the con as soon as he sees the gas mask people and emphasizes the precautions he took to avoid harm. Though he repeatedly claims his con was harmless, it's obvious he knows on some level that it may have been his fault, otherwise he wouldn't have admitted what he did when he saw the gas mask people.
What's more, Adam has a sense of entitlement Jack doesn't have. Even after everything he did, Adam begs the Doctor and Rose to let him keep traveling with them. Jack is willing to give his life to correct his mistake, and doesn't expect for one moment to be rescued (witness the look of shock and wonder on Jack's face when he realizes they've come back for him at the end of "The Doctor Dances"). The Doctor can tell from the beginning that Jack has a conscience beneath his deceit and arrogance. Can you imagine the Doctor having this conversation with Adam a few minutes after meeting him?
JACK
Who has a sonic screwdriver?
DOCTOR
I do!
JACK
Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, "ooh, this could be a little more sonic"?
DOCTOR
What, you've never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?
The Doctor is defensive about his screwdriver. If Adam had made fun of the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor would have just sneered at him. When Jack mocks it, he's hurt. It's adorable.
But actions speak louder than words, of course. When the gas mask people are chasing them, they function as a seamless unit. The Doctor trusts Jack to cover their backs and not just his own. Even if he's not ready to admit it, he implicitly trusts Jack even before he teleports the Doctor and Rose out of the hospital to safety (to say nothing of putting his life on the line to save the day). And note that the Doctor is already keying in a materialization sequence before Rose asks him to go back to save Jack at the end. I wouldn't call the Doctor's attitude toward Jack hostile. After all, this is the Ninth Doctor we're talking about, who took Rose to the fiery doom of her planet on their first trip. With this standard in mind, their dynamic is downright friendly from the start.
The rapport between Jack and the Doctor is mostly subtextual, but no less powerful for that. Take this moment from "Boom Town", when Jack proposes a plan to take down Blon the Slitheen.
DOCTOR
Excuse me? Who's in charge?
JACK
Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir.
DOCTOR
Right. Here's the plan. (A beat.) Like he said. Nice plan.
The Doctor leads and Jack follows, but it's based on a bedrock of mutual respect. Jack lets the Doctor take charge, and in return the Doctor takes Jack's contributions seriously. More than that, the dynamic is playful. They both enjoy it. Another moment from "Boom Town": Rose and Mickey go off for drinks, and the Doctor watches them walk away hand in hand on the TARDIS' view screen. Jack senses the Doctor's wistful (perhaps even jealous) mood and approaches him, concerned, asking, "So, what's on?" It's a rhetorical question; Jack knows what's up. Blon interrupts before Jack can inquire any further, but you can tell he meant to talk it out with the Doctor.
Perhaps my favorite subtle yet powerful example of the bond between Jack and the Doctor is what happens immediately after Rose is "killed" by the Anne Droid. Both men are devastated, but the Doctor goes catatonic. So Jack defends the Doctor from all comers, despite his own grief, knowing without words that the Doctor needs to kept well away from the architects of this place of death.
JACK (brandishing a gun)
Back off! Don't you touch him! Leave him alone!
Then in prison, all the Doctor needs to say is, "Let's do it," and they immediately spring to action, working in perfect concert to overcome the guards and arm themselves for battle.
So why do the Doctor and Jack understand each other so well? Even before we learn more of Jack's backstory in Torchwood, it's obvious that Jack is a soldier. He didn't need to pose as a soldier for his con in 1941, but he did. The RAF coat looks as natural on him as a second skin. He has a sonic blaster and he knows how to use it. In "Boom Town" he rattles off his plan to corner Blon the Slitheen like a commander leading a squadron. In "The Parting of the Ways" he rallies a militia to fight the Daleks and leads them in a desperate last stand. When he faces death, it's with the defiance of a man who has faced death in battle many times before.
The Doctor, as we learn in "Dalek", is an old soldier too - though we can infer it from his clothing, his hairstyle, and his traumatized bitterness from the very beginning. Both he and Jack are on the same journey, though at different points: the long, bitter journey of unlearning the ways of war. They're both been shattered by it, one way or another, and both want to learn to be more than soldiers, men who can forge peace as well as swords. Jack is quicker to wield a weapon, as a bluff or in earnest, than the Doctor. I believe Jack would have set off the delta wave, in the Doctor's place. I don't say this as an indictment of Jack, but to point out his path from soldier to hero, which is different from the Doctor's, but has the same origin and destination.
How Did We Get Here (and where are we going)?
I've provided something of an overview of the trio's relationship in Season 1. It may strike you how much it deepens and develops over time. "The Doctor Dances" ends with Jack rattled, rescued from what he thought was certain death with moments to spare, and unsure of his new place in the universe. The Doctor and Rose certainly don't know what his role in Team TARDIS will be; they're probably not even sure if he's going to stay with them at all. By the series 1 finale, we see a very different dynamic, one of mutual trust, respect, loyalty, devotion, and (as I've argued) love. We know that only two adventures happened between "Boom Town" and "Bad Wolf" (a trip to Raxacoricofallapatorius followed by Kyoto, Japan in 1336), so judging by the finale and by what we see in "Boom Town", the vast majority of this character development and evolution in the relationship must have happened between "The Doctor Dances" and "Boom Town".
So now we're faced with a glaring question: what happened between "The Doctor Dances" and "Boom Town"? I'm far from the first to ask this question. In fact, if I were to typeset and bind into volumes every fanfiction that's been set between those two episodes, it would fill a shelf on my bookcase. I'm not going to tell you exactly what happened, because I'm not the authority on all things OT3, and besides, it would take away the fun. But I will list the changes that must have occurred between "The Doctor Dances" and "Boom Town".
1. Jack accepted the Doctor's authority as leader.
We saw the beginnings of this in "The Doctor Dances" after the Doctor swapped Jack's blaster with a banana and told the story of the destruction of the weapon factories at Villengard; that certainly put Jack in his place, at least temporarily. But by "Boom Town" Jack is happy to follow the Doctor's lead, despite his own alpha male tendencies.
2. The Doctor and Jack came to an understanding about Rose's safety.
Namely, that it takes precedence. In "The Parting of the Ways" it takes Jack a minute to catch on that the Doctor sent Rose home, but once he does, he's not at all surprised. He doesn't question the decision for a moment. This leads me to strongly suspect that Jack and the Doctor came to an agreement at some point that no matter how bad things got, they would always prioritize Rose's safety.
3. Jack learned that the Doctor is a Time Lord and his ship is a TARDIS.
We can infer a lot from Jack's reaction in "The Parting of the Ways" when the Doctor talks about the Time War. He looks surprised and says, "I thought that was just a legend." That means Jack has heard of Time Lords and Daleks before - as legend. In "Boom Town" he clearly knows what the TARDIS is, so he must know the Doctor is a Time Lord. Given that he'd only ever heard of Time Lords in legend before, this must have been a revelation fit to tilt Jack's world on its axis.
4. Jack gets a TARDIS key.
Now that's a real show of trust between the Doctor and Jack. Companions have to earn their keys. (In fact, my personal definition of a companion is anyone who has a TARDIS key.)
5. The Doctor taught Jack how to repair and fly (or help to fly, at least) the TARDIS.
This speaks volumes about the change in the Doctor and Jack's relationship. The Doctor loves the TARDIS. He's very protective of her. What's more, flying and repairing the TARDIS is complicated business. For the Doctor to let Jack help repair and fly the TARDIS, he has to both respect Jack's intelligence enough to think he can learn, and trust him enough to be kind with her, not to break any of her parts or fly her too roughly. He wouldn't let him get so involved with the TARDIS unless she liked him, and he treated her well. It has to mean a lot to the Doctor that the TARDIS lets him fly her. Lots of companions have been seen to assist the Doctor with flying here and there, but it's usually small things, with a lot of instruction from the Doctor. Jack seems much closer to the Doctor's equal when he helps to fly the TARDIS, like when he navigates her through enemy fire from the Daleks in "The Parting of the Ways". His rapport with the TARDIS is more analogous to (though by no means the same as) River's.
Analysis of a Scene: A Good Man Goes to War (knowing he won't come back)
OR
http://youtu.be/R4uCkQv3Uxg
This is my favorite OT3 scene ever. I'm not sure I can watch it without tearing up at least a little. I also think it's earned more converts to the 'ship than anything else, so I'm going to devote a lot of time to analyzing this 35-second clip, which contains more emotion than some hour-long TV episodes I've seen. (I love this scene so much I've analyzed it before through a different lens; see this meta.)
I noticed that most of the comments on the YouTube video embedded above are about Jack's sexuality. These comments are entirely missing the point. If Jack were asexual, nothing about the scene would change. This is love, pure and simple. Jack is just the kind of person who expresses his feelings through actions - by touching them, and kissing them. He's about to go to his final battle, giving his life so that Rose might live, and the Doctor might save the universe from the Dalek scourge. And he does this knowing that if it weren't for them, he might never have become the kind of man who would sacrifice himself for a cause he believes in. They're his family, his saviors, his entire world. What could he possibly have said to encompass everything he felt in that moment?
The tension between what is said and unsaid is so present throughout the scene. When he first shows up, he smiles falsely, and so does the Doctor. Rose doesn't bother to hide her fear and worry. She reassures Jack that everything will be fine, but it's half-hearted; she doesn't fully believe it herself. But Jack can't let her lie to him, to herself. "Rose," he says, "you are worth fighting for." What he's saying is: you're worth dying for. I'm going to my death - I know it, you know it, the Doctor knows it. But I'm dying for you, and believe me when I say that it's worth it. For you, it's worth it. His gaze is focused, intense, his soul practically pouring out through his eyes, and though Rose closes her eyes through the kiss, Jack does not. He can't afford to close his eyes, not through these last moments, so few and precious. After the kiss, Rose presses her lips together, as if to preserve the feeling of his mouth on hers.
Now his attention turns to the Doctor, and his smile is real this time. The Doctor brought so much joy into his life, and he doesn't want to lose sight of that, even in this moment so dire. The Doctor returns the smile, just as truly, even laughing a little. Jack has brought him joy too. But now all smiles are gone, yielding to pure intensity. God, John Barrowman acts his heart out here: that look of reverence in his eyes, like he's looking at the only thing that's ever mattered to him. The kiss is more like a benediction than anything sensual, a pilgrim kissing a holy statue. Except it's more than that, because the Doctor isn't a statue; he's a person, and if I know him at all he probably doesn't think himself worthy of Jack's reverence. Yet he can't refuse it when it's so openly given from an unshielded heart, and in that way it's a mutual benediction: it's as much a blessing for the Doctor to receive this kiss as it is for Jack to give it. If there's one thing I wish were different about this scene, it's that we can't see the Doctor's face after Jack's kiss; the camera angle doesn't reveal it. I've long wondered what his reaction was.
But as usual, body language tells a tale that words and facial expressions can't fully convey. Jack's hands have always been expressive: recall when he flashed the "whatever" sign at Mickey, or when he gestured excitedly while telling that silly story in the Cardiff restaurant, or when he was geeking out over Blon Slitheen's "pan-dimensional surfboard", his enthusiasm showing in his gestures. Jack's hands are like poetry in this scene. First he comes in, his arms swinging, then they still as he begins speaking to the Doctor and Rose. Then his hands come up to cup Rose's cheeks, so gently, framing her face as if to commit it to memory, knowing he will never see it again. After the kiss, he keeps his hands cradled together for a moment, the fingertips touching, as if he's trying to keep something from slipping through his fingers
"Wish I'd never met you, Doctor," he says, pointing at him for emphasis. He cups the Doctor's cheeks, too, framing a smile as broad as any he's ever given Jack - like a parting gift, one last glimpse of his smile Jack can keep as he goes to his death. Now watch: after he kisses the Doctor, he doesn't break contact. He runs his left hand down from the Doctor's cheek to his shoulder, then reaches out with his right hand to Rose's shoulder. In this moment, he is a physical symbol of what he represents within the triad: a circuit, a bridge connecting Rose and the Doctor. A human, like Rose, mortal and fragile and fallible, but also a time traveller and a weary old soldier, like the Doctor.
And then the bridge is broken.
If You Came This Way Again: the OT3 after Season 1
If you came this way,
Taking the route you would be likely to take
From the place you would be likely to come from,
If you came this way in may time, you would find the hedges
White again, in May, with voluptuary sweetness.
- from "Little Gidding" by T.S. Eliot
I am tempted to simply refer you all to this excellent meta by sensiblecat and move on. But I've ridden the teal deer this far, so I'll keep going in the hope I'll have an idea or two about Doctor/Jack/Rose after season 1 that hasn't already been said.
Nine/Jack/Rose is the most common incarnation of OT3 fic. It appeals because of the lovely dynamic of season 1 and because Nine/Jack/Rose fic can be canon-compliant or nearly so. (I've had IRL non-fandom friends who watch Doctor Who tell me they're convinced a threesome happened at some point before the S1 finale!) Writers who want to expand the OT3 beyond the scope of season 1 can either write in an AU where the finale never happened, or have something different in the finale happen so that Jack isn't left behind. OT3 past season 1 poses logistical problems, of course, with Jack at Torchwood and Rose in an alternate universe.
But logistical problems never stopped a determined shipper. The real problem is the loving dynamic of the OT3 was shattered by Jack's abandonment on Satellite Five. This means a sea change in both the Doctor and Rose. The Doctor abandoned Jack because he was afraid of what he had become. He was a fixed point, something new in the universe, and the Doctor let his fear overcome his love. What a change that is, from the theme of love overcoming fear. And the Doctor's not the only one who changed for the worse. It beggars belief that the moral, loving Rose of season 1 who always challenged the Doctor on his bullshit would let him get away with his glib, patronizing response to her question of where Jack had gone. Yet she accepts this answer and never brings him up again. This is a man who went off to his death fighting for her. This is a man who she loved so much that as the Bad Wolf she couldn't bear for him to die ever again.
And this isn't just a change in how the Doctor and Rose feel about Jack. The pattern continues throughout season 2, with the Doctor acting callous and cruel and Rose never calling him out on it. Rose let the Doctor get away with bringing down Harriet Jones out of pure spite. The Rose let him make an enemy of Queen Victoria. Perhaps even worse, the Doctor lied to Rose about what happened to Jack and never told her the truth about what she did as the Bad Wolf, which she has every right to know. This is a betrayal of her trust in him. Something fundamental to the Doctor and Rose's relationship shattered.
It's clear in "Utopia" that Jack still loves the Doctor, even after all the years of waiting, and the betrayal, and the knowledge that the Doctor left him behind on purpose. I think it's possible that the Doctor still loves Jack. By the time Jack turns down the Doctor's offer to travel with him again, they seem to have come to some kind of understanding, if not forgiveness. They spent a year together under the tyranny of a madman, after all. They struggled together, worked in concert to defy the Master. Strange as it sounds, I think that may have done something to heal their relationship.
Still, any OT3 set after Season 1 has to account for all the damage this trio has undergone, especially after Doomsday and Journey's End and everything that means for the Doctor and Rose. Journey's End, in particular, is unfair to Rose, taking away her choice of which universe she wants to live in and which Doctor she wants to be with.
That said, here are some approaches to putting the OT3 back together, with examples.
1. Face the wounded relationship head-on and have the characters work through all the hurt they've done to each other.
A tough choice, sure to bring out a lot of angst and hurt/comfort. Examples:
The Judas Series by wendymr
The Twins 'verse by canaana
Reclamation by ponygirl
2. AUs in which Ten and Rose come back for Jack.
These can range from a very happy arrangement to an angstfest, depending on how long it takes them to come back for him, and/or how the Doctor treats him afterward. Example:
At Thirty Paces by rallalon
3. An OT3 far in the future.
Sometimes with Eleven, sometimes with an author-created later incarnation of the Doctor, these fics go with the philosophy that "time heals all wounds". Eleven is less broken and cruel than Ten, and perhaps after so much time apart, the OT3 can learn to forgive each other. Examples:
Everywhere and Always by sahiya
Nor Am I Out of It by canaana
4. Rose and the duplicate Doctor find Jack in Pete's World.
Rose and the duplicate Doctor have no easy road to happiness together, no matter how you look at it. The Doctor's bound to be going through a massive identity crisis, and Rose has to grapple with the loss of the original Doctor and how he didn't let her choose for herself. But just as he did in season 1, Jack - or an alternate version thereof - can be the bridge and balance between them, helping Rose and the Doctor overcome their wounds and be together. Alternatively, some of these fics are set after Rose and the clone!Doctor have sorted out their relationship and are quite fluffy. Examples:
Join Us by aibhinn
Jed and Friends by DameRuth
Left Behind by azriona
5. Rose meets an alternate Doctor and an alternate Jack in Pete's World.
Quite different, because Rose has a lot of emotional baggage of her own in these stories: the pain of seeing someone so very like, but not quite, her Doctor and her Jack, and later the guilt of coming to love them when the ones she knew are still out there somewhere. Still, it's been very well done. Examples:
Through a Glass Darkly by wendymr
Falling for You, All Over Again by jinni
The Threads That Weave
I thought I might conclude this ship manifesto by telling you about some of the themes that come up again and again in OT3 stories. A big part of why I love OT3 fic so much is that the themes that come up in them really speak to me.
Trust
I list this first because it's the first question that faces the Doctor and Rose about Jack: can we trust him? But it's not just about Jack. Can Rose trust the Doctor, after he's manipulated her and lied to her and taken away her freedom to choose? Can Jack trust the Doctor after he's abandoned at Satellite Five? Can the Doctor trust Jack and Rose with his hearts, when they've been broken so many times over the centuries? This theme is the centerpiece of many an OT3 fic. Example:
Sálvame by dark_aegis and wendymr
Forgiveness
Sometimes trust is broken, and the breach has to be forgiven. Can Jack forgive Rose for making him immortal? Can he forgive the Doctor for leaving him behind? Can he forgive himself for almost destroying human history for the sake of a con? Can Rose forgive herself for almost destroying history for the sake of her father? Can the Doctor forgive himself for the Time War? Forgiveness can be a journey, as epic and difficult as Rose's pan-dimensional quest to find the Doctor in the Season 4 finale. Example:
Suture by Fahye
Tolerance and acceptance
Jack, Rose, and the Doctor are very different people. For the relationship to hold, they all have to accept one another and the backgrounds they come from. Rose is shocked to learn of Jack's omnisexuality, and of the Doctor's past as a soldier in the Time War. Can she accept them for who they are? They also encounter all kinds of planets and cultures in their travels. How will they react differently to the beings they encounter? Can they overcome their prejudices? Example:
Thy Willing Soul by yamx
Fate and prophecy
For a science fiction show, the first season of Doctor Who is very mystical. Glimpses of Rose's fate appear everywhere in the form of "Bad Wolf". Does destiny play a role in the events of season 1? Was it all fated to happen, or can events go differently? Examples:
She Burns Like the Sun, And I Can't Look Away by wonderfulchild
Happily (not) ever after by HonorH
Memory
Jack struggles with the missing two years the Time Agency took from him. How does he know who he is, with a two year gap in his history? The Doctor is burdened with his memories from the Time War. After the S1 finale, Rose doesn't remember her time as the Bad Wolf - and the Doctor never enlightens her. Can memories lost be reclaimed? Are they defined by their memories, or can they forge themselves anew despite them? Examples:
Now Go, Cat, Go by RoachPatrol
Everyone You Know by cherryice
Redemption and transformation
Over the course of S1, Rose transforms from a shop girl adrift in her own life to a purpose-driven young woman who will do anything to fight for what is right. The Doctor is on a journey of redemption after he destroyed his own people in the Time War. Jack redeems himself from an amoral con man to a hero who gives his life for a cause he believes in. I think this is the most powerful story of all. Example:
Notes from the (temporal) Journey by Dune
Acknowledgments
Doctor Who Transcripts, TARDIS Wiki, and the good people at
betterwiththree. You are what I love best of Doctor Who fandom.
This entry was crossposted at http://joking.dreamwidth.org/95013.html.
betterwiththree, goes strong, and even gains new writers over time. New ships have become popular while other ships have waned, yet I and many others remain deeply emotionally invested in the OT3. A ship manifesto already exists for Nine/Jack/Rose, but I'm throwing in my hat anyway, because I have so many feelings about it that I don't think I've ever fully expressed.
Before I continue, please let me clarify that the purpose of this manifesto is to share my love for this ship, not to bash on any other. I don't think my ship is morally superior to yours. All of this is deeply personal and subjective, and I want you to squee for whatever makes you happy.
That said, I will express my thoughts on why a trio that technically lasted only five episodes in canon has made such a lasting impression on my heart and on so many others'.
Why polyamory?
Doctor/Rose/Jack is fundamentally a triad. The relationship between all three is equal. There are plenty of fics in which the Doctor and Rose let Jack join their bed for one night only, then reaffirm their love for each other without him. These fics are Doctor/Rose stories, not Doctor/Rose/Jack. The difference is clear. So why polyamory?
To borrow a phrase from the polyamory community, love is infinite. Infinity divided by two is infinity. Infinity divided by three is infinity. If the Doctor, Jack, and Rose have anything in common, it's that their love never runs out. Just when you think they've given all the love they have to give, they reach into their hearts and there's more. That's why I don't ship any of the trio exclusively. I ship Doctor/Romana too, and Rose/Mickey, and Jack/pretty much everyone. They each have the capability to love so many different kinds of people. While I can't imagine Amy with anybody but Rory and vice versa, the love of the Doctor, Jack, and Rose is as broad as the imagination.
I think this infinite capacity for love is clear with the Doctor and Jack, who have each loved many people over the course of their long lives, and none any less than the rest. Jack has as much room in his heart for Angelo as Ianto, the Doctor as much love for River as he once had for his childhood friend Koschei, before he went so terribly awry. Rose hasn't lived long enough to show that she is the same way, but there are some excellent fics featuring immortal!Rose and all her many loves over the years. Could anyone dispute that she has this depth of spirit, that she can give so much of her love away and never run out?
It's no wonder that "love shared is love multiplied" is such a common theme in OT3 fics. The heart is bigger on the inside.
I don't think that the OT3 represents the One True Love of any of the three characters. But I think the relationship fundamentally shaped each of them, and that when they look back on their lives, they each think of that time they were together as a time of happiness and deep transformation.
Shelter From the Storm: Rose and the Doctor
'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form
"Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."
Those lyrics by Bob Dylan summarize the bond between the Doctor and Rose better than anything else I could say. While it was the Doctor who let Rose aboard the TARDIS, it was Rose who welcomed the Doctor into herself. It's one thing to be able to travel anywhere in time and space, and another to be able to travel anywhere in time and space and feel like you're home. To quote Jack at the end of Children of Earth:
"Travelled all sorts of places. This planet is too small. The whole world is like a graveyard."
I think this is how the Doctor felt after the Time War. He traveled on, like he did before, but there was little joy in it. The whole universe was a graveyard. He tried to go on as before, tried to help where he could, but it didn't fill the void. (I'm sure Jack was the same way, in his wanderings between CoE and Miracle Day.) The Doctor, the TARDIS, and Rose: together, they create a home. The whole universe was a graveyard, until Rose sheltered him from it. In no episode is this more apparent than "Dalek". Which universe do you think the Doctor wants to live in: one where there is no hope, where bitter feuds last forever and no one can prove that hir heart has turned to better things than war? Or one where even a Dalek can choose not to kill? Rose knew which one he wanted to live in, and showed him that it was possible. That's what I mean when I say that she created a home for him, even if they were living in the TARDIS.
(Incidentally, this is why I think that Ten gave Jack a beautiful gift in "The End of Time" when he gave his farewell. Alonso is a good man, one that the Doctor trusts to do what is right, and he knows the value of loving such a person when one's spirit is broken and the universe seems barren of hope. I like to think that whatever Jack had with Alonso was a healing experience for him.)
And the effect doesn't go just one way. The Doctor did so much more for Rose than whisk her away to a life of adventure. He introduced her to a new moral vision. When Rose objected to the Gelth using human corpses as surrogate bodies, the Doctor told her, "It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home." And she did. Ethicists talk about the "sphere of moral consideration": who do we consider to be a subject of our moral concern? Rose radically expanded her sphere of moral consideration through her travels with the Doctor, starting with Rafalo on Platform One and culminating in her sympathy with the Dalek, which is so powerful that its very nature is altered.
I once read a comment on LJ that read, "I don't see a Jack-shaped hole in Nine and Rose's relationship before he joins the TARDIS team." I understand what the commenter meant, in that the Doctor and Rose together made the TARDIS a home before Jack showed up. He enhanced that sense of home, but he didn't create it. Nonetheless, I can't see a romantic relationship forming between the Doctor and Rose before Jack comes along. More than just adding another person to the dynamic of Team TARDIS, I think his presence adds another dimension to the Doctor and Rose's relationship.
What do I mean, specifically? I think that Jack gives Rose a new perspective on the Doctor. She begins to see him as a man, not just an alien. Jack, like the Doctor, is from a time and place with radically different technology and cultural norms than what Rose knows. Yet he is very clearly a man, with desires (in all senses of the word) and a past that hurts like broken glass and drives him in all he does. I think Rose begins to see that the Doctor is the same way, if less obviously so. She even uses their similarities to her advantage, pushing the Doctor to be better because of Jack. She keeps telling the Doctor through "The Doctor Dances" that she trusts Jack, and that he should too. In a way, asking the Doctor to learn to trust Jack is asking him to learn to trust himself. Jack was in terrible pain because of a loss (of two years of his life) and because of that, he went on to make a mistake that could cost untold lives. Where have we seen that before? Rose knows, and her efforts to get the Doctor to trust Jack not only resulted in "Everybody lives" but in a positive change in the Doctor.
In conclusion: Rose and the Doctor get along very well without Jack. But Jack's addition to the TARDIS team creates possibilities for their relationship that weren't possible before.
There's more here to unpack, but it's difficult because a lot of the change in the Doctor/Rose dynamic with Jack around is so hard to distill into words. All I can tell you is to rewatch the episodes and pay close attention. That's part of the fun of shipping the OT3: going back and reinterpreting what you thought you'd already understood.
"I Give Life": Jack and Rose
Rose likes and trusts Jack from the moment she lands in his arms in his stolen spaceship. Psychic paper isn't mind-reading; if Rose didn't trust Jack, she wouldn't have been so honest (and to such comic effect) on the psychic paper, revealing all of her thoughts. But we, the audience, know that about Rose. Jack just rescued her from great peril. He healed the rope burn on her hands, a minor injury he would have been perfectly within his rights to leave untouched. He's friendly and he has a nice smile. Of course she trusts him.
But consider it from Jack's point of view. He had two years of his memory robbed by his employers at the Time Agency, whom he should have been able to trust. He's been living as a con man for an unknown span of time since. In his world, there's no such thing as trust. Then he saves a young woman hanging from a barrage balloon, and she trusts him right away. It's spelled right out on the psychic paper, so clear that she doesn't hide her true feelings. A person who trusts without reservation: it must have been like a unicorn or a nymph falling from the sky into his lap. It's the sort of miracle that could make a jaded man believe again.
As I mentioned in the previous section, Rose trusts Jack so quickly because of his similarities to the Doctor. So it's no surprise that Rose and Jack have similar effects on each other. Rose believes Jack is a good man, which inspires him to become one. And in turn, Jack opens Rose's eyes to new truths about her fellow sapients. Over the course of Season 1, Rose expands her sphere of moral consideration. But the way Jack lives his gender and sexuality opens her eyes to a completely different culture and morality to hers. The way Jack lives his identity as a masculine omnisexual man, without apology or restraint, is very nearly impossible in the world Rose knows. I'm always struck by the look on her face when she finds that out about Jack in "The Doctor Dances". It's a revelation.
Yet there are differences between the Rose/Jack and the Rose/Doctor dynamics. Jack and Rose are open with each other, sillier and flirtier than Rose and the Doctor usually are. Their relationship also starts off more harmoniously than Rose and the Doctor's. One thing both have in common is they started off manipulating Rose. Jack tried to manipulate Rose into buying the worthless Chula wreck, thinking she was a Time Agent. The Doctor manipulated Rose by taking her to the fiery death of her planet on their first trip. If that wasn't an attempt to put her in her place by frightening her, I don't know what it was. Except the difference is that after his first attempt to manipulate Rose fails, Jack stops. He never does anything like that to her again. The Doctor keeps on doing it: threatening to kick her off the TARDIS if she doesn't agree with his moral judgments (The Unquiet Dead) and tempting her back onto the TARDIS with promises of wondrous destinations when she considers staying home with her family (World War Three). It takes the Doctor much longer than it takes Jack to treat her respectfully.
But if there's anything which shows the power of the love between Jack and Rose, it's what she did as the Bad Wolf. She had nearly infinite power, and she chose to do two things: destroy the Daleks that threatened the Doctor and the rest of the universe, and bring Jack back to life. Not only did she give him life, but she made sure that she could never lose him to Death again. And even though the Bad Wolf's gift was ultimately a curse rather than a blessing, it's so obvious that Jack doesn't hold Rose's actions against her. He doesn't show any bitterness toward her when the Doctor tells him how he became immortal, and the first thing he does when he's reunited with her is to hold her close and comfort her as the Doctor "regenerates" in "Journey's End."
And to wrap up this section, I'll throw in a bit of flirty banter between Jack and Rose, because it never gets old.
ROSE (looking at the hole Jack made in the wall with his sonic blaster)
Nice blast pattern.
JACK
Digital.
ROSE
Squareness gun.
JACK
Yeah.
ROSE
I like it.
"Nice blast pattern"? That may beat out even Jack's most cheesy pick-up lines! (Fic writers take note: Rose can flirt outrageously with the best of them.)
Old Soldiers Fading: The Doctor and Jack
I'll stick to the dynamics between the Ninth Doctor and Jack for now, because if I get too far into the Tenth Doctor and Jack, this section could become a meta all its own.
It's often said of the Doctor and Jack that they start off hostile and over time grow to trust each other. Yet I don't think that's quite true. For comparison, I point you to Adam. If anything, Adam's mistake was nowhere near as bad as Jack's. Yes, the information he left on his answering machine from the future could have changed the course of human history. But Jack's mistake very nearly exterminated the human race altogether. The Doctor puts Jack squarely in his place, pointing out his error with cold fury. But compare this to Adam. The Doctor barely even tries to point out Adam's error, because he knows Adam will never feel remorse for what he did. He just grabs Adam, hauls him into the TARDIS, and unceremoniously dumps him at home without even getting rid of the hole in his head.
So why did the Doctor do this to Adam, while he and Jack were bantering playfully about the size of their sonic tools within a matter of minutes? Compare Adam's and Jack's reactions when the Doctor accuses them of causing harm to people.
ADAM
It all worked out for the best, didn't it? You know, it's not actually my fault, because YOU were in charge -
JACK
That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it.
Both of them try to shift blame from themselves. But that's where the similarities end. Adam knows what he did caused harm, but he claims it "all worked out for the best" and even tries to blame the Doctor. He never claims responsibility for anything until the Doctor produces incontrovertible evidence of wrongdoing. Jack comes clean about the con as soon as he sees the gas mask people and emphasizes the precautions he took to avoid harm. Though he repeatedly claims his con was harmless, it's obvious he knows on some level that it may have been his fault, otherwise he wouldn't have admitted what he did when he saw the gas mask people.
What's more, Adam has a sense of entitlement Jack doesn't have. Even after everything he did, Adam begs the Doctor and Rose to let him keep traveling with them. Jack is willing to give his life to correct his mistake, and doesn't expect for one moment to be rescued (witness the look of shock and wonder on Jack's face when he realizes they've come back for him at the end of "The Doctor Dances"). The Doctor can tell from the beginning that Jack has a conscience beneath his deceit and arrogance. Can you imagine the Doctor having this conversation with Adam a few minutes after meeting him?
JACK
Who has a sonic screwdriver?
DOCTOR
I do!
JACK
Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, "ooh, this could be a little more sonic"?
DOCTOR
What, you've never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?
The Doctor is defensive about his screwdriver. If Adam had made fun of the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor would have just sneered at him. When Jack mocks it, he's hurt. It's adorable.
But actions speak louder than words, of course. When the gas mask people are chasing them, they function as a seamless unit. The Doctor trusts Jack to cover their backs and not just his own. Even if he's not ready to admit it, he implicitly trusts Jack even before he teleports the Doctor and Rose out of the hospital to safety (to say nothing of putting his life on the line to save the day). And note that the Doctor is already keying in a materialization sequence before Rose asks him to go back to save Jack at the end. I wouldn't call the Doctor's attitude toward Jack hostile. After all, this is the Ninth Doctor we're talking about, who took Rose to the fiery doom of her planet on their first trip. With this standard in mind, their dynamic is downright friendly from the start.
The rapport between Jack and the Doctor is mostly subtextual, but no less powerful for that. Take this moment from "Boom Town", when Jack proposes a plan to take down Blon the Slitheen.
DOCTOR
Excuse me? Who's in charge?
JACK
Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir.
DOCTOR
Right. Here's the plan. (A beat.) Like he said. Nice plan.
The Doctor leads and Jack follows, but it's based on a bedrock of mutual respect. Jack lets the Doctor take charge, and in return the Doctor takes Jack's contributions seriously. More than that, the dynamic is playful. They both enjoy it. Another moment from "Boom Town": Rose and Mickey go off for drinks, and the Doctor watches them walk away hand in hand on the TARDIS' view screen. Jack senses the Doctor's wistful (perhaps even jealous) mood and approaches him, concerned, asking, "So, what's on?" It's a rhetorical question; Jack knows what's up. Blon interrupts before Jack can inquire any further, but you can tell he meant to talk it out with the Doctor.
Perhaps my favorite subtle yet powerful example of the bond between Jack and the Doctor is what happens immediately after Rose is "killed" by the Anne Droid. Both men are devastated, but the Doctor goes catatonic. So Jack defends the Doctor from all comers, despite his own grief, knowing without words that the Doctor needs to kept well away from the architects of this place of death.
JACK (brandishing a gun)
Back off! Don't you touch him! Leave him alone!
Then in prison, all the Doctor needs to say is, "Let's do it," and they immediately spring to action, working in perfect concert to overcome the guards and arm themselves for battle.
So why do the Doctor and Jack understand each other so well? Even before we learn more of Jack's backstory in Torchwood, it's obvious that Jack is a soldier. He didn't need to pose as a soldier for his con in 1941, but he did. The RAF coat looks as natural on him as a second skin. He has a sonic blaster and he knows how to use it. In "Boom Town" he rattles off his plan to corner Blon the Slitheen like a commander leading a squadron. In "The Parting of the Ways" he rallies a militia to fight the Daleks and leads them in a desperate last stand. When he faces death, it's with the defiance of a man who has faced death in battle many times before.
The Doctor, as we learn in "Dalek", is an old soldier too - though we can infer it from his clothing, his hairstyle, and his traumatized bitterness from the very beginning. Both he and Jack are on the same journey, though at different points: the long, bitter journey of unlearning the ways of war. They're both been shattered by it, one way or another, and both want to learn to be more than soldiers, men who can forge peace as well as swords. Jack is quicker to wield a weapon, as a bluff or in earnest, than the Doctor. I believe Jack would have set off the delta wave, in the Doctor's place. I don't say this as an indictment of Jack, but to point out his path from soldier to hero, which is different from the Doctor's, but has the same origin and destination.
How Did We Get Here (and where are we going)?
I've provided something of an overview of the trio's relationship in Season 1. It may strike you how much it deepens and develops over time. "The Doctor Dances" ends with Jack rattled, rescued from what he thought was certain death with moments to spare, and unsure of his new place in the universe. The Doctor and Rose certainly don't know what his role in Team TARDIS will be; they're probably not even sure if he's going to stay with them at all. By the series 1 finale, we see a very different dynamic, one of mutual trust, respect, loyalty, devotion, and (as I've argued) love. We know that only two adventures happened between "Boom Town" and "Bad Wolf" (a trip to Raxacoricofallapatorius followed by Kyoto, Japan in 1336), so judging by the finale and by what we see in "Boom Town", the vast majority of this character development and evolution in the relationship must have happened between "The Doctor Dances" and "Boom Town".
So now we're faced with a glaring question: what happened between "The Doctor Dances" and "Boom Town"? I'm far from the first to ask this question. In fact, if I were to typeset and bind into volumes every fanfiction that's been set between those two episodes, it would fill a shelf on my bookcase. I'm not going to tell you exactly what happened, because I'm not the authority on all things OT3, and besides, it would take away the fun. But I will list the changes that must have occurred between "The Doctor Dances" and "Boom Town".
1. Jack accepted the Doctor's authority as leader.
We saw the beginnings of this in "The Doctor Dances" after the Doctor swapped Jack's blaster with a banana and told the story of the destruction of the weapon factories at Villengard; that certainly put Jack in his place, at least temporarily. But by "Boom Town" Jack is happy to follow the Doctor's lead, despite his own alpha male tendencies.
2. The Doctor and Jack came to an understanding about Rose's safety.
Namely, that it takes precedence. In "The Parting of the Ways" it takes Jack a minute to catch on that the Doctor sent Rose home, but once he does, he's not at all surprised. He doesn't question the decision for a moment. This leads me to strongly suspect that Jack and the Doctor came to an agreement at some point that no matter how bad things got, they would always prioritize Rose's safety.
3. Jack learned that the Doctor is a Time Lord and his ship is a TARDIS.
We can infer a lot from Jack's reaction in "The Parting of the Ways" when the Doctor talks about the Time War. He looks surprised and says, "I thought that was just a legend." That means Jack has heard of Time Lords and Daleks before - as legend. In "Boom Town" he clearly knows what the TARDIS is, so he must know the Doctor is a Time Lord. Given that he'd only ever heard of Time Lords in legend before, this must have been a revelation fit to tilt Jack's world on its axis.
4. Jack gets a TARDIS key.
Now that's a real show of trust between the Doctor and Jack. Companions have to earn their keys. (In fact, my personal definition of a companion is anyone who has a TARDIS key.)
5. The Doctor taught Jack how to repair and fly (or help to fly, at least) the TARDIS.
This speaks volumes about the change in the Doctor and Jack's relationship. The Doctor loves the TARDIS. He's very protective of her. What's more, flying and repairing the TARDIS is complicated business. For the Doctor to let Jack help repair and fly the TARDIS, he has to both respect Jack's intelligence enough to think he can learn, and trust him enough to be kind with her, not to break any of her parts or fly her too roughly. He wouldn't let him get so involved with the TARDIS unless she liked him, and he treated her well. It has to mean a lot to the Doctor that the TARDIS lets him fly her. Lots of companions have been seen to assist the Doctor with flying here and there, but it's usually small things, with a lot of instruction from the Doctor. Jack seems much closer to the Doctor's equal when he helps to fly the TARDIS, like when he navigates her through enemy fire from the Daleks in "The Parting of the Ways". His rapport with the TARDIS is more analogous to (though by no means the same as) River's.
Analysis of a Scene: A Good Man Goes to War (knowing he won't come back)
Click to viewOR
http://youtu.be/R4uCkQv3Uxg
This is my favorite OT3 scene ever. I'm not sure I can watch it without tearing up at least a little. I also think it's earned more converts to the 'ship than anything else, so I'm going to devote a lot of time to analyzing this 35-second clip, which contains more emotion than some hour-long TV episodes I've seen. (I love this scene so much I've analyzed it before through a different lens; see this meta.)
I noticed that most of the comments on the YouTube video embedded above are about Jack's sexuality. These comments are entirely missing the point. If Jack were asexual, nothing about the scene would change. This is love, pure and simple. Jack is just the kind of person who expresses his feelings through actions - by touching them, and kissing them. He's about to go to his final battle, giving his life so that Rose might live, and the Doctor might save the universe from the Dalek scourge. And he does this knowing that if it weren't for them, he might never have become the kind of man who would sacrifice himself for a cause he believes in. They're his family, his saviors, his entire world. What could he possibly have said to encompass everything he felt in that moment?
The tension between what is said and unsaid is so present throughout the scene. When he first shows up, he smiles falsely, and so does the Doctor. Rose doesn't bother to hide her fear and worry. She reassures Jack that everything will be fine, but it's half-hearted; she doesn't fully believe it herself. But Jack can't let her lie to him, to herself. "Rose," he says, "you are worth fighting for." What he's saying is: you're worth dying for. I'm going to my death - I know it, you know it, the Doctor knows it. But I'm dying for you, and believe me when I say that it's worth it. For you, it's worth it. His gaze is focused, intense, his soul practically pouring out through his eyes, and though Rose closes her eyes through the kiss, Jack does not. He can't afford to close his eyes, not through these last moments, so few and precious. After the kiss, Rose presses her lips together, as if to preserve the feeling of his mouth on hers.
Now his attention turns to the Doctor, and his smile is real this time. The Doctor brought so much joy into his life, and he doesn't want to lose sight of that, even in this moment so dire. The Doctor returns the smile, just as truly, even laughing a little. Jack has brought him joy too. But now all smiles are gone, yielding to pure intensity. God, John Barrowman acts his heart out here: that look of reverence in his eyes, like he's looking at the only thing that's ever mattered to him. The kiss is more like a benediction than anything sensual, a pilgrim kissing a holy statue. Except it's more than that, because the Doctor isn't a statue; he's a person, and if I know him at all he probably doesn't think himself worthy of Jack's reverence. Yet he can't refuse it when it's so openly given from an unshielded heart, and in that way it's a mutual benediction: it's as much a blessing for the Doctor to receive this kiss as it is for Jack to give it. If there's one thing I wish were different about this scene, it's that we can't see the Doctor's face after Jack's kiss; the camera angle doesn't reveal it. I've long wondered what his reaction was.
But as usual, body language tells a tale that words and facial expressions can't fully convey. Jack's hands have always been expressive: recall when he flashed the "whatever" sign at Mickey, or when he gestured excitedly while telling that silly story in the Cardiff restaurant, or when he was geeking out over Blon Slitheen's "pan-dimensional surfboard", his enthusiasm showing in his gestures. Jack's hands are like poetry in this scene. First he comes in, his arms swinging, then they still as he begins speaking to the Doctor and Rose. Then his hands come up to cup Rose's cheeks, so gently, framing her face as if to commit it to memory, knowing he will never see it again. After the kiss, he keeps his hands cradled together for a moment, the fingertips touching, as if he's trying to keep something from slipping through his fingers
"Wish I'd never met you, Doctor," he says, pointing at him for emphasis. He cups the Doctor's cheeks, too, framing a smile as broad as any he's ever given Jack - like a parting gift, one last glimpse of his smile Jack can keep as he goes to his death. Now watch: after he kisses the Doctor, he doesn't break contact. He runs his left hand down from the Doctor's cheek to his shoulder, then reaches out with his right hand to Rose's shoulder. In this moment, he is a physical symbol of what he represents within the triad: a circuit, a bridge connecting Rose and the Doctor. A human, like Rose, mortal and fragile and fallible, but also a time traveller and a weary old soldier, like the Doctor.
And then the bridge is broken.
If You Came This Way Again: the OT3 after Season 1
If you came this way,
Taking the route you would be likely to take
From the place you would be likely to come from,
If you came this way in may time, you would find the hedges
White again, in May, with voluptuary sweetness.
- from "Little Gidding" by T.S. Eliot
I am tempted to simply refer you all to this excellent meta by sensiblecat and move on. But I've ridden the teal deer this far, so I'll keep going in the hope I'll have an idea or two about Doctor/Jack/Rose after season 1 that hasn't already been said.
Nine/Jack/Rose is the most common incarnation of OT3 fic. It appeals because of the lovely dynamic of season 1 and because Nine/Jack/Rose fic can be canon-compliant or nearly so. (I've had IRL non-fandom friends who watch Doctor Who tell me they're convinced a threesome happened at some point before the S1 finale!) Writers who want to expand the OT3 beyond the scope of season 1 can either write in an AU where the finale never happened, or have something different in the finale happen so that Jack isn't left behind. OT3 past season 1 poses logistical problems, of course, with Jack at Torchwood and Rose in an alternate universe.
But logistical problems never stopped a determined shipper. The real problem is the loving dynamic of the OT3 was shattered by Jack's abandonment on Satellite Five. This means a sea change in both the Doctor and Rose. The Doctor abandoned Jack because he was afraid of what he had become. He was a fixed point, something new in the universe, and the Doctor let his fear overcome his love. What a change that is, from the theme of love overcoming fear. And the Doctor's not the only one who changed for the worse. It beggars belief that the moral, loving Rose of season 1 who always challenged the Doctor on his bullshit would let him get away with his glib, patronizing response to her question of where Jack had gone. Yet she accepts this answer and never brings him up again. This is a man who went off to his death fighting for her. This is a man who she loved so much that as the Bad Wolf she couldn't bear for him to die ever again.
And this isn't just a change in how the Doctor and Rose feel about Jack. The pattern continues throughout season 2, with the Doctor acting callous and cruel and Rose never calling him out on it. Rose let the Doctor get away with bringing down Harriet Jones out of pure spite. The Rose let him make an enemy of Queen Victoria. Perhaps even worse, the Doctor lied to Rose about what happened to Jack and never told her the truth about what she did as the Bad Wolf, which she has every right to know. This is a betrayal of her trust in him. Something fundamental to the Doctor and Rose's relationship shattered.
It's clear in "Utopia" that Jack still loves the Doctor, even after all the years of waiting, and the betrayal, and the knowledge that the Doctor left him behind on purpose. I think it's possible that the Doctor still loves Jack. By the time Jack turns down the Doctor's offer to travel with him again, they seem to have come to some kind of understanding, if not forgiveness. They spent a year together under the tyranny of a madman, after all. They struggled together, worked in concert to defy the Master. Strange as it sounds, I think that may have done something to heal their relationship.
Still, any OT3 set after Season 1 has to account for all the damage this trio has undergone, especially after Doomsday and Journey's End and everything that means for the Doctor and Rose. Journey's End, in particular, is unfair to Rose, taking away her choice of which universe she wants to live in and which Doctor she wants to be with.
That said, here are some approaches to putting the OT3 back together, with examples.
1. Face the wounded relationship head-on and have the characters work through all the hurt they've done to each other.
A tough choice, sure to bring out a lot of angst and hurt/comfort. Examples:
The Judas Series by wendymr
The Twins 'verse by canaana
Reclamation by ponygirl
2. AUs in which Ten and Rose come back for Jack.
These can range from a very happy arrangement to an angstfest, depending on how long it takes them to come back for him, and/or how the Doctor treats him afterward. Example:
At Thirty Paces by rallalon
3. An OT3 far in the future.
Sometimes with Eleven, sometimes with an author-created later incarnation of the Doctor, these fics go with the philosophy that "time heals all wounds". Eleven is less broken and cruel than Ten, and perhaps after so much time apart, the OT3 can learn to forgive each other. Examples:
Everywhere and Always by sahiya
Nor Am I Out of It by canaana
4. Rose and the duplicate Doctor find Jack in Pete's World.
Rose and the duplicate Doctor have no easy road to happiness together, no matter how you look at it. The Doctor's bound to be going through a massive identity crisis, and Rose has to grapple with the loss of the original Doctor and how he didn't let her choose for herself. But just as he did in season 1, Jack - or an alternate version thereof - can be the bridge and balance between them, helping Rose and the Doctor overcome their wounds and be together. Alternatively, some of these fics are set after Rose and the clone!Doctor have sorted out their relationship and are quite fluffy. Examples:
Join Us by aibhinn
Jed and Friends by DameRuth
Left Behind by azriona
5. Rose meets an alternate Doctor and an alternate Jack in Pete's World.
Quite different, because Rose has a lot of emotional baggage of her own in these stories: the pain of seeing someone so very like, but not quite, her Doctor and her Jack, and later the guilt of coming to love them when the ones she knew are still out there somewhere. Still, it's been very well done. Examples:
Through a Glass Darkly by wendymr
Falling for You, All Over Again by jinni
The Threads That Weave
I thought I might conclude this ship manifesto by telling you about some of the themes that come up again and again in OT3 stories. A big part of why I love OT3 fic so much is that the themes that come up in them really speak to me.
Trust
I list this first because it's the first question that faces the Doctor and Rose about Jack: can we trust him? But it's not just about Jack. Can Rose trust the Doctor, after he's manipulated her and lied to her and taken away her freedom to choose? Can Jack trust the Doctor after he's abandoned at Satellite Five? Can the Doctor trust Jack and Rose with his hearts, when they've been broken so many times over the centuries? This theme is the centerpiece of many an OT3 fic. Example:
Sálvame by dark_aegis and wendymr
Forgiveness
Sometimes trust is broken, and the breach has to be forgiven. Can Jack forgive Rose for making him immortal? Can he forgive the Doctor for leaving him behind? Can he forgive himself for almost destroying human history for the sake of a con? Can Rose forgive herself for almost destroying history for the sake of her father? Can the Doctor forgive himself for the Time War? Forgiveness can be a journey, as epic and difficult as Rose's pan-dimensional quest to find the Doctor in the Season 4 finale. Example:
Suture by Fahye
Tolerance and acceptance
Jack, Rose, and the Doctor are very different people. For the relationship to hold, they all have to accept one another and the backgrounds they come from. Rose is shocked to learn of Jack's omnisexuality, and of the Doctor's past as a soldier in the Time War. Can she accept them for who they are? They also encounter all kinds of planets and cultures in their travels. How will they react differently to the beings they encounter? Can they overcome their prejudices? Example:
Thy Willing Soul by yamx
Fate and prophecy
For a science fiction show, the first season of Doctor Who is very mystical. Glimpses of Rose's fate appear everywhere in the form of "Bad Wolf". Does destiny play a role in the events of season 1? Was it all fated to happen, or can events go differently? Examples:
She Burns Like the Sun, And I Can't Look Away by wonderfulchild
Happily (not) ever after by HonorH
Memory
Jack struggles with the missing two years the Time Agency took from him. How does he know who he is, with a two year gap in his history? The Doctor is burdened with his memories from the Time War. After the S1 finale, Rose doesn't remember her time as the Bad Wolf - and the Doctor never enlightens her. Can memories lost be reclaimed? Are they defined by their memories, or can they forge themselves anew despite them? Examples:
Now Go, Cat, Go by RoachPatrol
Everyone You Know by cherryice
Redemption and transformation
Over the course of S1, Rose transforms from a shop girl adrift in her own life to a purpose-driven young woman who will do anything to fight for what is right. The Doctor is on a journey of redemption after he destroyed his own people in the Time War. Jack redeems himself from an amoral con man to a hero who gives his life for a cause he believes in. I think this is the most powerful story of all. Example:
Notes from the (temporal) Journey by Dune
Acknowledgments
Doctor Who Transcripts, TARDIS Wiki, and the good people at
betterwiththree. You are what I love best of Doctor Who fandom.
This entry was crossposted at http://joking.dreamwidth.org/95013.html.