Comments | satanassa: Review: The House of the Dead

satanassa

Review: The House of the Dead

Jul 13, 2011 22:38

I'm all jittery, shivering and shaking, even though it's 22 Celsius in my home. My thoughts are all in a whirl and I've read about 300 comments about this radio play. Time for me to add my 2 cents!
( SPOILERS )

review, jack/ianto, reaction, torchwood, bbc, discussion, radio play, ianto

Comments 8

ella_caramella July 13 2011, 21:57:01 UTC

The thing I really really liked, and I don't care if it was included in the fanservice or not as to me was a great f*ck you to RTD anyway if they really felt the need to fix *that* as well - at the risk of appearing as if they actually listen to us! - was the confirmation that Ianto's father was indeed a tailor!

Take that, Rotten Turd Dumber! Ianto wasn't a liar!!!

satanassa July 13 2011, 22:09:24 UTC

Yes, I liked the portrayal of Ianto's Dad -- fussing over the cut of the suit and all that! It says 'Master Tailor', so go (bleep) yourself, Rustbucket.

snarry_fan7 July 13 2011, 22:23:23 UTC

I'm very fucking happy that Gwen isn't in it, lol. When I finally listen to the play, I'm sure I'm going to feel somewhat happy with it, but I also have a feeling that I'm going to be a little pissed off with it. More one than one review says that it also feels a bit like a "screw you, Ianto fans" from RTD. I'm with you; it's not just the whole Jack and Ianto's relationship thing, but it's really how they treated Ianto in CoE and everything. At least there's no mention of that wretchedness in the play. Ianto by far has always been my favorite character and his absence is one of the many reasons why I'm refusing to watch (or acknowledge) Miracle Day.~Sophia

satanassa July 13 2011, 22:32:12 UTC

i think the play is definitely worth listening to -- if only for Gareth's marvellous voice and the interesting way that JB and he act with each other.

It's not really a 'screw you Ianto fans'. It's more like a 'Okay, okay, sheesh you Ianto fans never shut up! Here you go, here's the lovely ending and lovey-dovey stuff that you wanted. NOW are you happy?'

snarry_fan7 July 13 2011, 22:43:40 UTC

His voice is so lovely; I could listen to it for hours, lol. I do like how he and JB act with each other; they seem to work well together.

I see what you mean about the play being a sort of an appeasement attempt by them. Kind of works, but kind of doesn't. True is gives what we want, mostly, but not quite in the way we wanted it.~Sophia

charie_caphine July 14 2011, 15:04:40 UTC

There was NO GWEN! Think about that! Oh frabjous day, callooh callay ....

=))) So with you there!

I got the strongest impression that, whatever the people who sanctioned these plays figured, James Goss hated CoE and jumped at the chance to set straight as much of its rubbish as possible, even though he couldn't bring Ianto back, especially seeing how there's no Ianto in MD (and there's still a chance that MD will turn out okay).

theviciouslily August 13 2011, 11:14:54 UTC

I must say I am feeling sorely tempted, but I don't want to feel like I'm taking the bait. Having said that, I'll still probably end up listening to it in spite of myself.

Nevertheless, I don't think it'll ever be able to eclipse "The Dead Line" monologue in my mind. It just felt so honest and raw, and it would have been the perfect build-up to CoE if they were going to take in the direction of Ianto living but Jack still leaving after everything that happened. Such is life.

To be honest, I don't think the show can ever really recover such an unwarranted character assasination, in every sense of the word. Making all the other characters expendable to prop up the Sue is the sort of thing you expect to see on Fanfiction.net, not the BBC.

MD is basically CoE IN AMERICA! The only thing keeping me watching it is the dim, naive hope that they might address something, anything that Jack's done properly. I'm afraid one line obliquely referencing Stephen just doesn't cut it for me.

satanassa August 13 2011, 17:18:41 UTC

Seeing that Jane Espenson seems to have turned into a clone of RTD (and we know how reliable and consistent RTD is, hah!), I wouldn't advise anyone to hold their breath for something meaningful out of Miracle Dung.

I won't say this play is bad. It's definitely worth listening to, if you're interested in what they do with Jack and Ianto's relationship. It's just that after flinging so much muck at the fans, having a worthwhile episode between Jack and Ianto only in a relatively obscure radio play is pretty insulting. What prevented them from showing something like this in the TV series? Oh wait, I forgot -- the TV series was all about the wonderful, amazing Gwen!