Torchwood; break my heart. No, really. It's cool. Go ahead.

[teand]

Comments

[feather_autant]

I can't bring myself to watch. I honestly don't think my heart could take it. :(

[teand]

It's good solid storytelling. My heart might have wanted happily ever after but my head can really appreciate what they did. Everyone acted like adults, they didn't lie to each other, they didn't talk at cross purposes, there was no artifical evoking of angst.

And heck, fanfic can fix anything. *g*

[alicambs]

It made me cry, but it was so damn good I forgave it everything!

[teand]

For all its faults, that was damned good storytelling!

And I cried too. On the train, watching on my mini. It was a bit embarrassing. *g*

[wishfulaces]

...Yeah. Within the premise that they apparently set up, in order to make things turn out the way they did and Jack leave, those deaths had to happen. (Not that I necessarily agree with a lot of the premise & plot points, but you said it much more coherently than I did.) I think your second point about Ianto's death is the stronger in that case, though, because they'd already killed off two main characters. Maybe not the main ship--though I don't know that the production staff saw Jack & Ianto as the main ship--but they'd already shown anyone can die.

And yes, this series most definitely cemented my Gwen-and-Rhys love. I honestly spent the entire thing terrified Rhys was going to die and remain relieved that he didn't.

[teand]

Ah, but Tosh and Owen died heroically. They weren't "anyone" at the time of their deaths, they were heroes. Their deaths had meaning and purpose. Ianto just... died. As a man, not a hero. THAT was why I was terrified we were going to lose Rhys. They didn't need to set it up, he could just... die.

[mz_bstone]

Hmmm.

Life is messy. People are messy. We do bad things and wrong things and we screw the hell up and people get hurt and people die and there is suffering.

Which makes those moments, those grace notes of love and light and trust and beauty shine, make them matter. I'm willing to weep at the end, if I can look back and say, "But this was beautiful!"

B

[teand]

In my experience, British television is much more willing to be messy. Like life is messy.

"Jack's grandson had to die"

[true_brit]

sort of turning #2 around: I think Ianto had to die in order for Jack's killing of Steven to be viable. A live Ianto---just the very fact of him---would have rendered Jack incapable of doing it, IMO. I do see the "why" of Ianto's death even as I rail and weep over the OMG:::flail:::unfairness of it.

Re: "Jack's grandson had to die"

[teand]

Or even worse, if Ianto was alive and Jack killed Steven and Ianto couldn't cope with what Jack was capable of and walked away... Dead is better. Fandom can retrofit death but that kind of a character decision, not so much.

Re: "Jack's grandson had to die"

[true_brit]

I'm looking to fandom to build a better future. Gimme a few months, and I might be sufficiently emotionally stable to sit down and read some of it. I'm too fragile right now ;-)