Torchwood: Captain Jack's kisses...

[fajrdrako]

This YouTube video made my day: top ten john barrowman kisses. What fun! But the video-maker, xtorchwoodx, didn't make the same picks I would have. My two favourite Jack-kisses are missing - and if they're in order of preference, I'd change the order radically. Here's my comments on xtorchwoodx's list:

1. I do love the moment in which he kisses Gwen's hair here - I love it when Jack is being tender - I imagine it's from Torchwood 2x09, "Something Borrowed"?
   
2. Jack kissed the Doctor and Rose in Doctor Who 1x13, "The Parting of the Ways". I've heard John Barrowman describe Jack's kiss here as 'brotherly' but it seems nicely erotic to me. I love it becuase this reflects my favourite Jack pairing, and it's a beautiful moment. But it's very much a good-bye kiss. Well, two good-bye kisses. Jack knows he is about to die. But his love for the Doctor and Rose, and his lack of regrets, is clear.
   
3. John and one of the British Marias.
   
4. John and Scott. More a hug than a kiss, really. For a kiss alone I'd have picked the Gay Pride one. But. Lovely anyway.
   
5. John and another British Maria.
   
6. Captain Jack Harkness and Captain John Hart. Barrowman and Marsters. Classic!
   
7. John and a third British Maria.
   
8. This is very funny: xtorchwoodx calls this "John and some random woman". The 'random woman' is Jenny McShane, his female lead in Shark Attack: Megalodon, an actress so talentless that no one will ever remember her name. Not even me - I looked it up. But that shower scene... Well. By far the best scene in the movie. Utterly hot. The whole scene used to be on YouTube, but was removed 'for copyright reasons' - spoilsports! Can't see why, when there are lots of other scenes from that (terrible) movie up there, most of them pictures of the silly papier maché shark.
   
9. John and a Canadian Maria. I thought at first this was Elicia, the winner, but no, I think it's Allie. Whom I liked. Guess Barrowman did, too. Love the way he gropes her ass. Love the way she loves it.
   
10. The kiss between Jack and Ianto in Torchwood 2x03, "To The Last Man". It's lovely, but it isn't my favourite Jack/Ianto kissing scene.

Here is my list, some of them the same as xtorchwoodx's choices:

1. Jack kisses the Doctor in "Parting of the Ways". Classic, beautiful, and my favourite of Captain Jack's many relationships.
   
2. Captain Jack hugs and kisses Estelle in Torchwood 1x04, "Small Worlds".
   
3. Captain Jack kisses Ianto on the forehead in Torchwood 2x05, "Adam". So very tender. With this scene, I thought I understood their relationship.
   
4. The shower scene in Shark Attack: Megalodon. It doesn't matter that the rest of the movie is crap and Barrowman is prettier than his leading lady. That scene is hot.
   
5. John kisses the Canadian Maria contestant.
   
6. Time Agents Captain Jack Harkness and Captain John Hart kiss when they meet again in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang".
   
7. Captain Jack kisses Ianto after Lisa's attack in "Cyberwoman".
   
8. Captain Jack kisses Rose's hand in Doctor Who 1x09, "The Empty Child". This turns me to lust-filled mush every time I see it.
   
9. John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd kiss at The Hub convention in London, 2008. Minute 2:04 of this slideshow. No, I wasn't there. It's not on film. I've only seen the photos. So cute.
   
10. Torchwood's Captain Jack Harkness kisses the other Captain Jack Harkness in Torchwood 1x12, "Captain Jack Harkness".

Have I forgotten anything worth adding? The nice moment in which John Barrowman and Eve Miles kissed on camera during the shooting of an episode (or were they in character as Jack and Gwen?) is nice, too.

So many good scenes!

Comments

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

The kiss from The last man between Jack and Ianto. Loved that one.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's beautiful. Truly beautiful!

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

Other than Jack/Nine, which is more of an emotional payoff, I do think the best kiss qua kiss (and also quite an emotional punch) was Jack/Jack in Captain Jack Harkness.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Jack/Nine, which is more of an emotional payoff

So it is: a whopper. And it was set up since "The Empty Child", too - by which I mean, the story developed from their first meeting.

he best kiss qua kiss (and also quite an emotional punch) was Jack/Jack in Captain Jack Harkness

It's gorgeous. But I think that whole story is the best writing Torchwood ever had. There are a few other episodes that are very well written (though still in the minority), but that one had excellent structure and pacing and a strongly emotional climax - as well as fairly deep characterization for several characters.

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

There's also the kiss from End of Days.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's beautiful!

Isn't it great to have so many gorgeous kisses to chose among?

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be able to choose.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Luckily we don't have to choose - we can just enjoy them all!

[ladyoflisquill.livejournal.com]

Oh I forgot about Estelle. Lovely scene.

For me the best one has to be Jack/Jack. It's not just the kiss itself but the whole storyline. The fact that this is not only the last time they will see each other but the last night the real Jack has to be himself and actually connect with another person. It breaks my heart every time.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I agree with every word. The real Jack is so very real - so convincing in his character and situation - and you can see so well how it's tearing our Jack to pieces. A wonderful episode. So well set up.

Not only that, but I also love the subplot of the friction between Ianto and Owen.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

And it was set up since "The Empty Child", too - by which I mean, the story developed from their first meeting.

That's absolutely true. I remember watching POTW and actually knowing Jack was going to kiss him goodbye, even when other things about the story faked me out (I totally was taken in by the Doctor "fooling" Rose into the TARDIS).

But I think that whole story is the best writing Torchwood ever had.

I would agree. It stands out by quite a ways to me - there are others that I sort of like (Adrift was good, if difficult to watch - I admire it more than like it; Small Worlds had a great atmosphere; Ghost Machine had a promising premise but petered out), but CJH is the only one I really feel like watching again.

Strangely, even though JB tends to act sexually toward everyone, I have to admit, Nine and CJH are the only men with whom I've really felt Jack had chemistry. He does have insane chemistry with Gwen, which is kind of unfortunate, but I've just never felt anything with Ianto, who continues to be an empty space to me, even when he's being snarky. It's like he has that "don't notice me" field that they had in Sound of Drums. He had a little more with John Hart, I thought, but they didn't really have the connection I thought the story demanded, I felt.

Even more strangely, even though he's apparently straight, I can name more men that CE has had chemistry with than JB... Speaking of which, I rewatched Othello over Christmas, and wow.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

(I totally was taken in by the Doctor "fooling" Rose into the TARDIS)

So was I - but that was one of the reasons it was so brilliant. It was utterly convincing. And Rose didn't look stupid because she fell for it - of course she did -we all did.

It stands out by quite a ways to me - there are others that I sort of like (Adrift was good, if difficult to watch - I admire it more than like it; Small Worlds had a great atmosphere; Ghost Machine had a promising premise but petered out)

"Ghost Machine" lost track of itself somewhere along the way - it wasn't about ghosts, or even about the past affecting the future, it was about one particular murder. A lack of structure to the stories, and a lack of consistent characterization, has bedevilled Torchwood from the beginning - and I'm not sure why, because these are fairly elementary storytelling mistakes that would be easy to correct. I conclude that Chris Chibnall doesn't care, and I think he should care.

"Captain Jack Harkness" was a brilliant story in itself, and true to character, and built on what we knew before, and just - worked in every way.

Others I thought were unusually well written: "Out of Time", "Meat", "Adam". "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was a near-miss (though a lot of fun in itself) which then was sort of ruined (or at least misshapen) by "Exit Wounds" - and the problem in KKBB was with the writing, not the performances. I too admired "Adrift" but didn't like it as much as I might have - though there were individual scenes I liked. And I wished they'd explained the central point of the plot: why did Jack not want Gwen to know what he was doing at Flat Holm? Clearly there were strong feelings there (on his part, on Ianto's, and on Gwen's) but we were never told what they were, or why. I can come up with explanations, easily, but that's not the point: I wanted the story to explain as it went, or to make it clear in the end. Because it wasn't really about the fate of the peole who fell into the Rift, it was about the clash of wills between Jack and Gwen, with Ianto inexplicably in the middle of it.

Strangely, even though JB tends to act sexually toward everyone, I have to admit, Nine and CJH are the only men with whom I've really felt Jack had chemistry.

I thought he had chemistry with James Marsters, at least in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", and I don't know what to make of "Exit Wounds", which I thought was a storytelling mess.

He does have insane chemistry with Gwen, which is kind of unfortunate, but I've just never felt anything with Ianto, who continues to be an empty space to me, even when he's being snarky.

Yeah. It's a pity. Here I'm handed this nice sexy relationship on a slash-filled platter, and it isn't doing much for me. This is all right (there's compensation all over the place, and I still have Jack/Nine to play with).... A case in point is the end of "End of Days" when Jack kisses Ianto, which ought to be a magnificent moment, both romantic and sexy (and resolving what came before), but it is totally overshadowed by the hug and forgiveness Jack gives Owen, which breaks my heart every time I see it. I also believe Ianto is a different person in each episode, and he never quite seems to resolve himself into what I want him to be.

I got more sense of Ianto's feelings for Jack in his brief conversation with Martha than I ever got in his scenes with Jack themselves - except perhaps in "Cyberwoman", where Ianto's emotions were hypercharged but the story isn't about their sexual or personal relationship at all.

And I thing Jack and Gwen positively sizzle together. I love the way Jack acts with certain women - I think his relationship with Toshiko is both sweet and sexy, and the female Companions of the Doctor, and Swanson, and - well.

I hope season 3 gives us something more. I keep wanting to like Ianto a lot more than I do.