A few Torchwood observations...

[fajrdrako]

I watched "Cyberwoman", "Greeks Bearing Gifts" and "They Keep Killing Suzie" tonight with walkingowl and Donna.

A few observations:

(1) Gayle pointed out that the item I have been so casually referring to as "Ianto's stopwatch" was tossed to him by Jack at the beginning of the glove scene, which explains why Ianto says, "I still have the stopwatch" - meaning, "I still have your stopwatch." So it is... it was Jack's stopwatch, and a very Jack-like thing for him to own. Somehow this just adds to the sexiness of it, and I would like to think Ianto has kept the stopwatch ever since. Though they could, I suppose, pass it back and forth.

(2) I noticed that Mary quotes Coleridge and that reminded me that Sarah Jane's alien friend, apparently from the same planet or race, was a poet. So it seems that it's an alien culture that values poetry. I wonder whether we'll see them again.

(3) Though Suzie seems to have a love/hate attitude towards Gwen, it's interesting that she seems to take it for granted that Jack loves Gwen. Yet she never asks Gwen if she's sleeping with Jack, which (to my mind) implies that she knows Gwen wasn't, and that she never had sex with Jack herself. I see the love triangle of Jack/Gwen/Suzie as being the psychologically significant one, not Owen/Gwen/Suzie.

(4) At first I saw it as a contradiction, but I love it more each time I see the episodes: that in "Cyberwoman", Lisa talks to Owen about their shared camping experiences, while in "Countricide" Ianto says he never liked camping. I like all the possible implications of this. After all, a dog peed on their tent.

(5) Interesting that Jack let Toshiko destroy the pendant. We discussed that a little after the episode, and I think it bolsters my theory that Torchwood's mandate (as described in the charter) is nothing like Jack's personal agenda, and he is using Torchwood for his own purposes.

(6) I have noticed the many references to something moving/lurking/coming in the dark, which originally didn't make much of an impression at all. I wrote it off as general spooky atmosphere.

(7) The more I watch, the more the characters seem well-drawn, with carefully set-up motivations and subtle revelations of purpose and character. Interactions that seemed mysterious first time through seem both clear and significant now. The plots don't become more clear - I think some of them really could have used better editing - but the characterization does.

(8) I continue to find the Jack/Gwen relationship extremely interesting. Gwen doesn't annoy me at all this time through, perhaps because I know what to expect from her.

(9) Apparently the line "Guess you aren't from around these parts" is from Oklahoma!

(10) I love the way in "Cyberwoman" Jack is so clearly a soldier fighting a war, while his team is made up of civilians dealing with an emergency. Different attitudes. I really love Jack in his episode: his anger and love towards Ianto (including the kiss), his determination, his protectiveness... his use of the pterodactyl as a weapon. His willingness to die (several times) to save the others. His unwillingness to say whether he's ever loved anyone that much, but willingness to talk to Gwen about his feelings on life and death.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I want to reply to all of this and I have neither the time or brainpower to do so.

Since I love discussing all of this, I would urge you to come back later!

the more I watch of Torchwood, the less Gwen bothers me. I still don't *like* her, and I don't think I'm going to, but the more sense she makes to me and the less she irritates the hell out of me.

Sometimes I find I'm liking Gwen in spite of myself. I don't approve of her, particularly, because she doesn't use the brains she was born with, but I find her role and her relationships interesting.

Anyway, I'm glad if she's annoying you less!

Jack in my mind *IS* a solider. Not just in Cyberwoman, but in general.

Yes, the more I see, the more I see it that way. Especially since we now know he was in the military (and in a war) at a young age. It comes through frequently - and I always loved that moment in Boom Town when the Doctor says, "Waaait a minute, who's in charge her?" and Jack snaps into military mode, "Yes, sir! whatever you say, sir!" and the Doctor says, "What he said..." It's a tease, but a tease that reveals a lot of the character and attitudes of both of them, and reminds us that both of them have a military background - though what a military background actually consists of when you're a Time Lord is not entirely clear to me.