Torchwood: reconsideration of "End of Days"...

[fajrdrako]

I've always had numerous problems with "End of Days", even though the last five minutes are my favourite five minutes in the whole of Torchwood so far. You just have to get to that point, first.

So... I think I have it largely, though not completely, sorted out in my head.

My primary problem has always been that we have twelve episodes of Torchwood sorting out a growing solidarity between Jack and his team, and in the thirteenth episode they betray him, for rather flimsy reasons, depending on each character. I have no problem with Owen in "End of Days": his motivation, his character, and the circumstances all dovetailed perfectly to make him act as he did. But the others? Why did their close, caring relationships with Jack evaporate so suddenly?

I put it down to Bilis' psychic manipulation, but that doesn't sit well: it papers over the problem with onionskin and doesn't make sense, either. Some of the visions he sends them don't add up. Tosh's mother doesn't really say anything, for example - it's a true but empty prophecy. And though Ianto is shaken up by Lisa's appearance, he knows she is dead, and I don't think he believes her. So - ?

Okay, I've been thinking about their motivations.

(1) Jack. He's at the centre of it all. Clearly in "End of Days" he's upset, not himself, and letting out anger we haven't seen before. Took me a while to see the trigger, because he, of all of them, is not likely to be susceptible to the manipulations of Bilis - not directly.

I think the last straw for him is that time takes a turn he hadn't expected. His ace in the hole has always been that he knows his history, he knows (roughly) what is going to happen in the 21st century. And it isn't the Rift opening and swallowing everyone up and Abaddon stomping around amid the rubble. So he realizes that when Owen used the Rift machine, it changed the timeline, and he can't see where it's going, and doesn't know how to put it back on track. He's frightened and helpless - along the lines of how the Doctor was frightened and helpless in Father's Day.

And of course Jack is already distressed by loving and losing real!Jack, a situation set up by Bilis. If Jack had sent Owen and Tosh to check out the Ritz instead of going himself, so much would have been different. Thank goodness he didn't. We never would have got that wonderful dance and kiss in "Captain Jack Harkness". Not to mention the soulful looks and the lovely romantic flavour of it all... Sorry, I'm digressing.

(2) The others, for once, don't believe Jack. When he says that opening the Rift will make things worse they think he's wrong. They don't know how he knows, they want to believe otherwise, they have just been reminded in various ways that he's a man who doesn't exist and who keeps his identity a secret even from them - it's all very well for him to appear to know about the future and to know more than they do, but they don't know how he could know, and that makes all his assertions suspect.

Looking at their individual motivations for turning on Jack:

(3) Owen: no mystery. This has been brewing. He's self-destructive, obsessed with Diane and the possibility of finding her again, angry with the world and himself, jealous and resentful of Jack but still attracted to him and eager for his approval - which he is not getting, having done nothing to warrant approval recently. This is particularly true if you factor in the knowledge that Jack knows about his affair with Gwen, disapproves of it, and probably is angered by the way Owen dumped her so abruptly. Owen always thinks he knows better than the others anyway, and he doesn't like being told he can't do something. He's broken rules before. He's defied Jack before.

(4) Ianto. This was the worst case for me, because everything since "Cyberwoman" and maybe since "Everything Changes" has subtly but carefully built up the certainty that Ianto loves Jack. Deeply, personally and sexually.

The revelation here was in the transcript on the website that rivier so kindly transcribed for me yesterday. Ianto has had a shock too, if he has just learned from Tosh that Jack has kept two major things from him - as close as he thought they were, he didn't even know Jack's name and identity, or the major fact that he was immortal.

That would be a shock there - that his lover is keeping such major issues from him.

Second shock: that Jack was messing around with someone else, openly enough for Tosh to make a proclamation on his sexuality. I don't imagine Ianto really expected fidelity from Jack - but maybe he did? In any case, it's a big jump from the abstract to the actual, and Ianto might well feel slighted, betrayed, or forgotten. Maybe even to wonder whether Jack really cares about him. Certainly enough to question their closeness, to question his own value to Jack.

So Ianto is troubled - even more than usual - and the vision of Lisa, while maybe not significant in itself, would raise all his distress over her again.

I don't think any of this would affect Ianto's love and loyalty to Jack, but it would be enough to break his sense of unquestioning trust. If he doesn't believe that opening the Rift will cause harm; if he doesn't believe that Jack knows as much as he says he does - that would be enough to make him think that quite possibly opening the rift will sort everything out.

It isn't as if they have other options. Jack has said he has no idea what to do.

(5) Gwen. She is the most affected by Bilis, because she is psychically open anyway - look how easily and unconsciously she perceived Eugene. She needs to learn to build a few personal shields, like Jack has. She falls for every step of Bilis' manipulation except the cup of tea. She takes his hands, she believes his visions, she is so overwrought and hysterical in her concern for Rhys (and her guilt for how she has treated him) - well, she's prime material for irrational hysteria. No mystery there, either. I don't think better of her for it, but risk-taking, impulsive actions, and overblown emotionalism have always been her weaknesses.

(6) Toshiko. She remains the biggest mystery to me here: I wish I knew whether her mother was dead. Perhaps the scar on her forehead is a clue - perhaps it means either that she's dead, or she's really Harry Potter. The latter seems unlikely. So why would seeing a vision of her mother affect her judgement? Why did Bilis send that particular vision? It isn't as if her mother actually told her to open the Rift. But it seems Tosh interpreted it that way.

Tosh turned to Jack for comfort and advice at the end of "Greeks Bearing Gifts", and got both, without intrusion. She was so sympathetic to Jack with regard to real!Jack at the end of "Captain Jack Harkness". She sees Owen and Gwen pretty clearly, I think and of them all is the most likely to think rationally (if not clearly) and to trust Jack's judgement. Her weakness is her loneliness - but Bilis didn't target that, didn't offer her a return of a reformed and loving Mary Philoctetes. So why did Tosh listen to Owen and Gwen?

Fear? Tosh is has a lot of physical courage, but not so much when facing mysterious impending doom.

That's the best I can come up with there. Any other ideas?

Comments

[kikibug13.livejournal.com]

I actually wondered a lot at Ianto and Tosh as well. Toshiko is usually so... quiet, I have no idea what's going on in her head (that's why her opening up to Mary in the pub made so much sense to me).

I don't know if Tosh really listened to Owen and Gwen, or was waiting for somebody to break the status quo which was frightening her, for her to join in the effort (however misdirected). I have to watch the ep again, for her sake.

Ianto. I have absolutely no idea why he snarks at Jack so, and goes off with the rest. And I mean, no idea at all. I can understand his being shaken up by the whole thing (starting with the influx of... problems, going on with Jack firing Owen, then the appearance of Lisa and perhaps the death of Rhys - he seems one who can be affected by it, all things considered). But... why he would turn against Jack? Why he go against the grain of what he was standing up for, the very previous episode?! The thing that he shot Owen for?

Your ideas of his being angry at Jack... might account for his betrayal of Jack, but not for his betrayal of his work. I think. Though they do help *me* a little with the motivation of him. A little. *shakes head* You know, that's the reason I don't like Jack/Ianto. It wouldn't have mattered if the position of Ianto was filled by a similar-natured female character - it's not the m/m pairing. But the Free/Clinging-dedicated pairing that makes me sad.

Just maybe another watching could help with the idea. I'm not sure.

As you said, there is no really a problem to figure out Gwen's motivation.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Toshiko is usually so... quiet, I have no idea what's going on in her head

Toshiko is fun when she really does talk. I loved her monologue about the alien letter someone wrote to their son. I wish she had more dialogue, and more scenes where she interacts with people more than computers. As it is she often seems to just fit the needs of the plot in her choices, rather than her own interior consistencies.

that's why her opening up to Mary in the pub made so much sense to me.

Yes, but at the time I was horrified by her betrayal of Jack and of Torchwood. Talking about their work to a stranger in a bar - ! That doesn't show sound judgement.

Let me know what you conclude when you watch it again. Tosh just doesn't talk about her reasons for making the hcoice she makes - she doesn't even try to justify or explain herself.

why he would turn against Jack?

"Because he really thinks it will fix things" is the only answer I can come up with. He didn't think so in "Captain Jack Harkness" but perhaps Owen has convinced him - and he's too afraid of the alternatives. Scary to see Ianto side with Owen (whom he doesn't seem to have ever liked) against Jack (whom he loves).

it's not the m/m pairing. But the Free/Clinging-dedicated pairing that makes me sad.

Interesting point. I'd like to have more sense of what Ianto is thinking, and why he makes certain choices - including a little more elaboration on why he chose to proposition Jack in the first place. I can guess at 9/10 of it, but that still leaves an interesting area of doubt. I'd love to know if Ianto has any living family, if he had any close connections in his life besides Lisa.

[ataniell93.livejournal.com]

Gosh, gosh, I just hate that episode so much, I call it the episode where Russell Davies confuses himself with Erik Kripke and the makers of Godzilla all at once. I had problems with TW from the very beginning, logistical and continuity wise, but the last two eps just completely and utterly failed me.

I contrast TW with SPN a lot, because SPN didn't set out to be as spectacular and adult and intelligent as it is and TW was hyped across the boards as the daring, cutting-edge version of DW and instead it (for me) is DW with more nudity, which doesn't actually make it more adult. Sigh.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I had to look up Erik Kripke - the guy who behind Supernatural, right? Could you explain what you mean? Do you mean that "End of Days" doesn't have any rational explanation as to what is going on, or even what Abaddon is?

I love Torchwood, as you know, but I think it should have more clarity and focus in its writing and concepts. It's not nearly as well written as Doctor Who. It deserves better.

The second-last episode is my favourite. It doesn't fail me at all. It's "End of Days" where I have problems to wrestle with.

[ataniell93.livejournal.com]

What I mean by trying to be Kripke is that Davies does not do demonic near apocalypse well at ALL--he made Abaddon look like Godzilla with horns.

The second-last episode bugs the heck out of me, it just does. The way the kiss is staged is so weird. I expected gay sex on Torchwood to be handled like a natural event, not something that has to be at centre stage and is all too often the result of alien mind control.

My favourite TW ep is the one with the fairies.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Davies does not do demonic near apocalypse well at ALL--he made Abaddon look like Godzilla with horns.

I agree. I still cringe at the Abaddon scenes. On the other hand, I loved the way the Beast was depicted in the Doctor Who episode "The Satan Pit", but that episode was better written and better filmed.

I certainly like "Small Worlds", but my favourite TW episodes are "Captain Jack Harkness" (because it's so romantic), and "Cyberwoman", because it's so passionate.

[rivier.livejournal.com]

I don't feel too uncomfortable about the mass betrayal, I think for three reasons:

One, it's a cascade effect rather than a calculated, cold-blooded decision on the part of the team. Bilis destabilises them all to varying degrees, but he is by far more effective with Owen and Gwen, and I think that Tosh and Ianto do take a steer from those two in various ways - they are more intuitive followers, where Owen and Gwen are intuitive leaders.

So, to see both Owen and (especially?) Gwen absolutely lose faith in Jack, has a significant impact on the other two. If you think about it, neither of them is exactly leading the action - Ianto disobeys Jack on the steps of the autopsy room *after* Owen has decided to act, and Tosh simply follows him. They're all acting from emotion rather than intellect at this stage.

And I think Owen shooting Jack is a hysterical act, not a calculated one, so the 'betrayal' there is one by association, again, not intent in advance. Ianto in particular looks appalled at that point - but what's left then but to take action, not inaction? So they all have to get on and open the Rift... whoops!

Two is about how Jack is in this ep. The team have seen him be brusque before (Cyberwoman, Greeks Bearing Gifts - and worth noting that the two people who've been most closely affected by Jack's survival-at-all-costs mentality there were Ianto and Toshiko). They've seen him ready to sacrifice an immediate and innocent victim for the sake of a greater good that is clearly, for all of them, harder than it is for Jack to envisage (Small Worlds).

So I think that Jack's refusal to take any kind of redressing action, and his refusal to debate the issue, hits all of them very hard. It's the culmination of Jack doing his thing, which is to be condescending and superior at times - which he may have the right to be, but as he himself knows and comments to Tosh, he's not really a natural when it comes to being the boss and doing leader-like things. Jack doesn't have a game plan, but nor does he have any interest in wasting time reassuring and soothing his people, keeping them together.

And when his reaction to Owen arguing is to throw him right out of the team, the Hub, Torchwood - at a time when the world is going to pot - I honestly think that was a bad call on Jack's part. It flies right in the face of any sense that they should be a team who stick together and fight together no matter what. If Jack could forgive Ianto for Lisa, Tosh for Mary and Gwen for helping out Suzie, to throw Owen away for simply arguing the need to do something has to be a big shock for any sense of team coherence. In that sense, part of the team jointly and severally betraying Jack is that they have all seen him, apparently, willing and able to 'betray' one of them, for the crime of not following Jack slavishly.

Third thing, for me, is that End Of Days was all about one of Torchwood's big strengths, namely that they really are all - Jack included - a bit rubbish and human most of the time. These are people capable of pettiness, anger, jealousy, stupidity and great acts of small cruelty. Jack's reaction to the team bonding together against him is not to try to reason them out of it. Instead, he falls back on a quick recital of all the ways in which he thinks they are pathetic and hypocritical, a provocation speech.

And it gets to them! That's why, I think if you sat Ianto or Tosh down in a calm moment and asked them if they trusted Jack, the answer would be yes - as it would for Owen and Gwen. But End Of Days is the antithesis of a calm moment. Everything's falling apart, no-one is acting rationally. What, for instance, makes Jack so certain that (re-)opening the Rift really will be more catastrophic than leaving it to flail out of control? If he knows something concrete, this would be the time to share it with the team, and he doesn't.

So yeah, everyone gets to look pretty shabby and irrational in End of Days. And then they have to live with the consequences, and they're devastated by them. It's all so achingly, un-heroically human. I love it!

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it a mass betrayal. And it doesn't sit well with me. I'd call it a mutiny(I was once in the Horatio Hornblower fandom).
But I agree completely with you here and can't think of anything to add.
Jack is the worst kind of captain here. He dismisses his first mate, he recites everyone's mistakes, and worst of all, he admits he has absolutely no idea of what to do about the actual disaster, and blames all on his subordinates. He should be the last barrier between the danger and them, in their opinion, and he actually is, but somewhere during the confrontation, he has become a part of the danger himself in their eyes.
As for Ianto and Tosh, and especially Tosh, there're born leaders and born followers. Tosh is a born follower no matter how efficient she can be in her job. She's the quiet type who doesn't have strong opinions/reactions and can be easily influenced by others('Greeks Bearing Gifts'). And I don't know what Tosh's vision of her mother means: 'You shalt obey the ghost of your father/mother'? Definitely not the best way to convince a scientist which Tosh is. Not even Hamlet...
I'm never quite sure about Ianto though. Isn't he meant to be the one who clings to his affection in despite of all doubts? I'd like to put it down to Tosh's reveal about Jack to him in the transcript...though sometimes even this isn't completely satisfying for me. Maybe he thinks he did it wrong with Lisa and he should go against his affection this time...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'd call it a mutiny(I was once in the Horatio Hornblower fandom)

Me too, and yes, it is a mutiny, especially if you accept the metaphor that Jack is the Captain and Torchwood is the ship. H.M.S. Yorchwood? I like it!

He dismisses his first mate

I'm not sure I fully accept Owen as his first mate, but in the absence of other evidence, okay, I'll go with it... There's no evidence either way but I had always thought of Gwen as Jack's first mate.

somewhere during the confrontation, he has become a part of the danger himself in their eyes.

By making what they see as the wrong decision.

Tosh is a born follower no matter how efficient she can be in her job.

Agreed. And she wants or needs to feel that Jack is strong.

I don't know what Tosh's vision of her mother means: 'You shalt obey the ghost of your father/mother'? Definitely not the best way to convince a scientist which Tosh is.

Maybe that is the point: that her whole scientific/rationalist world view is being thrown off kilter and she doesn't know what to put in its place.

Isn't he meant to be the one who clings to his affection in despite of all doubts?

Until this point I'd have thought so. And he is clearly shocked and horrified when Owen shoots Jack, and yet still supports Owen in the open-the-Rift initiative. If I'd just seen someone shoot my lover, I wouldn't support him in anything at all! Did Ianto think that opening the Rift would save Jack, the way Gwen thought it would save Rhys?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

[Tosh and Ianto] they are more intuitive followers, where Owen and Gwen are intuitive leaders.

True, and at that moment, Jack isn't leading - he'd reacting. Owen is leading. They follow his lead. Put another way: Jack is not, at that moment, offering solutions, but he also is not offering explanations, and that's what they most need.

They're all acting from emotion rather than intellect at this stage.

Including - maybe especially - Jack. Look how strongly he reacted to Rhys's death, for Gwen's sake, after he'd just assured her it wouldn't happen.

They've seen him ready to sacrifice an immediate and innocent victim for the sake of a greater good that is clearly, for all of them, harder than it is for Jack to envisage (Small Worlds).

And he doesn't explain more than the basics - doesn't tell them what the nature of the coming changes will be, quite probably because he knows they wouldn't believe him. More still, he killed both Lisa and Mary, offering both Ianto and Tosh comfort afterwards, but it gives him a dual role in their emotions.

as he himself knows and comments to Tosh, he's not really a natural when it comes to being the boss and doing leader-like things.

No, he's actually really, really bad at it - and I find it really endearing the way he knows it. I'm sure he'd be much better with a group of soldiers if he were their commanding officer, but as it is, he takes on a variety of roles - from buddy to oracle to bully - that I'm sure is fairly confusing to them. Especially when they don't know who he is, don't know what his real purposes are, except insofar as he has told them.

when his reaction to Owen arguing is to throw him right out of the team, ...think that was a bad call on Jack's part.

Yes. It took away Owen's only remaining purposes - his focus on Torchwood - and demoralized the rest. I liked Gwen's distress for Owen's sake, even though he'd dumped her and she was angry with him for it.

Jack doesn't have a game plan, but nor does he have any interest in wasting time reassuring and soothing his people, keeping them together.

I think Jack at this point is even more demoralized than they are. He doesn't know what will happen or what to do about the Rift; his own sense of certainty about what the future is (especially in the short term) is blown to pieces; he's grieving for real!Jack, the Doctor still hasn't come back to him, everything's falling about, he has no one to turn to, and the others are turning to him.

to throw Owen away for simply arguing the need to do something has to be a big shock for any sense of team coherence.

I think it's even more pointed than that - Owen's crime was not arguing the need to do something, Owen's crime was pointing out that they don't even know Jack's identity and asking 'who the hell are you, anyway?' Making all of them ask the same question in their minds, and getting no answer in return - only Jack's anger.

Instead, he falls back on a quick recital of all the ways in which he thinks they are pathetic and hypocritical, a provocation speech.

It does stop them from feeling sorry for themselves!

What, for instance, makes Jack so certain that (re-)opening the Rift really will be more catastrophic than leaving it to flail out of control?

I would guess that it's all in the Time Agency training manual. But he isn't going to tell Torchwood the secrets of the Time Agency, least of all his connection to it.

It's all so achingly, un-heroically human. I love it!

Yes, me too. And I like it that their motivations are murky and their feelings irrational (and rational too) and it's all a big mess. I love them all the more for it, especially given the forgiveness/reconciliation scene at the end.

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

I see all your points (agree with some, not others) but what really bothered me about End of Days was the feeling that it should be taking place in Sunnydale instead of Cardiff. Abedon (sp?) belongs in the Buffyverse. Clearly Russell T Davies has Joss Whedon lurking about in the back of his mind.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

what really bothered me about End of Days was the feeling that it should be taking place in Sunnydale instead of Cardiff.

It certainly had that flavour.

Clearly Russell T Davies has Joss Whedon lurking about in the back of his mind.

Well, yes, and he has had since the beginning. Rift=Hellmouth. Which... isn't made as convincing as it might be. I'd like to see more aliens, more time-travel, and less of the implied supernatural. But that's just me. Otherwise it's confusing - the rationalitic thrust of the dialogue doesn't mesh with the stories of telepathy, faeries and ancient demons.

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

We already had Anthony Stewart Head on Dr Who, but then I found this while trolling through flickr for JB photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pickwicklet/306187711/

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

How I wish I could have seen that production! Can you imagine? Wow.

[boji.livejournal.com]

I haven't had a chance to rewatch recently but I think everyone's motivations this season make the most sense when looked at through a lens of the microcosm versus the macrocosm - Jack's pov being the latter - or to use a different analogy, foreign versus domestic policy.

The team do not have the scope and understanding of the universe (it's beauties and dangers) that Jack has, nor his experience of history in terms of a butterfly wing reading of repercussions. So it's normal that they see things from a more personal (it's trite but true to say selfish) perspective in which the hear and now is taken care of because they cannot conceive of the tomorrow out there.

It's that moment at the end of 'Small Worlds' where Jack choses to sacrifice the child (Jasmine?) for the good of the world/universe/reality and the team can only see that he put a child in a position of being collateral damage. In a way it's the same thing with the rift. It's possible that Jack would have scarificed everyone if they had fallen through the rift in his stead and if the rift was unstable. And he'd (wrongly) expect them to do the same.

er... this was a tangent, wasn't it?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

foreign versus domestic policy.

Intriguing phrase to use!

So it's normal that they see things from a more personal (it's trite but true to say selfish) perspective in which the hear and now is taken care of because they cannot conceive of the tomorrow out there.

A fair way of putting it. An analogy: in Father's Day Rose is thinking in personal terms - herself, her father - because she doesn't know about the consequences of changing timelines, and the scope of the risks involved, until she sees them.

It's that moment at the end of 'Small Worlds' where Jack choses to sacrifice the child (Jasmine?) for the good of the world/universe/reality

I love that scene. And I love Jack for the way he handles it and every time I watch I get furious with the team for judging him so harshly.

this was a tangent, wasn't it?

An interesting one!

Another point I see is that the team doesn't have the knowledge that would give them a good sense of Jack's true knowledge and authority. They see him as their boss - true - and they may have doubts about how 'normal' he is - Gwen and Tosh (and maybe Ianto) know him to be immortal and to have healing powers. But they really don't know that he knows their future as well as he knows their history. They don't know he has been to many other planets, lived among aliens, has been a Time Agent, and has lived on the TARDIS with a Time Lord. He hasn't exactly laid his true credentials before them. Instead they know that he has no identity, lives under an assumed name, used to be a con man, and has certain personal oddities. We as viewers have every reason to think Jack is right, that he knows what he's talking about, and that they should listen to him. But they don't know what we know.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

This was very interesting, thank you for posting it - it has cleared up some things I had been vaguely unsatisfied with. I say vaguely as my main difficulty with End of Days has always been less about the characterisation and more about how the hell Rhys was transported back to the flat. But this certainly helps with the character issues I had.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

my main difficulty with End of Days has always been less about the characterisation and more about how the hell Rhys was transported back to the flat.

I never had much of a problem with that. Rift magic, I'd call it. The timeline had shifted, or diverted, when Owen opened the Rift; then it shifted even more when all four of them opened it; then it went back into place when Jack destroyed Abaddon, and the timeline reverted to what it should have been in the first place - presumably, what it would have been when Jack and Tosh first went to 1941.

But then, logistical problems always bother me less in stories, than personality conundrums.

Glad I help you with the characterization issues.

[meret.livejournal.com]

in the thirteenth episode they betray him, for rather flimsy reasons, depending on each character.

This ep ruined the series for me. His being able to go back and work with them after they killed him is beyond my suspension of disbelief. I won't be watching it anymore because of this ep. :(

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That's a shame. My problem with their betrayal did not entail an equal problem that Jack went back - I loved his forgiveness and love for them. That just enhanced it all in my mind, and made it easy to forgive the betrayal. Which is to say, I could forgive them (and the writers, too) because Jack could. And I had no problem suspending belief with that because I loved it - Abaddon himself was more of a problem. Owen's unchecked behaviour through the season - disobedience to Jack, for example - was more of a problem, generally speaking.

That resolution would have been wonderful enough, but the very end - Jack's joy in being picked up by the TARDIS - was so perfect that I can even watch the episode with love and only a small degree of flinching. Or... call it a bearable degree of flinching.

Put another way, the episode destroyed and then rebuilt my suspension of disbelief. Which is why I think it has the worst of the show and the best of the show all thrown together in a sort of thematic hodge podge that both makes my head hurt and delights me - by turns.

If the payoff at the ending wasn't there, would I be so forgiving? Probably, if only for the greatcoat and braces and the 3d glasses on the lamp. When my heart is engaged, it takes a lot to push me away. This has not stopped many shows and fandoms from doing so, but it's usually a long and slow process, not a matter of one episode.