fajrdrako | Torchwood: Theories and thoughts after "Fragments"...

One thing I was thinking of on contemplating "Fragments" is that there are so many delightful surprises to me - things that I didn't predict. Words cannot say how much that pleases me, when most television is extremely predictable. So many twists and surprises in their background that I loved, and theories to be garnered from them:

Owen's appearance. Owen used to fit the image of a 'real' doctor: suits, authority, respectability and the respect of his peers. Then the events surrounding his fiancée's death threw him so off kilter that he is the one who wears lurid t-shirts, plays video-games at work, and has a snarky (if not rude) comment for every occasion. No sign then that he ran after multiple sex partners or one-night-stands or fuck-buddies.
Owen's outlook. The most amazing thing about Owen: he used to be idealistic. The extremity of his cynicism now simply indicates the extent of his former idealism. Or is the cynicism at least partly false?

Well: depression tends to destroy idealism, optimism and drive, and we are witnessing Owen's fall.
Ianto's meeting with Jack. Ianto was attracted to Jack, and flirting with him, from the start. Setting Jack up, of course; maybe not to seduce him sexually, but to attract him and make Jack think there was a chance of having him, just enough to bait a hook. Only it's one thing for a man to concoct a long-range scheme of deception, quite another to be dealing face to face the with man he is deceiving. I think Ianto liked Jack more than he expected to - and on levels he didn't expect to - and was overwhelmed by the horror of what he was doing. But he did it anyway, of course. He had to. At quite a psychological price. No wonder he was stubborn about the Cyberwoman.
The Two Torchwoods. I was suprised (though pleased) that Jack had severed ties between Torchwood Three and Torchwood One "a long time ago". That is vague enough not to help in guessing exactly when; I suspect New Year's Day, 2000. As soon as he could.
Jack through the centuries. Though Jack knew from Tarot Girl that he would not find the Doctor until after 2000, that doesn't seem to have stopped him from looking. I wonder if his various travels might be to places the thought the Doctor had visited.

Obviously Jack wasn't always in Cardiff. We know he travelled through the US in the 1880s; that he was in India in the early 1900s; that he was in both World War I and World War II; but of course none of these situations is incompatible with working for Torchwood.
Jack and his Torchwood files. I would guess that when Jack took over Torchwood, he took all the files on himself and burned them - except for the photos he wanted to keep for one reason or another. The photos he put in a tin in his desk drawer, to look at when he felt like it.
UNIT and politics. UNIT is very nasty, and that makes me think that something should be done about it. I think the Doctor has already taken the matter in hand by influencing them to hire Martha, who, having saved the world once already, can use her smarts to do what Jack did with Torchwood: rebuild it and reform it with the Geneva Convention in mind. I don't think Martha, at this point, has any idea about any of this.

The UNIT scenes fit nicely with what we saw of the Valiant in "Last of the Time Lords".
UNIT and sex. This gives me a whole new perspective on what Jack had in mind for sex games with Ianto wearing the UNIT cap. Some dom/sub play, perhaps? No wonder Ianto appears more self-confident these days.
What Ianto knows. I had always assumed that Ianto had no idea how old Jack was, or what era he was from. Now we know that Ianto did know about the healing factor, if not the immortality, and if he didn't already know (from Torchwood One) that Jack was from the 51st century, Jack tells him on their second meeting. Pheromones. Hmm. Gotta love those pheromones.
Dark pasts. I am still fascinated that it's Ianto and Tosh who have police records. Who'd have guessed? I would have thought it would be Owen, if anyone.

I've always thought that Ianto seemed unexpectedly immature, even innocent, considering what he'd been through. I now think that this is - not part of his act, but a side effect of his act: that he is suffering from the trauma of Lisa's loss as well as the reintegration of his own personality, finding as he goes a selfhood he can live with. He is clever and adaptable and (once committed) unshakably loyal. But he is also more of a wild card than I had imagined.
I wonder why UNIT owes Jack favours.
Jack's drinking habits. The impression we got in "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" is that Jack likes to drink, especially in extremis: hypervodkas before execution. And "Fragments" would reinforce that - it appeared to be a drunken brawl that Jack was killed in, in his first flashback scene, and Jack's reaction to Torchwood's heavy-handed techniques to force him to join them seems to have been to return to the pub and get drunk. Makes me suspect that he knows he tends to drink in reaction to stress, and is curbing that. Hydration is a bonus.

This fits too with his relationship with Captain John Hart, a heavy drinker. In "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang", Jack pretends to drink alcohol - but doesn't so much as sip from the bottle.
What did Alex foresee? janne_d had a theory that I love; that when Alex looked into his future-seeing gadget, he saw The Year That Never Was. Of course he would freak. This theory is backed by the visual effect of his gadget, reminiscent of the Gallifreyan watch fob which we saw in that episode. Was this manipulation, or accident? Had Alex fallen to a con job set up by - well, take your pick, Bilis? the Master? - or was it a matter of finding a piece of alien tech he didn't know how to handle or understand?

Alternatively, it could have been a glimpse into an alternate universe that failed to happen because of his death and Jack's taking over Torchwood.

I am reminded of the time-paradoxes in Heroes, where alternate futures come and go.
Masks. With the exception of Gwen, no one at Torchwood is quite what they appear.
- Jack, who seemed to be the one with all the personal secrets, seems to have very few now, at least from the Team.
- Toshiko, who seemed quiet and conscientious, is the one with the burden of a prison sentence and a secret deal with Jack.
- Owen, who seemed rebellious and cynical, is burdened with a heart that wants to save everyone and a tragic love as terrible as Ianto's love for Lisa.
- Ianto, who seems so quiet and reserved, is the one who was able to pull a successful con job on Jack - successful, at least, to a point. And then adopted the persona he had assumed permanently, when he fell in love with his mark.