The religious and mystical themes in Torchwood aren't exactly subtle, any more than they are in Doctor Who.
No, not subtle. And there are so many ways they could be doing it that I would hate, but they seem to have managed to hit the right note for my sensibilities every time. Incredible.
I love idea of Jack's mystic powers preserving the coat :)
It works both ways: if Jack has mystical powers that help preserve his coat, then perhaps it too has mystical powers that help to preserve him. We already know the coat has more mundane mystical powers (if that phrase isn't an oxymoron) - it defines his style and his personality, it preserves memories he cherishes, it projects a heroic image. It isn't hard for me to think of it as a sort of symbolic outward projection of his soul.
taking tutorials on ancient religion with someone who could absolutely not get her head around the idea that maybe they did what they did because they believed it.
Blink. What is difficult about the concept? - don't most people follow religions because they believe in them?
So much of this season, and sci fi in general, has been about the incredible things that people are capable of, the indomitability of the human spirit,
Yes, just about every episode. Beth, too.
we're still left with some vagueness over how Jack feels about John, and I loved the ambiguity and pain of the goodbye.
I loved that too. And I loved it's uncharacteristic seriousness - no banter, no passion, but all the more feeling because of that. Jack with no place in his heart for John, and John with no place to go at all. And yet I felt it was a huge step forward for him. Don't know if they will play it that way in future - they've left themselves open for anything.
I also liked it that for the moment they've given Jack a sort of point of focus in physical and emotional time and space - Jack has Gwen and Ianto and Torchwood so that even if the Time Vortex is gathering storms all around him, he is a stable point in a stable place.
There was some part of me that wanted Jack to have killed Gray
I actually wanted and expected that, but have no problem that he didn't kill him - I think his reasoning was right, that killing him might have tied up a loose end but would be another weight on the side of 'wrongness' and so it was better to keep him alive.
Good grief, if we weren't all in love with the character before...
It seems impossible that he should keep getting better and better, but there you have it.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-04-07 07:51 pm (UTC)No, not subtle. And there are so many ways they could be doing it that I would hate, but they seem to have managed to hit the right note for my sensibilities every time. Incredible.
I love idea of Jack's mystic powers preserving the coat :)
It works both ways: if Jack has mystical powers that help preserve his coat, then perhaps it too has mystical powers that help to preserve him. We already know the coat has more mundane mystical powers (if that phrase isn't an oxymoron) - it defines his style and his personality, it preserves memories he cherishes, it projects a heroic image. It isn't hard for me to think of it as a sort of symbolic outward projection of his soul.
taking tutorials on ancient religion with someone who could absolutely not get her head around the idea that maybe they did what they did because they believed it.
Blink. What is difficult about the concept? - don't most people follow religions because they believe in them?
So much of this season, and sci fi in general, has been about the incredible things that people are capable of, the indomitability of the human spirit,
Yes, just about every episode. Beth, too.
we're still left with some vagueness over how Jack feels about John, and I loved the ambiguity and pain of the goodbye.
I loved that too. And I loved it's uncharacteristic seriousness - no banter, no passion, but all the more feeling because of that. Jack with no place in his heart for John, and John with no place to go at all. And yet I felt it was a huge step forward for him. Don't know if they will play it that way in future - they've left themselves open for anything.
I also liked it that for the moment they've given Jack a sort of point of focus in physical and emotional time and space - Jack has Gwen and Ianto and Torchwood so that even if the Time Vortex is gathering storms all around him, he is a stable point in a stable place.
There was some part of me that wanted Jack to have killed Gray
I actually wanted and expected that, but have no problem that he didn't kill him - I think his reasoning was right, that killing him might have tied up a loose end but would be another weight on the side of 'wrongness' and so it was better to keep him alive.
Good grief, if we weren't all in love with the character before...
It seems impossible that he should keep getting better and better, but there you have it.