Cranky Gala bitches about Torchwood part 1

[galadriel1010]

Jack Harkness
Jack Harkness appeared on Doctor Who and in my life as a tidal wave. Hugely destructive, changed my world around completely, but actually washed away all the crap, poorly built bits of my life that I didn't want or need, creating more space for me to build myself. I nearly cried when he died. I definitely cried when the Doctor left him behind, and I followed him cheerily to Torchwood, not because I was in love with him, but because I identified with him. He was my Doctor, crashing into my life and giving me the opportunity to make something more of myself. Like the Doctor, I sort of loved him, but touching him would be like touching the sun and finding out that it's just a lightbulb. Heroes are best viewed from a distance.

I see Jack as damaged but not broken, capable of rebuilding after everything; but it's been so long and he's been knocked down so many times that he doesn't rebuild properly any more. Wood and mud may wash away quicker, but it's not worth as much. He creates shallow friendships and doesn't invest anything in them. Anyone he does let in and build something with has to be strong, lasting and so, so worth it. If he loves someone, he has to trust them to stick by him through everything, to give him every chance he needs. Ideally, anyone he loves must be someone who would take the opportunity to stay with him if it were presented to them. In earthquake-prone cities they use specialised building techniques to make their buildings stronger so that they can withstand the quakes, so it's all the more devastating and shocking if they fall.

He's not a coward. He just chooses his battles carefully.

I see him like a tropical island. Seen from a distance there's calm blue seas surrounding him, beautiful verdant forest, soft yellow sand and beautiful old buildings among the trees. Get closer, though, and you see the harsh rocks in the water, the poisonous animals in the trees and the buildings are desolate. Oh, and watch out for the jellyfish. None of this is any less beautiful. In fact it's more beautiful, in its way. But it's dangerous, and you have to be both careful and determined to survive there.

Ianto Jones is the one who got close, who built the sanctuary for Jack to hide in and weather the storms. Jack has so much invested in him that losing him is a greater blow than he's been struck in a long time. It's like losing his house, instead of his sandcastle. And I honestly believe that Ianto would have changed places with Owen and stayed by Jack's side forever, because that's what he does, he protects the people he loves.

Ianto Jones
And if we're talking about him as Jack's protector, we have to talk about him as a person.
Loyal, strong, courageous, intelligent, stupid. The man who built his house on sand. Where Ianto is a solid base for Jack to build on, Jack is like quicksand. He's not malicious or cruel about it, but he's thixotropic. Shake him up and he turns to liquid to best weather the shaking.

He's the one who's truly capable of taking Torchwood forwards (which is why I always use him to do this). He sees what needs to be done and the best way to do it, and then he does it. He doesn't even realise that this is what he's doing (because then someone might stop him and he'll have to explain.) Better just to get on with it with even him unaware that he's doing it, then he can deny all knowledge.

I think he's also got PTSD which has never been looked at, and that he averts a meltdown by devoting himself wholeheartedly to something else and telling the meltdown that he's busy right now. In canon it's Torchwood and Jack, and as long as they're stable he's fine. I actually think that he was having a breakdown in CoE, and that he wouldn't have gone into Thames House otherwise.

Jack might be a hero, but Ianto is the one I'd trust to save me.

Gwen Cooper
Cow
I've done a post before on why I think that Gwen Cooper is a bitch; she's manipulative, selfish and blind to her own faults. Mostly I don't like her because if I had to work with her I'd want to rip her head off by the end of the first day (and it takes quite a lot to get me properly cross). A lot of this is Jack's fault, telling her that she's special and ties them to the outside world, but Jesus did she let it go to her head.

She uses sex to advance her position at Torchwood, and pushes Ianto and Tosh aside. It's very obvious with Ianto, who goes from being a close confident to Jack in the first episode to going completely unnoticed by Cyberwoman, and the fact that he's still around and being trusted suggests that it's not because he tried to fade away as fandom seems to believe. If he had, then Gwen would have been the one putting things into secure storage (because she would have happily taken on that role, and any others that happened to be lying around).

So yes, I think that Gwen thinks that the world revolves around her. I also don't think she's very good at her job, and that Jack should have fired her after the Carys incident. I do have problems in that episode with Jack sending Gwen to interrogate Carys – what sort of idiot sends the rookie to interrogate a prisoner who's already killed once and doesn't even monitor her? The only reason they spotted the snog fest was because Owen happened to glance at it. Maybe the reason Jack kept her on was that he fucked up himself in that one. I think he probably regretted it though.

Owen Harper
Appears to have had a morality lobotomy prior to the first series, but got better. Drugging people into wanting to have sex with him probably made sense in his head; possibly he had such an inflated opinion of his own attractiveness that he thought they naturally wanted them and he was just releasing their inhibitions.

I also think he looks like a frog, and can't imagine why Gwen slept with him.

Good doctor, maybe. Shit friend, though. Also often unprofessional.

Toshiko Sato
I wuvs Toshiko. Tosh could have been so awesome. Imagine if Mary had been actually okay, and they ended up bringing her onto the team as Tosh's alien girlfriend. It would have been super.
But she always got pushed aside, often by Gwen. She'd be part of my dream Torchwood team, which Gwen wouldn't come anywhere near. She needed a Jack to see her and rescue her the way that he rescued Ianto, but Jack had his hands full.

Comments

[alex-annn.livejournal.com]

It's always nice to read something like this and know that I am not alone.

Ianto changed my life. He came along at a time when I needed to find someone to identify with, someone who was like me. Even if that person was a fictional character. Ianto gave me strength during a time when strength was hard to come by. He helped me see the value of certain aspects of my life and my work and I will be forever grateful. I am also forever grateful to GDL. Both for his role as Ianto and for being so kind as to listen to me pour my heart out to him on several occasions. He really is the sweetest guy.