There are instances of Jack being selfless, but if he were really selfless, he'd run Torchwood by himself, since it's so dangerous and everyone he recruits is put at risk But would that be selfless or selfish? Or just really stupid? There's no way that Jack could work Torchwood alone without a lot of innocent civilians dying.
eh, maybe hire some mercenary jagoff Blowfish to catch Weevils, though he'd probably end up caring for them, too, and weeping over their coked-up corpses. But the Blowfish are sentient beings as well, clearly capable of higher thought just as humans are. We can't treat them any differently. Besides, Torchwood is obvious enough as it is.
(My theory about Lucia is that Jack made her retire, because he lost his dad and didn't want Alice's mother to die young.) Open to interpretation, I guess. The impression I got was that Lucia got Torchwood to help her hide from Jack, whereas if she'd just agreed (albeit reluctantly) to retire it would have been Retcon and the full works.
I think he lost Steven because he had given the children to the 456; it was his penance, and it showed he couldn't protect everyone. I really hated the way that CoE made it out that that was Jack's fault. It wasn't his call to make, and Torchwood always had a fate worse than death hanging over his head. He might have been prepared to die rather than go through with it, but what they threatened was much worse.
If you love someone, let them go, and all that. THAT is selfless. Only if they want to go. If he'd sent Ianto away then it would have been horribly selfish.
Ianto was pretty selfless, but I wouldn't wish Jack's fate on anybody else, and I don't think Jack would, either. Jack would hate himself for it, it would be awesome. All that angst...
Though I was happy to hear the Doctor canonically has unlimited regenerations, so Jack (and the Doctor) will never be alone in the universe. I'm not convinced by that line in SJA. It sounded more like a 'don't ask stupid questions that I don't want to think about'. But I would also need to see the Doctor actually acknowledge Jack as anything more than an acquaintance. The 10th Doctor was horrible to Jack - Jack gets a 'we travelled together' and the Master is describe as 'we were friends, once'. One of these characters is a psychopath who has plotted the destruction of the Doctor and the universe many times, and one is areformed criminal who died for the Doctor and has been protecting the Earth for a century. But that's a whole other pile of issues.
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Date: 2010-11-17 06:46 am (UTC)But would that be selfless or selfish? Or just really stupid? There's no way that Jack could work Torchwood alone without a lot of innocent civilians dying.
eh, maybe hire some mercenary jagoff Blowfish to catch Weevils, though he'd probably end up caring for them, too, and weeping over their coked-up corpses.
But the Blowfish are sentient beings as well, clearly capable of higher thought just as humans are. We can't treat them any differently.
Besides, Torchwood is obvious enough as it is.
(My theory about Lucia is that Jack made her retire, because he lost his dad and didn't want Alice's mother to die young.)
Open to interpretation, I guess. The impression I got was that Lucia got Torchwood to help her hide from Jack, whereas if she'd just agreed (albeit reluctantly) to retire it would have been Retcon and the full works.
I think he lost Steven because he had given the children to the 456; it was his penance, and it showed he couldn't protect everyone.
I really hated the way that CoE made it out that that was Jack's fault. It wasn't his call to make, and Torchwood always had a fate worse than death hanging over his head. He might have been prepared to die rather than go through with it, but what they threatened was much worse.
If you love someone, let them go, and all that. THAT is selfless.
Only if they want to go. If he'd sent Ianto away then it would have been horribly selfish.
Ianto was pretty selfless, but I wouldn't wish Jack's fate on anybody else, and I don't think Jack would, either.
Jack would hate himself for it, it would be awesome. All that angst...
Though I was happy to hear the Doctor canonically has unlimited regenerations, so Jack (and the Doctor) will never be alone in the universe.
I'm not convinced by that line in SJA. It sounded more like a 'don't ask stupid questions that I don't want to think about'. But I would also need to see the Doctor actually acknowledge Jack as anything more than an acquaintance. The 10th Doctor was horrible to Jack - Jack gets a 'we travelled together' and the Master is describe as 'we were friends, once'. One of these characters is a psychopath who has plotted the destruction of the Doctor and the universe many times, and one is areformed criminal who died for the Doctor and has been protecting the Earth for a century.
But that's a whole other pile of issues.