galadriel1010 | Dippy Gala Bitches About Torchwood part 3

There is a possibility that this will be garbled, because I think I have sunstroke... I am drinking fluids, because drinking solids is silly, and cursing my idiocy.

We all saw Ianto's death coming. They flagged it up, warned us, practically shouted it from the rooftops, and yet it was still a shock. It was a shock because we loved him, because it seemed like a stupid thing to do and, I think, because it made no sense within the universe that Torchwood had created.

Why do I think this? Because of selfishness.

Selfishness. It's that thing we keep accusing Gwen of, and ignoring that everyone else does it too. The thing is, everyone at Torchwood has their moments of selfishness, and Torchwood punishes them for it without fail. Even Gwen gets punished for it - the big thing she tries to keep is Rhys, and Torchwood keeps trying to take it back. In Something Borrowed, Torchwood essentially says 'well fine, you can have him, but I'm taking your wedding'. Torchwood is a jealous mistress, and likes her playthings exactly where she wants them.

This is also why I think that Rhys coming back in End of days makes no sense, because that should have been Gwen's punishment for trying to keep him, but Jack sort of tricked the system by his act of selflessness. Not that Ianto, who was tricked into opening the Rift because people would die if he didn't, is the one who gets Jack. And Jack, with his huge act of selflessness, gets the Doctor. But, of course, he tried to keep the Doctor from Torchwood, so that backfired.

Never annoy Torchwood; she bites.

So why does immortal!Ianto make sense? Surely Jack should have had to give him up as well, because keeping him would be selfish? Well, no. No, because Jack gave Ianto to Torchwood. He never shied from sacrificing and losing him, he dragged him into Jack's half-life in the Hub rather than living a life outside with him. It was always a three-way relationship between Jack, Ianto and Torchwood.

And then Jack gave him up, and Torchwood claimed Ianto Jones as well.

Jack's selflessness, in previous series, would have been rewarded. Sexually transmitted immortality or the Rift or a Torchwood induced immunity would have kicked in, and Ianto would have returned at just the right moment to save the day, preferably looking badass with a Really Big Gun and and 'I know' to Jack's gaping 'Ianto?'

And then there would have been awesome make-up sex, but not on screen, because this is the BBC. Instead, Jack was rewarded by having to sacrifice Steven as well.

No. Bad Torchwood; that is not how you play.

Because, you see, the greatest sacrifice that Ianto could have made was his mortality. We've been told so often that immortality is not something to aspire to, that it sucks, that it's not good. And that Jack is the loneliest person in the world (even though the Doctor would like to think that it's him). Of course Ianto would give up his mortality to keep Jack safe and sane - it's what their relationship was all about.

Ianto's sacrifice would have been Jack's reward. That would have worked and made sense and would have underlined the whole point of Torchwood. Instead, after two series of 'selflessness will hurt, but will be rewarded; selfishness will get you spanked and not in a good way', we got a series of 'selfishness doesn't help, selflessness will just hurt, you can't win either way, kill yourself now'.

That's why I think that Ianto should be brought back.

And this is sort of standing in for a story, because I'm waaay behind on writing. Bah :(