Children of Earth - Day Three

[fictional]

Where to begin?

This is a moody, tense episode that unfolds carefully, and delicately -- teasing out the reveal of Jack's complicity in these worldshattering events. But, I was already fairly certain of said complicity, so I don't know if that -- the slow, piece by piece nature of it -- was entirely necessary. Similarly, I think Peter Capaldi did a superb job of communicating the tension of the moments with the 4-5-6, but after a while, a short while, my soul stopped vibrating along with him.

So, in effect, I think this episode suffers a bit from its, dare I say, middleman-ness. Because of its position in the arc, it can only advance the plot so far, and no further, so I felt us spiralling slowly toward this emotional climax, where I wanted it to dive in and forward and carry me away on a inexorable wave of squee, as the first two episodes did. And the aliens -- okay, but not great. I need a little more from them. And I found Clement and the "queer" moment oddly troubling, though why I cannot quite put my finger on.

Despite these caveats, it was still chock full of moments I adored. Gwen teaching her boys to be criminals and watching them execute these lessons: delightful! The contact lens moment - perfect! And I cannot say enough words about how Gwen continues to wow me this series. Funny, sweet, tough, compassionate, gorgeous... she's just amazing. This writing has made me a full on Gwen fangirl, and I'm a little sad that this wasn't the Gwen we had all along. Speaking of kick ass girls, Alice didn't have a lot to do in this ep, but like the Evil Civil Service Woman says, she's her father's daughter sure enough. And I like it!

Moving on to the rest of the team: in some ways, I feel like Ianto and Jack have already had the "I'm ephemeral and you're forever" conversation before, but I suppose that was just in a billion fics (including ours) and also in the radio play, so I guess it's all right to have it there on screen. And they did a nice job. I love how Jack's all, "we're saving the world... well, all right, just a quickie!"

As for Jack himself, I have no trouble believing that the Jack of 1965 sacrificed those kids in order to make the 4-5-6 go away. It's a clear cost-benefit analysis, and I think that he would have found it an easy decision. This is a Jack who was alienated from the human race -- they die, while he goes on -- and I think making that abstract, utilitarian decision fits with his character perfectly. It is not the Torchwood that he remade in the Doctor's image, perhaps, but I think that Torchwood only existed after 1999, when he took over the Hub, and even more after TW 1 was destroyed. And Jack has changed. The Jack of 1965 might have taken Frobisher's family hostage. But he's not just a better man than Frobisher now, he's a better man than he used to be, for whom the ends do not justify the means.

Why U.N.I.T. isn't trying to use Martha Jones' super phone to reach the Doctor, I've not the faintest idea, but what I think is interesting is, when Jack dealt with the 4-5-6 the first time round, he had no access to the Doctor's 'higher power'. He was all alone, on the front lines, doing the best he could. He did what he had to do, faced with what I can only assume to be an overwhelming force (Dear TW Writers, why are they so overwhelming? I'd like to see some explanation of this, please! I have, for almost the first time, faith you will provide - Love, Kali). This set the terms of this engagement with these aliens; they appear, we give them twelve kids, they appear again, and thus can reasonably expect we'll cave and give them more. Why not? Jack (and Frobisher and the rest) played the game on their grounds, and by their rules, so now he's stuck.

Or so they think. But he's Captain Jack, and they're Torchwood, so it will all be okay.

But this nuanced, shades-of-greyness is what I love about Torchwood, so basically, this is freakin' awesome. It's complicated. Differing perspectives, all of which are true. And this even applies to Gwen; they've FINALLY given me a Gwen, who -- when she unleashes the Wrath of God onto good ol' Capt. Jack -- will simply make me sit back and cheer, "you go, girl." And Jack's still a bastard -- love the whole reveal of them knowing about the pregnancy before Rhys. Better man or not, our Jack does like to be all "dance, puppets, dance!" on occasion. And I wouldn't have him any other way.

I love this show.

Oh, and I wrote fic! It takes place during "Day One". How did those boys break into that triple locked car?

Comments

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

I just said this over on my own LJ, but yeah, I agree with the oddness of the Clement/queer comment. I'm wondering if it suggests there's further coming-to-terms-with-sexual-orientation to come for Ianto in his arc (since queer =/= gay-only-for-Jack) and I kind of hope so, because otherwise I'm not sure what it's function was.

I agree with your comments about the pacing too; I'm notably less blown away than I was last night; it felt like a middle part to me. And yeah, the 456, I agree again. They're in a box, and they have diarrhoea. I've been more scared.

Still high hopes for, well, everything at this point, though.

[troygirl68.livejournal.com]

I love that you have gone into so much detail; it;s much easier to just respond.


"And I found Clement and the "queer" moment, oddly troubling" Me too; we were up to that point advocating him and it made him momentarily despicable. It just seemed completely unnecessary and superfluous, and Ianto's reaction was much more hostile than I expected (even if it was quite justified). It wasn't my impression that Ianto was having that hard of a time being public about being with Jack, just that he is trying to define something new for himself.

"I feel like Ianto and Jack have already had the "I'm ephemeral and you're forever" conversation before"

That was a LOL moment for me. I only discovered fanfic after S2, so this is the first time for me already having fantasy back stories implanted in my brain. You'd think they would have had the conversation before but given most of the viewing public have not devoted the time and energy debating this that we have it's quite possible that was a more profound scene for them! I still found it moving.

And Gwen IS great this series.

[justaotherwitch.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking the same thing about Ianto's storyline. I didn't really think that moment was necessary, unless they go somewhere with it. Ianto being all, "oh, I'm Harkness sexual" is not where I want this story to go, but I think it's a completely realistic thing for someone in their first same-sex relationship to insist upon. I'd really like to see Ianto be more accepting of his own sexuality at the end of this, because as nice as Captain Jack is, it would be nice to have a 21st century bisexual character on TV; someone who does have to deal with quaint little catagories, but is able to deal with them and go on with life.

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

With you on the high hopes! I continue to love it to bits.

I'm wondering if it suggests there's further coming-to-terms-with-sexual-orientation to come for Ianto in his arc (since queer =/= gay-only-for-Jack) and I kind of hope so, because otherwise I'm not sure what it's function was.

With the Torchwood of the past, I'd have said that it doesn't suggest it so much as being it, but this series is so good, I hope it will indeed progress.

The pacing gave me more time to think... in TW, this is sometimes not a good thing. And I started to feel for the first time that I'd have made different choices about where and how they did certain things [while still a) respecting that they a) consistently made choices, and b) agreeing, I think, with the ultimate goals that those choices were meant to serve. Like Jack's coat -- I respect that he got it back, and in such a way that highlighted his and Ianto's relationship so beautifully; still I think he got it back too soon, and too easily (army surplus? really?).]

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

Yeah. And while, as justaotherwitch says above, I'd quite like to see a 21st c. bisexual character on screen, as opposed to Jack's 51st c. omnisexual, I don't want to see a preachy exposition of it, I want to see it as stemming organically from the character.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

A couple of reasons why Clem's "queer" remark was troubling for me: in TW, we've been in a happy world where it doesn't matter who you're sleeping with, as long as they aren't evil or anything. Ianto's sister was scandalized but happy for him; his brother-in-law's ribbing was pretty good-natured. Suddenly, we're reminded that even though it isn't 1965 anymore, it's still not quite that well accepted.

Also? I might have liked Gwen to have said something to Clem. I'm not sure what; I don't know what I've had said...

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it doesn't even matter if they are evil....

Yeah, it just didn't hit me the right way... seemed, I dunno, out of universe a bit, as you point out.

[neifile7.livejournal.com]

I respect that he got it back, and in such a way that highlighted his and Ianto's relationship so beautifully; still I think he got it back too soon, and too easily (army surplus? really?).]

I actually don't quite agree with this. Jack was literally naked at the end of the last ep and obviously itchy and uncomfortable in his clothes at the start of this one; regaining the coat means regaining his role as The Captain, and that's important to how matters go down for the rest of the ep. Ianto gets this, of course, sees it as a matter of the first importance, even without knowing what's about to happen; in a way, it's a kind of precondition for their conversation as well, that he address Jack in his role both as lover and immortal leader.

The fact that it happens so "easily" is, more than anything, a tribute to Ianto's unending ingenuity. He probably already had every army surplus store in the UK filed away for future reference -- possibly, had been using them all along to keep Jack's wardrobe replenished. :)

[electro-club.livejournal.com]

I wasn't so troubled about Clem's comment. I mean, I think it was troubling, but it was meant to come out that way. James Moran said at his blog that this was a way of showing how Clem is essentially still a child in the 1960s. It's awkward and a bit rude, but it's the way Clem's mind works. And it's was pretty much how I understood the line. It also adds some light into the discussions that have going around regarding Ianto's 'It's only him' thing, but i'm not sure the intended to go that way.

Anyway! I completely agree with you on the pacing! It was an awesome episode, and it was better than Day Two, for me, in many aspects, but Day Two had my heart racing and my eyes glued to the screen from beginning to end, whereas Day Three gave me few moments of tension break to stretch and yawn. Still, it's so good! This season is so, so, so GOOD I can't even believe! I'm hyper that I don't have to wait an entire week to see what's gonna happen, but it also makes me sad to think it will be over so soon. =/ I hope 5.9 million viewers is enough for a fourth season!

And also, about the 4-5-6 stealing children thing - I wonder if they came back because they didn't get 12 kids the last time. Jack said they weren't to be trusted, so they probably had a deal back then. Aliens get the 12 kids and leave Earth alone. But Clem got away, so they came back. Maybe that's it? (Jack, you bastard! But I so totally can believe he'd do something like that. I wasn't so surprised. Though I am looking forward to Gwen's reaction! OMG!)

OH, OH! Gwen. So, YES! YES, YES, YES! That's Gwen! That's the Gwen they've been meaning to give us all along. She is amazing! She truly is! And Rhys... I might be wanting to have his babies right now.