day three

[kaydeefalls]

First, on a purely shallow level, Ianto was absurdly hot all throughout this episode. I really don't know why. Not that I found him unattractive in the days one or two, but something about either the clothing or the makeup or the acting or what-the-fuck-ever made him SMOKING for day three. I may have drooled a little.

Also, mystery of how Jack replaces his coat solved! IANTO FTW.

Now, onto a less shallow level: this is possibly the best hour of television I have ever watched. Not objectively speaking -- there were minor issues, and I've seen some damn good television that probably trumps this -- but for me, as a writer, as an avid reader and viewer of various media, as a lover of storytelling pure and simple, this pretty much hit every point of my personal laundry list of What Makes A Story Great.

Seriously. It's like it was written for me. Could this episode have catered more to my particular bulletproof narrative kinks if it tried?

No, no it really couldn't have.

Let's count them:

1. Jack's dark past. No, seriously, Gwen, Jack was not a good man. Not always. Not even close. Remember how he was a Time Agent? A criminal? A soldier? A torturer? Because I do. And that man is still very much a part of who Jack is. Yes, he gave the aliens those children. Did he do it for what he believed to be the greater good? Probably, sure. Does that make the act any less reprehensible? No. And Jack knows it.

2. Alien threat that we never see clearly. Reiterating a point I made earlier this week about this particular miniseries being reminiscent of all the best X-Files episodes. It's always scarier when you can't really see what you're fighting.

3. CONTINUITY. The contact lenses they gave to Martha! The fact that Ianto used to work for Torchwood One and knows their secret bases! Hell, even Jack's pissiness about his borrowed clothing at the beginning was a nice touch, and the sort of thing previous seasons of this show probably would've just handwaved. Thank you, writers, for remembering useful plot elements.

4. CRIMINALS. HEISTS. ASJKLHFAKJGALKDHKAF PURE GLEEFUL WIN. Although, um, Gwen, I realize you were a copper and know all the clever tricks and all, and that's lovely, but -- Jack made his living as a con man. C'mon, writers, don't be lazy. Set up a good old fashioned heist! (I realize the long con isn't particularly practical in terms of Torchwood's immediate goals here, but a girl can dream.) Still, though, HOW BRILLIANT WAS THAT?

5. Understated but very much present romance. Oddly enough, I tend to get a bit squirmy when ROMANCE is the central point of a story or episode. I'm not a fan of domestics or schmoop or endlessly repeated "I love yous". I vastly prefer it when characters say "I love you" without ever using those three words -- I'm fairly certain I have only used that phrase a grand total of once or twice, if that, in ALL the fic I've written since emerging from puberty. This episode gave us Gwen and Rhys saying I love you in a hundred different ways, and Jack and Ianto, well, that leads me to...

6. The Jack/Ianto conversation. Well, duh. Not to mention it matches up 100% EXACTLY with my perception of how Ianto views their relationship -- yes, Jack's going to watch him grow old and die, and that's very tragic, but for god's sake let's have lots and lots of sex and enjoy the fuck out of this thing while it lasts. This is how I write Ianto and how I prefer to read Ianto, and it's all SORTS of gratifying to now see it play out exactly like that in canon.

7. It absolutely kills me to admit this, but if I were to write a fic in which Ianto dies, this is exactly the way I'd go about it. Hell, I've thought about writing it. I even have a half-abandoned draft of it. I never, ever wanted to see it in canon, though. But -- yeah, my theories are swinging back in that direction. Hard. That Jack/Ianto conversation cemented it. Ianto actually used the phrase "grow old and die", which pretty much guarantees he won't have that chance. Doubly so because he vocalized wanting to enjoy what time they had. I pretty much started crying at that point, because every narrative device EVER has officially been utilized, the foreshadowing is textbook at this point, there is no way in hell Ianto is surviving this miniseries. And they're writing it perfectly, and it's everything I've ever wanted out of a character death, and it's going to break me so badly.

The only way out, at this point, would be to utilize my very last bulletproof kink: the last-second twist that catches you completely off guard and makes everything else fall into place. Bonus points if Jack thinks Ianto is dead, but turns out to be wrong (that breaks and thrills me every time in any form of canon or fanfic, I am so easy, you have no idea). Come on, Torchwood. Make it a perfect score. Pull a Tolkien and eucatastrophe the fuck out of the very end.

Please.