God, it feels like so long ago I wrote that! But rereading it, I think I still pretty much agree, though the whole issue has receeded in importance I suppose what with my RL becoming rather hectic...
I think the thing that annoyed me most wasn't so much the characters as the writers. I felt that they had spent the whole rest of the series really proving they were talented writers capable of making really excellent TV, and then Ianto's death felt lazy. Having proved they could write well, why did they not continue to do so here? I identify a little with some of fandom's other outrages, that CoE wasn't the Torchwood of previous series', that RTD systematically destroyed everything he had made, that they had claimed J/I shippers would be pleased with the developments of CoE, but they have never been my principal concerns. I'll put up with a lot for the storytelling, and if Ianto had died well then I would have been sad but also glad and appreciative of the story. It didn't need to be guns blazing, it couldn't have been equally pointless in the sense of an example of pointless death generally - it was this dip in the story telling that I perceived I think that really irritated me. The whole thing felt cheap and like we were cheated.
I don't want Ianto to be resurrected, and while I would have much preferred it if he hadn't died in the first place I don't want any kinda new series to suggest he hadn't died now that he has - that too I think would feel cheap. I agree that the show should be rested for a bit, though with its previous ratings I think it would be unlikely that the BBC wouldn't often to recommission it at some point.
What I do wish would happen (and I know it never will) though is this:
Jack goes off to travel the universe, possibly meeting up with the Doctor occasionally, for a while, and then returns to Earth, but a little before he left, maybe the 90s or the very early 00s. Then, he would take over Torchwood 2 in Scotland, putting together a new team and having similar but different adventures... but with the twist that Jack now constantly faces the temptation to cross his own personal timeline, to give his previous self help and clues and warnings, and he could glimpse stillalive!Ianto and Owen and Tosh and even his previous team before they all died... because you know he'd be watching even if he couldn't allow himself to be directly involved. He'd try to help out where he can, walking a thin line, unsure whether its a good thing to see his friends (and lover) alive again when he has seen them dead. And, in asmuch as he would try to avoid interacting with his previous self, he himself would become the strange man that runs TW2 Jack mentions in the very first ep :) That way, we the audience could be given more time with and insights into the lives and characters of Ianto, Owen, Tosh, and Suzie without actually bringing them back to life, while also further explorings the difficulties posed by Jack's rather unique situation.
OR, spinoff wise, they should make Randy! XD I'd soo watch that.
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Date: 2009-11-02 07:03 pm (UTC)I think the thing that annoyed me most wasn't so much the characters as the writers. I felt that they had spent the whole rest of the series really proving they were talented writers capable of making really excellent TV, and then Ianto's death felt lazy. Having proved they could write well, why did they not continue to do so here? I identify a little with some of fandom's other outrages, that CoE wasn't the Torchwood of previous series', that RTD systematically destroyed everything he had made, that they had claimed J/I shippers would be pleased with the developments of CoE, but they have never been my principal concerns. I'll put up with a lot for the storytelling, and if Ianto had died well then I would have been sad but also glad and appreciative of the story. It didn't need to be guns blazing, it couldn't have been equally pointless in the sense of an example of pointless death generally - it was this dip in the story telling that I perceived I think that really irritated me. The whole thing felt cheap and like we were cheated.
I don't want Ianto to be resurrected, and while I would have much preferred it if he hadn't died in the first place I don't want any kinda new series to suggest he hadn't died now that he has - that too I think would feel cheap. I agree that the show should be rested for a bit, though with its previous ratings I think it would be unlikely that the BBC wouldn't often to recommission it at some point.
What I do wish would happen (and I know it never will) though is this:
Jack goes off to travel the universe, possibly meeting up with the Doctor occasionally, for a while, and then returns to Earth, but a little before he left, maybe the 90s or the very early 00s. Then, he would take over Torchwood 2 in Scotland, putting together a new team and having similar but different adventures... but with the twist that Jack now constantly faces the temptation to cross his own personal timeline, to give his previous self help and clues and warnings, and he could glimpse stillalive!Ianto and Owen and Tosh and even his previous team before they all died... because you know he'd be watching even if he couldn't allow himself to be directly involved. He'd try to help out where he can, walking a thin line, unsure whether its a good thing to see his friends (and lover) alive again when he has seen them dead. And, in asmuch as he would try to avoid interacting with his previous self, he himself would become the strange man that runs TW2 Jack mentions in the very first ep :) That way, we the audience could be given more time with and insights into the lives and characters of Ianto, Owen, Tosh, and Suzie without actually bringing them back to life, while also further explorings the difficulties posed by Jack's rather unique situation.
OR, spinoff wise, they should make Randy! XD I'd soo watch that.