Torchwood 3: the re-imagining!
. . Just some random TW fandom rambling. For those not fans, nothing to see here! For those who, for some reason may be interested in my nerdy ramblin's and who have already seen TW season 3, read on.
I just thought of a plot twist that might have been far more interesting if it had been implemented in Children of the Earth that would have allowed Ianto to surivive, but create a potentially more crushing moral and personal dilemma between him and Jack, which would provide drama, but not by way of a death, which has been overdone and is frankly too easy and typical a plot device.
If there's one thing I wanted to see more of in CoE, it was more attention to and development of Jack and Ianto's relationship. I really think that before they set their ill-fated plan to confront the 456 into action, there should have been a Jack/Ianto scene wherein essentially Ianto tells him "I know what you did in the past, but we're going to fix that now and I'm going to stand beside you no matter what."
This would help explain why Jack took him into the Thames building with him--into mortal danger, in the first place---if Ianto had just been made to wait outside, out of danger, he wouldn't have stood for that, especially since he started out in Torchwood as the coffee boy/butler of the Torchwood hub, staying behind to mind the house while everyone else went out on alien-catching adventures.
Fast forward to the aliens. In the series as it stands, there's interaction between Jack and the aliens that kind of goes unremarked upon due to being overshadowed by Ianto's death. The aliens basically tell Jack that he "yielded to us before," and Jack answers that he won't anymore, followed by the heroic speech, yadda yadda. . . and the aliens release the fatal virus.
Now what I thought was interesting here was that once Jack realizes that Ianto will die, he immediately backslides on what he said before, saying "I take it all back!!" and begs the aliens for an antidote to the virus--begs them not to let Ianto die, basically letting them know they've won--that he'll do anything if they'll just save Ianto. If there was mud on the floor of that room, he'd be crawling on his belly through it for those aliens.
A complete reversal of the heroic determined figure he was walking in there.
Now I think what would have been an interesting twist is if the aliens actually did release the cure for the virus, saving everyone in the building. Whether the people live or die in there, the aliens still get what they want and it would have been a deliciously evil bit of psychological torture on their part to show Jack that he's powerless--that he very much can and did and always will yield to them, as well as allowing his lover to live and have to deal with seeing him do that.
Picture Ianto in this instance: he was prepared to die for Torchwood, for Jack, for what he believed in, but then saw Jack throw all that they stood for in the muck, surrendering completely to the aliens. This was Ianto's Captain, someone he loved and looked up to. What would that do to him? How would that change their relationship?
Best (or should I say worst) of all, Ianto would be alive to witness the horrible act of sacrifice Jack has to commit in order to destroy the aliens. What I imagine is that Ianto wouldn't be able to bear looking at him when that last scene happens--he'd leave the room, ending up breaking the promise he had made to Jack to always stand by him.
I think this could provide a lot more interesting drama in the aftermath, changing two lovers' perceptions of each other as well as themselves as people. It may or may not end their relationship, but it would certainly shake it. I think if the writers had gone that route it would have made for much more interesting drama (as well as the preservation of a beloved character.) >:(
Basically, I'm not saying the occasional tragic death is a bad thing, but I do think death in general, especially in film, tv, storytelling--you name it, is over-glorified. What's more interesting to me is the telling of how life continues after death is experienced; how the people involved pick themselves up and move on and how they change because of it.
So, thoughts? Am I a genius? A hack? A cruel, sick individual? Or just some random, un-noteable fangirl rambling about a sci-fi show when she should have spent the day working on her comic? :P
I just thought of a plot twist that might have been far more interesting if it had been implemented in Children of the Earth that would have allowed Ianto to surivive, but create a potentially more crushing moral and personal dilemma between him and Jack, which would provide drama, but not by way of a death, which has been overdone and is frankly too easy and typical a plot device.
If there's one thing I wanted to see more of in CoE, it was more attention to and development of Jack and Ianto's relationship. I really think that before they set their ill-fated plan to confront the 456 into action, there should have been a Jack/Ianto scene wherein essentially Ianto tells him "I know what you did in the past, but we're going to fix that now and I'm going to stand beside you no matter what."
This would help explain why Jack took him into the Thames building with him--into mortal danger, in the first place---if Ianto had just been made to wait outside, out of danger, he wouldn't have stood for that, especially since he started out in Torchwood as the coffee boy/butler of the Torchwood hub, staying behind to mind the house while everyone else went out on alien-catching adventures.
Fast forward to the aliens. In the series as it stands, there's interaction between Jack and the aliens that kind of goes unremarked upon due to being overshadowed by Ianto's death. The aliens basically tell Jack that he "yielded to us before," and Jack answers that he won't anymore, followed by the heroic speech, yadda yadda. . . and the aliens release the fatal virus.
Now what I thought was interesting here was that once Jack realizes that Ianto will die, he immediately backslides on what he said before, saying "I take it all back!!" and begs the aliens for an antidote to the virus--begs them not to let Ianto die, basically letting them know they've won--that he'll do anything if they'll just save Ianto. If there was mud on the floor of that room, he'd be crawling on his belly through it for those aliens.
A complete reversal of the heroic determined figure he was walking in there.
Now I think what would have been an interesting twist is if the aliens actually did release the cure for the virus, saving everyone in the building. Whether the people live or die in there, the aliens still get what they want and it would have been a deliciously evil bit of psychological torture on their part to show Jack that he's powerless--that he very much can and did and always will yield to them, as well as allowing his lover to live and have to deal with seeing him do that.
Picture Ianto in this instance: he was prepared to die for Torchwood, for Jack, for what he believed in, but then saw Jack throw all that they stood for in the muck, surrendering completely to the aliens. This was Ianto's Captain, someone he loved and looked up to. What would that do to him? How would that change their relationship?
Best (or should I say worst) of all, Ianto would be alive to witness the horrible act of sacrifice Jack has to commit in order to destroy the aliens. What I imagine is that Ianto wouldn't be able to bear looking at him when that last scene happens--he'd leave the room, ending up breaking the promise he had made to Jack to always stand by him.
I think this could provide a lot more interesting drama in the aftermath, changing two lovers' perceptions of each other as well as themselves as people. It may or may not end their relationship, but it would certainly shake it. I think if the writers had gone that route it would have made for much more interesting drama (as well as the preservation of a beloved character.) >:(
Basically, I'm not saying the occasional tragic death is a bad thing, but I do think death in general, especially in film, tv, storytelling--you name it, is over-glorified. What's more interesting to me is the telling of how life continues after death is experienced; how the people involved pick themselves up and move on and how they change because of it.
So, thoughts? Am I a genius? A hack? A cruel, sick individual? Or just some random, un-noteable fangirl rambling about a sci-fi show when she should have spent the day working on her comic? :P