CoE Reaction Post

[sulwen]

Very long and rambling, and far too emotional. You'll really have to forgive me for that. I've been mainlining this show like crazy the past few days, so right now I'm a bit more in that reality than in this one.



So, so, so very much Jack and Ianto during these episodes - it's almost like an apology in advance. Much appreciated, from my end. Some absolutely beautiful closeups of both boys as well. Love the darkness coming out in Jack.

Quite liking the production values and pacing. I can definitely see enjoying the show just as much in miniseries form as in full series form, if not more, assuming I like the particular story they choose to tell.

I keep pausing and flipping over to the web browser to do other things. It's not that the story's not compelling - it is. It's that I don't want to get to the end.

I don't really like how all the Americans are presented as total douchebags. That news anchor must be on Fox, because there's no way she'd be taking that judgmental tone on any respectable station.

This is just reinforcing how much I want to be watching the Jack and Ianto show. Other characters are nice, but I could watch those boys all day long and not want for anything.

Oh, god. Wasn't expecting that until the very end.

I was fine until that last kiss. That broke me.

I understand character death. I really do. But this...this was random. And unnecessary. And didn't serve the story in any way. The deaths of every other person in that building would have been enough to serve the story's purposes. They didn't need to go further than that.

I'm glad I was spoiled for it - VERY glad. The shock must have been terrible, such an event happening so suddenly like that, and over so quickly. I feel for everyone watching that live.

I feel almost betrayed. Such a wonderful character, such a beautiful and unique couple, something that we see so little of - gone, and for what?

Still...very lovely acting. Those two really do feel for each other. My years of watching Supernatural (and to a lesser extent, Smallville) have shown me the difference between actors acting and actors feeling, and those boys were feeling it.

In the end, though, I'm a sucker for tragic romance. I'm sure I'll watch that scene again and again - it is very romantic, despite everything.

I find that I hardly care anymore about the main storyline. Ianto's dead - fuck the kids.

Still. Jack does grieve beautifully. And of course I have to watch it now. I'm in too deep. What choice do I have?

You're shitting me. They're just drugs?

Oh god, that's right. They wouldn't be back if it wasn't for Jack. Well, they probably would be, but still...now he's going to feel responsible. Completely and utterly responsible for Ianto's death, and he wouldn't be wrong. Oh, poor boy...and no one to comfort him. Just Gwen, and she...she's never really understood Jack, not in the way Ianto did. Never really made that connection.

It is so very shallow, but Jack is most beautiful when he cries.

So much non-team screen time in these episodes. I don't care about the politicians.

So little Jack, particularly. This episode should have been all him, every minute.

This has been an easy show to love. I hate that I'm seeing such major missteps here, at the end. And it is the end, isn't it, even if and when they do make more.

Christ, this is getting dark.

And even that bothers me, because Ianto's death, if it had to happen, should have been at the end of the darkness, the very worst of it, because it was the most personal for us. And therefore, it was horribly misplaced. Not only that, but putting his death in Day Four was incredibly cruel - of course we would think he'd come back in Day Five, that SOMETHING would be done. In a show with a history of bringing people back...such false hope.

I very much like Jack's daughter. She has this lovely sense of calm about her, calm competence.

It's strange. I'm not feeling angry so much as betrayed. This show has been like a constant stream of joy, and then to just have it ripped away...

I felt a strange need to go back and look up the fandomsecrets entry for the day after Day Four aired for some reason. And it's so very weird. I remember reading those posts. Looking at them, I very clearly remember several of the secrets. And somehow, then, I was able to scroll by and not care. What a difference a little knowledge makes.

The boy shaking himself to death was very disturbing. My stomach turned.

Jack crying. I'll say it again: beautiful.

My god. Jack sitting in the hallway looks very much like Brian sitting in the hallway at the end of QaF (US) S1. Except Justin lived.

As much as I'm going to bitch about the writing of this season FOREVER, I have to admit that the very end was quite good. Jack's exit was just exactly perfect. There is no new team, not after all that. Never.

If they do make more of this show, it should be in such a different format that it's hardly recognizable, and the only shared character should be Jack.

Still, even after all the crying...I don't regret watching the show. It was fantastic, and I loved it. I'll be rewatching it for years to come, I'm sure of that.

And you know what? This is exactly what fandom is for - giving you more of what you didn't get enough of in the canon. With this show, we were absolutely spoiled with Jack and Ianto - the canon was chock-full of what we usually have to make for ourselves. But the silver lining is this: now we've seen all canon is going to give us. Now, we have the chance to let our creativity loose, to do what we do best and make for ourselves what they won't give us. I very much hope that the fandom will continue on, healthy and strong, for a good long time yet. And from what I've seen so far, I believe it will.

ETA: After thinking about it a bit, I'm wondering. As much as I liked that ending, I almost feel like they did too much in service to it, like they were so in love with Jack leaving at the end that they sacrificed Ianto to facilitate that happening. And if that's the case...well, they need to take a good hard look at themselves as writers.

Still adore the show and its creators. Just bitching some more, that's all.

Comments

[k-cat.livejournal.com]

I'm still unsure if I really want to watch CoE. Season 2 was so very awesome and I could have happily watched years of more of Torchwood had they continued along those lines. I get that RTD wanted to remind the audience that working for Torchwood is a dangerous job, but I feel that in doing so he took away the potential for the show to grow.

[sulwen.livejournal.com]

I could have watched years more like season two as well. I don't understand why he wanted to end that when he had a good thing going.

And yes, we get danger. But we're not watching your show for the realism. We're watching for the characters.

*mourns*