You know, I wasn't going to comment, but I feel I have to.
I was dragged into Torchwood by meta--rm's meta, to be exact. I was intrigued and interested and ended up buying all three seasons at one time (and not just because I got a good deal on Satan!Amazon), but because I couldn't see watching one, getting hooked (which I knew that I would) and waiting interminably for the others.
I watched them all back to back, from S1 to CoE. Every episode, every extra on the DVDs, everything. I haven't listened to the audio plays, but then again, I don't think that I have to if I want to get the gist of the team or their mission.
As a lesbian and an avid watcher of gays in the media, I feel that I can at least give a perspective on some of this. Please withhold the rock-throwing, I beg you.
Until CoE, I never got a sense of Jack/Ianto as a couple. Until I watched Ianto die, I still didn't get that sense either. Even now, as I re-watch all three and discuss each one with my partner Sandy (who is just as hooked as I am), neither one of us see Ianto as any more than a passing fling and f***buddy for Jack--a booty call to make the long hours go a little faster. (And I will add that we are the couple that look for gay/lesbian subtext in everything, from the Bible to Buffy and Beyond)
Even after "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", I still didn't see Jack as being gay. I saw him more as fluidly sexual, seeking sex and partnership for the person within the skin, not the package that it came in. Omnisexual, if you will--but not exclusively homosexual, never.
In KKBB, my first thought (and last, after much discussion and rehashing) was that he was going to admit to Gwen that he loved her and returned to earth for her. Not for Ianto, Gwen. His disappointment when he found her engagement ring was palpable, and even more so when she got married. You could almost feel the longing in him. YMMV, but this is, as I said, from rehashing and discussion between TWO lesbians.
With all that being said, I think that your meta was spot-on. It didn't matter that Jack was the anti-hero in 1965--had he played the hero, then CoE would not have happened and the 456 would not have returned to earth. Period.
Jack has to be the anti-hero then to become the 'hero' now and save millions from the worse fate. He had to sacrifice now because he didn't sacrifice then--he had no moral compass to speak of and his life was built on following orders and having little conscience for what he had to do to keep from becoming Torchwood's own little test subject (flying under the wire, if you wish). Since he didn't have a team to care for, he had nobody but himself; when he did take control of Torchwood and recruit the people that we see as the team in the series, he had (finally) a reason to care and a compass (Gwen) to show him what it meant to be human and how to be compassionate again.
no subject
I was dragged into Torchwood by meta--
I watched them all back to back, from S1 to CoE. Every episode, every extra on the DVDs, everything. I haven't listened to the audio plays, but then again, I don't think that I have to if I want to get the gist of the team or their mission.
As a lesbian and an avid watcher of gays in the media, I feel that I can at least give a perspective on some of this. Please withhold the rock-throwing, I beg you.
Until CoE, I never got a sense of Jack/Ianto as a couple. Until I watched Ianto die, I still didn't get that sense either. Even now, as I re-watch all three and discuss each one with my partner Sandy (who is just as hooked as I am), neither one of us see Ianto as any more than a passing fling and f***buddy for Jack--a booty call to make the long hours go a little faster. (And I will add that we are the couple that look for gay/lesbian subtext in everything, from the Bible to Buffy and Beyond)
Even after "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", I still didn't see Jack as being gay. I saw him more as fluidly sexual, seeking sex and partnership for the person within the skin, not the package that it came in. Omnisexual, if you will--but not exclusively homosexual, never.
In KKBB, my first thought (and last, after much discussion and rehashing) was that he was going to admit to Gwen that he loved her and returned to earth for her. Not for Ianto, Gwen. His disappointment when he found her engagement ring was palpable, and even more so when she got married. You could almost feel the longing in him. YMMV, but this is, as I said, from rehashing and discussion between TWO lesbians.
With all that being said, I think that your meta was spot-on. It didn't matter that Jack was the anti-hero in 1965--had he played the hero, then CoE would not have happened and the 456 would not have returned to earth. Period.
Jack has to be the anti-hero then to become the 'hero' now and save millions from the worse fate. He had to sacrifice now because he didn't sacrifice then--he had no moral compass to speak of and his life was built on following orders and having little conscience for what he had to do to keep from becoming Torchwood's own little test subject (flying under the wire, if you wish). Since he didn't have a team to care for, he had nobody but himself; when he did take control of Torchwood and recruit the people that we see as the team in the series, he had (finally) a reason to care and a compass (Gwen) to show him what it meant to be human and how to be compassionate again.