Your analysis is amazingly detailed and well thought out. I can't think of a single point to disagree with, and I share your view of their increasingly close relationship in CoE. At least the promotional material told the truth about that, even if most of us certainly weren't happy about how it ended. I'm putting this into memories, because it merits more thought.
I still have trouble with some inconsistencies in Ianto's behavior between S2 and CoE; in some ways he seemed less sure of himself in CoE, in terms of wanting to label their relationship, while he had been more assertive in S2. But maybe that apparent self-confidence had just been part of the facade, because if there is anything we can be sure of, it's that he could present exactly the image he wanted people to see. That's why, after the initial shock, I thought, "OF COURSE he lied about his father's occupation. It was all part of that carefully constructed persona." So maybe what looked like clinginess in CoE was actually a progression in trusting Jack with his uncertainties, instead of a regression. I still find it hard to believe that he would have walked into that room unprotected, though.
I just wonder what is left for Jack now. He kept going after the Master, and after Gray buried him for 2000 years, but Ianto and Stephen have broken him very badly. Even his resilience has to have limits; unless this hypothetical fourth season goes back in time, perhaps to Victorian Torchwood, or into the future well past Gwen's lifespan, I'm just not going to buy it.
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Date: 2009-11-12 12:44 am (UTC)I still have trouble with some inconsistencies in Ianto's behavior between S2 and CoE; in some ways he seemed less sure of himself in CoE, in terms of wanting to label their relationship, while he had been more assertive in S2. But maybe that apparent self-confidence had just been part of the facade, because if there is anything we can be sure of, it's that he could present exactly the image he wanted people to see. That's why, after the initial shock, I thought, "OF COURSE he lied about his father's occupation. It was all part of that carefully constructed persona." So maybe what looked like clinginess in CoE was actually a progression in trusting Jack with his uncertainties, instead of a regression. I still find it hard to believe that he would have walked into that room unprotected, though.
I just wonder what is left for Jack now. He kept going after the Master, and after Gray buried him for 2000 years, but Ianto and Stephen have broken him very badly. Even his resilience has to have limits; unless this hypothetical fourth season goes back in time, perhaps to Victorian Torchwood, or into the future well past Gwen's lifespan, I'm just not going to buy it.