Torchwood Ex Machina
Sep. 19th, 2023 08:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI relistened to Ex Machina today, a Torchwood audio with Ianto where the audience knows more than the characters at almost every point.
Ianto starts out believing he is 100% of Torchwood, and has been since he moved to Cardiff to care for Lisa. He stays to figure out who killed her.
So we the audience know that whatever is going on here, getting some of those memories back is going to bite.
And it was solid adventure stuff in the middle, with Ianto proving himself to be at least a little bit good at everyone's jobs, but not an expert in any of them, so, realistic.
But then at the end he has... probably already got his memories, and he's all, hmmm, somehow can't recall what my actual job responsibilities are, very noticeably not saying he remembers very well how Lisa died, just oets the lady walk away with a solved problem, having saved Cardiff by getting someone to actually think about and acknowledge their feelings.
Oh the irony.
So I love it. Ianto is very Ianto but as if he'd always had more space to breathe in Cardiff. And then at the end sort of letting her continue to believe he's coolest but also folding himself back in. It's a good sort of sad that shows us more of him.
It's also bitier the closer it is to Cyberwoman, and we dont get many clues, so, could be right after.
In Big Finish publishing order it is quite a while after Broken though, where Jack and Ianto definitely have sex post Cyberwoman, and the solution to Ex Machina involves confronting the thing about your boyfriend that hurts too much to think about, so thematically... there are Some Things Ianto does not want to think about too hard.
But if he forgets Torchwood he forgets why.
So that's a very interesting situation to be in.
It's kind of like what Adam does with erasing one element and seeing what happens, but at some points they've erased, like, Cardiff, somewhat thoroughly.
It does mean that Ianto only gets to save Cardiff when nobody else is around, and the team are leaving him in the tourist office while they go do Torchwood work.
But he very much did get to save Cardiff.
I like this one well.
Ianto starts out believing he is 100% of Torchwood, and has been since he moved to Cardiff to care for Lisa. He stays to figure out who killed her.
So we the audience know that whatever is going on here, getting some of those memories back is going to bite.
And it was solid adventure stuff in the middle, with Ianto proving himself to be at least a little bit good at everyone's jobs, but not an expert in any of them, so, realistic.
But then at the end he has... probably already got his memories, and he's all, hmmm, somehow can't recall what my actual job responsibilities are, very noticeably not saying he remembers very well how Lisa died, just oets the lady walk away with a solved problem, having saved Cardiff by getting someone to actually think about and acknowledge their feelings.
Oh the irony.
So I love it. Ianto is very Ianto but as if he'd always had more space to breathe in Cardiff. And then at the end sort of letting her continue to believe he's coolest but also folding himself back in. It's a good sort of sad that shows us more of him.
It's also bitier the closer it is to Cyberwoman, and we dont get many clues, so, could be right after.
In Big Finish publishing order it is quite a while after Broken though, where Jack and Ianto definitely have sex post Cyberwoman, and the solution to Ex Machina involves confronting the thing about your boyfriend that hurts too much to think about, so thematically... there are Some Things Ianto does not want to think about too hard.
But if he forgets Torchwood he forgets why.
So that's a very interesting situation to be in.
It's kind of like what Adam does with erasing one element and seeing what happens, but at some points they've erased, like, Cardiff, somewhat thoroughly.
It does mean that Ianto only gets to save Cardiff when nobody else is around, and the team are leaving him in the tourist office while they go do Torchwood work.
But he very much did get to save Cardiff.
I like this one well.