Torchwood 1-12 : on Jack's attitude

[beccaelizabeth]

And once again I wish I were better at the thinking parts, and also the saying of things.

Quoteage and spoilers under the cut.




So in this one we learn a lot about our Captain Jack, and his attitudes. And maybe why he hasn't been having so much fun lately.

I just think you should live every night like it's your last. Make tonight the best night of your life. You're alive - right here, right now. Your men are fine.

Carpe Noctem, basically.

So can we assume Jack lives by his own rules?
Certainly used to.
(Didn't he?)
Basically looked like he went someplace and had fun.
Because it might be the last night of his life.

So now we have Captain Jack talking to Captain Jack, and while the narcisissm angle is amusing, we've also got time travel. Our, older, Jack, is talking to the Jack that lived in war time. Different eras of himself, trying to tell the young one what the older one learned the hard way?

Thing is, you could see our Jack as being rather selfish. Carpe Diem can be selfish. Because it might be the last night of Jack's life he should make it the best night for himself.

But our Jack isn't talking to himself, really. Psychologically, maybe. It's a bit borderline. But he is actually talking to someone else.

And giving them the advice - go to her, lose yourself in her, because it might be the last night of your life.

... think about that. *All* about Jack, not about her. Doesn't say make it the best night of her life because it might be all she has to remember you by.

41Jack actually has a problem with the idea of making her love him, because that's making it worse. Already knowing he won't be coming back?

And in the end he doesn't go to her - he goes to the guy who really understands. This might be all they ever have. But there's no false expectations there, and if he gets his heart ripped out, it's no more than would happen anyway, given the givens. Losing his men over and over.

Our Jack has been having issues with the immortality thing. When for a moment he thought maybe he could die, what did he do? Feel so alive. And why?
Because then the party is back on.
Because if you know it isn't the last night of your life, what excuse do you have to party like that? You've suddenly got to remember you'll always have the hangover. And assorted other consequences.

Thing of it is -
It isn't just about him.

And maybe his words haven't said that, but his actions rather seem to.

Because when he meets this guy who he knows has only that one last night to live? Our Jack does everything he can to make it the best for him.

Immortality? All that loss, broken hearts. Can see how that weighs you down.

But if you're living for them then the party is definitely back on.

Because every day somebody's world is ending. They are alive, right here, right now? Might be the very last moment.

So our Jack dances with a man he'll never have another moment with. Time traveller or not, they meet for the first time right then and this is the last time 41Jack ever has. One dance is all.

(Owen knew Diane for a week, and nearly destroyed the world, because it wasn't enough. Jack has the power to do that - but he doesn't. Won't tear time apart for his own heart's sake.)

And when it looks like he's got the perfect excuse to walk away - duty, what they both understand - instead he risks it all for just one kiss, the one that says goodbye. But now our Jack has her role in it - he'll live, with that memory. The worse for being so wonderful.

I liked one moment in the dance you see in screencaps - earlier we get focus on the girl whispering in 41Jack's ear "I love you". Jack and Jack dance? Echoes the image. You can fill in the words.


So maybe the rule is live every night like it's your last.
Dance with pretty girls who make offers on the basis you might not get another chance.
But what is it like for the girls?


Jack's turn to learn that.


Now is all we have. Make it special.

Comments

PS

[beccaelizabeth]

Yes, given that I rarely leave the house let alone interact with humans in a way consistent with that motto, it do feel a bit like I've no room to talk.
But I can do the storytelling part about it.
Seen enough stories.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Good perspective on Jack. I think at the beginning of the episode, our Jack was trying to be unselfish - pushing the other Jack towards Nancy because he thought it was the better thing to do; but it became increasingly clear (by the other Jack's attitude, and by the crushing weight of our Jack's own knowledge) that the best thing to do, which would involve taking his own advice, would mean getting involved emotionally and dealing with the subsequent pain. And, Jack being Jack, he did so. Presumably making other Jack's last evening alive better and more meaningful than it could otherwise have been.