By grouchy decree

[beccaelizabeth]

Things about Torchwood I have decided:

Jack does not come back because he missed Ianto.
Duty, people! The keyword is duty! Like 1-12; he has reasons.
... does no one else find that duty-desire tension/entwining to be sexy?


... because it might be for and about duty, but Ianto is a hell of a nice bonus, to share that duty with. Because he would totally get it.

Comments

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Don't see it, myself.

With Who, we get a Jack who is very disillusioned with duty--he did his duty and was rewarded by having his memories stolen. In Torchwood, we have at most a nebulous sense of duty which seems to amount to "doing whatever we want to because we can."

Which isn't to say that he came back because he missed Ianto, either, especially since I don't know what you mean by "come back."

[beccaelizabeth]

er, what episode are you up to?


*considers own lack of spoiler cuts*

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

End of season one?

[beccaelizabeth]

then puzzlement is?

1-12 come back = says duty
1-13 goes away at the end, fic needs to explain how/why he gets back

[damalan.livejournal.com]

If he's the same as in Episode 12, then yes, duty might well drive him back to Torchwood Cardiff. But you have to ask, why is he so driven to duty? If it's because it's his way of coping after losing the Doctor and Rose on the Game Station, then will he be the same after meeting the Doctor again?

A great deal depends on what happens in those 3 Doctor Who episodes methinks. In other words, Russell and the writers have the scope to remodel Jack emotionally, if they want for Season 2 Torchwood. And in some ways I hope they do, since meeting the Doctor again seems to have been the underlying character drive throughout Season 1. As to how he's changed, I am not so sure...

Good thought, though. This only occurred to me as I was thinking about this point.

[beccaelizabeth]

If I was being precise instead of annoyed I would phrase it more as: It is plausible random people would decide where to live and work based on who they're shagging, but, I find the 'duty' thing to be one of the world's more appealing character traits and therefore the characters I like (who have demonstrated a tendency in this direction already) should act out of duty, with bonus rewards of romance, not romance with a forgotten side effect of duty.

So... yeah, there's a lot of things could plausibly be done with him. Especially with some of his Issues resolved.

[louiex.livejournal.com]

Though it wounds the romantic in me, I agree. Jack is a man who knows perks when he sees them and also knows when he's got to buckle down and do what he has to do. See how he let Jasmine go in 1-05 even though instinct said it was wrong -though the girl seemed quite happy to threaten him with death in the meanwhile- but he had to do what duty required and face the wrath of his very stupid team at the end there who don't seem to realize the real weight of duty versus what they see as 'right'.

Jack knows duty when he sees it and I doubt he intends to stay away from TW because there's that '21st century is when everything changes' speech he keeps giving, which I doubt was a reference to Abbadon trotting around downtown Cardiff.

If anyone knows duty like that it would be Ianto, yeah? He's got loyalty in his blood, even when protecting Lisa and seeing that she had killed Tanizaki, he still told her to stay away from the others and did have some loyalty to them but was overshadowed by his attempt to protect Lisa regardless of the situation escaping his control. However he returned later and cleaned up post-Lisa's firing squad, knowing his duty to his job despite his emotional mishaps.

Duty is something that they share, a common ground I think that would indeed make the perk of Jack returning and Ianto still being there quite a happy bonus indeed.

[beccaelizabeth]

duty and necessity vs norms and values, yes

Abaddon wasn't supposed to happen therefore isn't what he's been waiting for... probably. The interesting part is what is a Time Agent doing hanging around when everything changes.

Ianto phrased his care for Lisa in terms of duty, under extreme stress with a gun to his head. So yeah, I think he puts duty ahead of romance in his important things list. And loyalty, yup. And yeah, I think they share duty, so in my head they'd both find it more romantic to have a partner who gets that than to have one who'll cross the universe for romance.