reading this made me laugh considering that when i first watched A Day In The Death my mum turned to me and said ‘Jack isn’t being very helpful is he’

iantowen dynamic

requirements to work at torchwood: bisexual

Falling down the rabbit hole of Torchwood panels up on YouTube (as I so often find myself doing), here lies the highlights of Dragon Con in 2013 with James Marsters, Gareth David-Lloyd, and Eve Myles. A trio to behold. Truly.

(Captions by meeeee)

Full panel here, if you fancy watching it xoxo

it's a good job that captain jack harkness is functionally immortal, because his habit of standing right at the top of tall buildings dramatically monologuing to himself might get him in a bit of trouble otherwise if he loses his balance

gwen cooper the most special girl in the world

I really wish there had been one more episode between Adrift and Fragments in series 2.

I know Adrift isn't really a favorite episode but it leaves some huge unanswered question and does some really interesting character advancement for Gwen. But because Fragments comes next, nothing gets done with any of that.

One of the unanswered questions is: Do Owen and Tosh know about Flat Holm? I think it's easily plausible both ways.

If they know about it, they also are probably very aware of the limitations of such a facility and also the potential consequences (emotional and security-wise) of letting civilians or family members know about it. I wouldn't be surprised if they were told that Flat Holm was need-to-know. (I wouldn't put it past Jack to tell them separately, so they both think no one else knows.) In any case, if they know about Flat Holm, I think by this time in series 2 they would also be able to gauge what Gwen's reaction would be and how she would try and push the limits of this project, when it's already pretty much as good as it can get, considering the nature of, well, everything.

On the other hand, it makes sense that Ianto knows about Flat Holm if he's doing secretarial duties like expenses and supply runs and things like that, and that it was hidden from everyone else.

And then, if they didn't know about it before, were they told about Flat Holm after? Did Gwen tell them? Or Jack? Or Ianto? I imagine they would react in a more reasonable way than Gwen. Perhaps they'd offer some suggestions for changes but I don't think they'd push much.

The other question is, what's Ianto's motive? And what was Jack's response? We know Ianto pointed Gwen to Flat Holm and we know Jack figures it out, but we don't see them talk about it after. Did Ianto give her clues because he knew she wouldn't stop pushing? Did he give her clues because he thought her knowledge of the facility would be helpful? Was he trying to teach her the exact lesson that she learns in the end? How did Jack react when he got back? What was the conversation between them? It's the first time since Lisa that Ianto deliberately defied Jack and went behind his back about something. That's gotta be a pretty intense blow to their relationship and trust, at least in that it will bring up old wounds.

And the entire episode like I said is some interesting character advancement for Gwen. This is the first time her pushing truly and spectacularly blows up in her face in a way that cannot be fixed at all. For the most part every time she fucks up or goes to far either Jack/the team are able to save the day, or she fumbles it back. This time, the damage is done on a level that she can't undo, and she learns that sometimes you can't do more, that it's better not to know things, that sometimes her actions of "caring" do more harm than good, and learns that there's a lot more to Jack and Ianto and the whole business of running Torchwood than she thought.

I just wish there was one more "regular" episode in between Adrift and Fragments, where we get to see how those realizations might have altered how Gwen saw or functioned in the job, and how Jack and Ianto's relationship might have been affected, and stuff like that.

I mean, I know that's what fanfiction is for, of course, but I'd be so interested to know what the actual showrunners would have done with it. Mainly because the trajectory all the characters were going in in the latter half of series 2 was actually pretty interesting, and then it just screeches to a halt.

I'm kind of obsessed with how, as a fandom, but also in some of the early Torchwood EU, they're like Ianto's a fast runner and a great driver and has a mean left hook but GDL takes one look at Ianto and goes hmm nope that's a guy gets beat up and cries about it

Thinking about how Jack thought Ianto was an angel when he lost his memories

Big Finish should make some audio dramas with the Little Girl to replace the ones with Bilis

sorry sorry sorry i'm just thinking about torchwood-era jack during boom town.

imagine there's this guy that you're in love with, and for the first time in 150 years you know exactly where he is. imagine there's also this girl you're in love with, and you know that if you don't see her right now, you might never see her again. when you last saw them, you sort of hoped that you would, that maybe you'd pick back up exactly where you last spoke. but surely if they wanted to find you, they would have by now, right?

so there's this guy and this girl, and you're absolutely fucked, because there's nothing you want to do more than run up to them and hug them. grab the guy by the shoulders and snog him senseless, and then maybe knock him on his ass. you want to grab him and beg him to help you, because you've been pegging all your hopes on this one guy, thinking maybe he can save you. but if he can, he probably can't just yet, because the thing that fucked you up hasn't even happened, and even if he could fix you, you can't cross paths with that timeline because that might cause the universe to end or something – you never know with these things.

and what you really really want to do (because by now, you're used to the dying, used to the living, used to the useless longing) is to ask them why the hell they left you behind. you want to think it was an accident – because like i said, if it were deliberate, they would have come for you – but that doesn't stop you from being scared that it wasn't. and even if it was, would you even fit with them anymore, these people who you love so fiercely? you're older now, with new loves and new metaphorical scars. you're terrified that these past versions of the people you adore would look at you like a monster. so you can't possibly go to them, and you can't possibly ask the question. they wouldn't know the answer anyway.

and anyway, it's all academic, because alien-catching is hard enough without the impending end of the universe to take into consideration.

so there's this guy that you're in love with, and for the first time in 150 years you know exactly where he is. there's nothing you can do about it except hope it doesn't take another 150 for him to come round again. it's one of the worst days you've had in a while.

DOCTOR WHO

1x13 • “The Parting of the Ways”

I love the theme of love and selfishness in the twelveclara seasons. I love how their very first episode together, clara rejects the doctor because she won’t accept he’s changed and I love how curt and almost mean she is about it. I love how that thread is woven on and on! she lies to danny about twelve and to twelve about danny many many times. she tries to trick the doctor into helping her save danny in the most cruel (and efficient) way possible. she was going to kill missy in front of twelve because to her, he owed her that much. she says to twelve : I don’t care! you do not die with me! you die with the person after me, you save all that heartbreak for later! I don’t want it! I love that theme because it’s about how ugly it can be to love, how possessive and demanding and how it can still coexist with genuine selfless care! there’s no contradictions! do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference ?

I had to do it the second I saw this tweet

[Images: Doctor Who s1201 “Spyfall part 1″ screenshots, with parts of a tweet pasted on them. 1) Thirteen, talking to O - “Interviewer: you have a 3 year gap on your resume that just says ‘vengeance’“. 2) O, staring at her - “me: [silence]”. 3) Thirteen, staring back, confused - “Interviewer: [silence]”. 4) O, smiling dangerously - “me: you don’t remember me do you?”.]

Martha Jones was a fuckin med student when she ran off with The Doctor. If I were writing her she would've wanted to study him like a bug I KNOW my stem girlie would be trying to surreptitiously get him into an X-ray machine

torchwood is literally making me insane. these are the best and worst bisexuals i ever watched. i love them and i hate them. they've got horrible work place relationships because they've all hooked up with each other. i would die for every one of them.