Don't Keep Digging!: The Third Torchwood Radio Play

[merucha]

I'm putting this under a cut just in case some of you don't want to be spoiled

There's an old saying: when you're in a hole, STOP DIGGING. I just finished listening to the third of the Torchwood radio plays. Somebody should have reminded Russell Davies about that little saying.

RTD fucked up Ianto's death in CoE, and fans have been letting him know ever since. In this radio play he brings back Ianto's ghost to try to make up for it. Long story short, creature in the Rift that can bring back the dead (and he needs a new idea man/woman because this is old news in the Whoniverse). Jack wants to see Ianto one more time so he shows up at "the most haunted pub in Wales" where a psychic is holding a seance. Ianto arrives, thinking he's alive. At the end, they have a fight, Jack tells Ianto that his plan is to seal the Rift with himself inside so they can be together, Ianto tricks him into going back to "the real world", they exchange heart-felt I love you's and Ianto dies one more time saving the world.

Not a bad death, and with their exchange of "I love you"s, a satisfying one. I could have lived with it in canon. BUT GODDAMMIT, here it's "make-up death". This is a sop and it's soaked in vinegar.

The only good thing about it is that JB and GDL play off each other beautifully, even in radio.

Comments

[bethmccombs]

*sends RTD the fail-button*

[merucha]

Can we attach it to Jack's little Rift destroyer? :D

[fide-et-spe.livejournal.com]

Aww I loved it, bless James Goss. What a treat to have JB and GDL both act so brilliantly. I don't mind if it's cynical, but in fact I don't think it has to be. They didn't let it sink into mawkishness, and it was clever to have a grieving Jack, six months later, he really pulled that off well. Rather than trying to somehow rewrite the CoE canon by setting it before.

[merucha]

You know, I should have taken the time to let it sink in and not just go off incandescent. The story was great (James Goss is a damn good writer). The acting was great (John and Gareth do seem to bounce off each other perfectly). At that level I enjoyed it. BUT I'm afraid there's no way I can see it as anything but cynicism and an attempt to get those fans like myself who were ticked off at the way they killed Ianto off.

[satanassa]

I tend to agree with you -- the whole thing smelt really condescending and patronising to me.

But JB and Gareth were pretty good. Only I didn't like Jack's attitude of 'see Ianto, how special you are? I came back just to see YOU' and expect Ianto to be pathetically grateful for it. Pity it was an afternoon play, otherwise I am pretty sure Ianto would say 'Fuck you very much, Jack!'.

[merucha]

He does do that in much more polite language, though. And it's not until Jack is nearly in what sounds like tears that he relents. It was nicely written.

[fide-et-spe.livejournal.com]

I don't mind if it was cynical as I enjoyed it so much. But I don't see James Goss as cynical, his stuff is consistently very pro Jack and Ianto. I also don't see either JB or GDL as cynical here. I think it's nice rather than cynical.

They were dammed if they did and dammed if they didn't. I'm glad they decided to go ahead and listen to the concerns of the fans and do something. OF course I would have loved Ianto back, and more TW in Wales. This has in no way convinced me that MD is a good idea. I have very little interest in it. I don't think it solves all the problems, but it's a really nice concession, that they didn't have to make.

[merucha]

I guess I'm not getting it across very well... I don't see either the writer or the actors as the problem. They were all three marvelous and I do thank them for the work because it was rather nice to see Jack and Ianto together again if only briefly and finally, finally, openly saying to each other what the rest of us already knew, that they were in love.

I do however, object to what to me is an obvious manipulation of emotion by RTD in order to fix his original screw up. I have a long history of holding on to grudges.

[fide-et-spe.livejournal.com]

I kept meaning to reply to this. I hold epic grudges, and still feel angry when I think about RTD's attitude. So i understand that. I just feel that this isn't RTD. I could be wrong, but he isn't on any of the credits, and yes he'd have to agree to them, but it felt more like some of TPTB had listened to the fans, and did this for them. Plus maybe some of them, including James Goss, actually felt the same way.

So it's why I'm not bitter about this, even though still bitter at RTD and CoE.