Ah, Children of Earth. I have longer reviews on here about that one, which I did watch as it aired. I enjoyed it very much until the episode where they killed Ianto. And you know, I'm not even that upset because Ianto was my favorite character. I was upset because it was such an idiotic thing to do, given the rest of the episode. This is almost exactly why I was upset by JE, too. RTD didn't know how to craft a sustainable emotional gut blow and he went for the most ridiculously inept manipulations.
Take the death of Jack's child...well...RTD had to know this was his final solution. And it is a gut wrenching one...perhaps it was all that could be done...I would have worked for a neater solution to my story or I would have explained the inevitable better...but...whatever. Say, you have decided to kill this child...and you want Jack heartbroken over it all, a broken man? Then, you leave Ianto alive. Ianto turning his back on Jack at the end, would have been so much more powerful than his daughter. Because the audience is deeply invested in Ianto, we would have been much more invested in the real horror of killing that child. But RTD wastes the audiences emotional investment, before the ending episode. Just to waste it, it seems.
If Ianto had still been alive, he would have tried to stop Jack. Ianto would have to be tricked as the daughter was, and would end up comforting the daughter...in the end. He would have still left Torchwood, turned his back on Jack. Then, we would all have felt the blow to Jack at one concentrated point...and there would be a much larger debate about the ethics of the situation RTD had created. Also, the Ianto/Jack folks would have tons of things to occupy them...rather than simply abandoning the Torchwood world. RTD could, as a writer, always say, "Sorry, there is no change of Ianto ever coming back to Jack." But the audience could keep the love alive in their heads. So, it would have been a win-win for the franchise...with people they could have back for reunion episodes in twenty years time, too.
There's just no excuse for the huge opportunities that RTD loses with the decisions he makes. Just as we could have had more stories around Doctor Who and a greater fanbase, we could have had more Torchwood stories, too. But both times, RTD screwed up royally.
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Date: 2013-03-02 05:19 pm (UTC)Take the death of Jack's child...well...RTD had to know this was his final solution. And it is a gut wrenching one...perhaps it was all that could be done...I would have worked for a neater solution to my story or I would have explained the inevitable better...but...whatever. Say, you have decided to kill this child...and you want Jack heartbroken over it all, a broken man? Then, you leave Ianto alive. Ianto turning his back on Jack at the end, would have been so much more powerful than his daughter. Because the audience is deeply invested in Ianto, we would have been much more invested in the real horror of killing that child. But RTD wastes the audiences emotional investment, before the ending episode. Just to waste it, it seems.
If Ianto had still been alive, he would have tried to stop Jack. Ianto would have to be tricked as the daughter was, and would end up comforting the daughter...in the end. He would have still left Torchwood, turned his back on Jack. Then, we would all have felt the blow to Jack at one concentrated point...and there would be a much larger debate about the ethics of the situation RTD had created. Also, the Ianto/Jack folks would have tons of things to occupy them...rather than simply abandoning the Torchwood world. RTD could, as a writer, always say, "Sorry, there is no change of Ianto ever coming back to Jack." But the audience could keep the love alive in their heads. So, it would have been a win-win for the franchise...with people they could have back for reunion episodes in twenty years time, too.
There's just no excuse for the huge opportunities that RTD loses with the decisions he makes. Just as we could have had more stories around Doctor Who and a greater fanbase, we could have had more Torchwood stories, too. But both times, RTD screwed up royally.
Rae