Torchwood, you broke my heart

[lady_bug_kay]

If you haven't seen the final episode of series 2 of Torchwood, don't look under the cut. Seriously. Don't do it. Major spoilers for 2x13 "Exit Wounds."

I don't do episode reaction posts, unless they're fics. I don't. But this--. This episode broke my heart. It really, really did. The acting was phenomenal - except maybe by Gray, but at least he looked like he could have been related to John Barrowman. But why, oh, why, did they have to kill off two of my favourite characters? Why not kill Gwen? Not that I hate her, but of all of them, she is my least favourite. Although I do love Rhys, especially in this episode -- and Andy! -- and without Gwen, we wouldn't have them, so...

Hey! Maybe Andy will join Torchwood.

I admit I didn't like Owen in the first series, but in this second series, I liked him a lot. Actually, I kind of loved his character this series. We saw the reasons behind his behaviour in season 1, and we saw him dealing with so many different things that individually would be enough to devastate a person. And Tosh, well, she has always been my favourite. And the scene with both of them so close to death, and Tosh living just long enough to hear everything she ever wanted to hear from Owen, and him not knowing that she was dying, and then her last look at Jack and -- well, I'm not ashamed to say I was crying by that point. Who wasn't?

I'm not sure I believe that Gray would have continued with his desire to destroy Cardiff after he buried Jack alive FOR ALMOST TWO THOUSAND YEARS, because that kind of vengeance is overkill, already. Also, I thought Jack had actually killed him, up until we find out that he didn't - and I still think it would have been better if Jack had killed him. If they're going to go for the pain the way they did in this episode, they should have gone all the way and really torn Jack's heart to shreds. Thank god for Ianto; I don't know what Jack would have done if something had happened to our captain's teaboy.

But Jack being buried for almost two thousand years, dying and resurrecting and dying and resurrecting, countless times - I think it's safe to say Jack will never, ever sleep again. Think of the issues: claustrophobia, fear of being alone, fear of the dark, fear of the ground. It's sensory deprivation on the kind of scale I can't even imagine. There's enough fodder for fic there to last fandom for decades. Forget about the year that never was, this is what will haunt Jack for the rest of his infinite life, particularly since it was his brother who put him there, and he has enough guilt over losing Gray in the first place that the idea that he is responsible for Gray turning into this must just be the final straw. 

(Incidentally, I never liked the idea that Jack would become the face of Boe, and the fact that he never aged during those years is, in my opinion, a decent argument for Jack not becoming the face of Boe. So there. )

So, anyway, what this all boils down to, I suppose, is that I'm a little fragile right now and in desperate need of some hurt/comfort fic, heavy on the comfort. I can't write it, now, not yet, but I'm hoping someone else can, because I think we all need it after that sucker punch of an episode.

Torchwood, thy name is pain.

Comments

[demon-faith.livejournal.com]

Usually, I would agree with the hurt/comfort vein.

However, in situations like these, what I need is a Big Damn Fixit. I cannot deal with this reality. I need someone to come along with an inventive, ingenious and plausible way to make it all right.

That is how I deal with Archie Kennedy's death in Hornblower. That is how I deal with Sirius Black's death in HP. Nothing else will console me here.

[ladybugkay.livejournal.com]

I hear you about the need for fix-it fic. I devoured Bring Back Black fic after the events of Order of the Phoenix, and now someone needs to write the fic where John goes back in time to kill Gray before any of this happens. It's a simple solution, really. John kills Gray, nothing happens to Cardiff, Owen and Tosh don't die, and Jack doesn't spend hundreds and hundreds of years living and dying in the ground.

[demon-faith.livejournal.com]

So, that would be you signing yourself up for an epic then...?

[ladybugkay.livejournal.com]

LOL. Um, no. At least not right now. Right now, I might be hiding from Torchwood and seeking comfort elsewhere until I feel emotionally capable of dealing with the finale. I'm a coward like that.

[kari77.livejournal.com]

Guess I'm still not really able to process what happened in that episode. Just that Tosh and Owen broke my heart. And Tosh's message at the end was a killer move.

Don't know about any H/C-fics yet, but I came across a short and, imho, very funny ficlet that might lighten your mood a bit. It did for me last Friday.
Of Watches and Rabbits! (http://ahlai.livejournal.com/11284.html)

*hugs*

[ladybugkay.livejournal.com]

Apparently it's still not known for certain if there will be a series 3? I've read rumours about there being only 5 eps and rumours that Gareth and Burn are both signed on for series 3 - which would mean Owen is still alive in some way, which might be possible, since we didn't actually see him die. But then I want Tosh back, too.

Damn, that episode made me cry.

I read "Of Watches and Rabbits," too, and it was great. Someone needs to write a whole Alice in Wonderland/Torchwood fic.

[kari77.livejournal.com]

The rumours are various. We can't do much but wait for the BBC to confirm. Or not. :-/ The episode reminded me a bit of the end of Buffy and Angel, the whole "the end is where we start from" ... Don't want to go there in my mind. :-/

Me too got the impression that Owen is still, well, not quite alive, but not gone. Or the radioactive material kinda transformed him since it couldn't really kill him ... Uff, shouldn't encourage the blot bunnies ...
But I know what you mean about Tosh. It will never be the same. Especially for Owen if he might come back and find Tosh gone. Yet another woman in his life. *sniffs*

Someone needs to write a whole Alice in Wonderland/Torchwood fic.
That would be cracktastic. *g*