#+ gwen and jacks most interesting dynamic ever

[doctorwhoisadhd]

what if i watched immortal sins again

[cursed-princess-club]

I wonder your opinion regarding CPC ships, at least woth the pre-existing 6 couples in CPC wiki (https://cursed-princess.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Relationship) a.k.a Maria/Blaine, Lance/Lorena, Frederick/Gwendolyn, Jolie/Nell, Jack/Lilyth (Leelathae). Thank you for seeing my message and sorry for asking too many at once!!!

ohhhh i find all these relationships interesting! Lots to unpack probably. this is all probably known stuff but uhh uh uh Yes

maria/blaine: you know when older sibling dilemmas. People Who get each other kind of but not really but also a little bit maybe . similarities but also really strong differences. yes, the pressure of being the eldest, but relations to those siblings greatly varying, and the contrasts in their support systems. Trying to put this idea into words raughh. HOW DO I SAY. well uh... idk idk something about the two most dedicated to the marriage the role they play for their families. Something about that relationship becoming what it is with the obsession and idolization then the heartbreak then the understanding and such- and i say this as someone who wasnt really invested in maria and blaine!!! The DRAMA dude

lance/lorena: good people! who seemed to vibe the best at first! Not the right place or the right time??? maybe ?? In another life they wouldve been gym bros yk. they adored each other but were also completely set up to feel bitter once the whole arrangement was revealed to be... Yeah.

gwen/fred: it's like if the two most open hearted doe eyed maybe maybe not insecure and self deprecating friends accidentally hurt each others feelings a lot/keep scaring each other. And stuff. u know how it is. I enjoy them and their development a lot! They need to catch a break so bad

jolie/nell: There is so much to explore with this relationship but it happens of screen so shout out the wonderful fan content of them out there! i like their dynamic :) haha wouldnt it be funny is jolie became an optometrist. That sounds like some shit lambcat would pull actually

lilyth/jack: veryvery VERY interesting. leelathae's story in general, what she gave up for jack?? the consequences?? Very compelling. The story of an immigrant woman marrying a foreigner and following him back to his country, and being looked down upon and his parents locked in the mindset that you dont belong here and you're tainting our bloodline- and how now she can no longer belong to her home island ever again, because of tradition and how she chose to leave it all behind. and yet she still loves him, and she gave up everything to be with him, because it's what made her happy. Ohhh and how that's been passed onto gwen. Mmmmm.

jamie/leopold: dareisay pygmalion and galatea type beat. Artist and muse. Muse and artist. the gwenfred situation speedrun, because their communication skills are better. people who create and put their passion into it all. and recognize that in each other perhaps. oooooo..

[kitkatt0430]

2, 7, 15, and 33 for the couples/relationships ask game!

2.) Of the ones you've written, what's your slowest slowburn? How slow is it?

Oooh, that is a good question. I admit, I'm impatient. My slowburns are usually still relatively speedy. Though The Pied Piper's Army of Rats does take six fics until Hartley and Cisco finally kiss. And while Hartley and Cisco get together in chapter 2 of 2 in (This Isn't) The Timeline You Were Looking For, in universe it takes them, like... two years to get their act together.

7.) Have you written any romantic couples that you think would be better off as friends? Or even enemies?

So while I do have fun writing Snowbarry at times, I think Caitlin and Barry are better off as friends. They've got a great platonic chemistry on the show, but it's not like with Caitlin and Cisco where I just... can't with the romantic ship. Honestly, I started writing it because I knew someone else who enjoyed the ship and wanted to write something I knew they'd really enjoy. And I don't regret getting into the ship, because they can be very cute to write as a romantic couple, but overall I definitely prefer them with a friendship.

15.) Are there any relationship dynamics/tropes you would never write?

Alpha/beta/omega stuff. I don't mind reading that sometimes, but it's not really my cup of tea and I just can't ever see myself writing any at all. I think it just hits the wrong balance of possessiveness + sex + kink for this ace, especially since it's got that heavy element of unreality going for it.

And I tend to stick with softer kinks in general as the harder stuff are difficult for me to get into the right headspace for. So I'm unlikely to ever have characters go too much beyond spanking or otherwise mildly roughing each other up for kinks that involve some kind of violence in them. At least when it comes to kinky scenes in a fic itself, anyway. A character might have a multitude of kinks that are mentioned, but never actually depicted.

33.) Are there any canon romantic couples, in any media, that you just can't stand?

Gwen/Jack from Torchwood never actually get together, but they are canonically interested in each other and I really hate the ship. Gwen's my least favorite Torchwood character to begin with, so honestly that ship was doomed from the start with me. Likely unsurprisingly that I don't like Gwen/Owen either. Or Gwen/Rhys. Considering she told Rhys that she was cheating on him with Owen and then retconned Rhys immediately after so he wouldn't remember and thus couldn't decide to leave her (and then he winds up married to her)... there are words for that situation, none of them polite.

And while I still think the early flirtations between Oliver and Felicity on Arrow are cute, I think they kinda brought out the worst in each other as romantic partners. Felicity making a scene at Barry and Iris' wedding rehearsal when she mistakenly thought Oliver was proposing to her only to turn around and force Barry and Iris - who'd already had their wedding interrupted by Nazis from another Earth - to share their wedding with her and Oliver... probably the best example right there of Felicity's worst, most self centered impulses getting catered to and Oliver just... goes with what she wants. And while Felicity isn't solely to blame for Oliver growing more rigidly uncompromising as the series went on, she definitely contributed to his slow descent towards becoming an off brand cop in the final season.

[thetorchwoodarchive]

hi! I wanted to diversify my readings, so I was wondering if there are any rarepair writers in the fandom, and what sort of things you'd see there?

Mod Note: There’s lots of rare pair writers in the fandom! Some focus on pairings from the audio dramas, some focus on non-canon ships with interesting dynamics, some focus on canon tv ships that aren’t otherwise given a lot of attention. For me personally I like attention being given to characters that are often overlooked, and using the characters explore themes. Also wlw make my bi brain go brrrr. — Mod Alyssa

Her Hands by DinoDina (TishLois | complete | 2763 | G)

In which the Year that Never Was is over and Tish needs to move on; in which the 456 are gone and Lois is not the same person. In which they are drawn together, and everything changes.

Promise Me A Place by Jackdaw816 (JohnTosh | complete | 26423 | T)

Tosh died in 2009, and for over three thousand years, she stayed dead. Meanwhile, having recently returned from the 21st century, John received a strange message. On a journey to bring a dead woman back to life, they encounter cultures both old and new, aliens both adorable and malicious, and a lot of people who really want to punch John in the face

from her own ashes became fire by princesoftheworlds (SuzieRose, JackIanto | complete | 10762 | M)

In one universe, Torchwood Three found the Resurrection Gauntlet early, and Suzie Costello found her darkness and destruction; in this universe, they don't find it until several years later, and that makes all the difference. Suzie picks up the gauntlet, but instead of slowly losing herself to it, she finds a glowing golden goddess - Bad Wolf, and she falls. Oh, how Suzie Costello falls.

(Or: Rose Tyler died when she looked into the Time Vortex and was transformed into Bad Wolf. She is light, life, and Suzie is dark, death, and they balance each other out, two halves of the same soul.)

February 14th by Itneveroccuredtomeatall (OwenAndy | WIP | 1465 | G)

Andy's unexpectedly free on Valentine's Day so Owen invites him along on some Torchwood business.

******

“Come out with me, then.” The words had left Owen’s mouth before he’d even realized what he was saying.

“Sorry?” Andy frowned as if he also couldn’t believe what Owen had said. Owen couldn’t blame him.

“Come out with me,” he repeated, doubling down. “You don’t have a date. I don’t have a date. Let’s go out.”

To the waters and the wild by violetmessages (GwenTosh | complete | 13190 | T)

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Tosh whirled around. She’d thought she was alone, she’d expected it.

Then she locked eyes with the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen, a woman who seemed to radiate an ethereal glow, a woman that emanated an otherworldly light.

Overlapping Orbits by paycheckgurl (Sarah JaneAlice | complete | 5817 | T)

Sarah Jane and her new girlfriend Alice have more in common than they think. And more that could drive them apart.

Another Year by Beleriandings (MarthaTosh | series | 21,395 | Multiple Ratings)

Tosh had thought that when the Rift had closed again after Bilis and Abaddon, after Jack had come back to life and given them all his forgiveness, that things would return to normal. Or at least normal by Torchwood standards.

It’s only when she meets Martha Jones and the Doctor, and finds herself swept off to the far future, that she starts to realise that the end of the world is only just beginning.

the night-time is the hardest by aliciajazmin (GwenTosh | complete | 1850 | T)

Wanting to comfort Tosh, Gwen goes to Tosh's flat with a bottle of wine. She wonders what Tosh may have heard with the pendant.

[rock-and-compass]

Thoughts on Season 3 Dawson’s Creek

Is this the best season of Dawson’s creek? My memories of the show beyond this season are pretty sketchy… this is the first time I’ve re-watched the series in its entirety, ensuring that I watch every episode (which is not something I would have done when it was originally airing on tv – I can’t remember watching much of the final series at all). But season 3 is a really great season, even though it starts off a bit unfocused (there are off camera reasons for that, which are interesting in themselves) but once it finds its feet, it’s a very tight season, particularly for Pacey and Joey because the aim of the season revolves around them – the main event of season is watching Pacey fall in love with Joey and, although less obviously focused, Joey falling in love with Pacey. The bricks are all laid well – Dawson makes the rather arrogantly motivated request for Pacey to “watch out” for Joey while he is off doing other things and chasing other girls and biding his time until he chooses to cash in his soulmate entitlement card and get them back together when he’s ready. Pacey, being a good friend to both of them, takes the request seriously. Pacey and Joey spend a lot of time together, they banter and spar and hang out. He apparently helps the Potter women come to the decision to open a B&B and does a lot of manual work around the place to help them make the transition. It’s easy to forget that Pace and Jo have known each other for just about  as long as they’ve known Dawson, but they have, and so the Joey/Pacey friendship is already sown deeply and is ready to bloom with some investment and quality time. Which is what season 3 gives them. It’s very believable.

And so, the main objective of the season is to break down the, until now, rock-solid, iron-clad tenant that Joey is destined for Dawson. Dawson believes it. Dawson’s parents believe it. Joey’s sister, the inexplicable Aunt Gwen believes it. Their friends believe it, Pacey believes it and probably most alarming of all, Joey believes it.

Joey and Dawson don’t begin season 3 in a good place. They’ve spent the summer apart after Dawson made Joey turn her dad into the police for trafficking drugs. Joey is however ready to forgive and move forward. She propositions Dawson and is … rejected. Dawson says the time isn’t right for them right now. The underlying certainty that they are inevitable so she should just cool her jets and wait for him is obvious to all. The audience is relieved. Joey and Dawson are terrible together! And just to make sure that we’re all on the same page with this, they go the step further to really show the sheer exhaustion of Joey and Dawson’s constant merry-go-round-on-again-off-again dynamic obvious for all to see (see Valentine’s Day Massacre).  

They make Pacey feel feelings for Joey and share that with the viewer. He says the right thing, he’s more mature than Dawson and he is clearly positioned as the underdog in the triangle and thus, the audience is sympathetic to him and his strange new feelings. Joey is given a distraction – an annoying, yet completely boring romantic interest in AJ. He’s physically similar to Pacey, yet he’s academic like her and obsessed with literature the same way Dawson is obsessed with film. He’s like the embodiment of the love triangle in one person. And he has a “Joey” of his own (or a “Pacey”, or a “Dawson”) – that girl he’s in love with from afar, unrequited, always meant to be. It all very poignant and symbolic and reflective of our own confused kids. Joey breaks it off with him and sends him where he’s supposed to be.

…Which, as annoying as AJ is, is a little disheartening because of the implications it reveals about Joey’s hopes and dreams regarding a certain best friend… If AJ functions as a Dawson stand-in that is… which, on consideration of the episode I’m not sure he actually does.   What AJ does do though, is function as a stepping stone – He allows Joey to look at another boy who isn’t Dawson. He’s long-distance, older, smarter a little bit unattainable and, overall, Joey doesn’t have to commit too hard to the romance. As Pacey tells her with envy tinged tones – “It’s not real”.

On Pacey’s side you can feel the reluctance in the longing; the palpable sense that he’s experiencing a lot of trepidation at what he’s feeling for his best friend’s best friend and that it’s an infringement on Dawson’s territory somehow. Pacey is at first stoic and resigned to unrequited. But then there is a shift; Pacey and Joey become best friends. He’s the person she calls when she gets into trouble, he’s the one who helps out at the Potter B&B. He becomes her rock. They share experiences and build their own story. And it’s done beautifully.

The backend of the season is top notch. Pacey’s professed feelings, Joey’s denial, the spectre of Dawson and how it will impact him… it’s all very melodramatic and angsty . . . which is exactly what Dawson’s Creek bread and butter. And they literally sail off into the sunset together, which is gorgeous and romantic (even if they are both seventeen).  It’s perfection.

But this is only season 3. We still have three seasons to go. Its not going to be smooth sailing.

Other characters:

Andie feels a little bit aimless this season. She functioned as a “love interest” and wasn’t given much else to do outside a few good scenes with her brother.

Jen’s storyline with the younger boy is …weird. Her relationship with her grandmother is the real highlight of her story, that, and her stint as head cheerleader.

Jack is becoming a fantastic character. This season explored his personality and relationships – His friendship with Jen is a highlight.

Dawson feels stagnant, his only-child egocentricity is as pronounced as ever. He’s particularly unlikable this season.  

[midrashic]

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom, I - Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why, Q - A ship you’ve abandoned and why, T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all

F / THE LONGEST YOU’VE BEEN IN A FANDOM answered here!

I / HAS TUMBLR CAUSED YOU TO STOP LIKING ANY FANDOMS hmmm this is a strange answer because i think what the question is really asking is "has fandom caused you to stop liking any fandoms, and if so, which and why." there's one fandom that i stopped liking because i didn't like the fandom (torchwood), but in those days fandom was mostly on livejournal. & there's one fandom where fandom as expressed by tumblr drove me out of being active in it (mcu), but i still like it & would like to go back to it some day.

re:torchwood, it was a fandom that trashed a canon female love interest a lot for a male character who was, in retrospect, pretty plain, though he was canonically sleeping with the hero. (was it love? is jack harkness even capable of loving men who aren't the doctor? who knows.) & i was at an age where that was very attractive because of internalized misogyny reasons, and i got sucked in headfirst. torchwood was probably my first fandom where people engaged with the canon through shipping and nothing else, there was barely any genfic (in my recollection of this particular time) and that was very unusual to me as well. i didn't like the vibe of canon and in fact this was the very first fandom i engaged with without having seen most of the source material, the BNFs were very aloof & also all knew each other & i remember feeling very small and lurker-y, & i was constantly reading genuinely terrible fic in my desire to see gwen get bashed. honestly it's a wonder that i spent so long in it now that i think about it. (in spite of this paragraph, i'm sure torchwood fans are lovely people, and that the fandom has changed a lot since i was in it, around like 2009. it just was not the right fandom for me at that time, & my interpretations of the torchwood characters is forever colored by those interactions.)

re:mcu... look, i lived through the sherlock fandom at the height of the johnlock conspiracy & came away thinking that most accounts of how crazy the fandom were at that time were wildly overblown. the mcu fandom, immediately before and immediately after civil war, was much, much worse.

Q / A SHIP YOU’VE ABANDONED hmm, i don't know if i really... abandon ships? like, even with torchwood, although the whole of canon & fandom has lost its shine for me, i still, like, vaguely ship janto, & another fandom that i abandoned (not because of the fandom but because the canon was. problematique.), if you made me, i would admit i still ship my original otp. i was talking with someone last night, though, about how i've outgrown writing obligatory heterosexual pairings to align with characters' "canon" sexualities. so... i've abandoned, like, the concept of het ships? if i have a ship & they happen to be het it's probably because i found something really compelling about them to offset the hetness (faithshipping!! 😂). another thing that changes more often than what i ship is how i ship it, the character dynamics i like writing and reading.

uh, maybe crowstiel from supernatural. by the time they started interacting again in s10 after cas’s betrayal of dean for crowley in s6, it was clear that the vibe the writers were going for was not "bitter exes" but "bitter exes of the same man who hate each other." (still ship it though!!)

T / ANY HEADCANONS YOU WILL DIE DEFENDING ahhh this is another hard one! (all of these are hard!) because i am a very big proponent of having flexible headcanons. it is important to me that all of my fics take place in visibly different universes! that a character never has the same hobbies twice, or the same made-up sibling names, or the same adaptation of their canon backstory. (i tend to have more like. actual fact hills to die on.) however, these are five immutable facts of the universe:

izayoi aki tops, except with divine, which is another reason that relationship is toxic [yu-gi-oh! 5d's]

merlin literally fucked up his own destiny because he loved arthur too much (i swear i posted about this before? apparently not) [bbc merlin]

magneto has super-complicated feelings about the twins not really being his children. was he a dick to them? super mega yes. is the party line for mutants now that cosplaying your mutant status is like the worst thing you can do, even if unintentiontally? yes. does he still love them & his almost-grandchildren? yes. [616]

steve rogers was born in 1920 at the earliest and my personal preference is 1922 or 1923 even though i know this directly contradicts "canon"; therefore he is the youngest member of the avengers until wanda & pietro (and technically vision) [mcu]

in the good mcu that lives in my head (not something i would want to see in canon unless very thoughtfully done for the reasons discussed here), wanda & pietro are romani and jewish and definitely, 100%, did not "volunteer" for hydra experiments [mcu]

[ the meme in question ]

[prudencean]

I was tagged by @oleander4​. I appreciate the fact you remember me. Thank you!

Rules: Tag 9 people who you want to know better/catch up with and then answer these questions.

A/N: We all know I won't follow the tagging rule, so if you see this and want to do it, go ahead.

3 ships:

I am always a bit confused about what "shipping" means. Does it mean being interested in two characters dynamics? reading fanfic/meta about them? writing fanfic/meta?

So, it's a bit difficult to pick three.

1. Downton Abbey Thomas Barrow/Richard Ellis

I've written more than 50 thousand words the last half a year, most of which was about them. I guess I ship them. I find very interesting the time Richard enters Thomas' life. The latter is in a time of his life that he's stable and grown. He has lived through a lot, he has changed and he has grown in a healthier version of his series self.

While Richard's and Thomas/Richard screentime is so short, it does give us a lot to ponder about both characters. Objectively speaking, Richard is an amalgamation of what Thomas tried to be for his previous love interests and never got anything in return.

2. Torchwood Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones

Jack is one interesting character to delve into. Ianto is another interesting character, and while I think RTD did the latter foul IMHO (RTD had/has the trait of loving some characters a little too much eg. Rose and Gwen and being indifferent to others eg. Ianto. However, it doesn't really matter because he did write them, and Ianto is so very relatable and interesting even in comparison to Captain Jack Harkness.

3. Les Miserables

So, I don't know if I should add this or not, because generally, I don't ship them regardless of how much I love both Javert and Jean Valjean as individuals. Especially Javert. However, as I write this, I'm reading A Reflection of Starlight by AutumnGracy, and damn! if it's not the best fic I've read in ao3. So I'm buying. Plus, asexual demiromantic characters! The slowest burn that has ever burnt. If it ever reaches the shipping point.

Last song I listened to: Jacques Brel, ne me quitte pas

Currently watching: I don't watch anything right now. I will most probably binge watch movies (or tv series) over the holiday season.

Currently craving: 1. To sit down and write, words flowing like water 2. Rest 3. Chocolate (but that’s not just currently)

[princess-of-the-worlds]

Doctor Who S12 Premiere

But I like 13's reaction to the Master reveal. And every time the Master is involved, there is something related to Gallifrey and the Time Lords. And the forest place Yaz and 13 ended up in seemed to be recognized by 13. Is it Gallifrey-related? The Timeless Child thing? As for O, he was inquisitive, resourceful, charismatic, and seemed to make for a great companion. I was hoping he'd stay longer, a la Captain Jack Harkness. With all the subtle foreshadowing, I was hoping that nothing would happen to him. Besides, he looked good in a suit. I was all for the Yaz and O moment, whatever that means for the future. It was sweet. Basically, GIVE YAZ MORE DEPTH. Whatever happened with her and the aliens seems to be a setup for more in the season. Will it lead to more i.e. Rose and Bad Wolf/Clara as the Impossible Girl? Also, the Torchwood reference got me bad. I'm still obsessed with the show; I miss Jack's team so much! Give us back Torchwood. And I guess this means that Gwen and Jack's revival of the org isn't on the same scale as it used to be, tho I haven't heard the Big Finish audios yet.

As someone who started watching Doctor Who in July 2019 and caught up on all the seasons (+ Torchwood and some books), here are my thoughts on the Doctor Who S12 premiere "Spyfall Part One." Of course, this means SPOILERS. SPOILERS!!!!!!! SPOILERS!!!!!!!!

I’ll tag this and anything I reblog from now on as “doctor who spoilers.” Block that tag, cause I’ll probably be reblogging a lot of posts. Also, everything is under the cut.

Before I begin, while I like 13/she's everything a Doctor should be, I found her lacking in some of the danger and edge that 10, 11, and 12 possessed. I think Whittaker was a good choice and that it was the writing that lacked some 'oomph.' I can't wait to see her in s12.

As for Chib's writing, I liked some of his Torchwood eps, but really only Rosa, DoP (I'm desi, sue me), Kerblam!, and Witchfinders stood out to me. I liked Yaz, but she needs more depth, tho Ryan and Graham are kinda interesting. And I mostly skipped the s11 finale.

The callbacks to the last season are nice. Yaz's family. Ryan's struggles with the bike. Grace's death. The Doctor working on the TARDIS. Even before that, the hacked car reminds me of ATMOS. It was funny to see 13 drive, not really something we see the Doctor doing that often.

MI6 transporting the TARDIS gives me S8/S9 UNIT flashbacks. Speaking of UNIT, this is exactly what UNIT and Torchwood existed to do, world! It was literally their job to keep an eye on the alien and protect the Earth when the Doctor couldn't. Good job defunding UNIT, Britain!

Also, the Torchwood reference got me bad. I'm still obsessed with the show; I miss Jack's team so much! Give us back Torchwood. And I guess this means that Gwen and Jack's revival of the org isn't on the same scale as it used to be, tho I haven't heard the Big Finish audios yet.

The spy gags are kinda funny. Yaz and Ryan make terrible spies, though they are trying. And the aliens/creatures remind me of the ghosts from Army of Ghosts/Doomsday. 13 and Graham fair slightly better with O. I was so excited to see a South Asian spy/agent.

Was the party supposed to be in Napa? Anyways, the Fam all looked dapper, but I particularly liked Yaz's outfit the most. The motorcycle chase and the plane scene was also very Mission Impossible-esque. Lots of Bond moments too, especially with the casino. That much was obvious.

I was all for the Yaz and O moment, whatever that means for the future. It was sweet. Basically, GIVE YAZ MORE DEPTH. Whatever happened with her and the aliens seems to be a setup for more in the season. Will it lead to more i.e. Rose and Bad Wolf/Clara as the Impossible Girl?

As for O, he was inquisitive, resourceful, charismatic, and seemed to make for a great companion. I was hoping he'd stay longer, a la Captain Jack Harkness. With all the subtle foreshadowing, I was hoping that nothing would happen to him. Besides, he looked good in a suit.

But that reveal was unexpected as FUCK. I knew the Master would come back at some point - c'mon, no way that Missy was actually dead, but didn't expect it so SOON in this season. I'm all for it, tho. First Master reveal that has ever made me gasp.

From what I remember, Sacha Dhawan was a great Iron Fist villain. This Master seems charismatic and maniacal, a really "master" of disguise. Now that we know the truth, we can already tell that he was a great rapport/dynamic with the Doctor. I'm excited to see more of him.

But also...which Master is this? He could be from before Yana. He could be between Saxon and the Master (WIBBLY-WOBBLY, TIMEY-WIMEY). (Side note, how many regenerations does that Master have?????) But what I find to be saddest of all would be if he's a regeneration after Missy.

Because that would negate all of 12's efforts and the remorse Missy went through in s10, which made her rapport with 12 all the more sweeter. It would also imply that the Master cannot reform and is destined for malignity. That also gives his dynamic with 13 so much depth.

But I like 13's reaction to the Master reveal. And every time the Master is involved, there is something related to Gallifrey and the Time Lords. And the forest place Yaz and 13 ended up in seemed to be recognized by 13. Is it Gallifrey-related? The Timeless Child thing?

TDLR: There was a lot going on in this episode. I loved the Yaz moments and previous callbacks. The episode was fun. Interesting enough for a premiere, especially with that final reveal. Lots of unanswered questions. Can't wait to see the rest of s12.

[taramaclay]

i think the way torchwood was written and received is really interesting because the fanbase is definitely most critical of gwen (it’s not a bad thing, i am too) and i believe the reason is because in canon she is the LEAST critiqued. the writers make it clear from beginning to end that this is very much gwen’s show. it is why even though she is ‘happily’ married and he is clearly very much in love with ianto, the romantic element of the gwen/jack dynamic is never laid to rest and never presented as something that is wrong. it is the reason why although every member of the team faces trauma, we really only ever see the aftermath of gwen’s. i’m 90% sure gwen was created so the show could be more accessible to a typical doctor who fan and wider. gwen is the straight man. i’m not sure if there’s a point to this tangent except to say that some (not all) ‘gwen bashing’ that takes place is built up to combat the sheer lack of it she receives in canon - in fear, perhaps, of making the ‘audience’ feel as if they are being critiqued...

[fyrapartnersearch]

rEEE writers inbound

hey there! i’m rhys. i am 22, live in the ct, and love ooc chatter! my ooc is pretty lax, but i promise my writing is a helluva lot more formal. i write in third person, past/present tense, and paragraph form. im not a rapid-fire writer, and won’t be able to constantly get replies in every day (i can get responses in anywhere between every couple of days to a week or two). however, i will ALWAYS put tlc into all of my posts and characters! i write anywhere between 300-900 words. it’s definitely alright if you don’t feel up to that amount at any given point, but i do appreciate keeping it somewhere in this range. im very wordy, and can spew out a novel if im excited enough lmao

  my limits are pretty general; i will not do beastiality, pedophilia, vore, or scat. i can indulge in a variety of kinks, but if it’s a little much for any average person, i’m less likely to write it out (i.e extreme ddlg or adult babies, furries, extreme pet play, etc.) but i can be persuaded to lightly touch on certain kinks as long as they’re not 10000% filth lmao i cannot, and will not, do seme/uke or top/bottom dynamics. absolutely not. queer relationships shouldn’t be defined by whose taking the D. i dont want to interact with squeamish little femboys, or awful macho men with downright rapey tendencies. versatility is key, and power struggles are what i live for! i will, however, indulge in BDSM dynamics with certain plots— although, domination isn’t always about penetration, you know?

  give me characters with aspirations, hopes and dreams, and crushing past experiences that flesh them out into who they are. no one is perfect, and we all have things that rear their ugly heads in the dark. problematic characters, male or female or anything in between, are everything. i love lgbtq+ characters, as i am part of the community myself, and will almost always be more inclined in writing queer characters. not to say i won’t write for strictly straight pairings, m/f, but usually i am iffy when approached with it if i am just meeting you.

  i write for all genders, ethnicity, and orientations! you can find a few writings examples of mine here. i am pretty welcoming of most things. smut, of course. some kink a little out there that you want to suggest? let's do it, dude. i am super OOC friendly and i am pretty much a garbled mess when i get to know you!  i’m a social person— i feel like a burden if you’re not into chatting with me, so please, if you’re not looking to be both a writing partner as well as a friend, i might not be the gal for you. i am open to crooked relationships, ones that don't function right, dark/morally corrupt characters, unconditional love, etc. my interests fluctuate! i am down, 24/7, guys! i only roleplay over email, but will ooc chat over discord or hangouts! here's a list of fandoms and pairings below that i am looking to write for atm. i do have many more, but these are just the ones off the top of my head!

_________

  Borderlands

Handsome Jack/Rhys

Handsome Jack/Rhys/Nisha

  Life is Strange

Max Caulfield/Chloe Price

Max Caulfield/Kate Marsh/Victoria Chase

Nathan Prescott/Warren Graham

Rachel Amber/Chloe Price

Frank Bowers/Damon Merrick

  DC

Dick Grayson/Jason Todd

Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson

Dick Grayson/Wally West

Harley Quinn/Pamela Isley

  Batman: Telltale Series

Bruce Wayne/John Doe

Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle

Bruce Wayne/Harvey Dent/Selina Kyle

  Marvel

Stephen Strange/Tony Stark

Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson

Thor/Bruce Banner

Peter Parker/Harry Osborn

Peter Parker/Wade Wilson

Wade Wilson/Vanessa Carlysle

Gwen Stacy/Peter Parker/Harry Osborn

Peter Parker/Wade Wilson/Vanessa Carlysle

  Uncharted

Nathan Drake/Samuel Drake

Nathan Drake/Harry Flynn

Chloe Frazer/Nadine Ross

  TTGOT

Asher Forrester/Gwyn Whitehill

Rodrik Forrester/Arthur Glenmore

Mira Forrester/Margaery Tyrell

Gryff Whitehill/Elaena Glenmore

Gared Tuttle/Finn

Gared Tuttle/Josera Snow

  The Walking Dead

Rick Grimes/Negan

  TWDG

Javier Garcia/David Garcia

Clementine/Gabriel Garcia

Clementine/Louis

Clementine/Violet

Marlon/Louis

Javier Garcia/Paul “Jesus” Rovia

  Far Cry (3-5)

Jason Brody/Vaas Montenegro

Jason Brody/Bambi “Buck” Hughes

Ajay Ghale/Pagan Min

Ajay Ghale/Sabal

Ajay Ghale/Sabal/Amita

Rook/Joseph Seed

Rook/John Seed

Rook/Faith Seed

  Punisher

Frank Castle/David Lieberman

Frank Castle/Billy Russo

  Mass Effect: Andromeda

Scott Ryder/Reyes Vidal

Scott Ryder/Gil Brodie

Scott Ryder/Peebee

Sara Ryder/Peebee

Sara Ryder/Vetra Nyx

  Kill Your Darlings

Lucien Carr/Allen Ginsberg

  ____________

Onto original plots!

——————

  Office romances/BDSM/Friends with benefits-turned-lovers

okay, so, i had this type of roleplay with someone a while back. maybe more than two or three years back that i fell out of contact with and i could never really get it out of my head because it was probably one of the best character-building stories i’ve ever taken part of. :’) i don’t remember their name, but i do hope they’ll contact me again if they ever see this. while some of this may seem specific, none of it is concrete and i promise i am very easy to get along with and very accomodating! the plot i remember had three different relationships— completely different people, with different lives and different worlds, with only one common thing between them being that they work in the same building. we can do all three, or we can do a few, or even  one! i dont mind.

  **pairing A; M/F preferred (lol i know broke my own rule, but i adore femdoms! extra: please come with an open mind. this is not a 50 shades AU, and i do not want it to be.) this one is between a CEO and an intern in their senior year of college. The CEO is a femdom, and freshly out of divorce, takes a liking to the clumsy intern who’d spilled coffee on her more than once. The intern has never been in a relationship with an older woman, let alone one running a multi-million dollar company, but hey, isn’t that the dream for some broke twenty-something down on his luck? She introduces him to BDSM, and while he’s hesitant, the idea is as exciting as it is frightening. He accepts her offer— while it’s difficult at times, he begins to learn more about her. Her ex-spouse, her young child, and her unwillingness to develop a sincere relationship with him. She’s had subs before, and while she tells him he isn’t disposable, he begins to feel it was the truth. He grows to have feelings for her, and while she isn’t too keen on admitting it, the feeling is mutual. I’d love to explore their dynamic in and out of sex, and the conflict between the intern and her ex-spouse. I love age gaps, and think it would be awesome to see them develop over time to find common ground to establish a personal relationship and trying to even out their power imbalances. I don’t mind playing either the CEO or the intern, but I am leaning more towards the CEO. :V**

  **pairing B; M/M preferred (this one is waaay more gritty and more dub-con than anything so please beware!) this one is between two higher-ups who have been butting heads for years— and occasionally, sexual tension neither have acted on. A is a snarky, openly gay man, and probably what some would consider shallow and noncommittal. B is a brooding, closeted ‘by the book’ type well into his thirties, and refuses to engage in anything sexual with men despite his obvious attraction; B has younger siblings he takes care of as well as his mother, and being the oldest son and only provider, hasn’t done a thing for himself in twenty years. A lives completely alone, complete with a bachelor pad and, the influx of flings that went nowhere past sex, and has risen to the top with his own sheer will. they have conflicting motives, and while both of them have an intense hatred for each other, they’ve never engaged in physical altercations in fear of losing their jobs. one day, A jabs a little below the belt, and finally, B starts swinging. this fight turns into something way more heavy in the company parking lot. what happens between them in the long run is something desperate, needy, and longing for real affection. it began as a mindless need for sex, angry and mean and formal, with B being especially unwilling to ‘give up’ his masculinity and ever be on the receiving end in fear of losing the control he needs to keep this up. i’d love to see them begin to see each other in a different light, and changing each other for the better. i’d also love to see A showing B that sex doesn’t have to be meaningless, and that he doesn’t need to fear letting A be in control. And B showing A that commitment isn’t as terrifying as it may be, with them gradually going from rivals, to friends with benefits, and eventually lovers. i, again, don’t mind writing for either! **

  **pairing C; F/F preferred. (aaa this pairing is way more fluffy and sweet, with hurt/comfort as a stable of their dynamic.) this one is between two small-office employees in the company. A is fairly tame at work in order to support her sibling(s), of which she has adopted from her father’s custody years ago. she is fairly confident with her sexuality, and while not being the type to frequent clubs, is dragged along by a few friends and there, meets B. B is a young woman who just recently got out of a relationship with an abusive ex fiance— B has only ever been with that man, and was never confident in exploring her sexuality due to a religious upbringing and parents who were dead set on traditional values. she’s never strayed from her ex, and while he wasn’t faithful or remotely good to her in return, she was heartbroken with their split. months after, he returns to the city and B’s close friends decide to take her out on a girls’ night to make her feel better— B coincidently sees her ex, and feeling childish and unattractive, heads off to the bar to get a drink. she’s nowhere near a drinker, and just before she does drown her sorrows, is hit on by A. while initially shocked, B is flustered and finds herself immediately attracted to A. they have a one-night stand, and while B believes that A would just leave in the morning, A instead lays with her until she wakes up, and leaves her number. B is too anxious to text her. they bump into each other at the elevator that Monday. they agree to be just friends, until B knows what she wants. A is willing to wait. B might have a crush, and A is intent on building B up to love herself and her body. i would overall prefer to write for A, but if you’re dead set, no prob!**

  Serial killer/1960’s/Small town sheriff

no preferred pairing! would love, love, love to see something between a serial killer and a small town sheriff in the mid-to-late sixties. we could make up a new little town, or find one to our liking! A is the sheriff who had been born and raised in this town with a good home life, loving parents, and a steady moral compass, albeit trapped in a loveless marriage. they know everyone, and every nook and cranny of the place like the back of their hand. this is the type of place where people don’t have to lock their doors at night, or constantly watch their kids when they’re out in the yard playing. that is, until people start going missing and horrifyingly mutilated bodies began to pop up around town. B is a well-liked baker in town; known to be genuinely friendly and kind, B has a very corrupt past. both of their parents were heinously abusive, and as a child, B developed sociopathic tendencies. B was inherently spiteful of the town and the people in it, for leaving them to rot in hell for eighteen years, and for never reaching out. B formed a god complex, his intentions to ‘purify the corrupt’. they keep tabs on almost everyone in town, and the victims they do take are put in the soundproof basement of his home to be ‘baptized’; tortured, beaten, and mutilated beyond recognition. A and B are friendly with each other as A comes to the bakery every morning, with B’s motives completely unbeknownst. one night, A, frustrated and pissed from the dead ends of the case of the decade, decides to head to the bar and relax. B is the one face A didn’t mind seeing that night, and one thing lead to another, with A and B in a dark alley getting each other off— i definitely see this as B grooming A to be a complicit pet, and when A gets closer and closer to figuring out who the killer is, he forms a deep connection with B. B develops a possessiveness over A, along with that sense of ownership he’d established between them. B manipulates A, coerces him into a false sense of security, and eventually— A finds out, and while B initially thinks to kill A, A is corrupted by B and forms some kind of stockholm syndrome for B. it’s up to A on whether or not they turn B in, or cover the killer’s tracks. B, despite his very sick and repulsive nature, develops a true infatuation for A, as close to love as they were ever going to get, and A is desperate enough to please B that they’ll do anything to not disappoint them.

  Post apocalypse/decades later/immunity

no pairing preferred! the plot I had in mind is loosely based off of a video game called "The Last of Us", which i am sure most of you have a general knowledge of! (definitely check it out if you don’t :O it’s a great game!!) the prompt i was shooting for goes something like this; in a post-apocalyptic world where a pandemic has killed off most living species, character A is a lone wolf with little to do with other people that don't benefit him, except for a select few. A is especially rough around the edges, as he's lived through some sick shit and lived to tell the tale. A had once been part of a group dedicated to finding a cure, but things went south, and a lot of people died. A had a close bond with the leader of said group, and coincidentally they were the only survivors. their past together, having been deeply demented and twisted, caused them to fall out. said leader has rebuilt a new group in the ten years since the last time they'd seen A. character B is the only known immune person alive, and has dedicated their life to being a resource to finding a cure. A and his (current) contact/partner in crime have something taken from them, and are determined to get it back. they do some searching, and are confronted with this group-- they have what they need, but are only willing to give it to them for a favor in return. no one can outrun their past forever. so, this plot isn't concrete. things can be changed, we can do whatever we want, and i am happy to comply to any revisions or suggestions! i'd really enjoy taking on A, if that's alright!

  TREASURE HUNTERS/ANCIENT CURSES/LOVE-HATE DYNAMICS/MODERN

treasure hunters!!!! yES!! think Uncharted or Tomb Raider. an architect/treasure hunter is being funded an expedition to find a lost treasure and they are forced to bring along a reporter in order to receive the funds. the reporter and architect certainly dont get along in the beginning— they bicker, and clash on most fronts. the expedition wasnt meant to be dangerous. what was initially thought to be a simple job turned into something treacherous; bandits, a team of hired hitmen and their leader looking to take the treasure for themselves, and some rather supernatural elements that they both couldnt quite put a finger on. the treasure hunter and the reporter have to work together to get out of this alive, and get to the artifact before someone else does. (the “treasure” is definitely up for debate!! we can chose a real life lost treasure, or just make one up!! it can be anywhere around the world, and everything is at our disposal).

  DEMON/INHERITANCE/HUNTERS/MODERN

character A has an awful time living in the city— alone, and without mom's guidance, completely lost. one day they receive a call about a deceased relative, one they'd never heard of, one that apparently left their estate and everything in it in their will to A. with nothing but the clothes on their back, A took a shot in the dark and drove out to this presumed "estate" come early summer, only to find that it's a mansion in a tiny little town with an eerie vibe and populated by the typical small town churchgoers and farm folk. living in this town was a hell of a challenge; everyone was nice, too nice, and people started to go missing. character B is an exceptionally charismatic, charming person and the only mechanic/handyman in town. A and B become friends, partially, when A needs to fix up the piping in their estate. A stumbles upon the attic one day, and for once, they start to get why this whole town reeked to the roots in weird shit-- their deceased relative was tracking something here in this town, having to do with all of the MIA townsfolk. DR has a board of possible suspects, and at the center? B. A shrugs it off as their relative having been paranoid, but the longer A stays in this town, the more apparent it becomes that DR wasnt crazy. B is, in fact, not the murderer, instead a supernatural being (open for debate! im on the fence with demons, vampires, etc.) on a mission to track down the monster, same as DR. i am so down for internal struggles, sweet gestures, and overall, two people just trying to make it work! i could also see A being hella paranoid that B is the monster, and maybe tries to throw cloves of garlic at them only to realize thats not exactly how this monster hunter business works lmao

  DEPRESSED WRITER/YOUNG MUSE/between 1920’s-1960’s/sex, drugs, & the american dream

m/m preferred! A is a severely depressed middle-aged man believing his life has been wasted. his wife left him with their child at her hip, his career was in a rut, and he had nothing left to live for. opting for suicide, he goes out one evening to purchase a bottle of gin to down with a handful of prescription sleeping pills when he returned to his apartment. instead of going directly home, he’s swept in by the music in an underground club for queers. there he meets B; all encompassing, angel faced, and the only person A didn’t know how to look away from. B is a former US Navy Seal, aspiring musician, and avid indulger of the human body— A stays a little too long, owlish and red, and after the show, B approaches him with a cattish smile. they spark a friendship, and A is thrown down the rabbit hole when B introduces him to his social circle, filled to the brim with drag queens, junkies, queers, and the overall unusual— he integrates into this community, his contemplation of suicide only a distant memory, and begins to find himself extremely attracted to B. he lights a fire in A, something dangerous and unquenchable, and A finds himself drawn in by the unpredictability. A embarks with B on a journey of self exploration, passion, and inevitable love in a world that scorned the oddities of human attraction and anyone who dared to be free.

  thanks for your time! if you've read through, please contact me at dotiscat@gmail.com on email or rhys#3615 on discord and mention kiwi somewhere in your initial message. n_n

  Rhys xoxo

[iant0jones]

(the anon who wanted recommendations for what Torchwood stuff to see) I'm almost done with the show but wouldn't look at anything other than the show until I finish, which is gonna be in a few days I think. And I'd like to see Jack and Ianto stuff because I love them so much.

THIS IS SO LONG I’M SO SORRY

Okay, so first and foremost, I’d start with

The Lost Files

this is a trilogy of radio plays that includes The Devil and Miss Carew, Submission, and The House of the Dead. They’re all set after season 2. Warning: I’d suggest listening to The House of the Dead when you’re going to be alone for awhile, in case you’re a crier like me. All I’m telling you is it’s sad. Why listen to this trilogy first? Mostly because they’re some of the earlier radio plays to come out. I’m not a HUGE fan of the first two, but THotD is a necessary evil. You can purchase them as a set on itunes (I advise purchasing as much as you possibly can. I know it can get ridiculously expensive, but if we’re going to keep torchwood alive, we need to feed it cash)

If you like this format, there are several other radio plays and audiobooks on itunes. I’d recommend The Dead Line above anything else. It’s a Janto classic

If you’re into audiobooks, try

Into the Shadows - set before the episode Adam, it’s an absolute must for Janto fans. Eve Myles reads it, and as much as I adore her, she’s not very good at doing other character’s voices lol. It’s so worth it, though. It’s written by my favorite torchwood writer, Joseph Lidster (he wrote A Day in the Death), and like I said, the Janto in it is essential. It heavily focuses on Jack and it’s also EXTREMELY emotional imo, so again, maybe prepare yourself if you get emotional like I do lol

Department X - read by Kai Owen (who does a very good job), it’s another good Janto story set after season 2

The Sin Eater - read by Gareth David Lloyd (who’s my personal favorite audiobook reader out of the cast), this has got some really fun Janto moments, as well as some tender ones. It’s definitely the audiobook I’ve listened to over and over again the most. Again, set after season 2

Ghost Train - read by Kai Owen again, but what’s really interesting about this one is that this story is in first person, so it’s kinda like you’re hanging out with Rhys and he’s telling you this long-winded, very detailed story. The last 40 minutes have lots of Ianto in them, and the dynamic between him and Rhys is great. Again, after s2

after that, the audiobooks are up to you. These are just my personal favorites, because I too love Jack and Ianto lol

Unfortunately, I haven’t read many of the actual physical torchwood novels, so you’ll want to ask someone else about this if you want a more detailed answer (not that this isn’t already horrendously long lol). Still, I’d suggest

The Twilight Streets - people have mixed feelings about it, but I really enjoyed it. Ianto’s a badass and his love for Jack is really strong and important to the story. I believe it’s during season 2

please, please don’t waste time and money reading Almost Perfect. It’s cruel to Jack and Ianto’s relationship and to them as individuals, Gwen’s characterization is poor imo, and I know I can’t really speak on this as I’m cis, but it seems really transphobic and tasteless and bottom line, it just hasn’t aged well. Obviously you can read whatever you want, but I found it quite disheartening

And now *drum roll* the Big Finish radio plays

The Conspiracy - this was the first ever torchwood radio play that BF released. Centered around Jack, it sets up the arc for the first season of radio plays that were released

Fall to Earth - the second to be released, this focuses on Ianto’s first ever individual mission after Cyberwoman Lisa died. It’s a really fun one off story imo and I’ve listened to it several times

Broken - my absolute favorite radio play. Actually, my absolute favorite thing in the entire extended universe. Again, written by Joseph Lidster, this story is (as far as I’m aware) unique because it was made for the purpose of slotting between several episodes. Set between the end of Cyberwoman and the end of Greeks Bearing Gifts, it goes into detail about how Ianto dealt with the loss of Lisa and his difficult dynamic with Jack. Gareth and John are fantastic in this, but Again, it’s really fucking sad

Outbreak - about three hours long, this epic is my second favorite radio play. Starring Ianto, Jack, Gwen, Rhys, and Andy, this is SO important to understanding Jack and Ianto’s relationship. They’re absolutely stunning and heartbreaking in this

The Office of Never Was - a controversial Ianto story. I’m really not a fan of the ending, but it’s still worth listening to imo

The Lives of Captain Jack - this is a set of four radio plays that are technically part of the doctor who range rather than torchwood, but I really enjoyed ¾ of them. They’re great if you want to know more about Jack’s past

Torchwood One: Before the Fall - goes into some of the things Ianto experienced while working in London. It’s long, and not hugely focused on him, but he’s a real cutie in it. Just the biggest nerd

The Last Beacon - !!! Gareth wrote this story!!! Focused on Ianto and Owen, it’s mostly just a fun romp around the Welsh valleys. It’s light on plot, but it’s supposed to be, because the real point is filling in the blanks of Ianto and Owen’s dynamics. It’s hilarious and sweet. Set early s2, it’s my third favorite radio play for its charm and great understanding of the characters

There’s so so much more, but I’ve already made this horrendously long, so I’ll stop there. Again, I really need to emphasize how important it is that you pay for these if you can. Especially Big Finish. The content can’t survive without it’s patrons.I hope you enjoy them and go on to explore more content.

PS

Some of these can be pretty disturbing. If you’re not able to handle suicide attempts, sexual assault, and/or heavy gore, I’d suggest avoiding

Broken (suicide attempt - BF radio play. It’s very difficult the first time hearing it, but I genuinely love the story so so much)

Slow Decay (gore - novel/audiobook)

Corpse Day (disturbing scenarios, failed pregnancy, and sexual assault - BF radio play)

Love Rat (rape - BF radio play, part of the Aliens Among Us series)

Believe (rape/dubious consent - BF radio play - in my personal opinion this isn’t quite as bad as the rest (((it’s still very bad, but it’s hard to explain without spoiling it))), but it’s still revolting and I’d still be very cautious if you think you might be triggered)

hopefully I didn’t miss anything

[avaantares]

On Torchwood: Miracle Day

Why this post? Because I’m planning to be lazy in the future. :) I keep seeing this series come up in discussion, and I wanted to get my thoughts down all in one spot for easy reference. So this is simply a text dump containing my thoughts on Miracle Day, both positive and negative. (Spoiler: there are more negatives than positives.)

This will be long, so here’s a dash-saver...

(Disclaimer: It’s been a few years since I watched this series, and I only did so once, so the impressions I’m reporting below are based on what was most salient/most memorable from that viewing. If I failed to notice a detail or have forgotten something, that’s my error – though I would argue that I’m usually a pretty astute viewer, so if something critical is not clear on a first watch, that fault may lie at least in part with the show.)

Okay. Got your popcorn ready? Let’s go.

Things I disliked about Miracle Day:

Genre shift. Instead of a character-driven fantasy like Doctor Who and the first two series of Torchwood, MD is structured more like a political thriller. This is not inherently bad – Children of Earth straddled the line, and was still very effective -- but subjectively, MD didn’t feel like Torchwood at all to me. It felt really… American. (Full disclosure: I dislike a lot of American television writing in general; that’s why I watch more foreign TV than domestic, despite living in the U.S.)

The protagonists. The new characters failed to interest me as a viewer. There was nothing endearing or compelling about Rex, and I personally disliked his character and his attitude. I don’t remember anything particularly dynamic about his character arc, either (he… learns to be a team player, I guess?). Esther, who started out as a fairly generic model of Perky Blonde Sidekick, became more likable as the series progressed; she had stated goals that hinted at future growth, but the most interesting conflicts the series set up for her (i.e. the personal drama over her sister’s kids) were, to my memory, never resolved. (See also Rex’s daddy issues – we take time establishing that he has them, but nothing ever comes of it. What did that scene really add to his overall character growth? Did his father ever even get mentioned again?) Oddly enough, the most compelling character out of the entire new lineup was Bill Pullman’s creeptastic pedophile, and I kind of feel like that shouldn’t be the case with an ensemble cast of this size. (Props to Pullman on that performance, though. 10/10 would set fire to that character.)

Jack’s regression. This is admittedly a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things, but it still bothers me from a characterization standpoint. Jack started in series 1 of Torchwood as… well, a bit of a jerk, actually (which is not inappropriate for his character at that point), but he grows over time (as lead characters should). Between S1 and S2 (Utopia/tSoD/LotTL) he reaches a turning point, choosing to return to Cardiff because he wants to be with his team, and he continues that dynamic process throughout the second series. Then CoE pulls the rug out from under him, and he flees Earth in grief – but when he returns in MD, it’s without the sensitivity or empathy we’d seen him develop through the previous series. At various times he displays behavior that is whiny, bitter, clingy, and caustic. It feels like much of the growth of the previous seasons was negated while he was off-planet, only there’s no clear explanation for what caused it (or, for that matter, why he returned at all; we’d last seen him in a space bar chatting up Alonso Frame, with no apparent intention to come back to Earth). I’d attribute the change to the losses he’s suffered, but I don’t see a clear connection between grief and the petulant attitude he seems to lapse into in MD, and the show itself doesn’t make any attempt to draw a link (Ianto rates a brief mention when Jack drunk-dials Gwen from another man’s bed; I don’t remember if Steven, Owen or Tosh are even spoken of, apart from Jack borrowing Owen’s name once). And we really have no frame of reference for how long he’s been gone. It might have been decades for Jack.

Let’s Talk About Sex(uality). When watching a show, I don’t typically pay any more attention to sexuality/representation than I do to shot framing or dialogue – I’m aware of it, but it’s not something I zero in on to criticize unless they’re doing it badly -- so when I actually pause an episode to complain about the insulting stereotypes, there’s a problem. I know some people were unhappy that Jack was presented more gay than omnisexual, but eh, okay, they’re marketing to a new audience, they have a bunch of new characters to deal with, maybe they don’t want to spend time explaining Jack’s proclivities. But there’s no excuse for that cringeworthy scene with everyone mocking the flight attendant for being gay, even though he denies it – and the punchline is that he experimented with a guy once, so OBVIOUSLY he’s secretly gay, haha, they were right all along! Gay stereotypes are funny! Um. Wow. I remember staring at the screen with my jaw hanging open and saying, “I can’t believe John Barrowman, of all people, was on board with this.” After the casual, understated openness of the previous three series, the change in tone – the calling-out of anyone’s sexuality at all in a series where historically, nearly the entire main cast was (at least) bisexual -- was almost whiplash-inducing. (See above re: it just didn’t feel like Torchwood.)

Continuity? Schmontinuity! ...And this is where the series really lost me. I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a detail nerd, but mistakes like these are worse than sloppy – they’re downright confusing when you’re actually trying to figure out what’s going on in the show. The events of Miracle Day not only break the entire Doctor Who universe, but they aren’t even internally consistent with the rest of Torchwood. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out just when the “Immortal Sins” flashbacks were supposed to have happened and whether or not a time loop was integral to the plot, because all the on-screen evidence in those episodes indicated that Jack was on his fourth tour of the 20th century: Jack explains to Angelo that he’s a fixed point in time – yet Jack himself wouldn’t learn that from the Doctor until 70 years later in his own timeline. Also, Jack is running around in the mid-1930s wearing his WWII-issue RAF greatcoat (and Webley holster, etc.) – but WWII hasn't started yet, so he can't have served in it (as an American volunteer or anything else) to acquire a coat, and he can’t possibly have one from the future as he has been living on Earth in linear time since 1869. (He didn’t have the coat when he was stranded on Satellite Five, and isn’t shown wearing it in other Torchwood flashbacks/photos until the appropriate era.) In short, the ONLY way the MD timeline works is if Jack went back to the 1930s after fleeing the planet in Children of Earth, which makes no sense at all from a story or character standpoint. Furthermore, the “explanation” for the Miracle contradicts everything we’ve been told up to this point about Jack’s immortality. Jack is supposedly a fixed point in time, being kept alive by the time vortex itself – except, apparently, when you set up a morphic field that somehow inverts the power of the time vortex around the entire planet, without affecting the flow of time, or any other fixed points, or anything else? And there’s also a nullification field that re-reverses the morphic field to let Angelo die, except for some reason it doesn’t restore Jack’s immortality when he’s inside it? Are we not even going to hand-wave an explanation for this? (Inconveniently, this also toasts our main character hook: Apparently Jack can die any time he likes by setting up a portable field to neutralize his immortality, like Angelo did. Welp, there goes our tragically-immortal protagonist. On to the next series.) …And let’s not even discuss the nonsense with the Trickster’s Brigade and FDR’s brain, which doesn’t jive with the Trickster’s repeatedly-stated objectives in The Sarah Jane Adventures. I’m all for name-dropping-in-a-non-legally-actionable-way-because-we-don’t-have-full-rights-to-Doctor-Who-properties, but that was just silly.

The $@%^&# ending. This probably belongs with the previous entry, but it made me furious enough to merit its own bullet point. Jack’s blood now makes other people immortal? …the HECK?! Is Rex a fixed point in time now? How does that even work? Does Earth somehow influence the time vortex? Can a planet clone the time stream? NONE OF THIS IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE REST OF THE WHONIVERSE.

The villains. One thing that made Torchwood as a series interesting is that for the most part, the formula for each episode wasn’t “Our Heroes vs. The Generic Bad Guys Bent On World Domination.” Antagonists were usually more complex, and often the conflict left the team in a moral gray area. Team Torchwood faced evil humans (”Countrycide”), betrayal from within (”They Keep Killing Suzie”), unwitting enemy agents (”Sleeper”), opportunistic human capitalists (”Meat”), time itself (”Out of Time;” “To The Last Man”), and even the government (Children of Earth), among others. Sure, there were occasional Generic Bad Guy episodes (”Reset”), but it wasn’t the norm – and in my opinion, the series’ weakest moments were when they fell into that more generic formula. (”End of Days” had some interesting moments, but the giant CGI monster stomping on Cardiff wasn’t one of them.) In MD, though, we have this amazingly complex setup for an intriguing and world-altering scenario, with hints that it stretches across decades if not centuries, revolving around Jack and those he loved, and there’s so much buildup that we know there must be some deep meaning behind it all… And then it’s revealed that the villain behind the curtain is A Group Of Evil Mob Bosses Bent On World Domination™. There’s not even any personal tie to Jack, who should (for the sake of symmetry) be at the center of it all. It’s just some Generic Bad Guys messing around with some stuff they found. Even though it’s his blood, Jack as a character is really just incidental to it all. The reveal would have exactly the same emotional gravitas if one of the Bad Guys had found Jack’s discarded vortex manipulator and used it to take over the world. It was just... unsatisfying.

...There’s more, but I think that’s enough digital ink spilled for the moment. I’m sure you can get an idea of my general opinion.

But, in fairness, now that I’ve griped about everything I didn’t like, let’s look at

Things Miracle Day did well:

The premise. The concept of people suddenly not dying, the fallout of that situation, and the questions it raises about life and death, civil rights. and society as a whole, is a brilliant concept! It would have made a very solid sci-fi film/series on its own; I just wish it hadn’t been crammed into Torchwood, because it didn’t mesh well with the story already in progress. Even so, there were moments where the sociopolitical drama actually played out quite well in spite of the show’s other issues. There were legitimately creepy horror elements – people being burned alive or dissected and not dying during the process – and it was interesting to consider the practical questions of where you put bodies, how you classify them, and so on. The family drama with Gwen’s father showed the more personal dilemma, while Vera’s incineration highlighted the danger of having the decision-making power in the wrong hands.

Gwen vs. Jack. Gwen having to choose between her family and Jack was the logical progression for her character’s story, and while I can’t say I enjoyed watching the trust between them disintegrate, I do think it was a good conflict to set up, and it gave both of them some much-needed character focus amid a very event-driven plot. (And it was a relief not to have any of those unconvincing awkward-sexual-tension scenes shoehorned in… wait, now I’m griping about the earlier series. Sorry.) Gwen had several good character moments during the series, actually; I remember the bit where she talks about killing her father as being particularly powerful, and she had a few fun one-liners as well (”I’m Welsh”). She was also given some good action sequences. Speaking of which…

Helicopter vs. shoulder-fired missile. With baby under one arm. Okay, not gonna lie, that entire sequence was pure candy.

Andy Davidson. Yes. Good. We can always use more Sgt. Andy. (Let him join Torchwood already!) Aside from their roles in the story, the presence of Andy and Rhys did provide a more solid link to the previous series. It’s not Torchwood without a minimum percentage of Welsh accents, after all. :)

The Oswald Danes storyline. It was creepy and disturbing, but the story of a psychotic killer, manipulated by a media expert, who rises to celebrity status and begins influencing public action was quite compelling (and, now that I think of it, may have struck a little too close to home… did I mention I live in the U.S.? *ahem*). Another thing I didn’t enjoy, per se, but it was certainly effective, especially coupled with Pullman’s convincing performance.

So there’s my (incredibly long and verbose) take on Miracle Day. I think it could best be summarized as “Great concept, weak execution.” Congratulations if you actually read this far. :)

[susieandhobbes]

perpetuallynocturnal replied to your post: If someone asked me to watch all of Eleven’s...

Out of curiosity, why?

-His quirkiness seemed super contrived (ooh look i'm wearing a fez. he was like a 2008 hot topic t-shirt "I'm so Random XD”)

-I never liked his companions which kind of brought him down. Although Amy and Rory were meant to be this great love story, for most of their run time it felt like Rory was panting after Amy and Amy would’ve left him immediately if the Doctor ever became interested. (A dynamic I hated on Torchwood too btw between Gwen and Jack) 

-He was super murder-y actually? Like he was all bouncy and shit but he was the most combative and seemed the least concerned about people in general. (Which I know became a plot point with like ‘the one who forgets’ but it didnt make me like him more) Like when Amy gets kidnapped and he like assembles an army of all the people he’s saved and basically says  they owe him? But tons of companions have been kidnapped/in distress and it’s never come down to anything like that.

-His plots grew more and more Earth-centered which was kind of a let down considering half the appeal of the show was fun adventures in space with interesting aliens

-His last season with Clara? yikes. I marathoned it and still thought I’d fucked up and watched it wrong because the plot skipped around so much and was unecessarily confusing

-Speaking of Clara (and companions in general)- the emphasis on his companions being somehow super special or a mystery or whatever was meh. Pairing “regular” people with the Doctor is what created such a great dynamic. His companions were special BECAUSE they were normal. And you don’t get that same message if hes only interested in someone because they’re a puzzle he hasn’t figured out yet.

And I love Nine for a number of reasons but 

“Right now, not very far from here, a German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says "no". 'No'. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion. (Looks at Nancy). You're amazing, the lot of you. Dunno what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then... do what you've gotta do. Save the world”

That’s the Doctor in the Empty Child telling Nancy how amazing humanity is but more importantly how amazing she is. There’s this huge crisis and he’s literally going to save the day but he took a minute to tell this 19 year old how she is saving the world simply by keeping this 10 orphans fed. Emphasizing the value of everyday brave people was what made the show great and made the Doctor likable.