Oooh, for once I spotted the Bad Wolf thingee in an ep! Graffitti on the stairs. And also political posters on the front door, so we're converging with the Dr Who season finale time . . .
Ghosts? Including the room they're in? No. They've jumped back in time. And to a time that Jack remembers. Fondly, it looks like. Well, he went thru it twice (so far), so I can imagine that it feels pretty comfy for him. I can see him being sort of half Yay and half Oh Crap Not Again in his head.
Back in modern time, Owen learns the rift has been more active of late. (Which would explain them falling thru to the '40's.) "Why wasn't I told about this?" "Well, you've been off." In more ways than one, eh, Owen?
Tosh understandably more worried than Jack. "Don't worry. You're with the Captain."
Drinks and dancing and a fight. None of which is making Tosh feel very happy. All of which is making Jack feel pretty fine. And he is
so checking out both the soldiers.
Wow!! Capt Jack, meet Capt Jack. Tosh pushes him and she's right to do it in these circumstances. "It's not my name. It's his. I took his . . . but I didn't realize he'd be so hot!" Heee! Funny, but it also tells us Jack just took any name, didn't know the person before he stepped into his life. "I know too much to share" (too much again, like last week's "too much history") and "you wouldn't want that". So, he knows that he'll have to give some info to Tosh, depending on how long they are there, but is still trying to keep as much as possible to himself.
[Side note: rather coincidental that I was watching this week's FX Buffy ep just before this and it was the one where Willow is out of phase with the others. Which isn't a time travel thing, but does have the similar thing where we see people in the same space but not together. Also, the other thing I was watching was my tape of Sweeney Todd with Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou and what do I see advertised in this TW ep? Johnny Depp's Sweeney Todd movie. It's a wacky little world.]
Anyhoo, back to TW.
The manager knows who they are. He's too deliberate in his picture taking stuff. And he's all cryptic in what he says when he sees them in his office. "I should go back there." [Does he just mean London, or to their own time?] And "they're coming for us now"?? Who 'they'? And who 'us'?
And now we see the manager caretaker guy in the now time and he's the same. So either he's hopping back and forth in the rift, or he's a long-living unchanging guy. Like Jack. Our Jack.
Tosh is worried about being stuck here (logically so). "I'll take care of you." Which is sweet, but also kind of not the point.
Jack can't stop watching Original!Jack. Ooooh. And he tells Tosh about serving in WWII.
"Who were you, before you took his name?" No answer. And it's a good question. Because he took the name when he was still a mortal guy, before he met the Doctor and Rose. Before we met him. When he was the former Time Cop / con man / whatever guy. Instead of who Our!Jack was before, we learn what's gonna happen to Original!Jack. He dies tomorrow.
Meanwhile, in the now time, Gwen is checking out the place and Owen and Ianto are filling in the blanks. Looking for the info that they know Tosh must have stashed back then for them to find now and bring them forward in time. Ooooh. Fight! Ianto sees the guy as potentially dangerous (and I must admit, he does seem to have his own agenda).
Struggle happening in the past too. What Tosh was worried about, folks looking at her Japanese heritage as dangerous.
Owen is all "It's our duty to get them out" and Ianto rightly pointing out that Jack has always said not to mess with the Rift. Then again, Tosh in the past is trying to send the info to them.
Oh, now we get down to it. Owen is still obsessing over the woman who left. Maybe they can "get her back". But she wanted to do. She wouldn't want to come back. Well, which is part of what is driving him bonkers, really, isn't it? Owen punches back at Ianto about his "cyber girlfriend". Ianto counters with him only knowing Diane for a week. Also, issues over who is in charge with Jack gone. Which means maybe there aren't direct lines of command, that it is more fluid. Or that there really isn't someone to take Jack's place, especially with Suzie gone. Or that Ianto knows this particular plan of action is dangerous enough that he must intervene no matter who is "supposed" to be in charge.
Original!Jack's girl. Hmmmm. He does not seem that interested in Nancy. Not as interested as she is in him. And Our!Jack, of course, is all obsessed with making sure this guy live life to the full in this last night. "Go after her! Kiss her good bye!" Which he does, but he's still not too thrilled. "Made it 20 times worse."
Scared? Yes. Shared memories of combat.
We learn more about Jack here, I think. Because him as a "kid", convincing a friend to join up for an adventure and then watching him be tortured by terrible "creatures"? That sounds like Our!Jack before we ever met him. Perhaps this is how/why he became the Time Cop type of thing that he was in the 50th (or whatever it was) century?
Tosh hiding the photo of the formula they'll need.
Oh, and of course Owen goes there himself. Because he's obsessed. Gwen is all "what would Jack and Tosh do", but it's the manager/caretaker guy who leads her to where the photo is. This guy is staging all of this. He's the one who took the photos of Jack and Tosh in the past so they could see it, he's making sure they get the info they need to get them back. Only thing to wonder about is why?
Owen ransacks the office now while Tosh in the past writes more info for them. With her blood? Ouch! Plus, it shows how absolutely desparate she is. Really, she's doing all the things to get them back to now and Jack is just . . . distracted. Well, because she cares about getting back and he, I think, really doesn't care. Not deeply, at least.
Safecracker Owen? Nothing there, but oh, look at all the clocks. How more obvious can the guy make it for you, Owen! Yes, follow his bread crumbs, go look in the clock. Oh crap. The missing thing for the Rift machine? And this doesn't make you suspicious, Owen?! Well, mostly it doesn't make you suspicious because you don't care. You just want to do what you want to do.
Jack talks to Jack. Just jump him already! Man, Our!Jack, can't you see that Original!Jack is not all that interested in women and if you want him to "have the best night" of his life before he dies that you might be just what he's looking for? You know, for a guy that flirts with anything that moves (and a few things that don't) Our!Jack is often very clueless when someone else is the one interested in him. Like before with Ianto. Huh. That's interesting . . . I'll have to keep watching for more examples of this.
But no, instead of jumping him, Our!Jack tells him to "go to your woman and lose yourself in her". Ah, which gives us far more insight into how Our!Jack thinks and acts, more so than the person he is giving advice to. "Is Toshiko your woman?" "No. There's no one."
Oh, my. Things escalating with Ianto and Owen. Owen still insisting on using the machine. Gonna open Jack's safe?
Um. Is that wise? "Not gonna play with his toys." Yeah, 'cuz everyone has proven to be soooo trustworthy with the alien toys and whatnot before this.
Plus, rifling the safe for help in using the Rift machine
is playing with his toys!
Oh, yay! Original!Jack came back and finally got Our!Jack to figure it out! Yays! But then, "you've told me all I need to know"?
It must have been so hard for him to put himself out there, risk that Our!Jack would be interested. And so he pulls back.
Back to Owen and Ianto.
Ianto is right that the manager guy is manipulating things. Owen is "tired of living in awe of the rift" (um, if there's something that you should probably rightly have awe of, I think it would be a time and space rift
). And he's sick of Jack being secretive. "He's our leader." "Not any more."
Editing faster now between the now and the past.
Our!Jack talks about how Original!Jack saved his men in the fight tomorrow, but not himself.
Whoa! Ianto pulls a gun on Owen!
Whoa! Jack tells Tosh about being a con man before. "How did yoiu end up in Torchwood?" "Someone saved my life. Brought me back nad now it's like they're keeping me for something else." Whoa! That's, well, that's damn close to telling her the whole "I can't die" thing. Closer than anyone since Gwen, really. "There's nothing I can do for him."
Well. Now Owen and Ianto are really getting down to the ugly, aren't they?
Ianto says Owen needs to let go of Diane like he did with Lisa (um - Ianto, do you remember all the hell you put yourself and everyone else trying
not to let her go until she'd killed several people?). Owen says he's just a tea boy (hey!), and that Jack only needs him in "his dreams", as a part-time shag (hey!!
). But really, this argument is about whether or not to use the Rift machine thing, eh, guys? The rift took his lover and his captain (oh,
now he's your captain again?) and "if I die, it will be in the line of duty".
So it's bang with the gun and whoosh, oopsie with the rift anyway.
Awwwww! Sweet moment with the dancing. Nicely done. Just enough staring, but nothing else. Wartime and all. Plus, England. I love how Original!Jack just looks stunned, because this is a big moment for him, so bold in going for what he really wants. And Our!Jack just looks . . . confidently happy. And just before the kiss, Rift! And "you have to, we need you".
"I have to go. It's my duty."
Lots of emphasis on duty in this ep!
And then, ah, yes! Goes back for the big romantic kiss! Perfect! Classic wartime romance and drama.
Owen taking out the bullet from himself? Ouch!! And somehow I don't think it's all gonna be easy as this, Owen. I don't think it's done. You still don't know what Mr. Caretaker guy's agenda was.
Tosh is now another person that Jack can really talk to. "He would have been so proud you took his name. 'Cuz here you are, saving the world. To Captain Jack!" Both of them, heroes.
Awwww!! So sweet. Wonderful ep!
Nice parallels of conflicts of duty and love between the different characters in the past and in the now. And, of course, much romantic nobleness. And dramatic kissing. Which is always so very lovely to watch.
I am very very happy with this ep. This will live on my DVR until I get the DVDs, I'm thinking. ;D
And it was very funny to watch the "behind the scenes" bit, where he said that this was the answer to finding the man that Jack would fall in love with - himself. ;D