TARDISMonkey's Torchwood Diary - watching Torchwood an episode a week from the start...

1.12: Captain Jack Harkness

After all this time, we finally take a glimpse into the life of Captain Jack.

The story starts with Jack and Tosh entering an old abandoned building to check out reports of music coming from inside the building. (Any eagled eyed viewer will spot the Vote Saxon posters and the Bad Wolf graffiti in the building). Jack is very much enchanted by the music of the past, as both Tosh and Jack think they’re seeing ghosts of the past. It’s been done before with the ghost machine, however this time feels different, more real. It doesn’t take long before the distressed room is filled with a grand party for the airforce, ready to take on WW2. This is when Tosh and Jack realise they haven’t just seen ghosts, they’ve time travelled.

The transition of the scene is done very fluidly as the camera pans around the room. Of course the Torchwood team get into a tight spot straight away, even when trying to blend in, however who should be the person helping out the fight, but the original Captain Jack Harkness (Matt Rippy). Jack finally gives the explanation about his name to Tosh and his past history of being a conman, something we all know from “The Empty Child”. However, when Tosh confronts Jack about who he was before becoming Captain Jack, he doesn’t reply. And so the mystery still lives on.

The Torchwood team are very much split up for this entire story, as we have Jack and Tosh stuck in the past, Owen and Ianto wanting to tear the rift apart to take them back to the future and Gwen who uses her police initiative to explore the old building. Owen’s obsession with losing Diane never seems to leave him, as he’s desperate to solve the equation of opening the rift from Tosh’s partial equations.

Tosh has to get her laptop data to the future. This is where the manager, Bilis Manger (Murray Melvin) comes into play. This oddly dapper, yet sinister looking gentleman strangely enough has a type of polaroid camera. You don’t have to be a Time Lord to know the technology is way advanced of anything that should be around in World War 2. What are the Manager’s motives as he sneakily takes out a folder labelled ‘Torchwood’ from his desk?

The plot involves a lot of going to the past and you suddenly have the Caretaker, Bilis Manager appear again, without having aged a day. Gwen uses a cover story about Torchwood exploring the building with her mates, to enable them to have a look around. But we all know Bilis Manager knows exactly what’s going on. Its that forward knowledge that makes you want to scream at the TV, Gwen get out of there!

Ianto suddenly realises where and to what time Captain Jack and Tosh have travelled, as he finds the polaroid photo from the dance. Owen in a blind panic, realises that Jack and Tosh are in the Cardiff Blitz and will do everything to get them out of there, or is this just to prove a theory of time travelling to see Diane again? They make it their duty to find the key to the equation to using the Rift Machine.

In complete juxtaposition, Jack seems so relaxed and at home with his memories of the past. He’s having a good few drinks with the real Captain. There’s a huge sense of guilt in this moment, as the real Captain kisses his girlfriend with a lack of passion on the cheek as a goodbye. Our Jack, knowing this will be the last time he sees her, pleads with the Captain to give her a proper goodbye. It’s the fact that Jack and the Captain have only just met which shows how much trust and love there is between them; something straight out of Disney, is what Owen might say, aye?

Jack and the Captain share a heart to heart as they confront their fears of the conflict they’ve seen during the war. Jack mentions about his friend getting tortured and killed however, was this during WW2 or was this a fight that took place many years in the future? We never find out, but it’s the conflict connection which brings both Jack and the Captain even closer. Indeed, Murray Gold’s music strikes again in my heart for this scene.

As the bombs fall in the past, the team in the present day are desperately trying to find the missing piece to fix the rift machine. Owen turning Mangers’ office upside down, suddenly realises this is a mystery of time. It was quite apt for Manger to hide the missing piece in a clock. Gwen also manages to find the rest of Tosh’s equation written in Tosh’s blood, however Bilis has got there first and scribbled out the last few numbers. Why didn’t he destroy the whole thing? Is this a trick the Torchwood team are not seeing? The heart breaking message from Tosh, “Tell my family I love them,” makes the team even more determined to get them back. 

Jack tells the Captain to spend one last night with his girlfriend but this doesn’t last long, as the Captain returns to face his true self. The moment they sit together and hold each others hands is the moment of acceptance between both of them. This is the last night they’re both going to have together and Jack wants the Captain to be true to who he is.

In contrast we have Ianto and Owen beating each other up in a desperate show of loyalty, love and anger to try and get Jack and Tosh back from 1941. The conflict between Ianto and Owen becomes very clear as Ianto raises his gun. Their friendship is truly tested as hateful words are thrown about their past mistakes. Owen goes to open the rift but in a moment of loyalty to Jack, Ianto takes the shot. The close up shows the desperation in Owen’s and Ianto’s eyes, as Owen finally uses the key to open the rift. 

Now the moment that makes my heart flutter. The Captain finally accepting who he is, grabs Jack’s hand and takes him on the dance floor. The 1940’s music blends in with Murray Gold’s masterpiece, a unity between the past and the present. The rift opens for Tosh and Jack to escape, but just as Tosh calls, Jack in a moment of love runs towards the Captain for his true goodbye kiss. In a moment, the Captain fades away in one last salute, before he fights his last battle.

Jack and Tosh make it back to the present day. In a true send off, they both have a glass of scotch and toast his name. Tosh said the Captain would have been proud of him for taking his name, something I believe is a consolation to Jack after all these years.

However, what happened to Bilis?

Ellie (TARDISMonkey) 

 

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[Source: DWO]