Torchwood: Children of Earth

[thecopper]

So, I've finally caught up on Torchwood. And seeing as there is no one here to talk about it with, I figured I'd bring it to Gwen's journal! Also included, some speculation on what canon changes will be made to her RP here.

First and foremost, Torchwood needs to stop making me cry.

What an exhausting week for our pups, fellow players! Honestly, I don't know what to make of all of it quite yet. It was probably one of the most soul-shattered things I've ever seen on television, even if Gwen was lucky enough to make it through AND not lose the baby (believe me, I was pretty much expecting it from the moment we found out.).

Don't know what the heck they're thinking, killing off Ianto. And the ending? If there is a series 4, it's going to be interesting to see how/if they bring Gwen and Jack back together.

I'm sort of (again) stuck between a rock and a hard place canon-updating Gwen. Even with canon!pregnancy, I'm always feeling awkward writing babyfic. That, and who knows what it is? What they'll name him/her? If we'll ever even see Gwen and Rhys and baby again?

That, and it certainly isn't going to help me pull Gwen from this emo place she's been since Owen and Tosh died. If anything, things have got slightly worse for her, happy baby times or no, so it's kind of up in the air right now as to what I'll be doing about canon updating her journal.

In short, found the series to be horrifying, emotionally draining, slightly predictable in places, but all in all pretty darn good and riveting. And Lois Habiba for Team Torchwood, anyone? Gwen wants her on board, you can count on that.

What did you guys think, in terms of the episodes and how the events will effect your pups?

Expect spoilers in comments.

Comments

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

It doesn't really effect the Doctor, except that Jack is upset (and isn't Jack back for the Christmas episode of DW?). I've done a lot of speculating why the Doctor WASN'T there, because you know Sarah Jane had to call him the moment Luke started talking in unison with every child on Earth.

Also Gwen can't have Lois. The Doctor wants her. NOT LIKE THAT.

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

Ooo I think I remember hearing that! Good thing, too, seeing as I quite like Jack. I'd like to read some speculation on why the Doctor wasn't there (Gwen angsting about it was a splendid moment, if you ask me.). Though would Luke have been part of it? I thought they figured once the kids hit puberty they weren't useful anymore. Of course, that one daughter seemed a bit old, but I would have thought Sarah Jane's lot would have missed the cut off. I don't remember them making that very clear, though.

Grrr. Gwen says she wants Lois when she inevitably gets bored with the Doctor and ditches him LIKE EVERYONE DOES. >_>

[goodathart.livejournal.com]

I ain'tn't dead! I was starting to get John back before I caught up, and then finally managed to get myself to watch. And. Wow.

Really, Children of Earth did nothing but good for me picking him up again. I have a legitimate excuse for him to do all sorts of things now (silly as that seems). I can play with him being on Earth when it happened, or him running the fuck away, or even helping the aliens (though I have a hard time seeing even him do that). Also, I get to have fun with the fact that John actually liked Ianto, in an 'I'm the first wife and you're the younger, pretty second wife, aren't you cute' way. And his reaction to Jack getting hurt like that. And... everything.

So I may actually go back to writing prompts for John, long story short.

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

OMG You live!

In seriousness, I'm so glad you felt like it helped you want to play him again! Regardless of Gwen's endless angstiness, I think it's going to help recharge her in my head, too. I'd love to see what you come up with for where John was during all that! All and all really, I'd just love to see you back with him! *hugs*

Hope you've been well. :-)

[goodathart.livejournal.com]

For my next miracle, I will update my own LJ!

I was rather surprised, actually. I sort of feared that it would kill John off for me all together, which wasn't what I wanted. But then it finally got to the point I couldn't put it off anymore, and... Fwoomph. By the end, John was there and wanting to murder politicians. So! If nothing else, they can go on escapades? John half wants to join Torchwood now, just to see how it managed to burn Jack out.


Oh, I've been pretty decent. Life got crazy, it's been awesome. Hope you've been doing good too.

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

If you do that, I might actually check my LJs flist! ;-)

Oh, boy, John in Torchwood will be awesome. Gwen will be so desperate to get back to doing something she'd probably even put up with John for a while. She'll stick Rhys with diaper duty and sneak out a window to go catch aliens with John.

Good! Life has been awesome and crazy for me as well. So it's nice to have some down time again!

[goodathart.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Maybe I should start doing that too. >.>

Aw, she's not going to let John hold the baby? She knows she wants to. Go on, admit it.

But really, I've been trying to find excuses to stick John back with Torchwood for a while now. He'd be one of their least reliable members ever, but hey then again, efficient and just look at that training!

Glad you found some downtime. I'm pretending I have some? I just moved, nothing's unpacked...

[dalek-lj.livejournal.com]

IC: Congratulations and you were brilliant.
OOC: I didn't like the loss of Ianto either. It's going to be different, that's for sure. Let's see what happens. I can agree that it does nothing for Gwen's angst level, that's for sure.

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

IC: Thanks, mate. Though this is all gonna take some gettin' used to.
OOC: I'm pretty bummed about Ianto - it seems like whenever I start getting attached to a character they kill them off! Though it will be interesting, as always, to see where they go next series. Poor Gwen's had a rough go. *pats*

[dalek-lj.livejournal.com]

(all ooc needless to say - might be a good writing prompt) If you could write the next episode of Torchwood, who would you have as new members of the team and why? (I would vote for Rhys, not sure if he'd accept, he might have some misgivings)

Anyone can feel free to answer.

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

Ooo I quite like this game! Can I have an answer for me and an answer for Gwen? Oh, well, I'll do that anyway.

Me: If I chose the new members of the team, I would (along with Jack and Gwen) want Martha Jones, Lois, and Mickey Smith. I'm not sure if I'd want Rhys on full time, but definitely around helping out a bit. And I'd want to make Andy some sort of official police liaison because I think he's awesome.

Gwen: If Gwen had to recruit new people, she would want Jack back of course. Besides him, she would go after Lois for sure, she'd at least ask Martha. She would not allow Rhys onto the team at any cost. And she, at this point, may consider taking Andy on, but he would have to push for it pretty hard.

[dalek-lj.livejournal.com]

(Yes, you can and I was hoping you would.)

Hm, I understand both points of view. I like Andy & I think Lois would be a great addition. Hopefully the writers don't make the wrong decisions.

[damnfinecoffee.livejournal.com]

I wrote almost 800 words on how I had no idea what I was going to do with Ianto, and I still don't. Outside of games I'm mostly just doing a meta-ish sort of thing at the moment, but... :\

Also, the baby is obviously going to be a boy and it's going to be called Ianto. Or at least until canon decides it wants to prove otherwise (which I'd say is pretty inevitable at some point).

[goodathart.livejournal.com]

Seconding the baby name for now! If it's a girl, its name will be Candy. Obviously.

(And good luck figuring it out? I've been there with character deaths, it's no fun. D:)

[damnfinecoffee.livejournal.com]

No. Candy is a ridiculous name. No one in their right mind would call their child that. :|

(XD Thanks. The only other dead character (excluding ghosts) I play died... years before I was born. For some reason that made it a lot easier.)

[goodathart.livejournal.com]

Candy is the perfect name for a girl! Gwen obviously should name the thing that. And it would still be named after Ianto! Everyone's happy!

(Jack Sparrow got better, so I'm not sure that counts, but... Yeah, I've had both kinds. The ones that happened before you picked them up are a lot easier, and I'm not sure why.)

[damnfinecoffee.livejournal.com]

Ianto doesn't think naming the kid Candy counts as naming it after him, regardless of John's nicknames for him.

(I think it's because you know what you're getting into when you pick up an already dead character, but with this it's like. *alive* *dead* ...now what? :\ Or something like that.)

[itsthecoat.livejournal.com]

I wrote....well, frankly I don't know how many words, just that there were many and it made me feel sad at the end for Jack. But I am actually going through with canonbumping him! At least for the game that I'm playing in right now.

But man...this really does change a lot character-wise, I think. I do not envy you on having to deal with baby-related things, but I'm sure you'll do well~

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

Whoeee! I just found the post and will be reading it thoroughly later today. I did feel so badly for Jack... That ending scene with Gwen just showed us how torn up he was, and still trying to hold it together. I can't wait to read what you wrote about it! As of now, I won't be canon bumping Gwen in any of her games (canon-mates aren't bumping, for one, and I really do not want to deal with lugging a baby around.), though since her canon in the journal is pretty fluid, I'll be canon bumping her some for prompts and in journal RP to anyone interested.

And thanks! Now that both of my muses are mothers, and I having never been one, it's going to be an interesting challenge.

[itsthecoat.livejournal.com]

I know a lot of people are angry with him for that, but honestly, like I told Pixie, I think leaving was the best thing he could have done. I hope you enjoy the read! It was...depressing really, but then again it is Jack.

And it sounds like it would be complicated. Honestly, I'd never be able to play through a baby plot, I think, and I'm not particularly keen to. Just not my cup of tea, you know?

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

Read it and just responded, like whoa! And I agree with you. I know my head!canon for Gwen is that she isn't angry, so much as just sad, and she and I certainly understand his reasons for leaving. It's really what he needed to do at that point!

Ohhh believe me, I totally understand. I think Baby Williams is going to be more of a prompt thing... and honestly, even if Gwen does have a baby in any Torchwood-RP stuff I do, she's sure as heck not bringing it with her! I'm not a fan of baby plots at all, though I understand why they did it. At the same time, Gwen has no intention of strapping a baby to her hip before she runs off to fight aliens!

(FYI, my other muse had a canon 8 year old when I took her on, and I don't even write her into anything. I suck so bad with remembering the kids. <_< Luckily, her kid is in another time period so she's generally easy to ignore, lol.)

[lineofsacrifice.livejournal.com]

I've gone on record as saying I can't play canon. Just can't. Paloma would kill herself, in any 'verse, because either her husband is dead, in the middle of space, or both. So...I have no idea what I'm doing, basically just winging it.

I don't think any of the people I'm playing with are canon, because they're all Jacks and Iantos for the most part!

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

Awwwe poor Paloma!

That's the nice thing about RP... even if you do play canon, you can always create a new 'verse or AU to adjust to what you want to play. And for Jack and Ianto, that's probably the best case right now! Luckily RP is filled with all sorts of wonderful timey whimey things to help work around canon being mean. :-D

[lineofsacrifice.livejournal.com]

My friend plays both her Jack and Ianto, so we looked at each other and went "...yeah, see, that would not be a good place to put the character in!" So I think for now we're sort of winging this idea that Ianto almost died but didn't, and Paloma is hanging onto Jack tooth and nail at the moment. While going, "this is not my career."

I'd certainly love to have Gwen pop 'round, I don't have a specific idea for how, but Paloma needs female friends that aren't NPCs. Really! And Gwen needs a hug. (Although, as Kai Owen has so terribly grown on me, I am very happy that they didn't take the 'kill the less popular supporting character' route and off Rhys too.)

[alien-catcher.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a good plan to me! It's going to be weird keeping up with who canon updates and who goes AU, I imagine I'll be adding quite a few 'verses to Gwen's inventory, lol.

I would love for Gwen to hang out with Paloma and co.! She certainly needs a friend and another girl around, for sure, and a hug wouldn't hurt. I'd be totally happy to adjust her to whatever 'verse you're playing in, too! Gwen is rather flexible. XD (Oh, and I agree, Rhys has grown on me so much, so I was extremely thankful they didn't decide to do something stupid and go and off him. But with Ianto gone and Jack leaving, that would have destroyed Gwen forever.)