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wintercompanion2012-03-26 11:31 pm
wojelah.livejournal.com) wrote in wintercompanion2012-03-26 11:31 pm
Entry tags:
Meta Month of March: Ep Discussion: The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
Jack: Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades.
Ten: No.
Jack: Why not? Worked for me.
So... that conversation on Malcassiro? Clearly, it's not over. Not even close. And really, the Sound of Drums is full of half-finished conversations - and they fly thick and fast:
I was the only one who could end it. And I tried. I did. I tried everything.
...perfect to look at, maybe. And it was, it was beautiful.
Oh, the ones that ran away. I never stopped.
The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it. And when I did that, I did it for you, in your honour.
And, of course:
Ten: It’s like—it’s like when you fancy someone and they don’t even know you exist. That’s what it’s like. Come on!
MARTHA looks at JACK.
Jack: You too, hunh?
The Sound of Drums tears through all of it so fast there's hardly time to process. It's not the calm before the storm, it's the last few desperate seconds when you think you might be able to outrun the gale. And in terms of recalibrating Doctor/Jack, it's almost hard to find your footing.
They make it to Martha's flat, and it's Jack who makes the tea while the Doctor starts asking questions. But he has no hesitation, when Martha finally succumbs to her fears about her family, in stepping between her and the Doctor and giving the orders. He's still the one straining for action, when they watch the Jones family herded onto the airport tarmac - and this time, when the Doctor says, Now that sounds like Torchwood, Jack's response, for once, is no joke: Still a good plan.
There's still flashes of the relationship we know - consider when they first see what's been done to the TARDIS, and Jack's reaction when the Doctor says If they stop me . . . you’ve got a key, is so reminiscent of his relationship with Nine in Boomtown to me. All Jack has to say to Ten is Yes, sir.
Then the storm arrives. LotTL isn't Jack's story, it's Martha's, but the thing about the Year That Never Was is that we're only given pieces, and of the little moments we're given, it's a dire snapshot at best. And yet: Jack may be chained and tortured, but he's still joking about new hotel reservations. The Doctor is withered and faded, but he still tries. And when it's time, when the moment comes, the Doctor's there, with a plan, and Jack's charging along behind him to make sure it's carried out.
And at the bitter, bitter end, when the universe is saved but the people who saved it are the ones that hang onto the damage, in that last conversation before they walk away from each other, we get another glimpse of Jack and the Doctor, and it suggests it hasn't all changed - or at the very least, there's hope:
Jack: Hey, I need that!
Doctor: I can't have you walking around with a time-travelling teleport. You could go anywhere — twice. The second time to apologise.
Jack: And what about me? Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?
Doctor: Nothing I can do. You're an impossible thing, Jack.
Jack: Been called that before.
And as he walks away, Jack simply says, Hmm, I'll see you.
Nothing's resolved between Ten and Jack. Nothing's fixed. More might be broken - or at least significantly complicated. But it's not over. Not even close.
What do you think?
How bitter is Jack, still, when TSoD begins? When they're all in the car, fleeing, and Jack intervenes between the Doctor and Martha, is he acting as a buffer, to give the Doctor space? Or is he doing what needs to be done to survive? Is he being strong for himself, when he's whistling in the dark when he's chained up on the Valiant? For the Jones family? For the Doctor? Or is it simply Jack - thinking, planning, and refusing to lay down? Knowing what we do about Jack, and Grey, and Jack's childhood, what does Jack make of the Doctor's conversations about two eight-year-old boys on Gallifrey - and what does he see in the Doctor's need to save the Master? How does that change, at the end, when the Doctor's grieving over the man that had Jack killed time after uncountable time? And what is Jack believing in, after all this, when he closes his eyes and thinks, Doctor?
What is it like for the Doctor to spend a year so close to the man he spent ages running away from - and knowing what he led that man into? What does Jack's perpetual death do to the Doctor? What does it feel like to be responsible for that? And where does it figure into the Doctor's own calculus of forgiveness? And what does he make of Jack and Torchwood - and Jack's decision to walk away from the TARDIS and back to a different team?
What are they thinking as they both walk away? And when do they meet next?
Ten: No.
Jack: Why not? Worked for me.
So... that conversation on Malcassiro? Clearly, it's not over. Not even close. And really, the Sound of Drums is full of half-finished conversations - and they fly thick and fast:
I was the only one who could end it. And I tried. I did. I tried everything.
...perfect to look at, maybe. And it was, it was beautiful.
Oh, the ones that ran away. I never stopped.
The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it. And when I did that, I did it for you, in your honour.
And, of course:
Ten: It’s like—it’s like when you fancy someone and they don’t even know you exist. That’s what it’s like. Come on!
MARTHA looks at JACK.
Jack: You too, hunh?
The Sound of Drums tears through all of it so fast there's hardly time to process. It's not the calm before the storm, it's the last few desperate seconds when you think you might be able to outrun the gale. And in terms of recalibrating Doctor/Jack, it's almost hard to find your footing.
They make it to Martha's flat, and it's Jack who makes the tea while the Doctor starts asking questions. But he has no hesitation, when Martha finally succumbs to her fears about her family, in stepping between her and the Doctor and giving the orders. He's still the one straining for action, when they watch the Jones family herded onto the airport tarmac - and this time, when the Doctor says, Now that sounds like Torchwood, Jack's response, for once, is no joke: Still a good plan.
There's still flashes of the relationship we know - consider when they first see what's been done to the TARDIS, and Jack's reaction when the Doctor says If they stop me . . . you’ve got a key, is so reminiscent of his relationship with Nine in Boomtown to me. All Jack has to say to Ten is Yes, sir.
Then the storm arrives. LotTL isn't Jack's story, it's Martha's, but the thing about the Year That Never Was is that we're only given pieces, and of the little moments we're given, it's a dire snapshot at best. And yet: Jack may be chained and tortured, but he's still joking about new hotel reservations. The Doctor is withered and faded, but he still tries. And when it's time, when the moment comes, the Doctor's there, with a plan, and Jack's charging along behind him to make sure it's carried out.
And at the bitter, bitter end, when the universe is saved but the people who saved it are the ones that hang onto the damage, in that last conversation before they walk away from each other, we get another glimpse of Jack and the Doctor, and it suggests it hasn't all changed - or at the very least, there's hope:
Jack: Hey, I need that!
Doctor: I can't have you walking around with a time-travelling teleport. You could go anywhere — twice. The second time to apologise.
Jack: And what about me? Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?
Doctor: Nothing I can do. You're an impossible thing, Jack.
Jack: Been called that before.
And as he walks away, Jack simply says, Hmm, I'll see you.
Nothing's resolved between Ten and Jack. Nothing's fixed. More might be broken - or at least significantly complicated. But it's not over. Not even close.
What do you think?
How bitter is Jack, still, when TSoD begins? When they're all in the car, fleeing, and Jack intervenes between the Doctor and Martha, is he acting as a buffer, to give the Doctor space? Or is he doing what needs to be done to survive? Is he being strong for himself, when he's whistling in the dark when he's chained up on the Valiant? For the Jones family? For the Doctor? Or is it simply Jack - thinking, planning, and refusing to lay down? Knowing what we do about Jack, and Grey, and Jack's childhood, what does Jack make of the Doctor's conversations about two eight-year-old boys on Gallifrey - and what does he see in the Doctor's need to save the Master? How does that change, at the end, when the Doctor's grieving over the man that had Jack killed time after uncountable time? And what is Jack believing in, after all this, when he closes his eyes and thinks, Doctor?
What is it like for the Doctor to spend a year so close to the man he spent ages running away from - and knowing what he led that man into? What does Jack's perpetual death do to the Doctor? What does it feel like to be responsible for that? And where does it figure into the Doctor's own calculus of forgiveness? And what does he make of Jack and Torchwood - and Jack's decision to walk away from the TARDIS and back to a different team?
What are they thinking as they both walk away? And when do they meet next?