Torchwood: Jack Harkness (John Barrowman)

[Dave]

Torchwood: Jack Harkness (John Barrowman)

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For a while, Jack Harkness was a Time Agent in the 51st century, until the
people he served wiped two years from his memory. In retaliation, he became
a con man, seeking to profit from his former bosses. And then he met the
Doctor, and Jack was transformed into a hero, traversing time and space...
until he died, a victim of the dreaded Daleks. But unbeknownst to the
Doctor, Jack was revived, only to find himself abandoned in the year
200,000. How does Jack travel from the far future to the present day, to
become part of an organisation which held the Doctor as its greatest foe?

According to the BBC, he is “the ever-watchful heart of the team guarding
against the fragility of humankind”.

 

[Loner]

He's a little smug isn't he?

 

[ladygiggs]

He can afford to be baby!

I don't think he's that smug, i think he is a bit like the Doctor, a solitary traveller. However, Jack uses his charm to get what he wants/needs.

Plus he makes suspenders look good.

 

[Robertbert]

Eh?...Oh braces...Right...

Damn I think this man's cool...I like the Almost a Sonic Screwdriver thing on his wrist...I like this new Jack...He rocks like a *******, he really does...I think it's going to be so interesting to see what happens when him and Tennant start on at each other...Fantastic!!...I can't wait!!...

 

[Loner]

I'd buy tickets to that fight!

And Harkness is a bit of a *******, isn't he?
He's 'ard. Dead 'ard.

I don't remember him being quite so "hard as gunmetal" in Dr Who.

My memory has been known to be selective though.

 

[PTeppic]

The biggest thing to remember is that he was last seen in the distant future. We don't know, with his new "power" where he's been, how much he's seen and/or had to do to keep his sanity, to become the person he is today. Why is he worrying about such an insignificant little rock as ours?

 

[Loner]

Why is he worrying about such an insignificant little rock as ours?

Because the Doctor does. And its like a locus for the Doctor. He always turns up on Earth!

I take your point though about what Captain Jack has been through that we don't know about yet.

 

[Loner]

In a lengthy interview with online magazine AfterElton.com, John Barrowman fleshes out the link between the two series:
"A lot of the things that have happened with Doctor Who [in the second series], the Torchwood team have been responsible for fixing or annihilating after the Doctor does his bit. And the Doctor is saying, at the moment, like “Who the hell are these Torchwood people?” because our paths haven't crossed again, and I am frantically trying to find him. I'm trying to find the Doctor. Because there is something that the viewing public won't know yet, there's something about Jack that nobody knows. And he needs the Doctor." Torchwood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So we don't know Jack. I had to say it.

I guess it's something besides that he can't die. Maybe it's to do with that TARDIS/time energy kiss he did with the orgasm-junkie-alien?

 

[Robertbert]

Yeah, we don't actually know how long he was stuck in the future before he found his way back...And God knows how he found out he couldn't die...Bloody hell I hope there's a novel or something to tell us everything...I think it's going to be tragic (the story not the quality )...Well done RTD...Made Jack interesting...not that I didn't like him in D.W. just that now he's a bit more fleshed out than the intergalactic con man got good type...

 

[PTeppic]

At the end of the day, how many people can cope with being immortal? You know: twenty, thirty, forty years of active life are usually enough for anyone. Maybe as an "alien" he'd expect double that. But what about a hundred, a thousand. At what point does you sanity start questioning the point behind it all?

Maybe all he wants from the Doctor is to be freed from the immortality?

 

[Loner]

I guess it was established from the start that he was alien, but what was he doing in the airforce? That's another story that isn't told. "Wiped from his memory" is a piss-poor excuse!
Damn it every answer poses a dozen questions! It's worse than Lost! I don't want to be strung along on the pormise of answers that never actually come!

 

[Robertbert]

Oh, I think that as long as RTD has some input into it he'll make sure there's answers...I just wish they'd hurry up and announce the second series already!!...I'm sure I'd sleep better at night ...

 

[Loner]

Just watched Ghost Machine and I'm really not liking Jack lately.

He is too removed. He doesn't seem to care how the team feels. He barks orders with minimal explanation and treats Gwen like some creepy toy or pet...

I want to like him.
He's pretty.

But he is either full of secrets we don't know yet which dictate his cold and conflicted behaviour, or he is badly written.

Too early to tell yet.

*keeps fingers crossed that this post won't result in a barrage of vitriol from all of the Jack fans out there*

 

[ladygiggs]

But he is either full of secrets we don't know yet which dictate his cold and conflicted behaviour, or he is badly written.

*keeps fingers crossed that this post won't result in a barrage of vitriol from all of the Jack fans out there*

I'd like to think that wasn't aimed at me

(Returns vitriolic fire)

I don't think he's colder than the Doctor. How can he empathise in the same way as humans? He's not human.

I think he reacts to people on a purely sensory sort of level. His reaction to Gwen is to string her along and draw her closer to him emotionally and physically. I think he's playing with her a bit, but I think that in doing so, he's finding a way to deal with his attraction to her.

I also reckon that he has a single focus at the moment. As stated in the interview above, he needs to find the Dr for reasons unknown (probably to give him his hand back ). That single-mindedness doesn't leave a whole lot of room for anything else.

 

[Loner]

I'd like to think that wasn't aimed at me
(Returns vitriolic fire).

Er, yes it was!

I think he reacts to people on a purely sensory sort of level.

Yes. And I don't like it.
I definitely agree that he reacts sensorily (real word?) as in "I like it. I'll have it." He doesn't seem to have any emotions of the empathic sort so he can't put himself in their shoes. Although he does seem to recognise when someone is going through processes he has experienced before. I am thinking specifically of Gwen in Ghost Machine, when *spoiler* she thinks Owen wants to kill Ed Morgan, and says "I don't know what to do." Jack nods and smiles as though he understands.

I also reckon that he has a single focus at the moment.

Well not completely. He does have one other thing on his mind. In some ways he's just a guy.

 

[ladygiggs]

Although he does seem to recognise when someone is going through processes he has experienced before.

Yeah, he's not entirely empathetic but he's not a psychopath. It's not like he doesn't understand human emotion, he probably just can't engage with it the way most people can.

As I wrote that I thought of about five people I know who fit that criteria!

I still quite like him. I loved in Dr Who, the 'Parting of the Ways' when he said something about Rose being worth dying for or similar. He was genuinely willing to sacrifice himself a couple of times in that series.

 

[Loner]

Yeah but... I don't know.

He spends a lot of time bitching at the team. It makes me mad. Especially when thos milksops don't stand up for themselves.

Jack: "Aren't you the guys who gave up looking for the 19 year old boy this morning?"
Me: "Geez, it's not like he's stuck down a well, Jack! Let them eat the damn pasties!"

Someone needs to pull him into line (I can see your eyes misting over from here, ladygiggs! ) and question his motives instead of just following blindly.

P.S. Is it psychopath or sociopath in his case? I must check the dictionary

 

[ladygiggs]

He spends a lot of time bitching at the team.

Someone needs to pull him into line (I can see your eyes misting over from here, ladygiggs! ) and question his motives instead of just following blindly.

It's cos you're a tree-hugging hippy, Loner Jack was in the military and that's how it works, you snap out the orders. If one person fails, the whole unit fails, soldier!

He's good with the team. I don't think any of them go home crying at night cos he's pushed them too hard. As evidenced by their reaction in ep 2, they are intrigued by him and speculate on his origins etc.

I would have been really pissed off if my team had taken sensitive alien equipment home and used it to scan Dickens or pull couples at bars. Ew, Owen!

 

[Loner]

Jack was in the military and that's how it works, you snap out the orders.

Ah, but he doesn't. He's just snide. He complains.

He's good with the team. I don't think any of them go home crying at night

Puh-lease! They cry in every episode! Gwen goes home and cries all the time and in Ghost Machine even Owen goes home and cries (or the male equivalent - downing a bottle of bourbon).
But that's okay, I'm sure it's all part of Jack's master plan so he can comfort them when they break down.

I would have been really pissed off if my team had taken sensitive alien equipment home and used it to scan Dickens or pull couples at bars.

Yeah, they took that order really well. That's why in Ghost Machine Gwen takes the transducer (whatever) home with her.

(Also I can't believe John Barrowman was shortlisted for the role of Will in Will & Grace but the studio were homophobic about casting a gay man to play ... a gay man. Duh.)

 

[ladygiggs]

(Also I can't believe John Barrowman was shortlisted for the role of Will in Will & Grace but the studio were homophobic about casting a gay man to play ... a gay man. Duh.)

Oh, I didn't know that. How silly, why wouldn't you just choose the best person for the job?

Good thing though, freed him up for Dr Who and Torchwood.