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eldabeWhen Torchwood: The New World was all confirmed and HAPPENING and filming and stuff, all of my previous personal canon as to what happened to Jack post-Children of Earth was utterly Jossed. In my original theory, Jack left Earth, never to return, and travelled across the universe paradoxically trying to forget everything that ever happened to him ever and keep his promise to Ianto until Intersecting Geodesics happened until he finally reconciled himself to his epic and unusual life and begins his zen-like evolution to the Face of Boe.
But obviously that wasn't going to happen, so I had to come up another theory to try and reconcile myself to the new status as it was being presented to us. (Gwen was a whole 'nother issue):
Jack went traveling with the Doctor.
NOW HOLD ON WAIT A MINUTE. I know what you're thinking, especially you,iceshade. Because we saw that Doctor and Jack meet up post-COE and there are different opinions on it, but there was no traveling.
Well, yes. My theory is that Jack went traveling with another Doctor. I'm voting for the twelfth or thirteenth. Something a little bit older than our current bouncy-boy over with the Ponds.
I think this for a few reasons. First, time must have passed for Jack. I can't imagine him coming back around a scant two years after he left, all things considered. Two years isn't all that long when you've lived for over 150 or so, as Jack has, and he didn't just leave because of a lost lover. Stephen's ghost would keep him away for a long, long time.
So for him, it's been more time. But we have no evidence his vortex manipulator is working again, and I don't think he waited until the 51st century to get it fixed. The Doctor makes a lot of sense - people tend to get dropped off not long after they began. So Jack bums around for a few months, travels with the Doctor, and then drifts back to Earth. Makes sense.
More importantly, people change when they travel with the Doctor. Generally for the better, it seems, at least for all his long-term companions. (No. I haven't seen Old!Who. This is a personal failing, yes.) But looking at Rose, Donna, Martha, Mickey, Amy, Rory...Jack (the first time) everyone seems to emerge as better people, overall. They gain perspective on reality, a different appreciation of life. And I think that is what Jack needs most of all at this point.
Yes, the second time Jack travelled with the Doctor (with Martha, before and during the Year That Never Was) doesn't fulfill this theory. But the second time Jack travelled with the Doctor he was specifically chasing the Doctor because Jack wanted something, something the Doctor could not give him. And Jack wasn't willing to get anything else from the Doctor at that time. And then it descended into hell. (I don't really count Journey's End as traveling with the Doctor. One episode/story does not a companion make.)
I think he and the Doctor stumble into each other, and this Doctor will be a little older than the last two and this time the Doctor will offer to take Jack traveling. Not for Rose, not because Jack jumped on the TARDIS, and not just to save the world one time. A real series of adventures, just the Doctor and Jack. (Other people can come too, actually. That's not the point.)
The point is that the Doctor is the closest thing Jack has to an equal, although Jack's tragedy is that he doesn't get a blank slate the way the Doctor does. Jack is trapped with himself, with his many flaws and numerous regrets. If anything, the tenth Doctor couldn't have possibly helped Jack reconcile himself, as Tennant's Doctor was filled with regrets and angst from pretty early on. The current Doctor rarely expresses that kind of gravitas that I think Jack needs to be faced with. Sure, Jack would enjoy his time with the Doctor, but I think Jack would have to learn from traveling with the Doctor. He needs to get past the angst-ridden self and become at peace, real peace, with who he is. He's really is a category unto himself. and he needs to be able to reconcile to it.
It is only after this kind of soul-searching, life-changing sort of traveling that Jack would be able to emerge from his depressive state and assess what he has left. He can't quite move on, can he? There is still Gwen and Alice. So Jack returns to Earth, a little more at peace with himself, to protect that last of his families before he can leave again.
Now, I developed this theory before Miracle Day began, and I'm pretty much sticking with it so far, although it hasn't held strong for every single moment of the season thus far. Jack hasn't been quite so at peace with himself, but I can reconcile that too. Obviously Jack got better, but not perfect. I'm making a sort-of Star Wars analogy here; Jack learned from the Doctor, and got past his initial desire to run far, far away and then the moment he remembered Gwen (and Alice, I'm not forgetting Alice even if RTD did) he went back.
So Jack is still haunted by his traumas (Ianto, immortality, his desire for death) but he's not crippled by them. He's back on Earth to fix the problems of his making - he's hiding Torchwood, which was his organization by the time it died. He's trying to protect the life he always meant for Gwen. I will strongly maintain that he was watching after Alice as well, as subtly as he was watching everything else before the Miracle Day fiasco.
It's not a perfect theory, and I'll probably have to tweak it as this continues and we get to watch more of Jack's past come out and haunt him. But I really liked it when I developed it before Miracle Day began, and I see no reason to abandon it entirely now. I still can't possibly see Jack just drifting for a year and a bit and then turning around. There had to be something that made him come back, and the Doctor has been the axis around which Jack Harkness has changed at least twice. I see no reason it shouldn't happen again.
Roommate looked over this for grammar because I lack that skill.
But obviously that wasn't going to happen, so I had to come up another theory to try and reconcile myself to the new status as it was being presented to us. (Gwen was a whole 'nother issue):
Jack went traveling with the Doctor.
NOW HOLD ON WAIT A MINUTE. I know what you're thinking, especially you,
iceshade. Because we saw that Doctor and Jack meet up post-COE and there are different opinions on it, but there was no traveling. Well, yes. My theory is that Jack went traveling with another Doctor. I'm voting for the twelfth or thirteenth. Something a little bit older than our current bouncy-boy over with the Ponds.
I think this for a few reasons. First, time must have passed for Jack. I can't imagine him coming back around a scant two years after he left, all things considered. Two years isn't all that long when you've lived for over 150 or so, as Jack has, and he didn't just leave because of a lost lover. Stephen's ghost would keep him away for a long, long time.
So for him, it's been more time. But we have no evidence his vortex manipulator is working again, and I don't think he waited until the 51st century to get it fixed. The Doctor makes a lot of sense - people tend to get dropped off not long after they began. So Jack bums around for a few months, travels with the Doctor, and then drifts back to Earth. Makes sense.
More importantly, people change when they travel with the Doctor. Generally for the better, it seems, at least for all his long-term companions. (No. I haven't seen Old!Who. This is a personal failing, yes.) But looking at Rose, Donna, Martha, Mickey, Amy, Rory...Jack (the first time) everyone seems to emerge as better people, overall. They gain perspective on reality, a different appreciation of life. And I think that is what Jack needs most of all at this point.
Yes, the second time Jack travelled with the Doctor (with Martha, before and during the Year That Never Was) doesn't fulfill this theory. But the second time Jack travelled with the Doctor he was specifically chasing the Doctor because Jack wanted something, something the Doctor could not give him. And Jack wasn't willing to get anything else from the Doctor at that time. And then it descended into hell. (I don't really count Journey's End as traveling with the Doctor. One episode/story does not a companion make.)
I think he and the Doctor stumble into each other, and this Doctor will be a little older than the last two and this time the Doctor will offer to take Jack traveling. Not for Rose, not because Jack jumped on the TARDIS, and not just to save the world one time. A real series of adventures, just the Doctor and Jack. (Other people can come too, actually. That's not the point.)
The point is that the Doctor is the closest thing Jack has to an equal, although Jack's tragedy is that he doesn't get a blank slate the way the Doctor does. Jack is trapped with himself, with his many flaws and numerous regrets. If anything, the tenth Doctor couldn't have possibly helped Jack reconcile himself, as Tennant's Doctor was filled with regrets and angst from pretty early on. The current Doctor rarely expresses that kind of gravitas that I think Jack needs to be faced with. Sure, Jack would enjoy his time with the Doctor, but I think Jack would have to learn from traveling with the Doctor. He needs to get past the angst-ridden self and become at peace, real peace, with who he is. He's really is a category unto himself. and he needs to be able to reconcile to it.
It is only after this kind of soul-searching, life-changing sort of traveling that Jack would be able to emerge from his depressive state and assess what he has left. He can't quite move on, can he? There is still Gwen and Alice. So Jack returns to Earth, a little more at peace with himself, to protect that last of his families before he can leave again.
Now, I developed this theory before Miracle Day began, and I'm pretty much sticking with it so far, although it hasn't held strong for every single moment of the season thus far. Jack hasn't been quite so at peace with himself, but I can reconcile that too. Obviously Jack got better, but not perfect. I'm making a sort-of Star Wars analogy here; Jack learned from the Doctor, and got past his initial desire to run far, far away and then the moment he remembered Gwen (and Alice, I'm not forgetting Alice even if RTD did) he went back.
So Jack is still haunted by his traumas (Ianto, immortality, his desire for death) but he's not crippled by them. He's back on Earth to fix the problems of his making - he's hiding Torchwood, which was his organization by the time it died. He's trying to protect the life he always meant for Gwen. I will strongly maintain that he was watching after Alice as well, as subtly as he was watching everything else before the Miracle Day fiasco.
It's not a perfect theory, and I'll probably have to tweak it as this continues and we get to watch more of Jack's past come out and haunt him. But I really liked it when I developed it before Miracle Day began, and I see no reason to abandon it entirely now. I still can't possibly see Jack just drifting for a year and a bit and then turning around. There had to be something that made him come back, and the Doctor has been the axis around which Jack Harkness has changed at least twice. I see no reason it shouldn't happen again.
Roommate looked over this for grammar because I lack that skill.
