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eldabeWhat Happened to the Opera Cloak? Or, The Major Continuity Inconsistencies in Immortal Sins
When I saw advertisements for the seventh episode of Miracle Day, and even as I started watching it, I assumed it happened to Linear Jack, as I refer to him. Linear Jack being the Jack after the Doctor abandoned him on Satellite Five and before Everything Changes. Linear Jack had traveled through time and space before, but had only learned of his immortality after he jumped back to the 1800's to find the Doctor. Linear Jack was forcibly recruited to Torchwood, where he worked for over 100 years before he met Gwen. Linear Jack was a flirt. But the only time we ever see Linear Jack after the Doctor and before Torchwood begins is during his section of Fragments. When Linear Jack lives through 1929, he would probably be something like....70/80 years old? His age meeting the Doctor + the amount of years that have passed since he went to the past.
Overall, I think the argument that this episode happens to Linear Jack holds the most weight. It makes sense that he might be sent to fulfill a Torchwood mission in the USA by himself in 1929, as he can't die, and he has an American accent. He also knows the future (we can't assume Torchwood knows that, but they might) so he has a slight advantage in Doing Stuff.
When the episode was advertised, we had no reason to assume that it wasn't Linear Jack. And I spent most of the episode convinced it was Linear Jack. Still could be, if we handwave a few enormous plot holes. It's not like Torchwood hasn't asked us to do this before.
Still, let's take a look at these plot holes and continuity issues, shall we?
First, and most glaringly obvious is the coat. It's clearly supposed to be Jack's WWII-era RAF coat (possibly with slight inaccuracies, but that's on the costuming department, not the continuity ones.) The RAF did exist by 1927, but we have no reason to think that Jack joined them at that point. The RAF barely started during WWI, and it would be far harder to smuggle him in as an experienced airman - there weren't a lot of experienced airmen around. So, if Jack did serve during WWI, odds are he wasn't in the RAF. And even if he was, he wouldn't walk away with a WWII coat. Because it doesn't exit yet.
It couldn't be the coat he wore when he met the Doctor in The Empty Child, because that coat was blown up with his Chula ship. The next time he would be able to get such a coat is when he passed through WWII properly in Linear Time, when we can assume he picks up another coat, or serves the RAF under another name (John Harper, maybe?) or simply replaces himself when his still-mortal-younger-self goes off with the Doctor. But...there is not way for Linear Jack to have that coat yet.
The clothes are a related issue, but while Jack's shirts, trousers and braces aren't quite in line with the era, they aren't impossible to purchase in the way the coat is. He could just be dressing really oddly. (The gun might be a much bigger issue, depending on the make and design, but I don't know from guns, and we only see it for a moment.)
The weirdest part is that we have no evidence that Jack favored any sort of clothing style in particular before he passed through WWII the second (linear!) time as an immortal. When he traveled with the Doctor, Jack dressed to the era he was visiting. When we see Jack in Fragments, he was wearing clothes that belonged in the late-1800s! We don't even know why Jack chose to stick with WWII-era clothes after the war was long over. Now, we can assume a variety of reasons -- Jack was waiting for the Doctor in the clothes the Doctor knew him by, Jack was more comfortable (psychologically) in those clothes, he thought he looked better...I don't know. But, it seems most likely that Jack picked up the aesthetic during WWII, not beforehand. And the psychological attachment he has to the coat also makes no sense in the context -- Jack is the coat because he's had it for so long, or possibly one of the reasons above. But...otherwise the attachment makes little sense. So the clothes, the coat especially, don't belong in the episode at all. It is the most obvious, noticeable error.
The next issue, and the one many fans have pointed out, is the fact that Jack refers to himself as a "fixed point." The first time Jack is called a fixed point is after Season One of Torchwood, by the Doctor. Linear Jack hadn't seen the Doctor since Satellite Five, and we have no reason to think that he might have invented that phrase by himself. It's a very specific phrasing, and Jack was upset by that title. It's unnatural, unusual, and has no obvious relation to his immortality, so there is no reason to assume that Jack would think it up. Then again, maybe his vortex manipulator registered Jack as an anomaly? It's a small enough issue that we can work to forgive them for a continuity errors, but it's glaring enough to be immediately noticeable by every single fan.
Another issue is the fact that Jack told the priest he hadn't confessed in 700 years. If you don't count the time Jack spent buried under Cardiff, Jack isn't 700 years old yet. And Linear Jack was faaaar younger than that in 1927. Probably wasn't even a century old. It's another glaring error, but this one shows a certain amount of laziness instead of just inattention to details. But again, it's a throwaway line. And maybe Jack is joking, "Oh, it's been aaages since I confessed, you have no idea!" Plus, he's immortal. One imagines he copes by making some jokes like that.
But...it's this moment, on top of the other two, that really pushes the theory away from Linear Jack. 700 years? Could this be...Jack after Children of Earth, but before Miracle Day? It's the only large amount of unaccounted time in Jack's life after he turns immortal. Hold that thought while I explore the last issue, which wasn't a simple misplaced line.
When Jack gets to Ellis Island, he says that his visa was arranged so that he would travel via Rome, and his passport was faked. He does explain that he is working for one branch of the government in conflict with another one, but you would think an international Torchwood mission would have the clout to issue a passport and obtain a visa! The monarch had more influence in 1927, on top of which you might think Torchwood London (the professional branch) would be in charge of an international mission.
And, while I mention a few reasons at the beginning of this post as to why Jack might the one chosen for an international mission, it's still a little bit odd. In 1899, Jack was being tortured and blackmailed into submission by the Torchwood Institute. I can't imagine them handing him an important international mission 28 years later. Jack is an anomaly, that is what Torchwood is dedicated to hunting. Would they really trust him on his own?
But maybe he heard about this, and knowing how important Roosevelt was to the timeline but not wanting to share his knowledge of the future with Torchwood, he ran away to do it. That is a good possibility actually, although you would think that Jack would avoid mentioning Torchwood to Angelo in that scenario.
And it seems, once again, that it makes the most sense for the Jack of this story to be post-COE. Jack has left Earth, travelled around for a few hundred years, and for whatever reason (perhaps he heard about the plot against Roosevelt, perhaps he had a craving for ) he ends up back on Earth in 1927. Knowing he can't bump into himself, he ends up in Rome and then America, avoiding the British colonies. It explains why he came via Rome, it explains why his paperwork was forged, it explains why he was maybe a little more careful with his sexuality. (It explains why he's attracted to men that lie on him after a rough tumble. *cough*)
The only thing that flies directly in the face of that theory is Jack saying that Angelo is the first person he's ever come back for. He said he specifically came back for Torchwood team in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. But if he is over 700 years old, maybe he hasn't come back for anyone in a long, long time. The state of mind he was in after Children of Earth, I wouldn't be surprised if he avoided forming any lasting attachments for a few hundred years. And if you want, you can say that he hasn't had a meaningful relationship since Ianto, meaning it's been a REALLY LONG TIME. And then after 1927, Jack goes back to traveling until he eventually feels guilty about Gwen and swings back by Earth in time to catch Miracle Day.
(Aside: The one major remaining continuity issue is that the Empire State Building, which is prominently displayed toward the end of the episode, was not built by 1928. That is just a basic failure to google and has to do with actual history as opposed to Whoniverse continuity. So this cannot be explained no matter how you bend Jack's personal timeline, and is thus largely irrelevant to my discussion.)
So, maybe it's supposed to take place after Children of Earth! For a few minutes, I was convinced that it was going to be the hidden answer, that it was going to be confirmed in a later episode. That, or it was a lot of very messy, idiotic continuity errors. I could go either way. We could have fandom ice-cream parties where we debate it out!
BUT THEN ESPENSON STUCK A FORK IN THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL.
It's nice, that we have a way to connect to the Torchwood production team in a way we couldn't before. It used to be we would have to wait for interviews or conventions to ask about these sorts of glaring errors, and we don't have that anymore. But I almost wish we did, because it would have given fandom time to sort ourselves out and ask the questions in an intelligent way, and it would have given them some time to maybe figure out a response. It would also mean fans wouldn't come off as too attacking, and Espenson wouldn't have to be so defensive. And we wouldn't have to play nice when their answers were silly, we could just give them a collective "that makes no sense."
Instead, it appears that fandom has one or two crazies attacking Espenson, while the rest are heaping on praise and love and telling her to ignore the crazies. I happen to really like Espenson overall, and I did enjoy this episode, so it's on the these issues that are making this thing into an ugly mess instead of a fandom debate, I feel.
But to address Espenson, she specifically said that this episode didn't happen after Children of Earth. (She hedged everything she said, I should add, so take all of this with a grain of salt. It's hard to tell what is her trying to cover up, what is her hedging, what is her actually telling us what RTD intended and what is her just kinda typing up 162 characters and @replying.) So, it seemed likely that it was supposed to happen to Linear Jack, and it was just a massive amount of typical Torchwood plotholes and basic ignoring of continuity. Fine.
But Espenson was answering questions, so we're going to keep asking. And...then she basically says that it happens after Jack meets the Doctor and before Children of Earth.
...
What?
When is this supposed to take place again? Espenson watched all the episodes of Torchwood thus far, but I think she suffers from the same disease I think RTD sometimes suffers from: "Jack has an infinite life to play with" syndrome. They seem to think that Jack lots of this spare time just lying around, and they can pull sorts of Jack tropes out and throw them anywhere and anywhen and it will make perfect sense! Jack has a time travel machine, right? And of course, wherever he goes, he needs to bring his coat and his WWII-era fashion-style, because that's who Jack is!
Well, no, actually, it doesn't work like that.
(Espenson threw around something about "multiple time lines," but that makes no sense. First, the way she uses multiple time lines is the way anyone else would say "alternate universe." But if we are to understand that Miracle Day happens after Season 1, Season 2 and Children of Earth...where did the timeline split? It's not just a little thing. The flaws are big enough that they don't jive with any point in the earlier series'. So, the multiple timeline split had to happen earlier and it would have had to be really big, actually. But ignore that. It sounds like she was grasping at straws at that point.)
Because, Jack only has one timeline which is a linear path for him. Sure, it's confusing when you place it against the normal timeline of the world, but JACK HIMSELF has to progress in a straight line, cause to effect, just like anyone else.
Jack's PERSONAL timeline is actually fairly simple. Here, I'll outline the relevant parts.
But fans are good at this, and I've seen two reasonable theories.
1. The first option is that Jack could have travelled briefly by himself after he got his vortex manipulator back when he was traveling with the Doctor. Now, I'm not so fond of this theory, as Jack has an extremely tiny window of opportunity to play with, if you watch the relevant episodes of Doctor Who. There is the tiny possibility of the Doctor dropping him off in the 1920's and picking him up again, but when I say tiny, I mean extremely unlikely. In the show, it pretty much seems that the Doctor drops Jack off in 21st century Cardiff as soon as their adventures end, and the Doctor disables Jack's vortex manipulator before Jack can do anything major with it. But, as they are time travelers, the possibility does exist, I...suppose.
(As Ianto fans will note, when Jack returned, he immediately asked Ianto out on a date. This both refutes and supports the theory. If Jack was so interested in Ianto, why would he travel away and start a serious relationship with another man? On that same token, Jack might have realized that having a partner like Ianto (who is loyal to a fault) is a wonderful thing, after Angelo betrays him to repeated deaths, and perhaps that was part of what spurred Jack to return to his (loyal) team and Ianto in the 21st Century.)
2. Another suggestion is that during the time we assumed Jack was in a cryogenic chamber (from 1901-2008 in real time, pretty late in Jack's personal timeline above) in the Torchwood vaults, he could have been not-yet-frozen and moving around on Earth, or he was woken up by Torchwood to be sent on this specific mission to America. Again, it solves a few problems as to why Jack would be in America - he has to avoid his Linear Self. And he would have the WWII coat! It's still a somewhat awkward fit, because it seems even less likely that the Torchwood time would trust him with such a serious mission abroad, and they have Linear Jack to employ. And the claim that this is the first time Jack came back for someone sticks out horribly in this theory, because in Jack's personal timeline he JUST came back to his Torchwood team a few months ago.
(Again, the Ianto fans will point out that Jack was in a steady relationship with Ianto at this point, so why would he have started such a Very Serious relationship with Angelo? Well, we don't know if it J/I was a monogamous relationship. If it was monogamous, the fact that Jack jumped into a serious relationship in the past while he was still with Ianto in his own timeline is a little problematic, although one could also argue that Jack was nearly a hundred years in the past and Jack is nothing if not good at compartmentalizing himself emotionally. On top of that, it's possible that Jack and Ianto had an open relationship at that point, so Jack would be more open to another relationship. Fans tend to theorize that Jack and Ianto became closer after the second season, and as this entire adventure would fit into the season finale, this could be another reason for them to get closer after Exit Wounds.)
Espenson is not committing to any answers at this point and has been just posting encouraging responses to any fan who offers one (even when the proposed solution is a little unclear). I wish we could ask RTD what he was thinking, but I feel that after the anger fallout from Children of Earth, RTD unfairly dismisses all less-than-positive fan comments out of hand. Espenson might even be heading in the same direction now -- the mental shut-down, the quick dismissal of fain complains as crazy and radical. Which is unfair, when the show is so clearly ignoring continuity on us.
A note on Word of God (which is basically correctional commentary given by staff after a show has aired). It is not canon. It's not in the show. Sometimes it was something the production team intended to put in that couldn't fit, but in this case it doesn't look like it. Word of God is a supplement to the text, and it is entirely optional. We don't have to accept it, we can disagree with it. Hand someone a set of DVDs, and they never need even know about it. You must keep that in mind. No one can force a Word of God declaration to dictate the terms of canon. The producers and showrunners had a chance to put their stuff in the canon already, and they missed it. Hasty backpedaling does not replace what we can see on our screens. So take it as you want to, ok?
(An amusing side-effect of using the "multiple time line" excuse is that we now have a Word of God confirmation on Torchwood AUs, and a hesitant avocation of one in which Ianto is alive. Word of God, yes, but I'm sure some fans are happier with it, which is fantastic!)
***
Please Note: I enjoyed this episode immensely, despite the problems. I probably wouldn't care this much if I didn't. I welcome commentary and introspection, corrections on my facts, what Espenson has said. I do ask that if you hear anything new from her or any of the Torchwood production staff that you please let me know so I can add it.
But I do not enjoy wank or bashing. You can point out any inconsistencies in the episode or point to elements you feel could have been done better or clearer, and I welcome debate, but you can air your fury and rants in your own blogs. Feel free to link to this if you want to comment on my words specifically. Thanks!
When I saw advertisements for the seventh episode of Miracle Day, and even as I started watching it, I assumed it happened to Linear Jack, as I refer to him. Linear Jack being the Jack after the Doctor abandoned him on Satellite Five and before Everything Changes. Linear Jack had traveled through time and space before, but had only learned of his immortality after he jumped back to the 1800's to find the Doctor. Linear Jack was forcibly recruited to Torchwood, where he worked for over 100 years before he met Gwen. Linear Jack was a flirt. But the only time we ever see Linear Jack after the Doctor and before Torchwood begins is during his section of Fragments. When Linear Jack lives through 1929, he would probably be something like....70/80 years old? His age meeting the Doctor + the amount of years that have passed since he went to the past.
Overall, I think the argument that this episode happens to Linear Jack holds the most weight. It makes sense that he might be sent to fulfill a Torchwood mission in the USA by himself in 1929, as he can't die, and he has an American accent. He also knows the future (we can't assume Torchwood knows that, but they might) so he has a slight advantage in Doing Stuff.
When the episode was advertised, we had no reason to assume that it wasn't Linear Jack. And I spent most of the episode convinced it was Linear Jack. Still could be, if we handwave a few enormous plot holes. It's not like Torchwood hasn't asked us to do this before.
Still, let's take a look at these plot holes and continuity issues, shall we?
First, and most glaringly obvious is the coat. It's clearly supposed to be Jack's WWII-era RAF coat (possibly with slight inaccuracies, but that's on the costuming department, not the continuity ones.) The RAF did exist by 1927, but we have no reason to think that Jack joined them at that point. The RAF barely started during WWI, and it would be far harder to smuggle him in as an experienced airman - there weren't a lot of experienced airmen around. So, if Jack did serve during WWI, odds are he wasn't in the RAF. And even if he was, he wouldn't walk away with a WWII coat. Because it doesn't exit yet.
It couldn't be the coat he wore when he met the Doctor in The Empty Child, because that coat was blown up with his Chula ship. The next time he would be able to get such a coat is when he passed through WWII properly in Linear Time, when we can assume he picks up another coat, or serves the RAF under another name (John Harper, maybe?) or simply replaces himself when his still-mortal-younger-self goes off with the Doctor. But...there is not way for Linear Jack to have that coat yet.
The clothes are a related issue, but while Jack's shirts, trousers and braces aren't quite in line with the era, they aren't impossible to purchase in the way the coat is. He could just be dressing really oddly. (The gun might be a much bigger issue, depending on the make and design, but I don't know from guns, and we only see it for a moment.)
The weirdest part is that we have no evidence that Jack favored any sort of clothing style in particular before he passed through WWII the second (linear!) time as an immortal. When he traveled with the Doctor, Jack dressed to the era he was visiting. When we see Jack in Fragments, he was wearing clothes that belonged in the late-1800s! We don't even know why Jack chose to stick with WWII-era clothes after the war was long over. Now, we can assume a variety of reasons -- Jack was waiting for the Doctor in the clothes the Doctor knew him by, Jack was more comfortable (psychologically) in those clothes, he thought he looked better...I don't know. But, it seems most likely that Jack picked up the aesthetic during WWII, not beforehand. And the psychological attachment he has to the coat also makes no sense in the context -- Jack is the coat because he's had it for so long, or possibly one of the reasons above. But...otherwise the attachment makes little sense. So the clothes, the coat especially, don't belong in the episode at all. It is the most obvious, noticeable error.
The next issue, and the one many fans have pointed out, is the fact that Jack refers to himself as a "fixed point." The first time Jack is called a fixed point is after Season One of Torchwood, by the Doctor. Linear Jack hadn't seen the Doctor since Satellite Five, and we have no reason to think that he might have invented that phrase by himself. It's a very specific phrasing, and Jack was upset by that title. It's unnatural, unusual, and has no obvious relation to his immortality, so there is no reason to assume that Jack would think it up. Then again, maybe his vortex manipulator registered Jack as an anomaly? It's a small enough issue that we can work to forgive them for a continuity errors, but it's glaring enough to be immediately noticeable by every single fan.
Another issue is the fact that Jack told the priest he hadn't confessed in 700 years. If you don't count the time Jack spent buried under Cardiff, Jack isn't 700 years old yet. And Linear Jack was faaaar younger than that in 1927. Probably wasn't even a century old. It's another glaring error, but this one shows a certain amount of laziness instead of just inattention to details. But again, it's a throwaway line. And maybe Jack is joking, "Oh, it's been aaages since I confessed, you have no idea!" Plus, he's immortal. One imagines he copes by making some jokes like that.
But...it's this moment, on top of the other two, that really pushes the theory away from Linear Jack. 700 years? Could this be...Jack after Children of Earth, but before Miracle Day? It's the only large amount of unaccounted time in Jack's life after he turns immortal. Hold that thought while I explore the last issue, which wasn't a simple misplaced line.
When Jack gets to Ellis Island, he says that his visa was arranged so that he would travel via Rome, and his passport was faked. He does explain that he is working for one branch of the government in conflict with another one, but you would think an international Torchwood mission would have the clout to issue a passport and obtain a visa! The monarch had more influence in 1927, on top of which you might think Torchwood London (the professional branch) would be in charge of an international mission.
And, while I mention a few reasons at the beginning of this post as to why Jack might the one chosen for an international mission, it's still a little bit odd. In 1899, Jack was being tortured and blackmailed into submission by the Torchwood Institute. I can't imagine them handing him an important international mission 28 years later. Jack is an anomaly, that is what Torchwood is dedicated to hunting. Would they really trust him on his own?
But maybe he heard about this, and knowing how important Roosevelt was to the timeline but not wanting to share his knowledge of the future with Torchwood, he ran away to do it. That is a good possibility actually, although you would think that Jack would avoid mentioning Torchwood to Angelo in that scenario.
And it seems, once again, that it makes the most sense for the Jack of this story to be post-COE. Jack has left Earth, travelled around for a few hundred years, and for whatever reason (perhaps he heard about the plot against Roosevelt, perhaps he had a craving for ) he ends up back on Earth in 1927. Knowing he can't bump into himself, he ends up in Rome and then America, avoiding the British colonies. It explains why he came via Rome, it explains why his paperwork was forged, it explains why he was maybe a little more careful with his sexuality. (It explains why he's attracted to men that lie on him after a rough tumble. *cough*)
The only thing that flies directly in the face of that theory is Jack saying that Angelo is the first person he's ever come back for. He said he specifically came back for Torchwood team in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. But if he is over 700 years old, maybe he hasn't come back for anyone in a long, long time. The state of mind he was in after Children of Earth, I wouldn't be surprised if he avoided forming any lasting attachments for a few hundred years. And if you want, you can say that he hasn't had a meaningful relationship since Ianto, meaning it's been a REALLY LONG TIME. And then after 1927, Jack goes back to traveling until he eventually feels guilty about Gwen and swings back by Earth in time to catch Miracle Day.
(Aside: The one major remaining continuity issue is that the Empire State Building, which is prominently displayed toward the end of the episode, was not built by 1928. That is just a basic failure to google and has to do with actual history as opposed to Whoniverse continuity. So this cannot be explained no matter how you bend Jack's personal timeline, and is thus largely irrelevant to my discussion.)
So, maybe it's supposed to take place after Children of Earth! For a few minutes, I was convinced that it was going to be the hidden answer, that it was going to be confirmed in a later episode. That, or it was a lot of very messy, idiotic continuity errors. I could go either way. We could have fandom ice-cream parties where we debate it out!
BUT THEN ESPENSON STUCK A FORK IN THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL.
It's nice, that we have a way to connect to the Torchwood production team in a way we couldn't before. It used to be we would have to wait for interviews or conventions to ask about these sorts of glaring errors, and we don't have that anymore. But I almost wish we did, because it would have given fandom time to sort ourselves out and ask the questions in an intelligent way, and it would have given them some time to maybe figure out a response. It would also mean fans wouldn't come off as too attacking, and Espenson wouldn't have to be so defensive. And we wouldn't have to play nice when their answers were silly, we could just give them a collective "that makes no sense."
Instead, it appears that fandom has one or two crazies attacking Espenson, while the rest are heaping on praise and love and telling her to ignore the crazies. I happen to really like Espenson overall, and I did enjoy this episode, so it's on the these issues that are making this thing into an ugly mess instead of a fandom debate, I feel.
But to address Espenson, she specifically said that this episode didn't happen after Children of Earth. (She hedged everything she said, I should add, so take all of this with a grain of salt. It's hard to tell what is her trying to cover up, what is her hedging, what is her actually telling us what RTD intended and what is her just kinda typing up 162 characters and @replying.) So, it seemed likely that it was supposed to happen to Linear Jack, and it was just a massive amount of typical Torchwood plotholes and basic ignoring of continuity. Fine.
But Espenson was answering questions, so we're going to keep asking. And...then she basically says that it happens after Jack meets the Doctor and before Children of Earth.
...
What?
When is this supposed to take place again? Espenson watched all the episodes of Torchwood thus far, but I think she suffers from the same disease I think RTD sometimes suffers from: "Jack has an infinite life to play with" syndrome. They seem to think that Jack lots of this spare time just lying around, and they can pull sorts of Jack tropes out and throw them anywhere and anywhen and it will make perfect sense! Jack has a time travel machine, right? And of course, wherever he goes, he needs to bring his coat and his WWII-era fashion-style, because that's who Jack is!
Well, no, actually, it doesn't work like that.
(Espenson threw around something about "multiple time lines," but that makes no sense. First, the way she uses multiple time lines is the way anyone else would say "alternate universe." But if we are to understand that Miracle Day happens after Season 1, Season 2 and Children of Earth...where did the timeline split? It's not just a little thing. The flaws are big enough that they don't jive with any point in the earlier series'. So, the multiple timeline split had to happen earlier and it would have had to be really big, actually. But ignore that. It sounds like she was grasping at straws at that point.)
Because, Jack only has one timeline which is a linear path for him. Sure, it's confusing when you place it against the normal timeline of the world, but JACK HIMSELF has to progress in a straight line, cause to effect, just like anyone else.
Jack's PERSONAL timeline is actually fairly simple. Here, I'll outline the relevant parts.
- Jack becomes immortal in the future, because of the Doctor.
- Jack travels back to 1869 to look for the Doctor.
- In 1899 Jack is recruited by Torchwood.
- In 1939, Great Britain joins WWII.
- In 2008, Jack travels to the future and back with the Doctor.
- Later in 2008, Jack is brought back in time and buried in 27 AD.
- In 1901, Jack is dug up by Torchwood.
- In 2008, Jack comes out of the cryogenic chamber in the same day he was taken to the past.
- In 2009, Jack travels with the Doctor briefly, but not through time.
- After Children of Earth, (2009) Jack leaves Earth with his vortex manipulator somewhat repaired.
- Jack returns to Earth after an unknown amount of time, Miracle Day begins.
His vortex manipulator (time travel machine) broke. He is now traveling through linear time.
It is easy to assume that this is when Jack adopts the coat-and-braces clothing style.
His vortex manipulator is quickly repaired, then rebroken.
Torchwood freezes Jack into a cryogenic chamber.
But fans are good at this, and I've seen two reasonable theories.
1. The first option is that Jack could have travelled briefly by himself after he got his vortex manipulator back when he was traveling with the Doctor. Now, I'm not so fond of this theory, as Jack has an extremely tiny window of opportunity to play with, if you watch the relevant episodes of Doctor Who. There is the tiny possibility of the Doctor dropping him off in the 1920's and picking him up again, but when I say tiny, I mean extremely unlikely. In the show, it pretty much seems that the Doctor drops Jack off in 21st century Cardiff as soon as their adventures end, and the Doctor disables Jack's vortex manipulator before Jack can do anything major with it. But, as they are time travelers, the possibility does exist, I...suppose.
(As Ianto fans will note, when Jack returned, he immediately asked Ianto out on a date. This both refutes and supports the theory. If Jack was so interested in Ianto, why would he travel away and start a serious relationship with another man? On that same token, Jack might have realized that having a partner like Ianto (who is loyal to a fault) is a wonderful thing, after Angelo betrays him to repeated deaths, and perhaps that was part of what spurred Jack to return to his (loyal) team and Ianto in the 21st Century.)
2. Another suggestion is that during the time we assumed Jack was in a cryogenic chamber (from 1901-2008 in real time, pretty late in Jack's personal timeline above) in the Torchwood vaults, he could have been not-yet-frozen and moving around on Earth, or he was woken up by Torchwood to be sent on this specific mission to America. Again, it solves a few problems as to why Jack would be in America - he has to avoid his Linear Self. And he would have the WWII coat! It's still a somewhat awkward fit, because it seems even less likely that the Torchwood time would trust him with such a serious mission abroad, and they have Linear Jack to employ. And the claim that this is the first time Jack came back for someone sticks out horribly in this theory, because in Jack's personal timeline he JUST came back to his Torchwood team a few months ago.
(Again, the Ianto fans will point out that Jack was in a steady relationship with Ianto at this point, so why would he have started such a Very Serious relationship with Angelo? Well, we don't know if it J/I was a monogamous relationship. If it was monogamous, the fact that Jack jumped into a serious relationship in the past while he was still with Ianto in his own timeline is a little problematic, although one could also argue that Jack was nearly a hundred years in the past and Jack is nothing if not good at compartmentalizing himself emotionally. On top of that, it's possible that Jack and Ianto had an open relationship at that point, so Jack would be more open to another relationship. Fans tend to theorize that Jack and Ianto became closer after the second season, and as this entire adventure would fit into the season finale, this could be another reason for them to get closer after Exit Wounds.)
Espenson is not committing to any answers at this point and has been just posting encouraging responses to any fan who offers one (even when the proposed solution is a little unclear). I wish we could ask RTD what he was thinking, but I feel that after the anger fallout from Children of Earth, RTD unfairly dismisses all less-than-positive fan comments out of hand. Espenson might even be heading in the same direction now -- the mental shut-down, the quick dismissal of fain complains as crazy and radical. Which is unfair, when the show is so clearly ignoring continuity on us.
A note on Word of God (which is basically correctional commentary given by staff after a show has aired). It is not canon. It's not in the show. Sometimes it was something the production team intended to put in that couldn't fit, but in this case it doesn't look like it. Word of God is a supplement to the text, and it is entirely optional. We don't have to accept it, we can disagree with it. Hand someone a set of DVDs, and they never need even know about it. You must keep that in mind. No one can force a Word of God declaration to dictate the terms of canon. The producers and showrunners had a chance to put their stuff in the canon already, and they missed it. Hasty backpedaling does not replace what we can see on our screens. So take it as you want to, ok?
(An amusing side-effect of using the "multiple time line" excuse is that we now have a Word of God confirmation on Torchwood AUs, and a hesitant avocation of one in which Ianto is alive. Word of God, yes, but I'm sure some fans are happier with it, which is fantastic!)
***
Please Note: I enjoyed this episode immensely, despite the problems. I probably wouldn't care this much if I didn't. I welcome commentary and introspection, corrections on my facts, what Espenson has said. I do ask that if you hear anything new from her or any of the Torchwood production staff that you please let me know so I can add it.
But I do not enjoy wank or bashing. You can point out any inconsistencies in the episode or point to elements you feel could have been done better or clearer, and I welcome debate, but you can air your fury and rants in your own blogs. Feel free to link to this if you want to comment on my words specifically. Thanks!
