Yes, Ghost!Owen haunting Jack was my idea. One day I'm going to write that story, I swear. :)
I blame him more for killing Steven than most of fandom seems to. Yes, he was in a difficult position, but it was partly his fault that he was in the situation in the first place.
I think most of fandom is too busy with the "Ianto dies!" part to take in anything else about Children of Earth, including the main themes and the big climax, if you want my cynical opinion. Mind you, I do remember at the time, after Day 3 revealed Jack had been the man handing over the children in the 60s, that this was an unforgivable retcon changing his character, and thought, um, did we all forget that season 1 episode where he hands over a child to the (definitely not nice and fluffy) fairies? He doesn't do that kind of thing all the time, obviously, whereas he tries to save people on a regular basis. But he does do that, there was precedent.
One of the aspects of CoE to me was that Frobisher in the present was in a way Jack in the 60s. Once you are ready to sacrifice people to save a larger number, at which number do you draw the line? A bus full of children is a necessary sacrifice, but one tenth of the world's population is unthinkable? (Someone stop me before I sound like Jean-Luc Picard in one of the more mediocre TNG outings, Insurrection.) And of course neither Jack (in the 60s) nor Frobisher in the present were the original decision makers, they were following orders, but they chose to follow them. So of course the story eventually had to turn on them, and it were Frobisher's children asked for, and Steven as the only child available. That Frobisher killing his children and himself was a despairing nihilistic act whereas Jack killing Steven saved the world was a big difference - the biggest - , yes, but it doesn't take away the magnitude of what Jack does.
Miracle Day was a bit of a mess, but I thought the follow-up it gave Jack on this in his scene with Oswald the murderous pedophile, when Jack says that if you've killed a child, you can never forgive yourself, was good.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2014-04-14 05:55 am (UTC)I blame him more for killing Steven than most of fandom seems to. Yes, he was in a difficult position, but it was partly his fault that he was in the situation in the first place.
I think most of fandom is too busy with the "Ianto dies!" part to take in anything else about Children of Earth, including the main themes and the big climax, if you want my cynical opinion. Mind you, I do remember at the time, after Day 3 revealed Jack had been the man handing over the children in the 60s, that this was an unforgivable retcon changing his character, and thought, um, did we all forget that season 1 episode where he hands over a child to the (definitely not nice and fluffy) fairies? He doesn't do that kind of thing all the time, obviously, whereas he tries to save people on a regular basis. But he does do that, there was precedent.
One of the aspects of CoE to me was that Frobisher in the present was in a way Jack in the 60s. Once you are ready to sacrifice people to save a larger number, at which number do you draw the line? A bus full of children is a necessary sacrifice, but one tenth of the world's population is unthinkable? (Someone stop me before I sound like Jean-Luc Picard in one of the more mediocre TNG outings, Insurrection.) And of course neither Jack (in the 60s) nor Frobisher in the present were the original decision makers, they were following orders, but they chose to follow them. So of course the story eventually had to turn on them, and it were Frobisher's children asked for, and Steven as the only child available. That Frobisher killing his children and himself was a despairing nihilistic act whereas Jack killing Steven saved the world was a big difference - the biggest - , yes, but it doesn't take away the magnitude of what Jack does.
Miracle Day was a bit of a mess, but I thought the follow-up it gave Jack on this in his scene with Oswald the murderous pedophile, when Jack says that if you've killed a child, you can never forgive yourself, was good.