I came by this review by accident and was struck by one particular point so strongly that I had to respond to it. You liken Jack and Gwen to close siblings struggling to deal with the knowledge that they are not the most important people in each other's lives any longer. I did see that dynamic as I watched their scenes but the relationship reflected back at me was between my mother-in-law and my husband of 22 years.
When he first brought me to meet his parents, his mom, while very gracious the whole time, could not quite hide her distress over my presence. I was the only woman he had ever let them meet and that told her we were serious enough to probably get married. And when we did, she was the one who cried, not my mother. Throughout the first decade of marriage, I honestly felt she was in competition with me for his attention and affection and there were times she let her displeasure be known at not being the most important female in his life any longer. She would leave us or her smile would lessen whenever we overtly showed our affection for each other. And she very often usurped my place with certain gestures designed to pull his attention back to her. But I rarely resented her because I knew she was not aware of how she was behaving. That it was difficult for her to let go and would need time to adjust to the change in her relationship with her favorite son. She eventually did and I simply adore her.
I saw the same dynamic between Jack and Gwen and found myself shaking my head at the similarity between their situation and my husband's with his mom. And, yes, Ianto looked very much like a lover who was not about to let himself get caught in the crossfire of a familial fray. The expression of relief on his face when it was over was priceless.
I think your assessment of all the other relationships were dead on. I've gone back and read your other reviews and find them extremely intelligent, insightful and wonderfully literate. You understand the way people's minds work and perceive the deeper nuances of the subtler scenes and that's something needed when viewing a series like TW. It relies quite a bit on the dictum "show, don't tell". There aren't that many anvils dropped on viewers' heads; viewers are apparently assumed to be intelligent and perceptive enough to draw the right/logical conclusions from the clues most episodes are quite liberally laced with.
I enjoyed reading each and every one of your reviews/essays and look forward to seeing what you glean from future episodes. Thank you for such succinct, provocative pieces. And my apologies for this rather lengthy response.
no subject
When he first brought me to meet his parents, his mom, while very gracious the whole time, could not quite hide her distress over my presence. I was the only woman he had ever let them meet and that told her we were serious enough to probably get married. And when we did, she was the one who cried, not my mother. Throughout the first decade of marriage, I honestly felt she was in competition with me for his attention and affection and there were times she let her displeasure be known at not being the most important female in his life any longer. She would leave us or her smile would lessen whenever we overtly showed our affection for each other. And she very often usurped my place with certain gestures designed to pull his attention back to her. But I rarely resented her because I knew she was not aware of how she was behaving. That it was difficult for her to let go and would need time to adjust to the change in her relationship with her favorite son. She eventually did and I simply adore her.
I saw the same dynamic between Jack and Gwen and found myself shaking my head at the similarity between their situation and my husband's with his mom. And, yes, Ianto looked very much like a lover who was not about to let himself get caught in the crossfire of a familial fray. The expression of relief on his face when it was over was priceless.
I think your assessment of all the other relationships were dead on. I've gone back and read your other reviews and find them extremely intelligent, insightful and wonderfully literate. You understand the way people's minds work and perceive the deeper nuances of the subtler scenes and that's something needed when viewing a series like TW. It relies quite a bit on the dictum "show, don't tell". There aren't that many anvils dropped on viewers' heads; viewers are apparently assumed to be intelligent and perceptive enough to draw the right/logical conclusions from the clues most episodes are quite liberally laced with.
I enjoyed reading each and every one of your reviews/essays and look forward to seeing what you glean from future episodes. Thank you for such succinct, provocative pieces. And my apologies for this rather lengthy response.
Eressë