As part of my ongoing effort to come to terms with
Children of Earth I’ve been contributing to
TV Tropes. ’Ware spoilers under the cuts.
From the page for the
Heroic Blue Screen of Death:
In Torchwood: Children of Earth, Captain Jack Harkness shuts down twice. The first time is after his defiance of the monster of the week, the 456, results in the release of a virus that kills everyone in the building, including Jack’s lover Ianto Jones. Later, he goes AWOL from England, and ultimately Earth, after he kills his grandson in order to save the millions of children who would otherwise have been taken by the 456.
From the page for the
Tear Jerker:
...The moment when Jack realizes the consequences of the 456's response to his ultimatium and blurts, "I take it back!"
...[Frobisher’s choice to kill his family and himself is] Made even worse in retrospect by the fact that the 456 are stopped. Frobisher killed them all for nothing.
...The climax: Jack destroys the 456 by killing his own grandson.
I also wrote something about the major event of Day One for the page titled “
It Just Bugs Me”, which is about moments of
Fridge Logic, but I think it deserves a separate LJ entry because it may generate some discussion.
Also, as noted under "Unfortunate Implications", Children of Earth seemed to suffer from a bad case of "Bury Your Gays" syndrome. *spits at the show writers*
The combination of Children of Earth and TV Tropes made my mind immediately jump to Ianto, whose death, to me, seemed kind of fridge-esque. He's usually a clever, kick-ass character, but since he's Jack's love interest, he's got to die so that Jack can have man!pain. I felt that he was killed just to show how Jack's immortal life is shitty and 456 is EEEEVIL.
But, well, he wouldn't really qualify for Women in Refrigerators/Stuffed into the Fridge because his death wasn't gruesome, it was just stupid. And Jack died, too.