S02.E10: From Out of the Rain

[itsmeyousee]

Same here. I think we may have had the most discussion so far about this episode. Go figure. LOL

I'm surprised we are still discussing this one as well LOL

 

 

I must not be remembering some things...what did he do exactly like them? He caught the flask, held his hand over the top until Gwen put the cap back on, and held the flask up to his ear to see if they managed to save anyone's breath.

The Night Travellers hold the flask right up to the ears to hear their victims speaking to them and that's exactly what Ianto did and said someone was calling out to him. It's the victims last breathe if Ianto isn't connected how is he hearing someone calling out to him ? 

 

 

 

When the Night Travellers first start appearing on the film Jack hears the funny music that no-one else (well Tosh) can apparently can hear and then at the end when the film is briefly exposed he hears it again. The music seems to be connected to the Night Travellers and for some reason Jack can hear it.  In fact Jack is mostly the one who is shown affected/reacting by the victims, not really Ianto. When Owen gives his diagnosis it's to Jack. Even in the infamous flask scene the focus quickly shifts back to Jack. It even ends with Jack hearing the creepy music again. I think the episode does a better, albeit kind of lame, job of suggesting a link between Jack and the Night Travellers than it ever does with Ianto to be honest.

 

 

Yes the music is connected but how ? Jack knows of the Night Travellers , but never found them. So hearing what's happening again, would be concerning especially for Jack. But there isn't any suggestion that Jack is connected to them, if he was why couldn't he find them before. At least with Ianto it's mentioned that he was touched by them, that's a lot more than Jack to me.

[indeed]

It's the victims last breathe if Ianto isn't connected how is he hearing someone calling out to him ?

Because as Swansong suggested, it's a magical flask? We're dealing with people walking out of film who could steal breaths in the first place. Obviously, the flask is special. If Gwen had put it up to her ear, there's no reason to believe she wouldn't have heard they were calling out to her, too. I just don't think that action means Ianto's some kind of honorary Traveler. If that was an intentional implication of the script that only Ianto could have heard the last breaths because he was "touched" rather than he could hear sounds coming from the flask because he has ears then as I said at the start, the script could have used a rewrite or three IMO. I don't need everything spelled out for me, but until I rewatch it, I'm employing Occam's razor on this one...

I guess we'll just agree to disagree for now.

At least with Ianto it's mentioned that he was touched by them, that's a lot more than Jack to me.

Ianto didn't come running back into Jack's office asking if he heard that, too, or he didn't remain in the scene for him and Jack to exchange looks over the snippet of sound. Which would suggest Ianto didn't hear it, only Jack did. How could that not make Jack special even if no one said he was? We witnessed twice Jack only hearing the music. Yes, he's an immortal time traveler from the 51st century so maybe his hearing just naturally picks up on weird things like that, but it's more likely just a little touch added to the script to make it more eerie. Edited October 22, 2014 by indeed

[Swansong]

 

I don't need everything spelled out for me, but until I rewatch it, I'm employing Occam's razor on this one...

Lol! The thing is they do have to spell it out for us (if that's what they're even going for, they might not be) by having Christine 'tell' us because there's no way we'd know otherwise that Ianto had supposedly developed some supernatural connection to the Night Travellers and developed some of their powers because they never give us any indication that's supposedly happening. And even then it's not really clear what she means by touched. She could just be referring to being touched in the literal sense of them brushing past him and nothing deeper than that. At least with Jack's random music we're shown he's the only one who hears it and we're shown a correlation between the music and the Night Travellers being exposed. We're never told he's connected in some way to the Night Travellers, but we can infer it.

 

And as Indeed says. We can assume the flask is magical because it can literally hold people's breaths while their bodies are held in stasis elsewhere and they're only kept alive as long as their breaths stay in the bottle. From what we're given I have no trouble buying that, kind of like if you hold a shell up to your ear you can supposedly hear the ocean,  if you hold the flask up to your ear you can hear the breaths in a similar way. I'm guessing that's where the writer got the idea from in the first place especially since at one point creepy guy is holding the flask and you hear what sounds like the ocean and they are supposed to be connected to the water in some way. At least the woman is.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Swansong

[itsmeyousee]

. I just don't think that action means Ianto's some kind of honorary Traveler.

The connection convo started Indeed because Swansong believes ianto being emotional about the case is out of character for him. But i don't, one i think you see the most emotion from Ianto as a person, he just tends to distance himself personally from the cases unlike Gwen who puts her personal sense right into the cases.

 

But in this case Ianto couldn't as it went on he became more and more sucked in. And i think the "touching" made him connected in some way. Magic voodoo , bad writing LOL who knows. But he mentions the touching, Christine mentions it, he is hearing the same thing as the Travellers in the same way. The way he walks out of Jack's office, he doesn't want to think about this again, it's taken some sort of toll. It all just combines for me, it doesn't have to combine for anyone else. I get i'm out on my own with this theory which is okay to me LOL. I just think there are too many things to say something connected him

 

But i don't think Ianto is a Traveller or is magical or special or whatever , just there was a reason behind his feelings coming to the forefront in this case. When normally he would keep them in check.

 

 

As for Jack and the music, why didn't that help him in the past ? He never found them before, if he is connected to them how and when did that happen ?  I think two things and nothing in between during the ep doesn't make Jack more connected than anyone else. There isn't anything else to go with it, if anything his history showing he never found them would indicate the other way round.

[indeed]

That's my point. There is no reason for Jack to be connected; him hearing the music only gives him something to do in the story and it serves as eerie bookends. However, I think there is more "evidence" there than with Ianto. Just because Ianto heard what the Travelers did doesn't mean any more than they all have the ability to hear. If Ianto was supposed to have some special powers, than the writer should've done a better job conveying that IMO.

As for Ianto coming across more emotional than usual on a case, I tend to see it the way Swansong suggested earlier:

The most obvious reason to me is that the case matters to him and he gets invested in it and consequently gets invested in saving the victims. He initially goes to the cinema because he's curious about possible rift activity and because of a personal connection to the theatre. Then ends up getting to learn something more about Jack, which I imagine would also appeal to Ianto. Then there's the spooky, supernatural 'getting touched' by the villains aspect. So I can imagine almost getting to save the victims only to not would make someone emotional.

Edited October 23, 2014 by indeed