I don't know... I get the sense that the Doctor is the great unrequited love of Jack's life, and he ended up involved in an affair with Ianto, so the gay end of the spectrum is getting more screentime. But I could have easily seen them choosing to develop something between Jack and Gwen instead (which actually seems to have been the way they intended to go before the decision to keep Rhys alive and the popularity of the Jack/Ianto pairing moved things onto the current track). I do kind of wish they'd made the love/hate character from his past Captain Jane Hart and cast someone like Suzi Plakson instead, for better gender parity and less point-by-point similarity to Angel.

It's actually a little problem I have with Captain Jack. He's supposed to be omni/bisexual, but he only shows overt attraction to men (Gwen notwithstanding).

But, but, but...Rose! Martha! (Having just rewatched that whole Jack-meets-Martha episode, with all the bonding about their shared Doctor UST and vague Rose-resentment, I sort of want to hug the both of them.) The blue chick (Chan Tho?) who was The Master's loyal sidekick! And he's mad into Gwen (and pretty clearly would have been all over the notion of a Gwen/Jack/Ianto sandwich, when she walked in on him shagging Ianto that time), and as pointed out there was Fairy!Lady too, bless her, and Rhys's secretary...

Sorry, I don't mean to pile on. I agree that there have v. likely been more references to ex boyfriends/evidence of Jack falling hard for blokes (John, The Doctor, Ianto) than for women.

But why the bitterness, love? He's pretty much 'Yay, people! With sex drives! Yay!' (...I mean, Vortex, you're totally in there, love! Er. You know, once you've figured out how to step through the screen into his reality, that is. And assuming you're not being attacked by anything monstrous and armed at that point. Er. Which can't have been the point you were making, but somehow I seem to have wandered offtopic and now to be writing RPS Vortex/Cap'n Jack in my reply...er. I blame your cleavage. It can distract a person.)

eta

I get the sense that the Doctor is the great unrequited love of Jack's life

Yes, indeed - and I have to say, rewatching that Jack-finds-The-Doctor episode in Season 3 really made me want to smack the Doctor over the head. He saw Jack coming, and he still legged it. And was quite unapologetic about it when he saw Jack sprawled 'dead' (even assuming he somehow knew about the whole deathproof thing). I mean, really - WTF? 'Oh noes, a hot bloke who adores me [and my Rosie] and who cannot die? The possibility for a friend and/or lover who WON'T leave me all alone? A possible end to my endless emo manpain? I must flee! Flee like a fleeing thing that fleetly flees!'

Between that, and The Doctor's slightly proud "she fancied me" acknowledgement about Martha at the start of Season 4, I did sort of want to smack him over the head. Quite a lot.

The Doctor: not relationship material, boys and girls. Really. His baggage has baggage, and he likes it that way.

He and The Master so should have ended up together. (...only, without the whole Dobby Jesus shtick.)

...later.

So where do we discuss Numb3rs again? Is it here? I forget. I wandered over to the Procedurals Thread, but couldn't find anything there. Hmm.

Numb3rs would be Procedurals, yes.

He saw Jack coming, and he still legged it. And was quite unapologetic about it when he saw Jack sprawled 'dead' (even assuming he somehow knew about the whole deathproof thing).

I was under the assumption that the Doctor took off because Jack came back wrong, and he felt he might have to do something about it. The Tardis thought Jack wrong enough to go to the end of civilisaton to try and shake him off.

I was under the assumption that the Doctor took off because Jack came back wrong, and he felt he might have to do something about it. The Tardis thought Jack wrong enough to go to the end of civilisaton to try and shake him off.

Well, consider the source of that- the Doctor in conversation with Jack. I thought he was sort of jerkily blaming Jack and having some of the Issues that Fay mentioned upthread.

'Cause, yeah, the Doctor said it was all Jack's fault, but was it?

I'm agreeing that the Doctor fleeing was more about how broken Jack is/was than his own ample "must not bond" issues.

Remember the whole "you are an unnatural thing of immortal unnaturalness covered in unnatural sauce"? I think that was legitimate squick.

But why the bitterness, love? He's pretty much 'Yay, people! With sex drives! Yay!' (...I mean, Vortex, you're totally in there, love! Er. You know, once you've figured out how to step through the screen into his reality, that is. And assuming you're not being attacked by anything monstrous and armed at that point. Er. Which can't have been the point you were making, but somehow I seem to have wandered offtopic and now to be writing RPS Vortex/Cap'n Jack in my reply...er. I blame your cleavage. It can distract a person.)

See, this is why I love Fay

I think (no, I know) that I expressed myself badly. When Jack sees an attractive man, he's immediately all "Let's get it on!" when he meets women, he flirts, but doesn't seem to try to be getting them into bed immediately. And I'm bitter because I'M NOT THERE.

You know, one little thing that bugged me a bit about Jack is that he *wasn't* flirting with Donna. She's awesome and ginger! Don't make her do all the work!

And I'm bitter because I'M NOT THERE.

Word. ::sigh::

I'm having trouble appreciating the new doctor, ie the whole new series from Nine onwards. There's too much soap opera, not enough adventure. I really don't give a damn about Rose's un/requited love (I really don't give a damn about Rose, for that matter, she whines a lot)

I'm getting my Doctor Who on PBS, so I'm a couple of seasons behind everything else. I'm glad they're showing the companions as being more important to him than they seem to have been in the past, but I have trouble with a pining Doctor.