*** SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET ***
I was wondering how Starz would deal with Captain Jack Harkness’ sexuality since his character in the BBC productions of Doctor Who and Torchwood have always been bisexual but definitely leaning more towards gay. In last week’s episode they worked it into the episode by having him casually mention a former boyfriend which looked a little like cover for a couple jokes made at the expense of a flight attendant being gay. A little cheap I thought for a US coproduction but not out of line for the general tone of the series. The shots fired weren’t hugely offensive and were par for the course with the characters from the previous seasons but the new American character who started the joke made me cringe just a little.
Last night’s episode they definitely dove in head first with Captain Jack and had him head off to bar to hook up. The whole thing was treated with the same matter of fact way that the previous seasons of Torchwood dealt with it but there was one thing that left me a bit mixed. As Jack is getting hot and heavy with his trick, he asks the trick if he’s got protection. The trick dismisses the idea now that all humans are immortal. Jack insists and gives him a mini lecture about just because people can’t die, the need for protection is still valid since it would just prolong the misery if disease (obviously in this case HIV) was spread.
This I think is a great point for the show to make however it would have had more impact if Captain Jack wasn’t the only mortal person left in the world. Instead it came across as more self serving for his character and made the point a little hollow to me. He makes a good point but it’s weakened by his own mortality and his self interest lowers the impact of the statement. It begs the question, if he were still immortal would he have brought it up at all? When he was immortal and all other people mortal would he still have the same stance? Previous seasons and appearances never touched on the subject.
Bottom line though, I don’t think the point is completely lost and I think even with the circumstances, it makes a good example of watching out for one’s own self interest in the heat of the moment and always using protection, immortal or not.