Ianto, Jack, and 'The Dead Line'

I cried like an idiot and then listened to it again and... cried again :)

It was a great speech and Gareth did a terrific job with it. I think it was heartbreaking and I loved Jack's acknowledging it in the last line.

The Dead Line was my favorite radio play, I could easily see this as a TV episode, a nice one. Aside from Ianto being adorable with that speech, he also saves the day when Gwen and Rhys (both were very funny and lovely) bring back the hard facts/evidence. I loved that he was the one who solved the problem. I liked the neurologist too, nice character, nicely played.

I will shut up before I let slip spoilers for CoE or anything.

And I don't cry so easily.  Also, from reading fan posts, I already knew that there was a big speech from Ianto in The Dead Line.  I was a bit worried that it wouldn't live up to my expectations, or that it would be overdone.  However, I thought it was well-written.

Kudos to Gareth David-Lloyd for that restrained, yet stunning performance.   

I heard it at work and I didn´t cry cause it would have looked strange, me, sitting at my desk, sniffing like a five year old girl, but it broke my heart. And Jack telling him about the blip in time thing, it broke my heart all over again. I´ve always been a strong Janto supporter, and this really made my day.

I honestly didn't cry, I just felt sad and fuzzy inside all at the same time. I was really happy they had him say all that, because just the night before listening I had been thinking about how Jack's immortality was a fundamental problem in their relationship. Inevitably, whatever happens between them is going to end tragically for one of them, so a part of me wants to see poor Ianto pull a Stella and get out while he's ahead. But we all know he has attachment issues. Maybe he'll turn out to be a time lord like Gareth wants. That would be fantastic for his relationship with Jack... until Jack got bored or felt trapped, that is!

"To make a bad day worse, spend it wishing for the impossible." - Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes

Gareth David-Lloyd is the fucking man! Ianto's monologue was the best i've heard since Ted's(Scott Lowell)"God Loves Us All" speech on "Queer As Folk''s first season.

Just perfect.

So nice to see that Torchwood is slashier than anything, even in audio plays!

Rather humorously, when Jack said his line about how Ianto would never be a "blip in time" to him, the graphic visualizer Windows Media Player produced a pink triangle onscreen. Admittedly that kept me from getting misty-eyed, because I started laughing hysterically. I wonder if Microsoft put an M/M romance detector in there!

I have to admit, I was a little anxious about listening to this play after reading these comments.  I have a pretty different view of the ship than most in these parts, and I was afraid that what other AE fans loved would leave me cold.  Imagine my surprise, then, that the speech everyone was raving about actually involved Ianto sharing almost exactly my view of their relationship!

I am sated.

i wonder if this will be in the actual show...anyone know??

I never thought I'd see the Janto relationship emphasised quite so strongly in an actual episode (even if this was just a radio play). I thought I'd have to rely on fan fiction for that. But oh how wrong I was. This was by far the best moment of the whole play - all three plays, in fact. I do love my Janto, and it's great to see that the writers (or at least Phil Ford) do too.

I never thought I'd see the Janto relationship emphasised quite so strongly in an actual episode

 yeah...me neither. i thought that gdl knocked that speech out of the park, though. could have easily been schmoopy and over the top but ended up being painful and very, very real. i just worry what that means for the fate of poor ianto. this whole relationship development seems to almost come out of nowhere--all we've really had thusfar has been some hot and heavy snoggage and flirting, but no discussion of a relationship up until this point, which makes me fear for the fate of my favorite teaboy. not that i have that many teaboys in my life. just the one, really.

I thought Gareth did an incredible job. This episode was the best of the 3 (Ayslum being a not so close 2nd). While it wasn't quite the Janto story I was expecting that speech was enough. :)

Ok, one problem I had with Jack & Ianto & it's at the end:
I think they should have made it clear if Ianto was within ear-shot of Jack's final line.
IF he was, then Jack was letting him know that Ianto was heard - this episode's equivilant of Ianto's diary.
BUT Ianto's speech included a "don't talk about it" deal. So if Ianto wasn't  able to hear it (maybe he was packing up?) then Jack was keeping the deal...

Anyone else had a problem with that bit? thoughts?

my take: Ianto wasn't in the room. just seems like Jack would respect the "don't talk" request

p.s. 45 minutes is much too short for these audio plays.

I listened to it while driving (four times). I love it, the scenes between Jack and Ianto are very touching and tender. If only the other audioplays and books were more like this! 

As to whether Ianto heard Jack's words or not: I like to think that he did and I'm convinced Jack meant what he said. If Ianto wasn't there anymore, he'd probably have spoken much more softly, as if talking to himself.