That thing? In the episode?

[taffimai]

So, I've been venting to natlyn for the last half hour about the utter impossibility of remaining sane after being buried alive for 1,874 years. So the only fix I can think of will now become my personal canon.

My personal canon? The Doctor finds out about Jack being buried alive: unburies him a week or so after he's buried, they adventure around space and time for a bit, and then reburies him in time for the 1901 Torchwood to dig him up, thus preserving the timeline.

Comments

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

My take on it is that Jack's ability to remain sane is linked to his ability to remain alive (or to not remain dead), and it's tied to Jack's being a Christ-like figure in the narrative.

Jack's something more than human, and just as his body doesn't retain the violence or damage that should kill a normal human body, his mind doesn't retain the damage that would come from being underground for so long. He's just wiped clean somehow--so that he's always pure, always whole, always capable of absorbing the wounds of other people and absolving them of their pain.

He couldn't be a savior without that.

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

I can see that interpretation, but I don't like it. I don't want Jack to be a savior. I want him human. Flawed and damaged and ... human.

[asa-meda.livejournal.com]

Actually (putting Highlander hat on a moment... adjusting... letting Methos take hole... there...)

My thought is that when Jack is in an environment that is not compatible to life (i.e. no Oxygen... crushing pressure... etc) he stays dead. So most of the 1800+ years was spent not knowing a thing)

NOW... here's my plot bunny for all... now that we know he's been in the drawer for 100 years or so (um... haven't seen ep yet... getting this from spoilers), in an environment where he could, from time to time, have some awareness, I wonder what he heard... if Gwen... Ianto... Owen... Tosh... even went to that quiet place to talk to themselves... Oooo... so much thought as to what could be done with this...

Ahem... sorry.. .but I think Jack was probably dead... dead.. for the time... Individual mileage may vary...

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I like the not-compatible-with-life theory. It works in the not-traumatizing-Jack-such-that-he-completely-loses-his-santiy way and it makes the episode work too. Well, except for why Jack's clothes didn't decay off him. *considers* And why I'm overusing dashes.