N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
So your name’s not Captain Jack Harkness then? That’s gonna cause a bit of confusion.
“I’m Captain Jack Harkness.”
Captain Jack Harkness, Captain Jack Harkness
To avoid any such Python-style uncertainty, it’s probably best if I use Captain Jack Harkness to refer to the episode title and differentiate the two Jacks some other way: ‘Captain Harkness’ for the original and ‘Jack’ for the Torchwood fella or ‘Original Jack’ and ‘Our Jack’ perhaps?
It’s actually a non-issue.
Our Jack feels instantly at home in 1941. Wartime Britain was, after all, the time we first met him. And we also know from Small Worlds that World War II was when he fell in love with Estelle, so we knew he holds a lot of affection for the period.
“There’s nothing here but memories and dust.”
Jack, Captain Jack Harkness
If this were the real world, it’d possibly be wishful thinking to believe that Original Jack wouldn’t face repercussions for his dancing with and kissing Our Jack — perhaps looking at a discharge from the military and, given the status of the law in the 1940’s, criminal prosecution — but as everyone else at the Ritz ballroom is also staring into a giant bright rift in time without batting an eyelid, we could perhaps argue they’re not the most observant bunch. It’s an idealistic scene, for sure, but it would be wrong to think any assessment of this episode hinges on its believability. As they say, everybody loves a happy ending. (Well, as happy an ending as Torchwood is going to allow.)
Elsewhere, the episode isn’t afraid to show its edgier side: whether it’s the acknowledgment that Tosh would — even before Pearl Harbor — face considerable prejudice in 1941 or the fact that Ianto shoots Owen, who consequently seems fine with said turn of events!
And while the way Tosh leaves clues for her Torchwood colleagues seems a little silly (and judging by the amount of blood oozing from her palm, a bit extreme), Captain Jack Harkness remains a pretty strong episode. For one, it adds mystery to Our Jack’s story. We always knew he was a con man, but now we discover we don’t even know his real name. (Unless it’s James Harper, of course.)
