Hello and Thoughts

[sidetic1992.livejournal.com]

Hi, first time posting here so I hope it's ok.

I've recently gotten back into the series through the radio plays (Serenity, Broken, Outbreak...) and it's reignited both my love for Torchwood and the old frustrations I used to have with the series, Gwen being the primary focus of those.

From the way she treated the other members of the team to her general behaviour, she's never been a character I could relate to, and by episode 6 was a character I firmly disliked.  By the end of the series, I outright hated her.

Cutting for length :-).

The insistence that she was the 'human heart' of Torchwood, I found to be an insult to the other characters. The implication that she was somehow better because she wasn't traumatised like they were, and had a boyfriend, is really unpleasant to me. Ianto going through Canary Wharf and what happened to Lisa, Tosh having her mother kidnapped and being kept in solitary confinement, Owen losing Katie to an alien and being made to think he was going mad by Jack afterwards, does not tarnish them as people. They are all human, and you could make a case for each of them being the heart of Torchwood individually at different points throughout the series.

If anything, Gwen is not more special, she is less, as she is the one whom doesn't understand. And that lack of understanding is increasingly grating. Rhys dying in the season one finale is very telling for how she thinks of the rest of the team, disregarding, even laughing, at their attempts to comfort her, failing to notice that they are doing so in their own very personal ways. Her insistence that she will be the one that won't end up losing the one she loves (even though she had an affair with Owen, drugged Rhys, and there was that whole scene in KKBB with Jack and the engagement ring then later at the wedding... Her feelings for Rhys are quite debateable really for a large part of the series). And, of course, unlike all the others and their loves, she gets him back. 

Her whole speech in Meat I could have gotten behind, had it remained about not taking Rhys' moment away from him and if she hadn't thrown the losses of the rest of the team in their faces into the bargain. Then Jack lets her get away with it and it's never touched on again. There are plenty of other episodes and moments I could rant about.

Looking at her, I feel like I'm looking at someone whom never had to grow up. A young child always on the verge of a tantrum if she doesn't get her own way, even as late into the series as Miracle Day. I'm not sure really what I was ever meant to relate to in her, especially as I was always drawn more to Ianto (his death and how it was handled is a rant for another day) and Tosh.

The fact that she was the last one standing, and felt that made her better than the others, was the cherry on the cake for me.

Comments

[bk_forever]

All of this is so true, and shows that the writers have zero understanding about what makes a strong, relatable female character. Gwen manages to embody all the worst traits of humanity and we're supposed to identify with her? No thanks. Tosh and Ianto, with their quiet courage and empathy are far better characters.

Gwen wasn't even a good policewoman. She disobeyed orders, pried into things that were none of her business, and got a man killed. She's responsible for more deaths during the series than the rest of the team put together, and in one of the earlier radio plays, claims to have no regrets. She doesn't regret getting the janitor killed, cheating on Rhys and drugging him, destroying Nikki Bevan's hope, or getting the DJ at her wedding killed because she absolutely couldn't postpone the wedding for a couple of weeks? As far as Gwen is concerned she's never done anything wrong, it's always someone else's fault. How many times did other people have to risk their lives to save her because she did something monumentally stupid? She's a condescending, patronising hypocrite, and the last person anyone should try to emulate.

[backrose-17.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree with everything you said. I could never understand how we were supposed to identify with her. She never faced any consensus for her actions. She wanted Rhys to forgive her for cheating on him but she gives him Retcon first so he will forget her confession either way taking away Rhys' choice if he chooses to forgive her or not. She takes Suzie out of the Hub because she believed she knew best. She helps open the Rift to bring Rhys back because she can't live without him then goes on to ignore him to sit by Jack as if she is the only one who has that right. Meat kissing Rhys while looking at Jack just to see if he was getting jealous, ignoring all the pain and love ones her "friends" have lost because she needs to make Jack give in to her demands of letting Rhys keep her memories and telling everyone they were so cold and lonely was just heartless. Her wedding cost lives all because it was what she wanted.

To me, she just comes across as heartless and the fact that she is the only one besides Jack to survive makes no sense she was the rookie on the team and with all her mistakes she should have been the first to die. I will always treasure the first two seasons (except the s2 finale Tosh and Owen are still alive) because they gave me Ianto, Tosh and Janto but I have no love for the Gwen Cooper show.

[sandysan2013.livejournal.com]

Yep, Gwen is quite the study in contradictions. It’s a shame she counts among the new breed of female action sheroes.