So explain to me... (Part one)

[laligin]

In a desperate attempt to improve my Torchwood-writing, and because I have a fanfic100 claim on the entire Torchwood team, not just those members I like/understand/have a million plot ideas for, I'm asking you for help.

Explain to me, please, as politely as you can manage (I'm not here for a fight), exactly why Gwen is a good/useful/likeable character.

Because I don't quite get it. Up to... oh... about Small Worlds (episode 5) I quite liked her. Beyond that...

So, anyway. Gwen fans. I need you to tell me why she's a vital part of the team, and why I'd actually enjoy writing her if I got it right, so I can stop coming up with excuses for her absence in my fic. (Seriously. I don't really give her a starring role (or even a mildly vital role) at any point. I feel guilty.)

Help?

(Also, convince me Jack/Gwen can work.)

Comments

[ladykathryn.livejournal.com]

Gwen can be a hard character to like, but it's not impossible - you just need to understand that she's not in any way intended to be perfect. I think of Gwen as the mary sue we'd all write if we were being honest with ourselves - she's sometimes irritating, nosy, prone to lying, can't let anything go, can't work her way out of a sticky situation, doesn't know how to cook, has a gigantic gap between her teeth and a shaggy haircut and a relatively big butt and no fashion sense, is headstrong and occasionally has poor impulse control, decides to hop into bed with Owen when Jack is RIGHT THERE DAMMIT (ignoring Rhys here because I don't like him), says SHIT when big scary monsters are coming and pukes at the sight of dead bodies. She also, though, has a lot of Velma about her; she has to know the answer to every thing and is good at figuring things out. And of course, as has been hammered into our heads from the first episode, she really, honestly cares about people and is willing to do about anything to protect them. Gwen isn't a vital part of the team because she's so normal, like they keep pushing at us - she's a vital part of the team because without her, they'd be holed up under a water tower dinking alien iPods while the world was ending instead of out doing something useful for the human race.

[ladykathryn.livejournal.com]

p.s. I <3 Owen, but even I have to admit it's an illogical choice.

[laligin.livejournal.com]

^_^ I've developed a strange fondness for Owen myself. But really, with Jack and Ianto in the running as well...? Gwen's a nutcase. It's the only explanation. :)

[laligin.livejournal.com]

I can quite understand she's not meant to be perfect - clearly, none of them are. I did like her curiosity and that drive to find out the truth (that's probably what made her a good PC) that she shows in a few of the episodes. That is kind of a point in her favour, though it does get warped and backfires a bit as the series goes on. (For example, bringing Suzie back to find out what really happened - and being so stubborn about it she nearly got herself killed.) She doesn't seem to know when to stop.

And she seems to care about people in a general sense, rather than specifically. Actions speak louder than words, and while she's all for kicking Torchwood out of the Hub to do some good in the world, when it comes to her own deeds, she hurts everyone close to her. Rhys in particular - the individuals in team Torchwood as well (even Owen). If she's meant to be the audience's gateway to Torchwood, and the normal, everyday character, I'd prefer her to show a bit more of the compassion she's meant to possess. As it stands she ends up looking a bit hypocritical.

She appears to have slid very rapidly down the slippery slope that is Torchwood - in trying to help them, she's very much lost her own way, and become worse (in some ways) than those she condemned so easily early on.

*mournful sigh* You see, I view Gwen as a kind of tragedy - she could have been so very good for Torchwood. It's difficult to convince me that she was worth all the trouble she's brought them.

Most of the good points people mention are really things that apply to Gwen at the start of series one. I can't help thinking she's lost most of them by the end of it...

Anyway, sorry, I've gone maudlin now. Thanks for your comments - you do have some valid points that I shall have to devote more time to considering. :)