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

[aruja.livejournal.com]

alright so I'm probably not exactly a fan so much as I am anti-anti-Gwen (really, what is the reason for so much hate?)

for me, with her characterization it was always a "everyman" theme. she is the one with whom the viewers are discovering the world through Torchwood's eyes.

so she is really supposed to be, IMHO, the most "normal" and there for she has a standard heroine's set of character traits; caring, curiosity, concern for the wellbeing of others, etc. and I think this is where people stop and claim she is boring or Mary-Sueish but she is also able to enter into the grey spaces. like sleeping with Owen, or retconning Rys(sp?) even after she knew of the long term effects.
I suppose this paints her as kind of self-interested, the major examples of things that she does that are on the darker side are for herself.
maybe it's just me, but I think it gives a deep enough view of her character that it keeps me interested.
I'll seriously be dissappointed if they don't explore more with her greyer side in S2... because I can't see her character developing any more if they don't. There isn't anything left in just being happy couple with her bf and just going to work everyday.

the police style that she brought in kind of faded away, I really liked the profiling from "day one" but it just went away, we are not really shown that she stopped doing it, but we don't see it. so I'm sure that that kind of work, that helped them find Cherys and where she was before she went ratjam in ep2, is certainly something she brings to the team.
along with a kind of sensitivity dealing with normal people that she got being police that the others can't quite manage because they don't have an interest in normal people unless they have something abnormal about them. and sometimes normal people are the keys to what is going on(Bernie, Eugene, etc).

okay that was probably way more vague than I intended(and probably than you wanted), but I can't seem to word it any better so, sorry.

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. I myself am a bit ambivalent about Gwen. She bothers me a little but I see exactly why she is needed in the series, as amethyst_bjd said she is the one who the audience discovers Torchwood through.

I also think she had potential to become more interesting next season because she started off as the perfect good character, the one who cares the most about the people involved and wanted to try very hard. However, further into the season we saw her doing things for her own selfish needs (the thing with Rhys, sleeping with Owen even after the Tosh event, helping to open the rift). I think this turn toward the dark which brings out the selfishness in her is an interesting thing. It shows she is changing and that she is not perfect. It gives her some flaws that can be explored further. Perhaps this selfish side that comes out in her now in then will backfire on her somehow or that gray area in her morals will become a bigger problem for her.

Any way the series goes with her I think there is interest in her flaws and her becoming aware that she has these flaws. I also would be interested to see her role in Torchwood further defined since it's sort of up in the air right now as to what her area of expertise is. The police thing is mostly gone as you said and not it's sort of like she is Jack lite. But anyhow, that's just a personal thing.

In sum I think Gwen in important because she started as the innocent heroine whom the audience connects to and now her personality and morals are taking a dig into the gray sphere which could make for some interesting plots and further growth next season.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I wish I could help you on this one, but I just can't. Like you, Small Worlds caused me to really start to dislike her character and it just got worse. By EOD I wanted to smack her.

That said, I think it would be easy to use her in fic to be the one doing the actual police work- interviewing (even if "off camera") or working with the local cops, etc.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about Jack/Gwen (the dynamic is a bit too brother/sister for me to be comfortable with it) but some vigourous Gwen-defence went on over at torchwood_meta when we held our character discussion.

Therefore, since I'm supposed to be dissertationing, not Torchwooding, I shall helpfully supply this link (http://community.livejournal.com/torchwood_meta/1129.html)> :D

[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.

[shadowhwk.livejournal.com]

I'm so new to fandom that I'm still a little taken aback by the aversion to Gwen, personally, though obviously it exists. And I'm not saying "OMG how can you NOT like Gwen?!" I just don't understand what makes her so irritating/offensive/disliked, I suppose.

So hi. I like Gwen. And here's why:

1) Yes, she's the Everyman character as someone else said. Her main purpose is to introduce us, the viewers, to what Torchwood does, how they do it, the things they get into. Without her, there would be no reason to explain -anything- because the characters would all know how everything worked. There would have been no need to explain the glove, for instance, because they'd all seen Suzie use it. There'd have been no reason to explain the weevils, because they all knew what they were and where they came from, etc. We would very likely not have been given that first tour of the hub with her, because Jack already knows everything that's there and he certainly wouldn't to lead, oh, Tosh around, telling her how all the stuff she already knows works.

2) Tied into that, she is meant to react the way we would react, if we were thrust into Torchwood suddenly. While we all may think that we'd handle the sudden undeniable knowledge that there are real aliens out there better than Gwen does, I really don't think most people would. I think most of us *would* puke at stumbling over those bodies in Countrycide. I think most of us *would* stand and gape at a weevil or a glowing alien girl or the faeries hopping around in someone's back yard.

3) She's not perfect. She lies almost from the moment she learns about Torchwood, to Rhys, and she's -good- at it. It's easy for her. She has an affair with Owen because she can't handle not having someone who understands what's going on at work. She's really, when you boil her down, replaced Suzie almost completely. The glove, Owen, the inability to cope on her own...and yet I haven't seen anyone saying how they don't like Suzie. It's odd. :) I'm fairly certain that she was just as flawed as Gwen, and more so, given the elaborate plan that's discovered in They Keep Killing Suzie.

4) She -is- the human, compassionate part of Torchwood. She does make them consider the people first. Let's face it, the rest of them are not particularly aware of the people aspect most of the time. Tosh is removed and very reserved, Owen has his perpetual coat of I don't care, Ianto has his own issues (which are hard to name, given that I think his character as written has wild personality changes). Even Jack forgets how to handle the human side of things sometimes, so they really do need her perspective and her ability to connect with the people involved, rather than treating everything just as a case. If that makes sense.

And. That's enough rambling for one comment.

[(Anonymous)]

Gwen is human. That is basically it. You call her shallow and selfish, but she has made mistakes like a lot of people. Nobody's perfect.

She brings heart and emotion into Torchwood and into Jack, which is why is another reason that dynamic works so much. She makes Jack want to live again in the same way Rose made the Doctor want to live.

Personally myself, I didn't like the Owen thing. But I think it happened because she was a bit disallusioned with Jack at the time. Well, in Countrycide he burst into that barn and went Terminator on those people.

Plus, I think Owen went after because he knew Jack was interested and it was part of some daft rivalry thing on Owen's part.

Those are just my thoughts.

[miss-harper01.livejournal.com]

Gwen is the heart of the torchwood team, she is the spirit. Jack sees that in her and likes it. Personally i think that jack and gwen make a cute couple because they balance eachother out. Jack is the harsher side and more secretive where as Gwen is down to earth and caring, not that i'm saying Jack isn't caring, but Gwen is more.

If you don't agree with me that's fine but that's my opinion.

[mimarie.livejournal.com]

I've argued my case for liking Gwen elsewhere - too many times! (if you're interested, for instance - jade's link above) but could you convince *me* what's so good about Ianto? (Not that I'm picking on you as an advocate of 'Ianto can do no wrong', but as you're asking...;) I'd love to be able to see what so many see in him. I've read some good stories with him in, but *nothing* that's made me understand why he's so amazingly popular. (BTW, GDL looks very much like my obnoxious 19 year-old nephew, looks will not sway me!)

[harem-ent.livejournal.com]

Slightly late but...

Gwen is sucky.

That's it mainly.

hehe