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

[(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.

[laligin.livejournal.com]

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.

True, but if she's not exceptional, why does Torchwood need her? (And the whole heart and emotion thing is all very well up to episode 3 - beyond that it's kind of shown that she's not doing all that well at making everyone compassionate and understanding, nor at even holding up that side of herself...)

And no, nobody's perfect. But not everybody ends up cheating on their boyfriend for very little apparent reason, misusing their access to mind-altering drugs, taking a known murderer for a joyride and setting a demon loose on Cardiff. And yet she faces no consequences...?

Your reasons (much like everyone else's, I hasten to add) for liking her seem to stem from the first half of the series - up to about episode 5, which was when I still liked her too. After that, though, she ruins it a little bit. Nobody points out any of her actions from then onwards as being reasons to like her...