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Gwen Cooper: Curiosity Killed Everyone Except This Cat


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The sad thing is that I really hate it when I seriously dislike the female lead of a show because I think that there's usually a built in bias against female characters in favor of male characters. With Gwen, her behavior was difficult enough that I became seriously irked with how she was treated often as the greatest thing to come into Torchwood evah!

 

And I seriously disliked how her relationship with Jack was portrayed (we seriously need a Gwack thread for suitable bitching). I can totally get why Gwen would want Jack - the man is amazingly sexy and there's the whole hero worship thing she had going on (when she wasn't treating him like an idiot because he disagreed with her). The question for me is what Jack saw in Gwen. That a man who had probably slept with some of the most amazing beings in the universe would be so completely turned around by a Welsh ex-police woman who could barely tie her own shoes. Gwen was hardly a paragon of virtue, given that she had cheated on her boyfriend with one of her coworkers, retconned Rhys after she confessed her infidelity and continued to pant after Jack with their "uncontrollable" UST. It was pretty idiotic that they kept dancing around one another given that Jack could have had Gwen with just a word if he really wanted her (as she had already shown that she wasn't above cheating on Rhys).

 

The final straw, for me, was Meat when she berated the rest of the team for not being so understanding of how hard it was for her to maintain an outside relationship while the rest of them didn't have anyone. Conveniently ignoring that Owen lost his fiancée, Ianto lost Lisa and Tosh lost Mary. But poor Gwen had it so hard.

 

Sorry... didn't mean to let my venom come out to play.

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Eve Myles always comes off so well in interviews and panels.   The writing for Gwen is so overbearing that I just can't like the character even though I think the actress is very likeable.  

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To continue the "parents " convo in the Ianto topic.

 

I didn't think Gwen and her Mum had a bad relationship in MD. Gwen was in SB and MD Daddy's little girl. And in MD her Mum was under the most stress of anyone we saw aside from maybe Jack and she was struggling. And lets face it not like Gwen helped, Rhys her son - in - law was the one the Mum lent on.

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There was definitely some tensions there in the first episode and not just because the dad was sick. Her mum makes a comment about how big Anwen is getting and asks what she's been feeding her and Gwen gets defensive and replies if she keeps going on like that she'll give her a complex by the time she's thirteen. It did suggest a history between them that SB never did even with all the crazy Gwen dropped on them in that episode.

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I don't know. This is the convo:

 

MARY: Look at her though. She's huge.
GWEN: She's perfectly normal, Mam.
MARY: I thought you were being frugal. What are you feeding her, lard?
GWEN: Yes, Mam. I'm feeding her lard. Keep telling her that, and by the time she's thirteen, she'll have a complete psychological complex.
RHYS: Stop it now, you two.

 

I get that sometimes people can get defensive even when people are being well-meaning, but it didn't sound like her mum was being well-meaning. Just critical.

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Sorry it's hard just to read the transcript when I can't say i have a great memory when it comes to MD, only seeing when it aired. But that was funny LOL . And it sounded like an old convo revisited, but still just a Mum and new Mum daughter. And Grandparents can be over bearing but it's not intentional.

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When it comes to MD and Gwen -- only one scene matters to me:  "Turn me over to them and I'll rip the skin from your head."  (I paraphrase.)

 

I thought Jack had had a breakthrough.

 

But, alas, no.

 

That's okay, though, I'll take what I can get.

Edited by Captanne
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On 8/8/2014 at 8:51 PM, Captanne said:

When it comes to MD and Gwen -- only one scene matters to me:  "Turn me over to them and I'll rip the skin from your head."  (I paraphrase.)

I was very disappointed when Jack did nothing about that when it was clear that she would have turned him over to some unknown. At the very least there should have been some lingering resentment afterwards but there was nothing. It was like she had accidentally hit him in the shins instead of kidnapped him. 

Gwen is so frustrating because she's not allowed to be another character but is treated as above and beyond everyone else by the show, dictating terms to her boss while constantly complaining to Jack about how he puts her in danger, ignoring that she pursued Torchwood and could quit at any point. Just rewatching Countrycide and Gwen ends the episode complaining about Torchwood changing her as she cheats on her bf because she doesn't have anyone to 'talk to' which is downright idiotic.

Edited by wayne67
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3 minutes ago, indeed said:

I didn't like so much in MD when she gloated about being the last one standing.  She's lucky not special.

If she didn't have plot armor she would have died repeatedly from her own incompetence. Considering the amount of times she takes action and needs to be saved. Eg that episode where she runs off with Suzie and a resurrection glove gets destroyed and she aids Suzie in murdering her father. 

Sadly Jack didn't follow through on his statement about firing her. 

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I realize I'm yelling down a well at this point, probably...

I thought the sexual tension between Jack and Gwen was well done, it seemed real and was mostly fairly subtle if it didn't just piss you off by it's very existence. Two people who could have got together and didn't. Jack wasn't supposed to be a male homosexual, he is supposed to be pansexual.  However the attraction becomes more of a strong friendship and respect relatively soon. It is a realistic enough thing to happen. 

I think the time she cheats on Rhys is how she decides she isn't going to do it. She learns by blundering into things over her head, both in personal and professional matters. So does Jack, just not as much over his head these days. 

Jack and Gwen, in any case, are mentor and mentee (mentoree?) and see something of themselves in the other, I suspect that in Jack's case he was like that so long ago that it is particularly refreshing. She isn't supposed to be capable of everything, she is supposed to be learning.

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Not at all yelling down a well!!  I'm here and I think the others are, too!!  

I loathed Gwen with the fires of a thousand suns.  I thought in the show itself the chemistry between Jack and Ianto was off the charts and during the Giant Vagina series, his chemistry with the female "Ianto stand-in" was wonderful.  (I can't remember her name.)

Despite my early morning snark, I loved Torchwood so much and I miss it.  But, for me, it's not Torchwood without Ianto.  At least not the way he was sent off - because, for me, that wasn't Ianto in Children of Earth, it was a pod-person.  (I miss Tosh and Owen, too.  Just finished mainlining "Shetland" and the main sidekick was named Tosh.  I smiled every time I heard her name.)

Edited by Captanne
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On 4/25/2017 at 6:26 AM, Captanne said:

Not at all yelling down a well!!  I'm here and I think the others are, too!!  

I loathed Gwen with the fires of a thousand suns.  I thought in the show itself the chemistry between Jack and Ianto was off the charts and during the Giant Vagina series, his chemistry with the female "Ianto stand-in" was wonderful.  (I can't remember her name.)

Despite my early morning snark, I loved Torchwood so much and I miss it.  But, for me, it's not Torchwood without Ianto.  At least not the way he was sent off - because, for me, that wasn't Ianto in Children of Earth, it was a pod-person.  (I miss Tosh and Owen, too.  Just finished mainlining "Shetland" and the main sidekick was named Tosh.  I smiled every time I heard her name.)

I shipped Jack with Esther from Miracle Day so hard, not to the level I did with Ianto but a lot.

I'm okay with Gwen being very flawed but my big complaint is that the show doesn't acknowledge her errors in the same way the others suffer for their mistakes.   When Gwen screws up she gets rewarded.   That is what grates more than anything else for me.  She gets a long life with a husband who has no clue how much she's betrayed him, a child, Jack's admiration, still gets to have Torchwood adventures, and the others end up dead.  Gwen's untouchable quality has made me resent her. She's also hypocritically self righteous.  She's the sort to screw you over while chastising you how it's your fault.  She does not tend to take personal responsibility for her own choices and so whines about Torchwood and Jack ruining things for her even though joining Torchwood was her choice.

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On 6/4/2017 at 0:08 PM, indeed said:

Watching the marathon, common thought throughout - she's so annoying!  Ugh.  LOL

I watched it too. After the last episode of COE I was pissed that she was the only one that didn't seem to have been affected by much other than having an alien baby living inside her for a day or so.

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Well, Gwen did have that ever-growing gun shot wound to the head thanks to Suzie.  But then she got that lovely (awkward) musical moment at the end there, so all's good.  She was "forced" into having sex with Owen and cheating on her beloved because she couldn't cope with the new job.  And don't forget, she almost loss Rhys that one time.  Plus, I'm sure Gwen suffered the mostest by far when Jack just took off and left the team (her) for months.  LOL

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