User:Eshlare/Torchwood References

Jane Espenson's Blogs

 * The New World
 * Rendition
 * Dead of Night
 * Escape to L.A
 * The Categories of Life
 * The Middle Men
 * Immortal Sins
 * End of the Road
 * The Gathering
 * The Blood Line

The Guardian reviews
The New World

Rendition

Dead of Night

Escape to L.A.

The Categories of Life

The Middle Men

Immortal Sins

End of the Road

The Gathering

The Blood Line

SFX reviews
         

Morality
Despite being introduced as an relatable, empathetic character the series continually exposes morally ambiguous aspects of Gwen's character. Andrew Blair described her in 2012 as "possibly the least sympathetic audience identification character television has seen in years" and states that of all Russell T Davies' characters she is "simultaneously the most down-to-earth and most ethically twisted". He claimed that as series one progressed "[viewer] brains started to wilt under the ever-expanding Olympic-logo of Venn diagrams her behaviour merited". Stephen James Walker also argued that Gwen's moral ambiguity made her a more compelling character; feeling it would have been an easy trap for the writers to make her a "one-dimensional paragon of virtue". Instead, they made Gwen more "realistic" by giving her "distinct human failings", which Walker felt made her "arguably the most complex and interesting of the five regulars". He identified these failures as her "tendency towards egotism", "self-righteousness", and "selfishness", evident in her "highly questionable treatment" of boyfriend Rhys. Both Blair and Walker cited Gwen's affair with Owen as an example of Gwen's moral failings, as well as her confession of this betrayal to Rhys in "Combat" after dosing him with an amnesia drug. Davies explains that the episode "Countrycide" was deliberately structured in order to make the affair seem inevitable as Gwen struggles to cope with Torchwood life. For Davies, the dalliance is a "human" one, told in an adult manner characterised by "lust and anger and hurt and the joy you get out of the initial stages of having an affair". Myles commented that Gwen's compromised morality served to challenge a discerning science fiction audience and demonstrated that none of the Torchwood team were "safe" from giving into temptation.

Some commentators have questioned the agency Gwen possesed in her own wrongdoings, whereas others have linked her wrongdoings to an ongoing internal struggle. Linnie Blake argued that Gwen had a passive role in her own affair; as with her lesbian clinch with an alien and her forceable impregnation, observing that the Gothic situations in Torchwood continually parallel in the "invasion" of her sexuality. Blair Valerie Estelle Frankel ventured that she finds "the missing side of herself" with her immersion into the world of Torchwood, represented by "affairs and homosexuality and the threat of death". Blair also felt Gwen's characterisation contained Gothic influences; observing that whilst Gwen gives "basic compassion" to the organisation, Torchwood, like a vampire, "leeches it from her". Daniel Rawcliffe noted that Indira Varma's character Suzie, featured in the premiere episode and in "They Keep Killing Suzie", is used as a "doppelgänger" for Gwen, (a trope of Gothic fiction – compare with the terms "Gothic double" and literary foil). Suzie's actions, and parallels with Gwen, help to illuminate some of Gwen's own ethically ambiguous decisions in the first series. Gwen must constantly fight against Suzie, and Suzie's example, "if she is to be proved worthy of working alongside Captain Jack". Frankel argued that Gwen's confrontation with Suzie mirrored her confrontation with her "inner self"; her literal journey into death gave her "the wisdom and duality of both worlds, life and death, mundane and magical" allowing her to become a stronger woman. Lynette Porter described Gwen as a "fallen woman" and that this made Gwen's role in relation to Jack in "End of Days" analogous to that of Mary Magdalene to Jesus, reinforcing a prevalent biblical subtext. Gwen keeps a vigil at Jack's "Torchwood tomb" and like Magdalene is rewarded for her loyalty by being the first to lay eyes upon the risen saviour. Valerie Frankel surmised that "Gwen's journey is one we all face [...] she discovers the dominant intuition within, and then embraces it within the darkest caves of her inner self". Stephen James Walker also felt that Gwen is still a redeemable character because she recognises her own moral failings, as seen in "Combat" where she sits alone sobbing over pizza, before picking herself up and trying to do better in the future. Kai Owen (Rhys) also exonerated Gwen, arguing that she always had good intentions, despite her treatment of her partner.

Later episodes continually show Gwen pre-occupied with ethical dilemnas. In Children of Earth she considers aborting her unborn child against Rhys' wishes because of her exposure to humanity's "sickening callousness". David Cornelius felt her decision to keep the baby demonstrated that "Gwen's Torchwood adventures take her to the brink, and additionally show "she's strong enough to pull herself back". Ahead of Miracle Day Davies, acknowleding that Gwen can be hated by the audience, stated that Myles was never preoccupied with her character being presented in a sympathetic light, being able "to take that extraordinary deep breath and not care". Similarly, Blair identified Myles' performance as containing "gusto and vigour" and praised her for being willing to explore the amoral and morally ambiguous aspects to her character. Myles in turn stated in 2011 that Gwen's complex character and many facets prevented her from tiring of the role; finding herself challenged not only physically but "mentally" and "morally". io9's Charlie Jane Anders observed that fourth series episode "The Categories of Life" exposed the character's "human vanity" in a way characteristic of writer Jane Espenson by showing that Gwen has "started to believe her own hype". In Anders' eyes, the character is responsible for her father's second heart attack because of her rash actions. Anders felt that later episodes in the fourth series continued to illuminate flaws in Gwen's character, describing her as someone with an "addictive personality" who "treats her Torchwood adventures like a drug that she craves" though she knows they "ruin her relationships with her husband and child". A press release for Miracle Day described the character alternatively as "ruthless" and "both selfish and selfless"; informing readers that the character would be pushed "to the limit" and the story would have her "make the most terrible decisions". In "The Blood Line", Blair observed the character as being "unashamedly self-righteous" when offering up the lives of her teammates in exchange for others, whilst Dan Martin of The Guardian felt that the character "plays God and appears to love it". Gwen's decision making and actions are admired by the character Oswald Danes (Bill Pullman)-an unrepentant child rapist and murderer who reveled in ending the life of his victim- who tells her: "You are magnificent". Jane Espenson, co-writer of "The Blood Line" describes this line as "dark and funny and awful and true" and "entirely Russell [T Davies]".