Musings on Torchwood 2.4

[wildestranger]

Dear Gwen,



Please keep your feelings to yourself. I don't really care about your feelings. They are not appropriate in the workplace, and watching you pound your breasts with your fists (And really, why would you think that's a good way to convey emotion? Unless you were just trying to draw attention to your cleavage, of course) is embarrassing and awkward. And I'm only watching it through the tv screen - what about your workmates? You're putting them in a difficult position. I appreciate that you have great love for your fiance, but that doesn't justify making a spectacle of yourself or making personal comments about your co-workers (Calling them sad losers for not having relationships, very classy. Also, how blind and self-involved are you not to notice Jack and Ianto?).

You wanted to make a point about not retconning your boyfriend, fair enough. But whether you lie to him or not is your business, and it shouldn't affect the job. How you feel about him and how he feels about you is your business, and shouldn't affect the job. You can choose to not retcon him, you can choose that you'd rather quit than lie to him, but it's possible to do that without the shouting and the name-calling. And the pounding of breasts.

Incidentally, Gwen, your feelings don't make you better than other people. Nor does your cleavage.

No love and with a somewhat large dose of contempt,
Me

P.S. Your fake smile is really fake. Please practice in front of the mirror a bit more - if you're going to be a conniving bitch, at least be a good one.

Comments

[fleshflutter.livejournal.com]

Oooh I missed this episode and it sounds like it was just as well. That's two in a row I've missed now. I'm a very Bad Fan. :/

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

There were good bits as well - Ianto was very competent (much more so than anyone else) and witty and hot, but there were some awfu bits as well. Mostly Gwe and Jack staring soulfully into each other's eyes. *makes vomiting noises* Actually, I think I did make vomiting noises at the screen. ;)

[roquentine.livejournal.com]

Heh. I am with you on this. I think it's hilarious that the part that led to the feigned vomiting for me was Gwen making eyes at Jack while snogging Rhys, and not the part where the guy is hacking hunks of meat out of the body of a living creature.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I agree about Gwen. She was a police-person. They are taught about this stuff, they are taught about the risk to their partners. I just wanted to hit her

However

I did love the epi. The monster was crap (at times) but the themes were excellent.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

There were many good parts in it - I really liked Rhys generally, and Ianto of course was delightful (so witty and pretty and competent). But the whole Gwen/Jack thing made me cringe. And actually, so did the Tosh/Owen - apparently the writers can't decide whether she fancies him and is awkward or whether he fancies her while she is cool and collected. Argh.

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

Oy, some of us like the opportunity to stare at Gwen's breasts. If Jack will persist in wandering around the Hub fully-clothed and Tosh is out of shot, what else am I supposed to eye up? Owen?

But whether you lie to him or not is your business, and it shouldn't affect the job.

Except it's all about her job, because her boss is the one telling her to do it and she said no. Which is quite the improvement on S1!Gwen, who was willing to retcon Rhys to hide the fact that she'd shagged Owen. (Admittedly this is a much more embarrassing secret than alien-hunting, though.)

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

Except it's all about her job, because her boss is the one telling her to do it and she said no.

Well, that's the thing. If she chooses to do that, that's fine. She is prepared to face the consequences and chooses to prioritise her relationship to her job - that's fine, that's her choice. But to make a screaming, breast-beating performance of it, force her co-workers to watch her display of emotion, that's unprofessional. She shouldn't bring her feelings to the workplace. She shouldn't expect other people to get involved with her feelings - the decisions she makes based on those feelings that affect other people, sure, but not her feelings themselves. Those are nobody's business but hers.

I guess I find it really really annoying when people talk about their feelings in public. *g*

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

But... she works for Torchwood. The rest of the team have nearly destroyed the world by hiding their partially-converted Cyberlovers in the basement, nearly destroyed the world by bringing their evil alien girlfriend into the Hub, nearly destroyed the world by opening up a rift in the space/time continuum to find their ex-girlfriend, and probably put the world at risk by leaving that lot unsupervised while they chase after their Slutboi Alien Tease lust-object.

I know they're shaping up a bit these season, but it wouldn't do for Gwen to get too professional. It would look like showing off.

[gene-lee.livejournal.com]

To me, Gwen represents the writers not knowing what to do with this lead character beyond the initial conceit of being the "heart of the team".

Unexplicably shoving her into a leadership position without showing how she even earned it, is one sign, recycling the same workplace triangle from last year is another. Seriously, all they did was supplement Owen with Jack, replacing physical infidelity with emotional infidelity, which is why I was unmoved by her chest-pounding diatribe.

[jadeddiva.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure that the only good thing to come out of Torchwood, at times, is Ianto. Because seriously...that man is awesome.