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User:Eshlare/Torchwood References

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Jane Espenson's Blogs

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The Guardian reviews

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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 Independent reviews

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SFX reviews

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[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

io9 reviews

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Morality

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"Eve Myles – she's marvellous, because I think she's a limitless actor. She's what you want in every actor, which is that you feel you can simply write anything for them. You can take the character of Gwen anywhere and have her do anything. You can hate her, you can love her... [Great actors] never ask for sympathy on the screen. I think that's such a magnificent attribute, because most of us want sympathy all the time. Most of us just want to be liked. We get through the day just hoping to be liked, and Eve will take that extraordinary deep breath and not care. She presents that on camera and that is so bold and electrifying."

—Davies explains how the writing process and Myles' approach to the character have both influenced each other.[1]

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".[2] He claimed that as series one progressed "[viewer] brains started to wilt under the ever-expanding Olympic-logo of Venn diagrams her behaviour merited".[2] 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.[3] 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.[2][3] 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.[4] 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".[5] 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.[6]

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.[7] 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".[8] 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".[2] 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".[9] 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.[8] 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.[10] 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".[8] 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.[3] Kai Owen (Rhys) also exonerated Gwen, arguing that she always had good intentions, despite her treatment of her partner.[11]

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".[1] 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.[12] 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".[13] 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"[2] 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]".[14]

  1. ^ a b "Torchwood: interview with Russell T Davies". BBC Press Office. 15 July 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e Blair, Andrew (22 November 2012). "Revisiting Torchwood: Gwen Cooper". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved 22 April 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  3. ^ a b c Walker, Stephen James (2008). Something in the Darkness. United Kingdom: Telos Publishing Ltd. pp. 144–152. ISBN 978-1-84583-024-3.
  4. ^ "The Country Club". Torchwood Declassified. Episode 6. 20 November 2006. BBC Three. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference CJShow was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Littlefield, Kinney (24 January 2008). "Hail the return of the alien hunter". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 21 March 2011. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Blake, Linnie (2009). ""You guys and your cute little categories": Torchwood, The Space-Time Rift and Cardiff's Postmodern, Postcolonial and (avowedly) Pansexual Gothic". Irish Journal of Horror and Gothic Studies. 7. Trinity College, Dublin. ISSN 2009-0374.
  8. ^ a b c Frankel, Valerie Estelle (2010). "Gwen's Evil Stepmother: Concerning Gloves and Magic Slippers". In Andrew Ireland (ed.). Illuminating Torchwood: Essays on Narrative, Character and Sexuality in the BBC Series. McFarland. pp. 90–101. ISBN 978-0786445707.
  9. ^ Rawcliffe, Daniel J. (2010). "Transgressive Torch Bearers: Who Carries the Confines of Gothic Aesthetics". In Andrew Ireland (ed.). Illuminating Torchwood: Essays on Narrative, Character and Sexuality in the BBC Series. McFarland. pp. 102–112. ISBN 978-0786445707.
  10. ^ Porter, Lynnette. Tarnished Heroes, Charming Villains and Modern Monsters: Science Fiction in Shades of Gray on 21st Century Television. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-4858-X.
  11. ^ Berriman, Ian (7 January 2008). "Torchwood Week: Kai Owen interviewed". SFX. Retrieved 14 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Anders, Charlie Jane (7 August 2011). "Torchwood ensures you'll never think about Death Panels the same way again". io9. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  13. ^ Anders, Charlie Jane (22 August 2011). "Torchwood shows that love isn't love unless it kills you". io9. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  14. ^ Espenson, Jane (12 September 2011). "Exclusive: "Jane's Take" on "Torchwood" Episode Ten: The Blood Line". AfterElton. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
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