mllelaurel | Torchwood: Combat

- I get that Gwen loves her job and finds it important. Still, the way she treats Rhys makes Rose and Mickey look like nothing. Sure, Rose took Mickey for granted as a boyfriend, but I never got the sense that she stopped caring about him as a friend. "He'll get over it," indeed!

- On another note, Jack with his shirt all torn up and bloody should not signal 'fanservice' to me. I'm a baaaad person.

- So, Tosh knows about Owen's fling with Diane; Gwen doesn't. Props to Tosh. At this point, I'm not surprised that Gwen's oblivious.

- Aw, sad Weevil. *pets it* *gets hand bitten off*

- Owen: *acts toward Gwen the way Gwen acts toward Rhys*
Gwen: *totally fails to make the connection*

Well, ok, maybe she puts some of it together. I admit it - I'm so sick of Gwen, it takes something really extra to make me at all sympathetic toward her. So yes, I'm aware I'm being a bit harsh. That's just the way it is.

- Janet the Weevil! *dies*

- See, when *Tosh* presents the moral point of view, I buy it. Besides, I was thinking it too.

- ...Did I accidentally push a button and switch movies. Cause I could swear I'm now watching Fight Club. Fight Club. With Weevils. Heh.

- On one hand, I'm glad Gwen's finally being honest with Rhys. He deserves it. On the other hand, it's so very much about her and for her. She doesn't give a fuck about making things right with him. It's all about making *her* feel better.

For those of you who've watched Buffy, think of that scene with Willow and Oz in "The Wish," after Willow had kissed Xander. Same deal, only Oz knows it and says as much. And then Willow *makes the effort* cause she actually does care about Oz.

ETA: Booya! Clarke was smart enough to go there as well.

- ...Whoa. Gwen using Retcon I didn't see coming. Ironically enough, it's a horrific, bitchy, evil thing to do, but I'm actually finding her *interesting* all of a sudden.

(I'm also seeing another Buffy parallel - Willow, Tara and the Lethe's Bramble incident - but I'll let it go, cause it's a good twist we've got here.)

A little note on that. Now that I've thought about it, the Retcon is a fascinated twist, but I'm not sure on the motivation. Gwen's got stress from the Torchwood job, but not more so than the others. It's not like she's just died, got brought forcibly back and had her life go all to shit, which is the kind of stress I'd actually accept as a motivator for treating people that badly.

I know, I know, you're all sick of my Buffy comparisons, but I've just marathoned season 6 and dammit, it *fits*.

For the record, I think all the stuff *Jack's* been through does put him in the justifiable category. Yes, he crosses lines, but so would if I were him. (Actually, if I were him, I might well be in the nuthouse at this point.)

Like I needed more proof that Jack is Buffy. *g*

- Oh my God, this actually is Fight Club with Weevils.

- There's something about those endgame scenes with Jack. They're always made of win, and the one with Jack and Owen at the hospital is no exception.

Overall score: 2

Now, don't get me wrong, I like Owen as a character. But he's had more focus episodes than any of the others, and it's starting to wear thin. Especially since, peel away the paint, and "Combat" says the exact same things about him as did "Ghost Machine". We're not learning anything new, so can we please mix it up a little. Surely, Lisa wasn't the only aspect of Ianto's life worth knowing. And we've got so little on Tosh - till the next episode at least - I cannot *wait* till the Jack and Tosh in the 1940s extravaganza.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ooooh. *is entirely quiet*

I've finished the episode, so you can talk now. *g*

Hah. Oh, I was so glad to see Saint Gwen get TARNISHED.

For all that she likes to talk about Torchwood being screwed up? She takes the Retcon and uses it for her own, rather selfish reasons?

I was so glad Rhys fell asleep.

Tarnishing is a good thing, indeed.

Sadly, I don't even see this as a new thing for Gwen. She never acted out on it before, but she's always been pretty selfish.

Dude, I'm glad he *actively* refused to forgive her before falling asleep. Cause she doesn't deserve to be forgiven.

I actually felt sorry for Gwen. She knows she's screwed up with the Owen thing, but she's too afraid of Rhys leaving if she tells him. I think she was dealing with her guilt the only way she could by seeing if Rhys would forgive her, without ever intending to tell him without the Retcon. She needed to know he'd forgive her so she could put it behind her.

I think my feelings about Gwen changed a lot after episode 13. I'm curious to see if yours will.

Episode 12=♥!

Guess I'll have to see episode 13 to find out. I'm perfectly open to liking Gwen ok - she was good in Out of Time. Unfortunately, my default feelings for her run toward mild loathing.

Gwen flat out disgusted me in that. The stress for her, I think, is that she's a little girl. I'm sorry, but she is. From day one (the first day, not the episode) she's had to know things, and do things, and doesn't care about the consequences. Lots of people died in Day One (the episode) and it was her fault - see her ever dealing with that? She acts like a selfish spoiled brat who thinks she knows better than everyone, and the culmination of that for me was the retcon scene with Rhys. She wants his forgiveness, but can't trust him to tell him for real. In fact, she violates his memories and shows *she* can't be trusted.

If she's falling apart it's because she's realising the world doesn't fit into her neat little mindset, and instead of dealing with it, she's ignoring that there's anything to deal with and making a hell of a mess of her life.

I'm maybe a tiny bit harsh on Gwen.

Jack for the win though! I just in general love him.

I'm maybe a tiny bit harsh on Gwen.

Join the club. We serve refreshments.

Word to everything you said, basically.

Jack is my boy! He's the reason I watched this series at all.

*hands out lemonade*

I think Gwen drives me so nuts because she's presented like we're supposed to empathise with her. I don't. I mostly want to smack her and tell her to go home and let the grown ups deal with it.

Jack is sex and love. Was talking to

becky_h while she was watching the first few episodes forthe first time last night and I was like "what do you think?" "Well, I fell in love with Jack in 3.3 seconds?" "Oh god, tell me about it." Jack just makes the series worthwhile, really.

Precisely. At first, I just thought Gwen was sort of bland and resented having her shoved down my throat. It only got worse from there. Also, she has no place or *purpose* at Torchwood. All the others have specific jobs. She's still the newbie who follows Jack around; the intern in an organization that doesn't need interns. She's an intruder to the world, with no attempt to fit with it. And that? One of my major Mary Sue alarms.

Jack is so, so easy to love! Is Becky just watching Torchwood, or DW as well?

Yeah, Suzie was clearly a scientist and second in command. And crazy, but no one's perfect. Gwen... Buh? Seriously, what's the point? She just argues with Jack and gets in the way. There's no point for her being there and... yes. She's presented like the Mary Sue. The one who can fix everyone and yet somehow inexplicably needs to be rescued from situations/herself/whatever. Only, at the same time, they snatch that back and make her so *unlikable* and clueless she doesn't even have that purpose. Her existance confuses me. I kind of hope that after the end of series one, what happens wakes her up and she makes an effort to show some maturity in series two.

Becky's watching TW first, but she's got DW too. She's watching TW first for her own reasons, but might have something to do with me and Mecca squeeing about DW a bit too hard in her direction and she wanted something new. *cough*

See, you're a bigger optimist than me. For series two, I just hope Gwen fades into the background and Tosh takes over as the female lead. Or Ghost!Suzie. Or Detective Swanson.

Aha! I asked cause Jack is even more wonderful in DW.

I'm hoping that the general fan reaction to Gwen teaches them a few things and they use the opportunity... Yeah, I'm an optimist.

Detective Swanson! <3 She needs to come back.

Jack iiiis. Jack's just wonderful, really, but I did adore original Jack so much. Becky'll get there. *nodsnods*

Torchwood: Combat

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