Gwen Cooper
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| Torchwood character | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Gwen Cooper | |
| Affiliated with | Cardiff Police Torchwood Institute |
| Race | Human |
| Home planet | Earth |
| Home era | Early 21st century |
| First appearance | Everything Changes |
| Last appearance | Ongoing |
| Portrayed by | Eve Myles |
Gwen Cooper is a fictional character in the BBC television series Torchwood, a spin-off from the long-running series Doctor Who. Gwen Cooper is a former police officer recruited into the Torchwood Institute. She is played by Eve Myles, who previously appeared as Gwyneth in the Doctor Who episode The Unquiet Dead.[1] Russell T Davies has stated the two characters are not related.[2]
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[edit] Characterisation
Eve Myles characterises Gwen as an ambitious, feisty, intelligent and witty young woman who at the same time embodies many aspects of the girl next door archetype.[3] On the interactive Torchwood website, Gwen is described by Owen Harper in a psych evaluation as "socially responsible and empathetic" and possessing a lot of "unfulfilled potential".[4] Throughout the series, Gwen's character is at the center of several themes regarding human nature.
Gwen's compassion plays an integral part throughout the series. In Day One, she is the only one, initially, to see the infected Carys as a person, and not just another case. Her research into Carys' background wins the approval of Jack and perhaps ultimately contributes to Carys' salvation. Ghost Machine showed Gwen becoming over-involved in her determination to prevent the future, which ultimately led to her failure to do so, and the involuntary manslaughter of another, which deeply affected her. In subsequent episodes she refused to believe that Jack would have killed Ianto or that he was able to sacrifice a young girl to save the world and in the episode Countrycide her inherent humanity was once again highlighted - her violent physical reaction to one of the corpses, and her intense need to understand how, and why, the villagers could commit such atrocities, acting as examples of this.
She is determined to understand the motivation of a cannibal in Countrycide, and the revelation that he does it because it "makes [him] happy" leads her to pursue an affair with Owen, which she laments. She blames her experiences at Torchwood for "changing her", and it is apparent that it saddens her.
In Greeks Bearing Gifts, she is quick to forgive Toshiko for her telepathic intrusion, noting it is not her place to judge as she has been having an affair with Owen and admits she has no intention of stopping.
In They Keep Killing Suzie, it became apparent that Suzie Costello is a parallel, a foil to Gwen. Like Gwen, she was in a relationship with Owen, was the only one who held the empathy required to use the resurrection gauntlet but unlike Suzie, Gwen has the strength to retain her sanity. Her early mastery of the glove is an apparent testimony to the incredible degree of compassion required to operate it.
In Out of Time, Gwen is amazed by her own ability to lie so convincingly and easily to Rhys. She also implies to Emma, an out of time young woman, that Rhys is not the best sex she has ever had, and it is inferred from the dialogue that he is not the "Mr. Right" that Emma believes a woman should wait for. The accompanying website features also suggest that Gwen has feelings towards Owen,[5] although in the same episode he cheated on her and explained he had never felt emotionally connected to any of his previous partners. Owen breaks off the affair in Combat and Gwen confesses it to Rhys, although she also gives him an amnesia pill so he will not remember her confession.
[edit] Character history
Gwen Cooper is introduced in Everything Changes as a police constable in Cardiff. Much like the character of Rose Tyler in Rose, she serves to introduce the audience to the concepts of the show as her character discovers them. In the first scene of the pilot, Gwen is called in on a murder scene, only to encounter a mysterious team of individuals known only as "Torchwood". To satisfy her own curiosity (especially after witnessing the killing of a hospital porter by a Weevil), she tracks down the team and discovers the truth behind the organisation.
Despite having her memory wiped by the team leader, Jack Harkness, Gwen manages to leave a reminder to herself, linking a trace memory to the reconstructed murder weapon, and ends up exposing the murderer, Suzie Costello, Jack's second-in-command. When Suzie commits suicide, Jack offers Gwen a position with Torchwood and she accepts. Gwen believes that the team has been working with aliens and alien technology for so long that they have become hardened and have lost touch with humanity. She acts as the moral centre of the team, reminding them that they are in a position to help people, not just to scavenge technology.
Unlike her colleagues who have let their professional lives consume them, Gwen maintains a life outside the Institute. She lives with her boyfriend, Rhys Williams, who is a transport manager. He believes any alleged alien interference with Earth over the past two years are actually mass hallucinations caused by terrorists putting psychotropic drugs in the water supply, a theory that when put to Jack by Gwen makes him deride her boyfriend as stupid. Before she dated Rhys, she was going out with a Bruce, and Owen speculates she simply settled for Rhys.[6]
In Ghost Machine she is taught to use guns by Jack, and there appeared to be some sexual tension, but any developing feelings were apparently negated when she returned home and the "ghost machine" showed her memories of her relationship with Rhys. However, in Cyberwoman she and Owen kissed passionately whilst hiding from a female Cyberman, followed by further sexual tension with him in the episode Countrycide, and the eventual revelation that she has embarked upon an affair with Owen, largely because she cannot share her supernatural and extraterrestrial experiences with her boyfriend, Rhys, even though she does care for him.
On the Torchwood website, Gwen has a conversation with Ianto which suggests that she might have feelings for Jack.[7] In Random Shoes, she is the only one to hear Eugene (although she didn't know that it was him at the time), this could be the first signs of advanced mental ability that was seen in Gwyneth in The Unquiet Dead, although it could just be the case that Gwen was the only one Eugene attempted to talk to, with the Torchwood Declassified accompaniment stating that he became more audible and corporeal as time passed.
At the beginning of End of Days, Gwen jokingly tells Rhys she is using telepathy on him. Throughout the episode, her emotions are played with as Rhys' life is threatened then taken away, eventually leading a coup with Owen to overthrow Jack and open the Rift, believing it will resurrect Rhys. While ecstatic when eventually Rhys is returned at the price of Jack, who battled with Abaddon and remained dead for days. Gwen stayed by his side for the entire time, unwavering in her belief in him, before he is finally resurrected, and thanks her after she kisses his dead lips.
[edit] Episodes
- Everything Changes — October 22, 2006
- Day One — October 22, 2006
- Ghost Machine — October 29, 2006
- Cyberwoman — November 5, 2006
- Small Worlds — November 12, 2006
- Countrycide — November 19, 2006
- Greeks Bearing Gifts — November 26, 2006
- They Keep Killing Suzie — December 3, 2006
- Random Shoes — December 10, 2006
- Out of Time — December 17, 2006
- Combat — December 24, 2006
- Captain Jack Harkness — January 1, 2007
- End of Days — January 1, 2007
See List of Torchwood episodes
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Team Torchwood. BBC Doctor Who website. Retrieved on March 22, 2006.
- ^ Cook, Benjamin (2007-01-31 cover date). "Whoops, Apocalypse". Doctor Who Magazine (378): p. 34. "Is there a special link between the similarly named characters of Gwen and Gwyneth? 'None at all,' says Russell. 'Maybe it's a Welsh thing, but those are completely different names to me. We're not about to reveal that she's a parallel-Gelth-ghost-from-the-Time-Rift, or something; just two names beginning with "G". It could have been worse: I could have called her Gina. Or George.' "
- ^ Rowland, Paul. "Welsh star in Doctor Who spin-off", The Western Mail, 2006-02-24. Retrieved on March 22, 2006.
- ^ Gwen Cooper psychological evaluation
- ^ Gwen/Owen conversation
- ^ Torchwood External Hub Interface - Gwen-Owen Instant Messenger Transcript
- ^ Gwen/Ianto conversation
