Torchwood: On Gwen

[butterfly]

I think the thing that confuses me about 'Adrift' is people disliking what Gwen does because they say she's being inconsiderate and not thinking of anyone else. Because she's very definitely thinking of other people -- she's thinking of Nikki, who says that the hope is killing her, who says that she needs to know, who is living in a state of suspended animation because she doesn't know, unable to move on with her life. And, once Gwen meets and talks to Jonah, she informs Jonah of the situation and he's the one to ask to see his mother.

But Gwen is just supposed to know that Nikki's full of bullshit and that she'd rather keep the fairytale image of her son in her head than deal with the truth of a man who has been tormented and broken by what he's been through. She's supposed to ignore what both Nikki and Jonah say that they want and make the decision that Nikki couldn't handle it.

If Gwen had done that, I have a really hard time believing that fandom wouldn't have hated her even more for making that choice. Oi, that Gwen Cooper, thinks she knows better than the man's own mother! How dare she!

Gwen chose to believe Nikki and respect her choices. She got burned for it. That's just life. People can't always handle what they say they can handle. But sometimes they can. Sometimes they can handle so much more. All we can do is respect people's choices about their own lives and deal with what happens because of them.

Comments

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

In any case, if you're a person of integrity (and I think Gwen is, though she's sometimes confused about the men in her life), you need to do the right thing even if you do get bawled out for it. Because, ultimately, you need to live with yourself and the choices you make.

I have the feeling that Nikki wouldn't be able to keep away from Jonah for ever, even if she intended to at first.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

In any case, if you're a person of integrity (and I think Gwen is, though she's sometimes confused about the men in her life), you need to do the right thing even if you do get bawled out for it. Because, ultimately, you need to live with yourself and the choices you make.

Exactly. Gwen believes that people have a right to know the truth about their own lives. It's Nikki's son out there and if it were Gwen's child, she'd want to know. She's have still wanted to know, in the end.

I have the feeling that Nikki wouldn't be able to keep away from Jonah for ever, even if she intended to at first.

I hope so. He was so happy to see her, before the screaming started.