Drabble: Another Confrontation

[bk_forever]

Title: Another Confrontation

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Jack, mentions Gwen

Rating: G

Written For: Challenge 313 – Open at tw100. Prompt used is Challenge 90: Beatles Titles. I chose ‘Let It Be’

Spoilers: Adrift.

Summary: Gwen won’t listen, much to Jack’s frustration.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.

A/N: My eleventh drabble for this prompt.

It wasn’t that Jack disliked Gwen questioning his orders; he neither expected nor wanted blind obedience from his team, was always willing to listen if they had a better idea.

The problem was the way she chose to do it. She always had to be so confrontational, loud and aggressive, in front of everyone. It was unprofessional and undermined his authority.

The others questioned him privately; listened to what he told them as he listened to them. But Gwen didn’t and now she was at it again, demanding answers instead of trusting him.

Why couldn’t she just let it be?

The End

Comments

[bk_forever]

Nice theory!

Thank you. Gwen just doesn't know when to let something go, she keeps pushing because she seems to have the mistaken idea that she has some god-given right to know everything she wants to know. That extends to private and personal information too.

And of course, the only person she truly seems to feel sorry for is herself.

Thank you.

[red-day-dawning.livejournal.com]

I don't believe Gwen was like this working in the police. What we see of her as a PC, she's cocky and bright, but doesn't overstep boundaries. When she's handing out coffees and nosing about detectives she's polite and deferential. So, I think this behaviour was produced by initially feeling insecure, except in her supposed "humanity", and then, having got away with rude behaviour, she increases it. She would have been sacked her first week in the police force if she had behaved the way she does in Torchwood. So it's up to Jack to pull her up, and for whatever reason he just never does.... Basically Torchwood made her into a monster.

[bk_forever]

You make some good points. Of course, the writers didn't LET Jack set her straight, so it's their fault. On the other hand, there are several instances of Gwen disobeying orders - or at least disobeying protocol - in the first episode. Spying on 'Special Ops', driving off without her partner, and going into an area of the hospital taped off as off limits, for instance. I have a feeling she wouldn't have been with the police for much longer.

Thank you!

[red-day-dawning.livejournal.com]

True. She's always been headstrong and self-absorbed. And self-righteous.

[bk_forever]

Not good qualities for a policewoman, or a Torchwood agent. It's good to question, but she really needs to listen to what she's told and stop acting like she knows everything.

[milady-dragon.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that Gwen needs to have the attention on her, and when it's not she acts out, sort of like that child whose sibling gets all the hugs from their parents and she feels left out. Only she does it in a way that's disruptive to the entire team.

Plus, who wouldn't want Jack's complete attention, no matter how bad that attention was?

[bk_forever]

Jack's attention is something a lot of people would crave.

Yes, Gwen's behaviour screams 'Look at me!' doesn't it. It's really not good for teamwork when one member demands all the attention by acting out.

Thank you.

[too-beauty.livejournal.com]

because it is what she is like, insecure, loud and to full of herself.

[bk_forever]

A bad combination for someone on a job where people's lives often depend on secrecy.

Thank you!

[asia27.livejournal.com]

Gwen is a selfish, shrewish woman who is full of herself. After drugging poor Rhys, she should have been fired. She's not a professional in any sense of the word and would never have gotten far on the police force with this behavior. Why Jack tolerates her - why he HIRED her in the first place - is a mystery. She doesn't work well with the team and really is chasing her image of Jack, if not Jack himself, to make herself far more important than she really is. If anyone should have been killed off, this character should have. How the hell she lasted thru to MD is beyond my understanding.

[bk_forever]

She lasted simply because she was the show runner's pet character. That's also why she got away with everything of course, RTD made sure that she did because no one was allowed to harm Gwen in any way. The trouble is, she's a really bad character, embodying the worst human characteristics even though she was touted as the heart of Torchwood, the perfect, compassionate woman. *shrugs* Some men simply don't understand women at all.

Thank you.

[asia27.livejournal.com]

I never bought her as the "heart of Torchwood"; that was the worst joke in the whole series! Even in Miracle Day, she was so garbled in her speech I thought she was drunk when she wasn't crying. I thought it reached a peak when she and Jack were threatening to kill each other on sight next time. Once he went back to space, I was hoping that was it but in no way does she embody anything but incompetence. I agree RTD has no concept of women; why Eve travels with JB on the convention circuit surely has to do with selling her as an actress and JB's equal which sure as hell isn't true.

[bk_forever]

I have to agree. I never saw Miracle Day, but I read through some reviews etc. and honestly, I'm glad I didn't bother with it. I couldn't even believe in Gwen as a policewoman. She didn't even know how to hold a knife safely!

[awieatti.livejournal.com]

Poor Jack! Yes, Gwen really is a handful :D
(You don't exactly like her, right? xD )

Hm, drabbles to Beatles songs - that's an interesting prompt...

[bk_forever]

How did you guess?

Yeah, I find Gwen completely dislikeable and very badly written, I certainly can't identify with her.

There are lots of great Beatles titles. I need to look at doing some FAKE drabbles using them. I've done one, but I might do a couple more. Haven't posted any for a while though, I'm trying to keep level with a friend of mine on the Torchwood drabbles for this challenge, which means I need to post another one today or I won't get all I've written posted before the challenge ends.

Thank you!

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

Coz gwen HAS to have thing her way.

Great drabble.

[bk_forever]

Always. She doesn't accept anyone else's opinion on anything, even if they have more experience and know things she doesn't. *Rolls eyes*

Gwen believes she's the only one who is ever right and that she's right every time.

Thank you.

[akawho.livejournal.com]

Gwen did better as a policewoman because there were strict procedures on what she could and couldn't do. Jack was a lot more flexible so Gwen took advantage of that whenever she could - like a child acting out when not set proper boundaries.

[bk_forever]

Yeah, that makes sense.

Not that she was perfect as a police officer, she broke the rules by spying on 'special ops', abandoning her partner and driving off in the patrol car assigned to them both. If she hadn't quit to join Torchwood, I'm betting she would have faced disciplinary action.

Thank you!

[jedi-harkness.livejournal.com]

I always thought she felt a sense of entitlement, especially because at first she was the only member of the team who knew Jack was immortal. If Jack had been upfront with everyone about his secret, the team dynamic could've been entirely different.

[bk_forever]

True that. But I understand why Jack didn't want everyone to know. He'd been used as canon fodder before when people knew he wouldn't stay dead, and he didn't want his team to look at him like he was a freak.

Gwen should have had more respect for her boss and followed chain of command as she'd been (presuma
bly) taught when she joined the police. It's just common sense in a job where lives are riasked on a regular basis. Then again, I don't think Gwen actually HAD any common sense, she couldn't even hold a knife safely.

[timelordshines.livejournal.com]

Gwen was always so self righteous. It didn't matter that everyone else had a lot more experience than her and knew what they were doing. She always had to be right, had to know everything. The bleeding heart and humanity of Torchwood, poking her nose into everyone's business and doing everything her own way never, believing that she could be, and often was, wrong.

[bk_forever]

Exactly that! It never even crossed her mind that her determination to have everything her own way was putting everyone else's lives in danger and that they often had to risk their lives to keep her from getting herself killed through her own stupidity.

Thank you!

[black59.livejournal.com]

and it is not finished ...

[bk_forever]

It never is with Gwen.

Thank you!