series 2 + smiles/laughs

All the main characters’ entries in the Torchwood Encyclopedia.

An Owen Harper Character Study (Or: Why “Fragments” Shit All Over Poor Owen)

Right. After three years or so off the air I don’t know ifanyone still cares about Torchwood meta. But I’ll be writing this anyway. For my own sanity.

*Overall disclaimers: I’ve only watched the first two seasons of Torchwood. I’m super passionate about fictional characters. This is long.*

The tl;dr

Owen’s backstory in “Fragments” makes no sense for his characterization and it was generally just shitty writing. (It’s also a lovely example of fridging a female character but that’s a discussion for another post).

The Epic Explanation

Let’s go forth in chronological order.

We barely know anything about Owen’s childhood. What we primarily have is all from the episode “Adam” in which—following Jack’s orders to remember what makes them them—Owen speaks the following lines about his mother.

This is admittedly not a lot of information… but it’s enough to hint—none too subtly—that Owen’s childhood wasn’t a nice one. His mother “loves” him but doesn’t have to “like” him. That sounds a lot like a mother who only “loves” her son because she views that as the requirement of a parent. It doesn’t sound like love at all. This is only reinforced when, presumably, Owen leaves home at sixteen and his mom “packs [his] bags”—implying that she either forced him to leave or heartily encouraged him going. Either way, getting away from her was the “nicest thing” that had happened to Owen in years. His father isn’t even mentioned.

So picture a sixteen-year-old boy coming out of that situation. He’s probably angry, confused, terrified out of his mind. Owen obviously doesn’t completely fall to pieces as he manages to go to school and become a top doctor but his brilliance in the field is often praised, so that talent was probably a huge part of his career success. Emotionally, however, Owen probably turned toward certain coping mechanisms—such as sarcasm, drinking, lots of unattached sex—in lieu of a stable, emotional environment. We could also look at how Owen reacts to Jack forgiving him in “End of Days.” His breakdown is coded very much as the relief of a son-figure being forgiven by a father/authority-figure. It’s the relief of someone who otherwise doesn’t have that in his life and has been terrified of losing it.

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Owen's badges on his lab coat.

On the left collar he has a Sex Pistol’s badge that says “I’m a mess.” A Rastafarian-coloured badge that says “Go Deh.” A greenish, sort of camouflage badge that says “U.K. SUBS.” A black badge which I cannot identify but I think says the word “pewter” last. I could be wrong.

On the right side of the collar, he has a white badge anarchy symbol in red and writing under it. Under that pin, there is an Andy Warhol-style multi-coloured grid of Che Guevara.

On the left hip pocket, he’s got a white badge that says “The Clash” in red. He also has 3 black badges — one with a white circular-shaped symbol and the other with a yellow circular-shaped symbol. The last one is too blurred for me to tell anything. The yellow one might be the Nirvana logo, but I can’t be sure.

On the left breast pocket he’s got a red badge with a black and white Che Guevara on it (4th down). He also has a badge which I recognize but can’t identify of a b/w photo of a nude woman with her right arm up (first one). There’s a red band of colour across her breasts which I assume has writing on it (in Reset, that pin is up on his collar).

I think that the torchwood employees should’ve written on jacks face with marker while he was dead. Like a frat party.

Jack wakes up from the dead to find “Property of Ianto Jones” scrawled on his forehead in Owen’s handwriting. None of the team will acknowledge that it’s there, no matter how many times he tries to bring it up. No one in Cardiff dares to mention it, when he has to go out in public.

The framed picture that the team sends to Martha is one of the greatest presents she’s ever received.