TVSquad

(S02E09) Gwen Cooper finds her career intruding on her home life when she is impregnated by an alien shapeshifting carnivore on her wedding day. And you thought your wedding day had problems.

This was more of a comic-relief episode than any of the season's previous ones. It was a welcome respite from the heavy life-and-death episode about Owen from last week.

On a side note, I'm amazed Owen, since he died and was resurrected, still doesn't have the craving for human flesh that the shapeshifter from this episode had. In all other aspects he's pretty much become a zombie. Maybe that bit happens later.

The episode centered around Gwen and her relationship with both Captain Jack and her fiancé Rhys. Gwen and Jack have maintained an interesting relationship that shifts between sibling and romantic. She even nearly kisses Jack on her wedding day (although it ends up being the shapeshifter). In the event that Rhys is ever out of the picture, it wouldn't surprise me if Gwen and Jack start something. Since he knows of Torchwood's existence, I'm amazed Rhys is still alive and some alien parasite hasn't sucked out his brain. I also think Jack is grooming Gwen as the next in command.

It seems like every television show has to have at least one wedding episode. Torchwood proves itself to be no exception. Perhaps they're making a sociopolitcal statement about how one should be able to balance work with personal life (even when work involves alien invasions).

Weddings works as a plot device because they allow the involvement of many characters and allows for certain feelings and situations to come to light. This was shown when Owen "warmed up" to Tosh (in as much as a dead man can) at the reception and asking her to dance.

I found it interesting that Tosh was very cold to Rhys' best man while Owen, while he was alive, was pretty cold to Tosh. You'd think she'd be more sympathetic.

It's also interesting how the affair between Owen and Gwen in the first season was never mentioned in this episode. You'd think there would be some leftover guilt on the part of Gwen for cheating on Rhys like that. Unless, you know, there wasn't.

Prerequisite in virtually every television wedding is meeting both the bride and groom's extended families, particularly their parents. Hilarity usually ensues. I think this wedding fit the cliché perfectly when Rhys' mom ended up being quite the bitch. I couldn't help but laugh at the extremely British snark of the responses from Gwen's mother.

I did like the scene at the end where Captain Jack went through his historical photographs and we see that he was married in one of his past lives (to a woman, no less!). Slowly we're learning more about Jack's past as the series progresses and everything we learn only leaves us with more questions.

Although entertaining, the plot itself was pretty sci-fi cliché (alien invader of the week). The real goal of this episode was the development of the characters. There were some times where I asked myself, "Can't they just finally kill this shapeshifter thing and get on with the wedding?"

In the end, so nobody in the wedding would confess to the outside world that there are killer aliens on the loose. Torchwood spikes the drinks with Retcon and makes everyone forget about the day. It would make for an interesting plot point later. Imagine talking to Gwen's mother in some future episode and her saying "Well, I remember that my daughter had a wedding day, but I don't quite remember what happened. We also seemed to have lost the videotape and the photos."

I liked the episode. It was light and fluffy yet it furthered things along with regard to the Torchwood universe and its characters. I certainly want to tune in and see what happens next. My final thought about the episode is that now that Gwen and Rhys are married, I think his remaining lifespan is probably measurable on an egg timer.