As I watched this episode for the first time, I at first thought: "Wait, did I skip an episode? Why is there a new character, I don't know?" Well done!
without going into detail, this episode is very much a riff on later-era buffy, with joss whedon (😬😬😬) being a huge influence on the early years of nuwho-and torchwood consciously positioned as the angel to doctor who's btvs
In my first watch of Torchwood over 15 years ago I never was much a fan of Owen as he was always a bit off-putting and odd looking. Rewatching this 15 years later and I am just shocked how much of a 180 my take is on his character. I guess tastes do change as now I look forward to the scenes he is in where’s before all I wanted to do was punch his smarmy little face. Seeing him all dolled up with glasses and acting all dorky and he went from k*** in FMK immediately to f***, though Ianto still will always be ‘m’ for me 🥰
i think the glasses, it's two different kinds of insecurity. lots of people technically need glasses but they don't need it enough to wear them except when it's crucial-because, they think it makes them less attractive. the owen from this episode kind of comes from the other angle on the same problem, never feeling he could be attractive long enough to imagine the glasses were a factor. of course in reality glasses almost always make a person 400% hotter-but "normal" owen is definitely the kind of person to buy into the cultural propaganda 😔
