Character Highlight: Rhys Williams (Torchwood)

Sometimes comic relief, sometimes source of romantic drama, sometimes convenient damsel, sometimes surprisingly helpful.  At his worst, Gwen’s bloke is a walking symbol of Dull Everyday Life Before Torchwood, contrasted with the fascinating, dashing Jack, but at his best, he’s a pretty good example of An Ordinary Man Holding His Own Against the Impossible (Rhys-related spoilers.)

The majority of shows that mix the real world with sci-fi/superheroes/the supernatural require the main character “in the know” to have a loved one with no idea what’s going on.  It’s a well-worn trope; as I pointed out, this loved one can be an endless well of secret-keeping hijinks, angst from the main character having to lie to them (often accompanied by strain on the relationship,) and crises involving the loved one unknowingly getting caught up in the danger.  While this loved one is often a romantic partner, it’s also usually a girlfriend or wife, which is a box Rhys obviously doesn’t fit.  However, the gender really doesn’t make the trope any more enjoyable.  This dynamic almost invariably frustrates me, because keeping such enormous secrets upsets the balance of the relationship, and even though the average person naturally isn’t going to suspect that their girlfriend catches aliens for a living, the viewers know what’s really going on, and so the continued obliviousness makes the loved one look dumb by comparison.

This is where Rhys sits for much of series 1.  It’s not a great look, and it’s compounded by the fact that Gwen is basically a mess as she struggles to adjust to life in Torchwood and treats him pretty badly as a result.  You get the sense that the aura the writers are going for is, “Look at the poor lug – he has no idea,” and while Kai Owen’s performance paints a decent picture of an affable Regular Joe who can’t figure out why his girlfriend has started acting so weird and shifty all the time, it’s not terribly exciting to see.

Things improve when, early in series 2, Rhys gets wise to all the alien business.  No longer being in the dark almost always helps characters like this, and Rhys starts coming off better almost right away.  I like that he doesn’t find out through a slip of the tongue or stumbling accidentally into irrefutable evidence, as often happens in these situations.  Rather, the alien plot of the week tangentially enters his circle, affecting one of his employees, and when Rhys discovers that Gwen is involved in whatever’s going on, he takes it upon himself to investigate.  By the time he confronts her about it, he’s already learned quite a lot, and he’s ready to help, doing a nice bit of undercover work and putting himself in danger during the mission.  From there, his contributions to Torchwood are occasional but generally good.  Even if he doesn’t run around guns blazing or have many special skills, he’s a dependable extra hand who’s an asset, not a liability.

I also like that, although the realization that Gwen is in Torchwood freaks Rhys out and makes him worry for her safety, he doesn’t try to make her quit.  There’s some “What were you thinking?” stuff, and I don’t like him grilling Jack about why he recruited Gwen, but he never says, “This is too dangerous; I’m not having it.”  In fact, when he helps with that first mission, it’s really more about him than Gwen.  He doesn’t demand to go along to keep an eye on Gwen or anything like that, instead insisting that he’d be valuable to the mission because he’s already established contact with certain persons of interest and can help the team get in.  I appreciate that – he’s worried, as anyone would be, but he also doesn’t interfere with Gwen’s choices.