I am now much more aware of the Mystical Pregnancy Trope than I was when I first watched this episode, but I still think the story is quite well done and could have been a lot worse (though I did have a moment of realisation/cringing when I saw Gwen about to give birth in a stable). Gwen’s facial expressions during her initial reaction are especially wonderful in their outrageousness, and I thought Mervyn’s oral/death scene would have been a lot cruder if it was in Series 1.
Owen is quite sweet to Tosh in this episode, though we still get no indication of his former life in Fragments; he says he doesn’t do weddings, and we’re really given no reason to doubt this. Are we really going to remember this single line three episodes later, especially after he's so easily persuaded to come by Tosh anyway? And although Tosh briefly laments her lack of a partner, she also gets some good moments as a Super Single Woman, knowing that she’s far too good for Banana Boat.
God that guy was annoying, as were Gwen’s friends. First of all, I wonder how she still has friends since she barely has time for Rhys anymore (have they not seen her a year yet they’re still taking her on her hen’s night?). Secondly, when the black one (if they had names, I didn’t hear them) started screaming at Mervyn’s dead body, I thought back to Blake’s 7, where in the two most obvious instances of women helplessly screaming, it turned out to be an act. Not so here in the 21st century.
Given how much emphasis Gwen places on her love of Rhys and her will to marry him, I found the Gwack really misplaced here. I was quite happy to believe that Gwen actually wanted to marry Rhys, but the impression I get later is that she needed to marry him, otherwise she’d always be tempted by Jack (and almost was). What’s worse is that intentionally or not, Jack tends to lead Gwen on during the episode, which is also unfair on Ianto. He jokes about Ianto being something to “do” while Gwen’s away, and then watches her after Ianto’s plucked up the courage to dance with him. It could be argued that he was just thinking about marriage in general, but the fact that it’s Gwen doesn’t help his case.
I end on a comment made by Jack at the beginning of the episode – that a Mystical Pregnancy has happened in Torchwood before. I can't help but wondering if Jack was the subject of this pregnancy, hence his line about never getting pregnant again in Everything Changes.
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