#srsly I am having so much fun writing these long as meta/analysis posts

[kathrynmjaneway]

Sort of a character analysis of Ng in Aliens Among Us (pt. 1)

I’ve been wondering about Ng a lot and what kind of ‘person’ she is? Why did she take over Gwen’s body? Why does she pretend to be Gwen and live her life instead of just (for example) using her body and starting a life somewhere else? Does she work for someone (the Sorvix or the Committee, as I have theorized before here)? Are there more aliens like Ng out there? But mainly - what motivates Ng? What is her goal, what does she want to achieve? And seeing that Ng plays the role of Gwen almost throughout all of the first four episodes (only being herself at the end of ASCG and at the funeral in Orr) it’s hard to really see (hear) who Ng really is.

But I think the following quotes give us a glimpse into her character and possibly understanding her a little bit:

“Would it help if I said, I was an alien?” -”Are you?” “Everyone’s an alien to someone! I should know! I work for Torchwood!” (~28:30 min, SC)

“The manager wouldn’t talk to me because I’m human. That’s a new one.” (~14:35 min, SC)

“Maybe if an alien looks human, it is human.” (~3:40 min, ASCG) [….] “If [aliens] are trying to live among us, then we’re not here to wipe them out, do we? […] We can learn from them. They can learn from us, you know, cultural diversity. Torchwood can smooth the process, like we’ll do tonight.”

Again and again, Ng mentions humans in comparison to aliens, throwing around the questions about what makes someone human and if it really is so important to be human to be accepted. Why the ‘discrimination’ against aliens on this planet if on other planets humans would be the aliens and would probably want to be accepted as well and fit in their society/live among them? Are looks the only thing that ‘qualifies’ someone as human? Ng disagrees with Mr. Colchester when he says that there is a difference between foreigners and aliens. Doesn’t the character or the actions/behaviour of someone count more? And do aliens have to behave like humans to fit in?

What’s interesting here is that this is definitely something Gwen would think/say as well (as seen in Sleeper).

After all Gwen always looks for the good in people, tries to understand them and help them, she has a good heart (even if she is really naïve at times and does hurt the people around her, like Rhys, but the point still stands). Gwen fights for the good, she is (supposedly) the heart of Torchwood, brings back that ‘humanity’.

Does this mean that Ng consciously chose Gwen as the human to take over because Ng thinks of all people Gwen would be the one who understands her? (Of course this also begs the question how Ng found Gwen and found out Gwen’s thoughts/opinions, etc.)

But despite having that ‘connection’ with Gwen and sharing those opinions, and seemingly having no problem to take on the role as a Torchwood agent, Ng is also very different than Gwen and struggling to take on Gwen’s role as a daughter, mother and wife.

[in response to Mr. Colchester asking Gwen if she wants to call Rhys or Anwen to see if she’s alright] “Nahh, it’s my night of freedom! Of the leash, on the lash!” (~9 min, ASCG)

[on the phone with Mary] “[…] Don’t worry! Rhys will be home soon. If Anwen’s down, go home! It’s fine, honest! … Yes, Mum, I’m a terrible mum, no mum, I don’t know where I got it from. […]” (~ 37:10 min, ASCG)

Mary: […] “It’s just, you didn’t ask about Rhys, just now.” Ng: “No?” Mary: “No.” Ng: “He’s fine though, yeah? […]” (~1:00:00, ASCG)

“Rhys. Back off!” (~29 min, Orr, after Rhys tells Gwen how she seems so numb about her mother’s death, especially since she was Gwen’s last connection to her childhood, and because previously Ng/Gwen had made it sound like Gwen is feeling guilty for Mary dying, ~5 min)

These quotes stand in contrast to what I’ve said above about Ng sharing at least something with Gwen and caring about the same things. In terms of Gwen’s family and her relationship, Ng really only plays a role she isn’t doing such a good job with that. While Ng knows about Gwen’s feelings towards her mothers, Anwen and Rhys, it doesn’t mean she also understands or gets it – which frankly is the reason why Mary and Rhys are the first people to notice that there is something wrong with Gwen (and Anwen seems to notice something as well, going from the trailer for pt. 2).

Of course playing ‘Gwen the Torchwood agent’ is something way less personal, than playing ‘Gwen the actual person with relationships’, so I think it’s ‘natural’ for Ng to not have such a good grasp on that or care less about that aspect of Gwen’s personality, especially seeing that this isn’t actually something they have shared previously.

And yet Ng still so clearly cares about things that aren’t affecting her personally and that she could easily decide not to care about:

“Your whole city has gone to shit!” (~2 min, CE)

“If it weren’t for me, [Mary]’d still be here.” (~5:40 min, Orr)

[To Rhys, at the funeral] “Can I just have a moment alone with [Mary]?” [To Gwen] “It really didn’t have to be this way, it really didn’t. It was her own fault. Anyway, I thought you should see her one last time. Make it count.” (~15:15 min, Orr)

Ng at least somewhat cares about Cardiff (even if she specifically says ‘your’ not ‘our’ or ‘my’ city). She recognizes that she caused Gwen pain, is aware of Gwen’s presence in her mind and listens to her to some extend at least and takes Gwen’s feelings and her pain into account. Ng knows exactly what she has done and that she is causing pain with that. While giving Gwen that last moment with her mother at the funeral, the chance to say goodbye to her, is no apology for her actions, but it shows that Ng doesn’t really hate Gwen. She emphasizes that there could have been a choice, that she wouldn’t have killed Mary, if she hadn’t said or noticed anything. And the way she talks to Gwen makes her sound like she is honestly sorry, but that this just had to be the way to protect her identity.

Ng just needs Gwen, uses her for her own purposes, and Gwen just so happens to be on the bad end of that. But all in all, Ng still puts her own goals and needs before Gwen’s, her focus on what she wants to achieve (what we still don’t know!) doesn’t waver.

And then there’s this scene:

“Message from Torchwood – you want to continue living here? Behave!” (~19:55 min, ASCG)

Of course, this scene takes place before Ng kills Gwen’s mother and Ng is specifically talking about the Sorvix living amongst the humans, but she recognizes and knows what it takes to fit in or be accepted within the human society.

This in turn makes me wonder why she did kill Mary in that situation. Ng could have technically just told her some lie about Gwen being affected by work etc., she could have reassured Mary somehow, especially since it seems like Ng really does want, or at least needs to fit in with the humans and not stand out. Staging someone murdering Gwen’s mother is not the way to really smoothly blend in and not drawing attention to oneself. Yes, Ng ‘needs’ to protect her identity, but she does it in a rather aggressive way.

Maybe Ng acted in the heat of the moment when she kills Mary because she was so surprised about someone noticing something, possibly being on the verge of finding out what was really going on. Ng could have been scared, but she doesn’t sound scared at all, but very sure about what she is about to do when she talks to Mary about still sometimes hearing Gwen in her head. She sounds and acts like killing the people who find out about her is her go-to solution, which sort of contradicts what I said above – about being human and behaving if she/aliens want to fit in with humans and about her honestly feeling at least a little bit sorry for having to do it. And that in turn only brings us back to the question about what Ng’s plan is and what her goals are and what she is doing on Earth/in Cardiff.

 I think in a way Ng’s situation can be compared to the storyline in Sleeper and the question of whether or not Beth was human. Of course, the situations are still different, especially since the sleeper agents have a very clear and upfront goal and (as I understood it, correct me if I’m wrong) haven’t taken over human bodies, but instead have taken on a human form to live among them and gather information about them. And of course Beth isn’t aware of actually being a sleeper agent until team Torchwood finds out, and she doesn’t have control over that part of her, until they ‘deactivate’ the sleeper agent. The point is – is feeling and behaving like a human enough to be human? Even though some part of them isn’t human or acting like on at all? The answer in Sleeper is a clear ‘No’ in the end. Even if they were finally able to deactivate the sleeper agent, it still presented a (unpredictable?!) danger.

Does that mean that the same goes for Ng? The main difference of course is that Ng is fully aware of all her actions and has control, she tries (for whatever reason!) to fit in with the human society and she works for Torchwood (even if it’s only a cover and only temporarily -- possibly). Will the team react the same way they did in ‘Sleeper’ – killing the alien when it threatens Gwen? What does that mean for Gwen? Is Gwen going to die because of Ng? Because right now she is still alive – she just doesn’t have control over her body, but will the others know about that when they find out about Ng?

 And at last there still a few important questions: Where does Ng come from? What sort of alien is she? Does she need a human body/a different body that she can ‘latch on’ to survive? What is Ng’s goal, what does she want on earth? How long will it take the others to find out that Gwen isn’t herself? How will the rest of the team and Rhys react when they find out? What will happen to Gwen – can she survive?

All in all I don’t think we can’t really write Ng off as an evil person/alien, I think at this point she is a really grey character and I think, going from what I’ve said about her in this post, that the will only be proven in the future parts of Aliens Among Us. There is still a lot I could talk about when it comes to Ng (I didn’t even get into the relationship to Jack and Orr!) and possibilities what she will do/what will happen in the future parts, but even with the limited knowledge we have about her so far in AAU pt. 1 this has gotten long enough already, I think :’)

Personally, while writing this post, which has taken a completely different direction than I planned or expected, I really got even more intrigued by her character (and how her character shines through while she is playing the role of Gwen) and her story arch, and as a character I really like her. I’m really curious to how that particular storyline is gonna continue, what the consequences are and how the conflict of human vs. alien and acting human/wanting to fit in vs. discrimination will play out.