| Torchwood Character | |
|---|---|
| |
| Dr. Owen Harper | |
| Arrival date: | |
| Age: | 27 |
| Birthdate: | 14 February 1980 |
| Occupation: | Doctor |
| OOC Information | |
| Portrayed by: | Burn Gorman |
| Journal: | Doctor, Thank You |
| Tag: | dr. owen harper |
| Player: | Reg |
Owen Harper comes from episode 2.06 (Reset) of Torchwood. As such, there will be spoilers on this page. Consider yourself warned.
Background[]
It's unknown how long for certain Owen's been at Torchwood. Presumably, it's longer that the three years that Toshiko has since it's revealed later on in the series that with the suicide of Suzie Costello Owen is now second in command. He's the team's resident medic, with not only a degree in internal medicine, but also a trained psychologist. Owen Harper (Doctor, thank you) is a genius and knows it. He's also aware of his own physical appeal and has used it to make as many sexual conquests as he could in the past.
He's introduced to the audience as a bit of a man whore, but his humanity is shown in 1.03 when because of an alien device he witnesses the fifty year old rape and murder of a girl after a dance. He tracks down the murderer (directly against Jack's orders) intending only to frighten him into confessing, but ends up through a strange and twisted series of events nearly killing the man. Gwen talks him down from the edge and it's theorized that the moment there is what starts their relationship. For Owen, Gwen was just another conquest, easily shoved to the side when someone new and exciting came along. Unfortunately for Owen, however that fascinating new thing turned out to be a pilot named Diane Holmes. He set out simply to make a "fuck buddy" out of her, but ended up falling hard and fast. He lacked the ability to concentrate well on the world around him when the prospect of seeing her again served as a thrilling distraction, and he confessed in a round about sort of way that he was in love with her. It was a feeling she claimed to have reciprocated, but in the end her love for flying was greater and she left Owen in pursuit of going through the time rift back to the era she left. Owen was devastated. He didn't go to work, preferring instead to do as much as he could away from people who might see him as weak for mourning as he was. He took to drinking, though it's unknown if he was eating or sleeping it can probably be presumed that he wasn't doing much of either if he was at all. He even went so far as to attempt suicide by Weevil and nearly succeeds before Jack rescues him.
In the following episode, Jack and Toshiko are sucked through a rift in time, leaving Owen as acting head of Torchwood Three in Jack's absence. He freaks out and does everything he can to open the rift under the pretense of getting back their comrades when in reality he's trying to bring back Diane as well. He might have, in fact, even gone so far as to convince himself that he was doing everything for the good of the team. He's so convinced that his quest to open the rift and bring them back is the right thing to do that he even fights through the pain of a Ianto inflicted gunshot wound to complete the last step to start the machine up.
Owen has his loyalty questioned once everything's calmed down enough for them to process what's happened and why it's happened. Eventually, his desire to reopen the rift gets him fired by Jack and he starts spiraling back down into depression again with the knowledge that his memories are going to be wiped sometime in the next 24 hours. He'll lose everything he has and any personal growth he's made over the course of the years he spent at Torchwood. Unable to cope with this, and after a confrontation with a hallucination of the woman he lost, Owen goes back to the hub and sparks revolution amongst his peers. If there were any doubts in the beginning of the season that Owen was capable of murder he quickly puts those to rest, portraying himself as a sort of 'Judas figure' in the group.
When Jack disappears, Owen remains as second in command as he allows Gwen to take charge and play at being leader. When John shows up, Owen doesn't particularly question why they're doing what they're doing. It's Jack's old friend, they'll help the bastard and get on with their lives. It isn't until John Hart hits Tosh that Owen really distrusts the bastard. He ends up getting shot in the hip and left in a position where John assumes that he won't be able to effectively save Gwen who up and got herself poisoned.
In 2.02, Owen uses experimental alien tech to help identify a "sleeper agent" hidden in the general population. In 2.03, Owen tries not to be outwardly jealous of Tosh being in love with another man, or, well, giving her attention to someone else, especially someone she's only seen once a year. He's not very comforting when he (the other man) has to go back to his own time, and Owen proceeds to continue to ignore any feelings Tosh may have for him. In 2.04, Owen puts an alien creature that'd been used as an infinite source of meat out of its misery because he can't find a way to save it. Nobody feels worse about this than Owen, who regards his work as to save people, not kill them. In 2.05, Owen's personality does a 180 when Adam arrives and tampers with everyone's memories. Owen regains himself by taking some retcon and holding onto the painful memories of his mother before falling asleep and waking up as if nothing had ever gone wrong, any traces of Adam were wiped completely from his memory.
And finally in 2.06, Owen meets Ms. Martha Jones and flirts with her. He spends time trying to show off with the singularity scalpel, a device he doesn't quite yet know how to use properly. They encounter a company called the Pharm with a drug called Reset that is actually an alien parasite. Martha goes undercover to help bring down the company. She's caught and injected with Reset. Owen and Jack arrive just in time for Owen to use the singularity scalpel successfully and save her. Owen arrives in the town of Canyon Ridge mere minutes before his death at the hands of his former hero, Dr. Aaron Copley.
Personality[]
He's passionate, devoted (in his own way), and fearless. Prone to bouts of intense emotion, Owen often acts without thinking about the consequences of his actions. "I'm sorry," isn't in his vocabulary because he's used to being right just by virtue of being him. He doesn't react well to things that are beyond his control like falling in love or ending up on some strange magical island. He starts to feel desperate, backed into a corner almost, and does anything to pull himself out of the trouble he's in including risking his life and the lives of countless others. As self-centered as he is, he likes to keep his secrets secret. His communication skills on a personal level leave something to be desired, but when it comes to his professional duty there's not much that Owen won't tell you. With Owen, it's often difficult to distinguish between what's real and what he wants you to see. He's learned to manipulate with the best of them, a skill that he probably learned because he had to and as slowly evolved into something some sick and twisted part of him actually enjoys doing.
Inventory Upon Arrival[]
- One pale blue button down
- One pair of blue jeans
- One pair of trainers
- One pair of socks (white)
- One pair of boxer briefs (blue and green plaid)
- One watch, black leather strap, silver face
- One bluetooth comlink, now ineffective
- One singularity scalpel
- One wallet containing various indentifying papers and cards and £3.75