#dissected

[archive-of-fear]

Name: Dissected

Source: Torchwood

Category: Statement

Entity: The Stranger

Description: Statement of Martha Jones, regarding an autopsy on a corpse brought in by a former colleague

While the title and setting would suggest a more End aligned tale, this story is primarily Stranger-coded. The corpse itself is actually a shapeshifting alien, attempting (and nearly succeeding) to mimic a "normal" human corpse, even subtly changing its appearance based on what those around them have said they expect a corpse to look like (e.g. making its hair and fingernails grow longer in response to Gwen repeating the common myth that they continue to grow after death, and then retracting said features once Martha corrects her). Martha hypothesises this could be a tactic to infiltrate and eventually take over UNIT:

"Okay, let's think: you're an intelligent chameleon arriving on this planet; you know we'll detect your ship - use that. Pretend to be human - pretend to be a dead human - get yourself smuggled into an organisation adept at dealing with aliens. First, you take over the experts, and then the organisation, and then the whole system!"

However, before this revelation, a swab from the corpse's mouth registers two sets of DNA, one of them being Gwen's, making Martha become suspicious of her former colleague being a shapeshifting infiltrator. Gwen mirrors these suspicions back at her and the two of them interrogate each other, trying to prove the other is a fake, but end up realising how little they know about the other and how much they've drifted apart.

[lookwhatijustfound-blog]

A crochet dissected rat

(Etsy)

[snkts]

if you are blase about mutant rights, logan will punch you

[joyed4ever]

Japanese aesthetics

[blu3lemonade99]

Dissected chibi commission for @domnyy :3

[skooodles]

Todd is still such a badass

[the-torchwood-archive]

The first time I listened to Dissected, I was a little turned off by the dynamic between Gwen and Martha. They were so antagonistic that I had trouble reconciling it with what we had seen on tv and in Lost Souls. But then it occurred to me that, actually, it's probably the most accurate portrayal of what their relationship would be like.

In work contexts, they get along famously, but the moment they start trying to form a personal friendship, it simply isn't there. It's because, in many ways, they are too similar.

Two women who had dedicated their lives to helping people, only to be burnt again and again. Two women who loved men that they put on a pedestal, only to be reminded how far people on a pedestal can fall. Two women who joined organizations they once would have reviled in an attempt to make them better, only to have their lives destroyed around them.

Both women are ruled by their hearts, but Martha moves through life guided by her mind while Gwen is guided by her soul.

While saving the world, Gwen will chose to return to her family because they are what she's fighting for and she will be by their side to protect them. While saving the world, Martha will leave her family because they are what she's fighting for and if not being by their side keeps them safe, then so be it.

And that is why, on the surface, they get along famously but could never manage to bridge that gap into being real friends. They look at a situation and have the same instinct to assist, but go about it in completely different ways.

They're so similar and yet so different and I don't think they would ever be able to really overcome that.

The alternate universe where Martha had joined the Torchwood team after Owen would have been brilliant, but I doubt that the tv writers would have had the guts to write them as anything other than good friends.