I do think the writers were on board by the time they were writing season 4, because there were glimmers of what might come in 4.1, 4.3 and 4.5. And it was definitely there by 4.9 and 4.10.

There was a lot of tension between them in 4.10, especially at the end after Ruth has lied to Angela.

That scene is incredibly sexy, just quietly.

I think it's there from 3.9 actually, in that episode the writers gave Harry and Ruth some wonderful scenes, like the pacing scene, where it is clear that these two are growing ever closer.

3.9 has always struck me as the episode that was written one way for them and then just made perfect by a sympathetic director and two actors who liked it. And then I think the writers and producers saw it and got on board.

I find it interesting that Ruth is the one person Harry always seems to try to justify his actions to. We see it in 3.10 when he explains to Ruth why they have to keep working after Danny is killed, and in that wonderful scene in 4.10 where he is trying to explain to her that he does have emotions, he just has to control them in order to do the job properly. With most other people he would probably not have bothered to correct their skewed views of him.

(02-01-2010 09:06 AM)almh Wrote:  

(02-01-2010 03:48 AM)lwhite53 Wrote:  Yes, I said somewhere earlier in some thread that Harry and Ruth will do for each other what each won't do for him/herself. I think that's a measure of their love -- they will protect each other at all costs without allowing themselves a second thought for their own well being. Such a strange psychology -- self-sacrifice for the well being of the other; unfortunately, as they're both intent on doing it, they wind up at an impasse. One of them will have to blink soon!

I agree - we definitely see a lot of that, and most clearly in 5.5

Going back briefly to the commentaries, NW is brilliant in them! You get some of them where it's the producer and the director and it gets a bit dry, but when they get some actors/actresses in, it's so much better, and NW is brilliant on them. Maybe that's why there aren't many for 5 - because she seemed to do most of 4 as I recall, and maybe no one was free for them.

I read somewhere that the DVD's are done during the filming of the next series so as Nicola wasn't doing series 6 that would be why she wasn't on series 5's commentary unfortunately

I think that's why on the series 2 extras you had NW and PF talking about HR before everyone else got on board. They would have done them while season 3 was being done.

It's probably also why my region 4 DVDs don't have extras as a rule - they seem to come out earlier than your ones.

Yes, they did but it was veeery subtle -- just quick glances and even quicker half-smiles, fleeting feelings really rather than anything overt, or even covert at that point. It was all implied, not really played.

Edit: This refers back to Beatriz's post about PF and NW talking about the H/R relationship in s2 (a page back). Everyone jumped on this so quickly that there were 10 posts in place before I got this in!

But that's why we love it - slow burn.