[spoilers] Harry and Ruth Strike Back

[Silktie]

That's a very good point, lwhite. Perhaps Harry was concerned about his own objectivity, and the way he interrogated Christine and blamed her for Tom's demise is probably a good indication that his judgement was not entirely sound at that point.

I wonder whether this experience with Tom, and the role Harry believes his relationship with Christine played in his downfall, influenced Harry's own approach to love and relationships. Tom's story is clearly a cautionary tale of what can happen to a spy that allows his feelings to get the upper hand. If Tom hadn't been so intent on protecting Christine, he would have gone to Harry with the information Christine gave him much earlier and most of this sorry mess could have been avoided.

I'm sure this served as a cautionary tale to Harry and contributed to him waiting so long to do somethig about his feelings for Ruth. It is rather ironic, then, that Harry's own downfall at the hand of Mace is similarly engineered through Harry trying to protect Ruth. The outcome is only different this time because Ruth then sacrifices herself to save Harry.