Lucas North Speculation

[Byatil]

It's quite alright binkie, I think the discussion of Lucas/John's character is relevant to speculation of what may have happened to him, and indeed, speculation on his character may as well be part of the discussion (especially seeing as everyone is so keen to discuss it!).

The problem with Lucas' downfall, in my opinion, was the entire Vaughn/Maya link. If Lucas had been a sleeper spy for the Russians, a double-agent, or indeed manipulated by the Russians into stealing Albany for their Chinese allies, then that would have made a lot more sense. It's a bit predictable from a writers point of view, but for the viewers, it still creates that 'shock-factor' of "Oh... he wasn't who he said he was." The betrayal factor could still have been included. Lucas could still have been John Bateman, or even a man of Russian nationality who had been placed in the UK to infiltrate MI5 (Sugarhorse style?). The plot would still have worked. Heck, we could even have had some "topless Armitage" screentime if desired; simply have Lucas seduce a woman for information. The Vaughn/Maya story is the part that really didn't add up for me. There were a thousand other ways to create the same "traitor" plot-line, yet they chose to use the one that makes the least viable sense? A story where Lucas had been manipulated by the FSB into forcing Harry to hand over Albany would have worked wonders - Lucas would have had his revenge on Harry, Lucas would be a traitor, Lucas may well still have killed himself.

I think binkie makes an interesting point in that we all still refer to his character as 'Lucas'. To me that suggests that we, as an audience, simply do not accept the story that we've been told. Which is a rather large failing on the writers part, as to me, it suggests their plot is utterly unbelievable. With Connie, we may not have wanted to believe she was a traitor, but it was written and acted in a way that made it believable. So we accepted it.

It just frustrates me to no end that I can sit down and think up a few ways in which the plot could have been executed, and yet the writers seemed to sit down and pick the most 'shocking' story they could dream up. I realise they were obviously trying to go against the grain with Lucas' death (having him die dishonourably, attack his own team members, have a false-identity, etc) but I think the problem lies in the fact that it was poorly executed.