Series 10 - Episode 6 Discussion

[Betty]

Just want to say for the record that my head is quite cool now, yet I still see this Harry/Ruth business very differently from some of you! I think that part of the problem is that Peter Firth really plays the yen and yang of Harry so well: when he's with Ruth, we see the vulnerable center of the man--he's awkward and diffident and even boyish. These are appealing qualities in a hero who seems mostly all-knowing and invulnerable (hate to point out the obvious, but boyish vulnerability is probably more appealing to women, especially to 40 plus year-old former wallflowers who identify with Ruth).

I know that it drives some people nuts that the HR romance became so inflated in the minds of a few (well, it could be more than a few...we'll never know). And I don't care for soap opera-ish plots normally (Downton Abbey is driving me bats at the moment), so I do feel a bit ashamed of myself for getting caught up in this. But I CAN say that I didn't make up or exaggerate the intense chemistry between those characters; the fault for that chemistry and the ensuing tragedy lies with Peter Firth, Nicola Walker, and a couple of story-hungry writers who smelled blood in the water. Ar-oooooooo! (That was a howling sound.) Of all possible endings, they probably chose the best from a dramatic point of view. I don't know that I'll ever stop wishing, though, that they'd chosen the most merciful...