[spoilers] Ruth

[Tea Lady]

Your education is very important Almh but obviously not as much fun as talking about Ruth. I think Ruths choice of husband was interesting although we didnt really get to know him before he was killed. He seemed to have a serious side (which probably came with being a doctor) and a fun side, joking about the wine and Nico. Although he was older than Ruth and obviously well educated I dont think he was a direct replacement for Harry. Harry and George did seem very different people to me. I guess though George seemed the sort of chap to have taken care of Ruth and not hurt her. Something Ruth really deserved and perhaps wanted after giving up her old life for Harry.

[Beatriz]

That was a good one almh!

(15-12-2009 09:18 AM)Tea Lady Wrote:  At what point did Ruth fall for Harry and why? Do you think she does in general like older men? Do they give her the confidence she once lacked? Just some thoughts to try and get into Ruth's head and heart a bit more.

That are good questions, Tea Lady.
I agree with almh, She fell for Harry due to her respect for him. I think it was something slow, as she was knowing him she was falling for him.

I'd say, in 3x07, it take place an important fact in Ruth's heart,she dates Andrew who turns out to be a hacker and he kidnapped her. She shared with Andrew her lonelyness... And I think she was building up her hopes... And there, it was Harry...
Another decisive point in HR relationship, I think, it's in 4x10, when she confront her step-brother's girlfriend, Angela. Harry and Ruth held a very interesting discussion, there you could watch their chemistry together

And I don't think Ruth likes old men... George wasn't so old, I'd say he's the same age as her... I don't know...
But I do reckon she like experienced and educated men...

[almh]

We've been watching films so not been missing much! Am meant to be working now though...

I agree that Ruth 'married' George for different reasons to why she went out with Harry. It seems to me that she has had a very lonely life, with no real family and not many friends outside of work. As she said in the eerie episode, she is just her work. I think after 5.5, when she had lost her job, the man she loved and her friends she just wanted an ordinary life and to be loved. I think George gave her that. I think if pre 5.5 she had to chose between Harry and her work, and George and an ordinary life, I think that she would have chosen Harry.

[Beatriz]

Totally agreed. George could give her love and a normal life, the one that she didn't have. And he surely was a caring man, and that's what she needed. I suppose he was in the right place the right moment for her.

[JHyde]

(15-12-2009 12:00 PM)almh Wrote:  I think after 5.5, when she had lost her job, the man she loved and her friends she just wanted an ordinary life and to be loved. I think George gave her that. I think if pre 5.5 she had to chose between Harry and her work, and George and an ordinary life, I think that she would have chosen Harry.

I think this is a good summary.

[Tea Lady]

Yes although Ruth said that she loved her ordinary life in Cyprus, did she really deep down? It was a safe life. No chance of it going wrong (i'm excluding the whole uranium, torture thing here) and getting hurt again. It must have been a boring life though. Did Ruth really long for that safe life? She never gave the impression she wanted to leave the service before 5.5. and seek that safe life out? I dont think she ever would even if her and Harry had not happened ever. She would have stayed "married" to the service I believe for ever.

The episode where she goes on the date with Malcolm to try and get to know that singer chap she fancied (I cant remember which episode this was) was very sad. I find that hard to watch. Does anyone know why Harry was having her watched? Did he want her to fall flat on her face so he could help pick up the pieces? Did he even care for her then?

[lwhite53]

I'm thinking Ruth took to her life in Cyprus because she had to. Her old life was gone, as far as she knew, and she really had only two options -- pine away for what she had lost or move forward. R's a smart enough lady to know that she had to leave the old behind and make a new life for herself. So she gets herself a job in a hospital, meets a nice doctor with a young son and takes the plunge into "ordinary" life. And from the short clip we saw of her life in Cyprus, she did seem to be happy.

As I remember, Tea Lady, Harry was having Ruth watched because he thought she was spending too much of her time listening to unimportant eavesdropping tapes and he wanted to know why. So he put Sam on the case. (There's a discussion of this in Harry's Diary -- additional to what was seen in the ep -- which you'll love. R at her best!).

[JHyde]

I remember we had a great deal of discussion about this on the first episode thread of season 8. I might try and find some thoughts on this. I'm of the opinion that Ruth had always been conflicted about having both normality and her job, but I agree that once she went to Cyprus, there was no conceivable way she would ever return. She had to try and start a life for herself, and George was kind and good and had a good job and seemed to be really into her. That's very hard to resist, especially when you're as lonely as Ruth had seemed to have been for a very long time.

[Tea Lady]

My copy of Harry's diary is on its way. It may actually be there waiting for me at home when I return from the office today. Feeling very left out not having a copy.

Actually I am packing up now to go home to see.

[Silktie]

What is it that I love about Ruth? Her compassion first of all - in the earlier series she was the local Agony Aunt of the Grid. Her fierce intelligence, and her boundless enthusiasm when she discovered a vital piece of information. I also loved her social awkwardness, as this is a very common trait among analysts. Her loyalty to her friends on the Grid. Her dry sense of humour. The character was very well defined in the earlier series, she seemed almost the most real character of them all - you could picture knowing her and having her as that one friend we all have that is a fount of weird and wonderful information.

On George vs Harry, to me George seemed really different from Harry - even tempered, calm, less driven. It almost seemed as though she sought out a man that is the opposite of Harry in many ways. The stable but possibly slightly dull guy would seem like bliss after the tumult of her life and relationship with Harry. I wonder, though, if the great attraction for her wasn't Nico more than George. She probably saw this as her last chance to have a child and a family.

Here's an interesting question - if George hadn't been killed, would Ruth have chosen him over Harry?