[spoilers] Sir Harry Pearce 2.0

[Tea Lady]

(20-05-2010 04:43 PM)JHyde Wrote:  "It's his [Harry's] lonely existence that makes for such an endearing character..."
Are we all clucky over Harry?

I don't think it's his lonely existence. I don't think I/we are in Harry's head enough to know whether he is lonely. I like him because he is strong or puts up a front that he is strong. He is dependable. Something that is hard to find in a work place IMO. Am I clucky over Harry? Maybe. Would I like to take him home and cook him chicken chasseur? Yes I would. I do have an A'level in Home Economics.

[JHyde]

You're the Tea Lady, I would hope so!

[Silktie]

Episode 3.9 definitely strengthened my love for Harry. I love the fact that he is willing to take his share of the blame, and that he doesn't shy away from using the daughter at the end. Even more, I like that he is there when they do it, and isn't hiding in his office and letting Adam do this very hard thing alone. Yet, during his interview he acknowledges that there is a cost to those that use such methods, even if the end does justify the means. Harry knows that there is a real danger that you become like the enemy you are fighting if you do morally questionable things like torture, but he is willing to do it to safeguard his country. I respect that a great deal.

[Tea Lady]

I thought Harry showed two different faces in 3.9 and I am not quite sure which one was the true Harry. When Ruth discovered that Morgan had a child, Harry seemed very uneasy in front of her but then moments later, in front of Adam, Harry seemed very hardened to the fact that they may have to use the daughter. Perhaps Harry wasn't at all comfortable with the idea, but knew that if Adam was to carry his actions through, Harry had to show conviction.

Also I noticed that Harry says to Adam "Compassion is not always useful in this job" but in 8.1 Harry berates Mani and says "you know nothing about compassion" indicating that Harry IS compassionate. Harry seems to change so much, IMO, between series 3 and series 8. I wonder what he will be like in series 9?

[SPOOK91]

If anything I think that Harry became more ruthless when Ruth left (if your excuse the pun) in series 6 and 7 he was really quite brutal in some aspects, murdering Kachimov and garotting the Russian in the subway. He seemed to have gone backwards in some ways. Such as referring back to his field work (as much as we all enjoyed it.) However, the Harry in series 8 sees a loved one in pain and I think he changes here.

[lwhite53]

(23-05-2010 07:32 PM)Tea Lady Wrote:  I thought Harry showed two different faces in 3.9 and I am not quite sure which one was the true Harry. When Ruth discovered that Morgan had a child, Harry seemed very uneasy in front of her but then moments later, in front of Adam, Harry seemed very hardened to the fact that they may have to use the daughter. Perhaps Harry wasn't at all comfortable with the idea, but knew that if Adam was to carry his actions through, Harry had to show conviction.

I think Harry is a different person with Ruth than with the others, even this early in their "relationship" (I use that word for lack of a better term). When she questions him about whether there's anything they wouldn't do, he's in a quandary. It's easy to conjecture, to talk hypothetically, but when he's in the room with Adam, he knows what needs to be done and what he has to do in order to successfully carry out his responsibilities. It's part of Harry's dual nature that he is compassionate but has to tamp down his feelings in order to be effective.

[JHyde]

(23-05-2010 10:24 PM)SPOOK91 Wrote:  If anything I think that Harry became more ruthless when Ruth left (if your excuse the pun) in series 6 and 7 he was really quite brutal in some aspects, murdering Kachimov and garotting the Russian in the subway. He seemed to have gone backwards in some ways. Such as referring back to his field work (as much as we all enjoyed it.) However, the Harry in series 8 sees a loved one in pain and I think he changes here.

Don't worry too much - the pun has been made many a time!

As to Tea Lady's theory about why Harry is unsure when he's with Ruth and then firm with Adam, I think it's a not so simple matter that he is reticent to use the information (you really would be a heartless bastard to be flippant about it) but is sure by the time he is with Adam. And he should be sure - he's sending Adam in to do the worst bit of the job.

[Silktie]

Harry's different reactions might also be a matter of time. When he speaks to Adam, he's had time to mentally work through the implications and control/suppress his emotions on the subject. When Ruth confronts him with it, he hasn't had time to do it and his emotions and doubts over the issue show through. It's also interesting that when Danny raises concerns about Adam's stability, Harry quickly agrees to be the one to make the call on whether to involve the daughter. To me this shows that using her remains a sore point for Harry and he wants to make sure she is not unnecessarily dragged into this mess.

[Silktie]

My love for Harry grew even more when in 4.1 and 4.2 he went straight to the HS to tender his resignation after Juliet tried to blackmail him. I think it says so much about the man. I mean, it's not as if she wanted state secrets from him, she was just trying to play her power games, but Harry would have none of it. I also admire him for the fact that he was willing to tell the HS what she was blackmailing him with. He could've kept that rather unsavoury incident to himself, but chose to make a clean breast of things.

This informs my thinking on some of the season 9 speculation:

Spoiler: show

This makes the speculation that Harry could be the one revealed as a traitor very hard to believe for me. How are they going to convince us that a man who was willing to resign over this minor bit of blackmail is actually a traitor? It would be wildly out of character.

[Aria]

Silktie, I got the impression that Juliet was also saying that she would reveal their affair. Coming clean to the Home Secretary was a courageous move on Harry's part, but surely his actions in Germany would be on file somewhere even if it was a black op? I noticed he didn't reveal how Juliet knew all the choice details, even to Adam who was surprised when Juliet seemed to blurt it out.