Poll: Is Harry the best character on Spooks?

Naivety · (This post was last modified: 29-09-2010 06:54 PM by Naivety.)

After 8.1 last year Harry was making some hard decisions about that rebel, (sorry I can't quite remember the details now, but Jo befriended her and was complicit in helping her murder that bloke in the hotel). Jo ended up meeting Ruth and pleading with her to meet Harry and talk to him, because he was hurting over what happened to George and Nico.
I'm wondering if there will be a parallel this year with Harry becoming Hard and Cruel Harry because he is going through the personal hurt again.

Aria · 29-09-2010, 04:51 PM

(29-09-2010 04:24 PM)Silktie Wrote: I've been wondering if we might see Harry become more ruthless this season, sort of as an over-compensation for the fact that he's struggling to cope with the decisions he has to make. He knows that too much compassion can lead to mistakes from someone in his position, so he might suppress his own even more than usual.

I think you could be right, Silktie. His 2 usual outlets for pouring out his thoughts Ros and Ruth are no longer available to him for very different reasons and it seems very much in character he will repress his emotions rather than facing them.

**Fidget** · 29-09-2010, 11:15 PM

I would hate to see Harry's character change to much & him become more ruthless, I still live in hope he & Ruth get together & soon & if he changed too much I doubt that would ever happen

Tea Lady · 30-09-2010, 08:41 AM

I'm not so sure about this. All the evidence seems to suggest that he has become less ruthless. He didn't want to let the EMP off in episode 1 and he was very quick to cancel the primary mission on the ship when it went wrong, to get his officers off the boat. Last week, he found it very difficult to stomach British oil politics. Remember him lecturing Ros in 8.2, that nothing was going to stand in the way of the gas supply? In 9.2 he was almost sounding like Ros.

Tea Lady · 02-10-2010, 09:44 PM

I love this scene from 9.2. Harry's pose is the same as the portrait on the wall behind him at Foxhills.

[Image: spooks13.jpg]

**JHyde** · 03-10-2010, 03:21 AM

HAHAHA! I can just see that being a joke on set. Then again it could just be coincidence...do that that's a Spook tip? That if you pose like the person behind you in a painting, people might not noitce you?

Unless you're smiling like the Mona Lisa, in which case people will just think you're mad.

**A Cousin** · 03-10-2010, 02:51 PM

LOLOLOL!!!!!!!! That is so funny! Good catch TL. With PFs reported sense of humor on the set, I would not be at all surprised if he is aware of this. Now I am going to have to keep looking in the background.

Now I am waiting for The Scream....

**Silktie** · 05-10-2010, 08:43 AM

So as soon as Harry takes the morally correct decision in letting the Russian terrorist live at the beginning of 9.3, it comes back to bite him in the ass. Like Ruth said, it was the decent thing to do, but he gets no reward for making it. Poor Harry seems to be struggling to prove to himself (and to Ruth I suppose) that he is still a good man this season, but he's getting nowhere fast. He does the same thing at the end of the episode when he tells the Professor the truth, and his words to Ruth about giving a man a chance to show you who he really is seems to underline it.

I like that he admits to Ruth he made a mistake and that he takes responsibility for it, and I also like that she told him it was the decent thing to do. Whether Harry wants to admit it or not, her opinion of him matters a great deal to him, so this indication that she still regards him as a good man will mean a lot.

**JHyde** · 05-10-2010, 10:27 AM

I like it when Harry gets it wrong and then spends his time trying to make up ground. Every now and again, it makes sense. PF is really outdoing himself his season. I loved him almost fidgeting in a couple of scenes.

Funnily enough, the only scenes Harry seems like himself are the ones when he's facing off with Towers. (sighs) Some things never change.

Tea Lady · 05-10-2010, 06:13 PM

Yes, but doesn't Harry usually get it wrong when he's trying to piss someone else off? Not because he thinks it's the right or human thing to do. In 4.9 it's to send the CIA and the JIC a message and in 9.3 it's to send both the Home Secretary and the Russians a message. Harry is trying to be all high and mighty because someone else has put his nose out of joint. He's not just thinking, deep down, about the poor guy "who has lost his country."

Only other comment about 9.3 is I don't think I have seen Harry pout so much in one episode. I lost count of the pout-outs.

Poll: Is Harry the best character on Spooks? This poll is closed.
Hell yes, he's the lynchpin of the show. But Ruth's pretty awesome too.	46	80.70%
God no. I barrack for that man who came back from Russia and got it on with Miss C.I.A. Lucas something?	11	19.30%
Total	57 votes	100%