Ruth was just "Da Bomb" in the field. Why was I so worried for her? She did lose it a bit with the gun in her face, but Harry talked her through it. I am so glad she is going on her own journey this series. 'Nuff said.

I loved her reaction when the whole team realized that they needed a translator who just happened to know all the same languages that Ruth knew. What a coinky-dink! The understudy is ON!

Her line about her Cantonese being horrible is a very telling for her. As if to say, yeah I can do all of that but I am still not worth anything because my Cantonese is horrible. She is SO hard on herself!

Her assurance to the scientist, "The CIA are...very good." Ah-ha! Decency wins out? It was more important for Jiang (?) to believe that her son would be OK.

I had a bit of a different take on her answer about not having children. I don't think she feels she missed the mommy train, rather by facing it openly and directly, it is an indication that she is coming terms with the loss and her guilt in connection to it. (This is where I start spouting psycho-babble. ) I don't think she is depressed, not in and of itself anyway. I think she has been grieving. She is moving from the depression to the acceptance stage of grief. (Kubler-Ross' model is: denial-anger-bargaining-depression-acceptance. That is a pretty stringent model but they can overlap or rearrange or even be skipped.)

Ooohhhh...Lucas. She's on to you Lucas. It was not the dynamic I thought they would develop, but I am on board with it. Be careful Ruth!

I'm wondering if Ruth may decide to contact the little sprocket, and whether that may be the final step she needs to take to make peace with what happened and move on?

(14-10-2010 06:17 AM)Silktie Wrote:  I'm wondering if Ruth may decide to contact the little sprocket, and whether that may be the final step she needs to take to make peace with what happened and move on?

Grrrrrrh...I think I could cope with this if it means Ruth finally manages to put those ghosts to bed. I just wonder how we would know that she has done this. She is hardly likely to confide in Harry or Beth.

I thought that the question about having children made Ruth think about the life she is missing out on. If she had have said yes to Harry then perhaps children of her own would be possible.

(14-10-2010 01:40 PM)HellsBells Wrote:  I thought that the question about having children made Ruth think about the life she is missing out on. If she had have said yes to Harry then perhaps children of her own would be possible.

This is so sad. You just get the impression that Harry would do anything to make Ruth happy. So if she did want children, he would do everything possible to make that happen. Ruth just won't take that step though. Maybe it's also the age old problem of choosing between career or family. I wouldn't have thought she could do her job part-time.

(14-10-2010 06:58 PM)Tea Lady Wrote:  

(14-10-2010 01:40 PM)HellsBells Wrote:  I thought that the question about having children made Ruth think about the life she is missing out on. If she had have said yes to Harry then perhaps children of her own would be possible.

This is so sad. You just get the impression that Harry would do anything to make Ruth happy. So if she did want children, he would do everything possible to make that happen. Ruth just won't take that step though. Maybe it's also the age old problem of choosing between career or family. I wouldn't have thought she could do her job part-time.

I think that is part of it but not all of it. I don't think she is going through all of this just because her biological clock is ticking. I think it is much deeper than that. It casts a wider net. Having children is a part of having the simple and elegant "normal" life chock full of the status quo - symbolically speaking. Ruth is struggling to balance her ideas of the "normal" life and grid life and still being true to herself. She is trying to balance the objective truths (facts, stats, analysis, strategies, targets) in her life with her own individual (frankly quite tragic) subjective life experience that have shaped who she is. And if this sounds like an existential crisis, I think it is.

Harry would do anything for her but the only one that can make Ruth happy is Ruth. Just like Harry had to come to terms with his existential crisis on his own, so does she. All he can do for her is to get in her face and let her know that he is there. Just like she did for him.

A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him.

Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.

You guessed it - Kierkegaard!

I will try to control myself - I really dig existentialism!

Yeah, I agree with you A Cousin, you can't look for "happiness" outside, Ruth needs to solve her issues on her own, and try not to be so hard with herself, I can't remember who said it but she's her worst enemy, I find... But she can make do with some help or support...

I don't think she's worried because of her internal clock, just saying that she has just realised she will never follow that path, she had chosen another one.

This is interesting re: Ruth's codename, Gazelle.

In Arabic literature, the gazelle is the symbol for female beauty.

Ruth would know this, I think. Would anyone else on the grid? Tariq, maybe? Of course, there is probably nothing more in it than the writer being clever.

You know, the spooks scripts are vetted to within a syllable of their lives (to mix a metaphor) so I'm guessing that the choice of "gazelle" as R's codename was not a coincidence, at all. It was chosen for a reason. What that might be, I have no idea, unfortunately!

From the British Army website:

"The primary role of Gazelle is observation and reconnaissance.

The Gazelle was first produced in 1968 under an Anglo-French agreement between Westlands and Aerospatiale. The Gazelle fondly referred to as the "whistling chicken leg" has proved an incredibly reliable observation and reconnaissance helicopter for many years. Although having only one engine it is not as powerful as many others, but its lightweight chassis offsets any deficit it might have. Advantages include its small agile nature, and its unparalleled visibility from the cockpit."

I don't know much about music or Arabic literature, but I do know my military helicopters. Sounds like Ruth to me.