[spoilers] Lucas. Just Lucas.

[Byatil]

It may be of interest to some of you that on the Series 7 DVD extras, there are some cast interviews in which RA somewhat explains his thought process behind Lucas' character. It appears binkie was correct in thinking that Lucas feels he need to 'become' his former self - in the interview, RA said something to the effect of "he's a sharp blade, but a damaged one", and that Lucas' internal struggle is all about how he knows he used to be brilliant, and he now has to reattain that brilliance whilst carrying the emotional-damage he was subjected to in Russia. However interestingly, RA also comments that he has created a character he "aspires to be", in that Lucas is almost a 'super-hero', but within the limitations of his humanity. A dark and complex hero, but I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that he was meant to be more of a "Batman" than a real villain!

It's also interesting that the cast all refer to him as "the new hero", which is something else that confuses me in terms of the S9 story-arc. Apparently, Lucas was created with the intention of being heroic, however I suppose you can draw your own conclusions as to whether he can still be considered heroic after the events of 9.8.

Finally; I'm sure this may have already have been brought up, but in 7.1, Lucas tells Harry of the Russian tattoo culture: "you don't belong; you're dead" et cetera, which has undertones of the fact that Lucas doesn't 'belong' to MI5 anymore. It almost seems as if he's subtly telling Harry that without MI5, he is 'dead'. Worthless, and rather meaningless. That entire scene is so intense. I can't quite contain my appreciation for the phenomenal acting!