[spoilers] Harry and Ruth: Back With A Vengeance?

[Silktie]

(25-03-2011 07:29 PM)A Cousin Wrote:  I wonder if Harry sees Ruth as his redemption for the morally questionable things he has done in his past? I also wonder, if this is the case, if Ruth is holding him off because she thinks he loves her for what she represents to him and not necessarily what she is? I wonder if Ruth thinks he is love with the idea of her and not actually her. It is a lot of pressure to have the happiness of another human being solely in your hands. Not quite as much pressure as having the deaths of millions of people by genetic weapon on your head, but a parallel responsibility on a personal level?

A very interesting thought, which raises two questions for me.

Firstly, is Harry holding onto Ruth because he sees her as his redemption? When I think about this I come back to the fact of who Harry was when he first fell in love with her. The Harry over seasons 3 and 4 was not a man looking for redemption. He was a man who was at ease with who he was and what he'd done, and fell in love with Ruth because of who she was, methinks. By the time we reach season 9 I agree it's possible that the issue of redemption may have become a part of it, but has it become the main reason he still loves her? Do people's reasons for loving someone change that much over time? Who knows.

Secondly, does Ruth think that Harry wants her to love him as this would redeem him? I can't answer that, and I don't think Ruth can either. Ruth in season 9 is represented as someone who's rather confused about her relationship with Harry. She gives contradictory reasons for why she doesn't want to marry him, and her actions say something different to her words as well. When Harry proposes, she says no 'because of the choices he'd made'. What choices? Is she referring to what happened with George and Nico? Or to the morally questionable choices he regularly makes in the job in general? Either way, she later contradicts herself on this, by intimating in 9.7 that she has forgiven him for George and Nico and that it is rather her anger at herself for being able to cope so well with losing them and killing that guy that is the problem. She also pushes him to sacrifice the few to save the many at the end of 9.1, because sometimes it is just a numbers game, she tells him. My overall impression of season 9 is that Ruth's reasons for rejecting Harry is more about herself and not being at peace with who and what she's become, rather than her views on why Harry wants to be with her.

(25-03-2011 09:01 PM)Tea Lady Wrote:  This has probably been mentioned before (sorry I'm tired) but do you think they would stick Ruth in Harry's job on a temp basis while he is investigated? She's a desk officer, and more senior than the other officers? Can you imagine Ruth having to sit at Harry's desk? Angst ahoy !!

I'd love to see that. Have Ruth act as Section Head while Harry is suspended, and throw a few of the difficult choices he is sometimes faced with her way. It'll be interesting to see how she handles such a situation.