[spoilers] Lucas Discussion 2

[Silktie]

(20-03-2011 02:17 PM)NightOwl Wrote:  True enough that Harry couldn't simply demand that the Russians release Lucas, but, if there's no evidence that Harry didn't make every effort to help Lucas, neither is there evidence that Harry did anything to help him. Certainly Harry has abandoned his officers to their fates on several occasions. He quickly believes Tom is a traitor, he refuses to search for Zaf at the expense of the operation in 6x1, and (although I might not be remembering this right) it's Adam, not Harry, who insists on rescuing Jo at the end of series 6. "No man left behind" is not the motto of Harry Pearce, and, to me, it seems likely that Harry wrote off Lucas pretty quickly for whatever reason.

That is my point actually. None of us knows what really happened. Your examples of Harry not always putting his officers' safety first is certainly valid. But to me it comes down to context and motivation. Harry, as the leader, is in the difficult position of having to put the success of an operation and the resultant safety of the country first, sometimes to the cost of his officers. But he has never been shown to leave them to their fate because he simply couldn't be bothered to save them. I always come back to the fact that he did get Lucas back in the end. If he'd left Lucas in Russia for eight years because he didn't care that much about him, why bother getting him back when the opportunity did arise?

If it were the case that he had to leave Lucas there because it was in the interests of an operation and the safety of the country, I think it's a little unfair to see that as a betrayal. They all know that it is part of the danger of the job they chose to do, that they might one day have to be sacrificed to serve the greater good.

As for not explaining himself to Lucas in 7.2, once again context matters. I think it is important to remember that at that stage Lucas had not yet been debriefed, and as Harry had said to Lucas, he wanted to trust him but knew that it was his duty not to until they were sure of Lucas' loyalties. Also, I wonder if I had been in Lucas' shoes, whether I would have believed Harry if he'd told me then that he'd done everything he could to get me back. I would have suspected him of trying to play me, I think.

As I've said on other threads, I don't mean to imply that Harry never made any mistakes with Lucas. Like Bravo said, Harry is never shown as providing overt emotional support to Lucas. Harry is not perfect and emotional reticence has always been one of his weaknesses. Remember, this is a man who didn't even know how to ask Adam how he was doing after Fiona died. The point I'm trying to make is that it is not out of callousness that he never hugged Lucas or had a heart to heart with him that we saw. But if we do Lucas the courtesy of trying to understand his actions in the context of everything that's happened to him, don't we owe other characters that same courtesy?