[spoilers] Lucas and his tattoos

[binkie]

(05-01-2011 11:09 PM)Byatil Wrote:  Hm, I refrained from expanding because I'm sure I've made the point before (but that may have been within my mind at 4 o'clock in the morning when I tend to sink into Spooks analysis to try and get to sleep!) but I'll work under the assumption that I didn't say anything

Byatil, you are my SF crush Never assume that an idea you have at 4:00am is an invalid one! I hope you don't think I am not keeping track of what you say (I wish that sounded less creepily stalker-ish ). I realise you have discussed at some length the question of Lucas' sense of self-worth. I asked for your impressions because I thought you had, once again, made a genuinely insightful point that deserved more attention. I wonder if you appreciate how much you pack into a little sentence

(05-01-2011 11:09 PM)Byatil Wrote:  I was considering the fact that Lucas' 'worth' is based purely around what he knows, and how he handles this information.

This is a fine example of what I mean. You have absolutely hit on the terrible state of Lucas' self-regard in that it is defined so strongly on the basis of knowing that something is known, and on the unknown - assumed - value of a secret. To then connect this so seamlessly with the extent to which he has, by experience and necessity, re-cast himself as a secret in the context of what it is that has brought him to this state of mind is very impressive and shows intuitive insight.

(05-01-2011 11:09 PM)Byatil Wrote:  If you watch the way Lucas' character 'comes to terms' with reality again, it's interesting to note that he never actually expresses himself to his colleagues. We understand the horrors of his torture through flashbacks, but these flashbacks are never fully revealed to the other characters. From my knowledge of S7, the most anyone gets out of Lucas is that he was very lonely in Russia, with "only [Katchimov for] company", that he can't sleep because he is plagued by nightmares, and that he blames Harry for what happened to him. And of course; the tattoos.

I don't think I've seen this point mentioned anywhere on this board. Admittedly, none of the Spooks exactly excell at the touchy-feely-sharing thing. However, as HellsBells says, your comparison of the different responses to trauma expressed by Lucas and Jo is important. Jo wants to talk, but feels she shouldn't because it will suggest weakness and irrelevance. She almost talks to Ben; she almost talks to Connie; then Ros talks to her and her appreciation of the situation changes. When Ros tries to get Lucas to talk to her in 8.4 ("Tell me about Oleg Dasharvin"), he deflects her efforts with an annecdote about nineteenth-century literary appreciation. He talks, but he talks about something else inside the subject at hand. As you suggest, he controls his environment by controlling what is in it.

(05-01-2011 11:09 PM)Byatil Wrote:  Lucas has lapses in control. He refuses to break down.

I think this offers another possible opportunity to explore the difference between Jo and Lucas in relation to recent trauma. The script subjects Jo to the fate of having brought about the physical destruction of her tormentor (and the irritatingly bland character resolution that concludes all is well with her as a result of knowing this because once the tangible object is removed, so too is the real and residual emotional and psychological experience of having been transformed by that object). In the case of Lucas, though, the script chooses to keep the object of his torment present in the world, and to have him gain a measure of controlling ascendency over it by moral and practical means. In keeping Dasharvin alive, the script reinforces the extent to which Lucas triumphs by asserting and managing control over something which is practically outside his ability to influence it.

(05-01-2011 11:09 PM)Byatil Wrote:  It's all about control, and the tattoos seem to be an integral part of that.

I think Lucas has made them part of that because otherwise they would always be very much part of something else.