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doctors-star · 3 years

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there but for the grace of-

“I wish you would stop being such a martyr,” a languid voice says quietly, drawling as well as a man can with two missing molars and a glassy, bloodshot eye, leaking all the while from open chest wounds. Francis is rather impressed with his dedication to the role, somewhere under the roil of fury and exhaustion. “You know as well as I do that you could have this bed sometimes, if it didn’t suit you to stomp about with blacked eyes and a put-upon expression.”

“And what should we do with you all the while, Commander,” he says, all on a great sigh, “wrap you in sailcloth already? Come, man, you’re either well enough to cease bleeding on my sheets or too ill to get out of them, you can’t have it both ways.”

“Francis,” Ross began, “I did not undertake to accept the position of second on Franklin’s expedition for you, as you asked.”

michael smith, in Icebound: "Francis Crozier was in the wrong frame of mind to make another long, punishing and hazardous voyage into the icy reaches of the North West Passage. A different man, one with a different focus in life...would never have gone north in 1845."

me: well if you're going to be like that about it i won't let him go.

counter-factual history time! what if francis didn’t go and die in the north? what if he just rescued the remains of an expedition he didn’t lead? wouldn’t that give a man a weird kind of guilt? and make his relationship with fitzjames - also weird?

but...perhaps...interesting?

#i sure hope so wrote this whole damn thing on it #the terror #fitzier #francis crozier #james fitzjames #francis crozier/james fitzjames #did i drop icebound halfway through to start this? yup!#and then i got confused by emotions but ploughed through #this is your captain speaking #relentless self-promotion

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lafiametta · 5 years

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Probably stupid question but in the terror ep.6, that scene where the bell rings, Little turns to look at Jopson, Jopson puts his can down and leaves, Hickey and Little watch him leave, and Hickey says 'a worse case of gastritis surely there never was'. I don't get what it means, like, I feel there is sth going on, but? Hickey slights Jopson? Why? And ok if he would say it to one of his buddies, but why to Little who would likely not appreciate it/reprimand him? Little seems to consider sth?

Not a stupid question at all, Anon! I like that scene for a number of reasons – Le Vesconte’s “bit of a benjo” line, the remaining men’s cheer of excitement when they hear about the Carnivale plans, the shared look between Little and Jopson (open to all sorts of interpretations!), how adorable Little looks in that cozy scarf – but here’s my take on what’s going on:

The bell – directly connected to Crozier’s cabin, I believe – rings, summoning Jopson (or whoever might be there to hear it) to the captain’s side, and Jopson quickly leaves, presumably to attend to whatever the captain needs. So I think that part of this action is meant to indicate Jopson’s devotion to Crozier during the captain’s recovery: he doesn’t complain, he doesn’t delay, only waiting long enough to have one shared glance with Little, which I interpret as more “yup, gotta go, and you of all people understand why” than anything else.

Hickey’s comment about gastritis is obviously sarcastic, but I think it’s meant to indicate to the audience that Hickey is super-observant and sees right to the truth of things no matter how hard people have tried to cover it up. (It also makes sense because just before this moment, he had his big realization with Billy about how they’re counting the luggage, and what that means, and Billy’s just following him around with his “Luggage for what, Cornelius?” just to make it even clearer that Hickey’s the brains of the operation and Billy not so much.) Hickey knows that Crozier doesn’t have gastritis – which I assume must have been the explanation given to the crew – although it’s not clear if he’s guessed what’s really wrong with the captain.

But I am with you on the fact that it seems weird for him to say this to Little, who at that moment is the acting captain of Terror and could have him punished for speaking insubordinately. It might seem like a small mis-step on the part of the writers, but then again, they could also be using this remark as a way to show that the remaining crew of Terror don’t fully respect Little as their superior officer in the absence of Crozier and they think they can get away with things like that without being reprimanded. (And in fact, Little doesn’t do anything about Hickey’s remark except look at him in irritation, so maybe it would be true that there’s less order and discipline on Terror under Little’s command. It might also serve to further encourage Hickey in his conspiratorial and insubordinate behavior if he knew there wouldn’t be any consequences for saying things like that. Then again, Little really looks tired as fuck, so maybe he just doesn’t want to deal with Hickey at that particular moment.)

Anyway, just my two cents. I’m totally open to hearing other interpretations, if anyone reads it any differently, though!

ETA: I keep thinking about Little’s passivity in this moment, and I find it really interesting, especially when viewed in light of the way he freezes during Tuunbaq’s attack on the Terror Camp in Episode 8. Clearly he can be authoritative – he comes down hard on Hickey during the interrogation in Episode 4 (“You were told not to speculate”) – but that might just be because he’s got Crozier and Fitzjames there to back him up (or, possibly, because he thinks they’re expecting him to be a strong voice of discipline as Terror’s first lieutenant). But in this moment, Hickey says his line and then walks away, leaving open the possibility that Little didn’t even think to reprimand him. His only reaction is to quickly drink up the last of his grog with a look that’s more irritation and resignation than anger (“Oh great, Hickey’s figured out we’re covering something up about the captain. FML”), which I think says quite a bit about Little’s character.

#the terror amc #the terror #1x06 #anon asks #commentary #edward little #cornelius hickey #billy gibson #thomas jopson

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