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May. 16th, 2014 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bjornwilde Some Ethan Chandler thoughts before I get to tagging existing threads.
Ignoring the whole were-wolf possibility for the moment, we know Ethan is running from something. We know he is haunted, or at least thinking of his past. In Ep01 he is shown looking at a silver pocket watch engraved by his father, a watch which Vanessa Ives (a wealthy Londoner) observes is expensive. He is also down on his luck without too much money and yet he hasn't sold the watch. In Ep02 he receives a telegram from his father telling him to "stop this foolishness and return home" and that the father has cleared things with the federal marshal.
I think Ethan did something horrible (perhaps as a were-wolf) and sees himself as damned. He admits to working as a hired gun before, signs up with Ms Ives to do so again, and doesn't ask any details for the job. Not when he's hired and not when he shows up at the job sight. Not one question. But he's not just a stone cold killer.
In Ep 01, when he comes across Scotland Yard clearing the bodies of two victims of a brutal murder (glossing over details here), you can just see his horror at this awful thing that has happened. He reacts with empathy and pain, rather than anger, as you can kind of see in this screenshot (image is somewhat dark).
Then in Ep 02, he comes in to a tavern after sleeping on the docks (it actually looked like he passed out) and spends some of that money he earned as a hired gun to buy a bottle of whiskey. As he's drinking it, Brona (Billie Piper's character, an Irish imagrante) comes up and steals a glass of whiskey from his bottle. Just helps herself to the bottle and pours a glass. How does he react? He is a little taken aback but he doesn't react with anger. He looks at her and says, "Well, nice to meet you too." He does say this with some sarcasm but no anger.
Later, he pursues a friendship and maybe flirts a little, but he treats her with respect and keeps an eye out for signs to back off. He knows she's worked as a prostitute and yet treats her like a person. He also doesn't treat her as something to rescue. Yes, he does offer her more whiskey the next morning and asks her if he can buy her some real food, but that's all it is, an offer. She takes him up on it, but you can just tell if she had said no, he would have backed off, though maybe tried again at a later time. And, so far, he has made no move to kiss her or anything else. The promo images do make it obvious they end up in bed together but I love that he is treating her like a person.
All this adds up in my head as him seeing himself as damned but still caring about the suffering of others. There's a quote of his in the promo for next week, "I have such sins on my back, that it would kill me to turn around." Really makes me wonder what he's done.
Anyway, time for tagging!
Ignoring the whole were-wolf possibility for the moment, we know Ethan is running from something. We know he is haunted, or at least thinking of his past. In Ep01 he is shown looking at a silver pocket watch engraved by his father, a watch which Vanessa Ives (a wealthy Londoner) observes is expensive. He is also down on his luck without too much money and yet he hasn't sold the watch. In Ep02 he receives a telegram from his father telling him to "stop this foolishness and return home" and that the father has cleared things with the federal marshal.
I think Ethan did something horrible (perhaps as a were-wolf) and sees himself as damned. He admits to working as a hired gun before, signs up with Ms Ives to do so again, and doesn't ask any details for the job. Not when he's hired and not when he shows up at the job sight. Not one question. But he's not just a stone cold killer.
In Ep 01, when he comes across Scotland Yard clearing the bodies of two victims of a brutal murder (glossing over details here), you can just see his horror at this awful thing that has happened. He reacts with empathy and pain, rather than anger, as you can kind of see in this screenshot (image is somewhat dark).
Then in Ep 02, he comes in to a tavern after sleeping on the docks (it actually looked like he passed out) and spends some of that money he earned as a hired gun to buy a bottle of whiskey. As he's drinking it, Brona (Billie Piper's character, an Irish imagrante) comes up and steals a glass of whiskey from his bottle. Just helps herself to the bottle and pours a glass. How does he react? He is a little taken aback but he doesn't react with anger. He looks at her and says, "Well, nice to meet you too." He does say this with some sarcasm but no anger.
Later, he pursues a friendship and maybe flirts a little, but he treats her with respect and keeps an eye out for signs to back off. He knows she's worked as a prostitute and yet treats her like a person. He also doesn't treat her as something to rescue. Yes, he does offer her more whiskey the next morning and asks her if he can buy her some real food, but that's all it is, an offer. She takes him up on it, but you can just tell if she had said no, he would have backed off, though maybe tried again at a later time. And, so far, he has made no move to kiss her or anything else. The promo images do make it obvious they end up in bed together but I love that he is treating her like a person.
All this adds up in my head as him seeing himself as damned but still caring about the suffering of others. There's a quote of his in the promo for next week, "I have such sins on my back, that it would kill me to turn around." Really makes me wonder what he's done.
Anyway, time for tagging!
