The sadness of Lucas reborn

This characterization arc has frequently touched me when watching Spooks 7.1. I add it as a belated contribution to the Spooks 7 Rewatch, which I’d have liked to have been active in. 

When Lucas North returns from his imprisonment, one of the first things we see (recognized by Adam and discussed with Harry) is his eagerness to be included — immediately and unreasonably — in the activities of Section D. (His incorporation is one of the most implausible plot points in Spooks 7. If it turns out that Lucas is a double agent and that Harry already knew that before exchanging for him, my perspective might change.)

So when Lucas offers his help, and is kindly discouraged by Adam, when Lucas pleads his case and explains his sympathies for the kidnapped solder, and when Adam agrees to talk to Harry on his behalf, it is not surprising that we see a brief burst of joy. The filming and editing here hide it — this has to be one of those cases where they alter the number of frames per second in order to increase the fleeting quality of an impression, and then they cut away almost immediately — one thinks on purpose, to aid in the characterization of Lucas — but it’s also a clear case of Mr. Armitage’s convincing deployment of microexpressions.

Armitage is at the absolute top of his game in all of 7.1; he really believes he’s Lucas. Even when one slows down the sequence to watch frame by frame, all of these expressions appear in a space equivalent to about a third of a second. (All these caps appear courtesy of Richard Armitage Central Gallery with my deepest appreciation; this sequence and Mr. Armitage’s microexpressions pass so quickly on screen that they are a real challenge to capture with the equipment at my disposal. The RAC cappers were capping almost frame by frame here.)

As a general interpretive principle for Armitage watching, it can be helpful to note that facial signals of emotion almost always (something like 80 percent of the time) come from the left side of Mr. Armitage’s face. This looks to be true for all of his characters. There are some notable exceptions, of course, but it’s certainly true in this scene. Watch the left side of his face (the right side of the shots below).

Adam Carter (Rupert Penry-Jones) agrees to push Harry to let the newly returned Lucas North (Richard Armitage) help out with Section D’s current problem in Spooks 7.1. At this point, Adam has just asked Lucas how long he’s been in those clothes. Lucas dips his head to look at the clothes, but there’s also shame here; Lucas doesn’t believe that his offer will be accepted, and is perhaps embarrassed for having so quickly betrayed his eagerness. Grerp notes how well Armitage plays humiliation, and if you watch this entire scene very slowly, you see it lurking in the background of his performance, a constant companion.

Lucas now raises his head (“bloody but unbowed“) to continue his argument.

Adam tells Lucas that he should clean up and change clothes and that he’ll talk to Harry about letting him help out. Note Lucas’s surprise, indicated especially with the lips; although the jaw is still tense, it is starting to unclench, and the lips are opening in surprise.

A second later, we now see the left eye opening wider.

The look of pleased disbelief continues, with the left side of the mouth rising.

At this point the eyes are narrowing slightly in emotion; here Lucas is slapping Adam on the arm.

Now the lips are closing; Lucas is joyful but afraid he’s moved beyond the emotional boundaries of what’s acceptable in this setting.

Here full on gratitude and emotion in the eyes, and the left side of the jaw reclenching in order to keep control of the facial expression. Masterful, Mr. Armitage, and amazing that you can get all this in in under a second.

So Lucas is happy to be playing the game again, as when Adam tells him he’ll need a coat. Then there’s a deleted scene (right at the beginning) in which Lucas is energetic, and that might shed some light on his attitude, if I could understand what he says, though the point of the scene seems to be setting up backstory for the dropped plotline about Adam Carter’s falsified past. There’s the spy triumph of the breakin of Munzir Hatem’s house and bedroom, with the macho phone-tossing, from the beginning of which the photo in the header is drawn. And yet. That scene seems thrown in primarily to demonstrate to us that Lucas is still a top field officer, that he hasn’t lost his skills or his nerve.

Because Lucas’s affect never again reaches the point of pleasure it did earlier in the episode. At the debrief afterwards, the camera always shows him as detached, leaning back, not part of the group, not really trying.

Section D discussing how to proceed against the kidnappers in Spooks 7.1. Note the extreme negativity of Lucas’s body language. Fatigue, yes, but also intentional self-separation. Is reincorporation into the team going to take more than proving his skills?

And then, as Adam and Lucas go out to the house where the hostage is being held in order to liberate him, mostly concentration on Lucas’s part, which is not surprising. We do see a hint of verve and inspiration in the left eye …

..as Lucas comes up with the idea of using a phone call in Russian in order to get them to move out of their boobytrapped house — a way for Lucas to say, “See, I do have something unique to contribute.” But the confidence here when discussing a plan with Adam fades after the call is executed …

fades when Lucas displays some atypically visible lip-biting over at least six frames, followed immediately by …

… extremely open lip-licking. Armitage’s frequent liplicking to indicate nervousness or resolution is typically a flip of the tongue — not this ostentatious showing. Lucas is thus extremely nervous. There’s a bit of calculation in this scene, as he wonders whether it will work, but tension overtakes cognition and it’s written all over Lucas’s face. Does he still have it?

The ruse works. But it brings Lucas no joy. Here I switch to my caps, though the RAC caps, which begin here, are more detailed:

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Once Lucas has taken out the terrorist, there’s no happiness on his face, no self-recognition, no glancing at Adam in triumph or even in calmness. He looks down in sadness, for a rather long moment.

And then they’re on to the next problem. Armitage’s stare reflects concern about the phone call Adam is receiving, but perhaps also the need for recognition from him — look at the left side of the face, which seems to be signaling uncertainty –, and perhaps as well the realization that the renewed display of his skills –which were, after all, never in question from his own point of view — has not made him happy: has not reinserted him at home, has not generated a feeling of belonging. The feeling he sought has evaded him. His fantasy of a return has been revealed as a fantasy.

By the end of Spooks 7.1, with the death of Adam Carter, as Armitage’s microexpressions seem to suggest, Lucas realizes that he’s reintegrated himself into a career for which he has unquestioned talent, but in which, in the end, there can be no real joy. Winning means at best restoring equilibrium, sometimes with the sacrifice of one’s one own life. Success — rescuing the kidnapped soldier, diverting the car bomb — is only one more piece of evidence of the rottenness of the world. Adam’s parting question to Lucas in the scene above: “When is it not bad?” means that the return home has not changed the problem of evil that underlies Lucas’s engagement with the world: only the venue for its expression.

~ by Servetus on July 20, 2010.