That Armitage thunk

The manipulator: Lucas North (Richard Armitage) convinces Ashok Veerkal (Ashley Kumar) that he has to help MI-5 neutralize the terrorists in Spooks 8.7. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Given the stress of the last few weeks, my actual Armitage watching quotient had fallen significantly, to below seven hours a week. Yes, I know, you think that’s a lot, but there were weeks in Spring 2010 when I was watching something like twenty hours a week or more. I was probably watching ten-fifteen hours weekly through April. But the move took up so much time.

The hero: Lucas North (Richard Armitage) walks into the room with the terrorists unarmed and identifies himself as an MI-5 agent in Spooks 8.7. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

At the very end, I had compressed the watching to mostly the compulsive screening of Spooks 8.7. I probably need to write a long analysis of this episode now, but since that’s not the topic for tonight, I’ll spare you. Why this one? Sarah-haters would say that it’s great because there’s no Sarah in it. Lucas as hero lovers would like it because Lucas is really heroic. One must also admit that Lucas just looks great in this episode, as he does in all of series 8.

Armitage the arresting: Lucas North (Richard Armitage) in conversation with Hamid Ahmed, the Sanskrit translator, in Spooks 8.7. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

I think what moves me so much about it are the two sides we see to Lucas’ heroism: just as much the man who manipulates to achieve the result he wishes as the strong man who powers his way into a room to fulfill his promise to Ashok — to save Ashok from the danger that he himself put Ashok in. I also continue to be intrigued by the exploration in Spooks about the balance between the welfare of individuals and that of groups. But that by the bye.

Weary thoughtfulness: Lucas North (Richard Armitage) reacts as Ashok points out to him that he’s acted just as much in political or self-interest as the people who planned the terrorist attack, in Spooks 8.7. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Given everything of Armitage’s spectrum of talents that one can see on display in Spooks 8.7, I don’t know why I was worried, but there’s always this little nagging fear in the back of my mind: have I chosen badly? Am I just loving on the eye candy here? Anyone can say words: is it the scripts, and not Armitage himself? This problem is exacerbated for me to some extent by the fact that so much of the new stuff we’ve seen lately is photos. Photos generate automatic squee; even when I think Mr. Armitage is dressed poorly, I still get a big kick out of seeing new (and old!) pictures of him. Dayenu, one’s tempted to say — if you had only been gorgeous, it would have been enough — except, of course, that I contracted Armitagemania out of something more than reactions to a beautiful visage, a toned body.

So putting the Sylvester audiobook into my car stereo after so long, I was nervous. Would he still be as good? Yes, but of course, he’s reading that, and not acting in the same way — although I wondered if he didn’t assume different physical postures for the different characters as he was reading. Then tonight, figuring out how to get my DVD player hooked up into my parents’ system, and deciding, since they have a really nice TV with a big screen, much nicer than the one I had, to watch a few pieces of The Impressionists to benefit from all of that color, I had it, the Armitage thunk. It was a combination of muscle relaxation from tension about the choice, a feeling of euphoric jubilation, and the sort of feeling that you have when you shift your car into drive and step on the gas.

The feeling as if everything was falling into place again after all the disruption of the last weeks.

Claude Monet (Richard Armitage) greets the morning sun at the seashore in episode 2 of The Impressionists. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Mr. Armitage, you are talented even when you wear a funny wig.

Claude Monet (Richard Armitage) at his wife’s deathbed in episode 2 of the The Impressionists. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Mr. Armitage, your acting talent comes through even when you don’t say a single world.

Thunk. That combination of talents and gifts. We can add to it the physical beauty and the personal charm, of course, but when it all comes together in a rush, the amazing package reminds of the value of this particular choice. The thunk of realization, of recognition. The thunk of joy. The thunk of artistry as it hits its target, as it never fails to move me even after dozens of watchings of the same material.

That Armitage thunk.

~ by Servetus on June 24, 2011.