Hi, Onyx, if you should see this — спасибо!
I don’t think my limited command of Russian (1 semester, I can sort of pronounce the words, and use a dictionary) is enough to reply to you on the Russian board (I apologize — I read your comment via Google translate), but thanks for the long and serious commentary on the “madeleines” post! I didn’t raise the question of Porter’s return to the apartment in Basra because if I recall correctly it wasn’t a sense memory — he had a flashback there because he was in the same place, but not because of a repetition of a sensory perception, no? I thought a lot about Porter while writing that post because he’s constantly experiencing flashbacks, but they are less traumatic memory flashbacks than memories that simply advance the plot, I think. There’s also that moment in 1.4 where he has a sort of twinge as his wife is dying.
Anyway, thanks for your kind words and thanks for reading!
Me + Richard Armitage 
Hello Servetus,
thank you for your reply! Your blog is so rich in material, I’ve been reading it a lot in the past few months. I hope you don’t mind that I sometimes retell and translate your blog entries for those Armitage fans who can’t read English but are very interested in your astute observations. I agree that what Porter expereinces in that apartment is not a Proustian recollection as such and that the falshbacks in Strike Back are mostly there to remind viewers of the plot details. Rather, the similarity is in the way Armitage is acting out the recollections in Spooks 7.03 and SB 1.2: in both scenes, he uses his body and/or face to convey the impact that memories have on Lucas and Porter. In SB, he only has the upper part of his face to do it with, while the rest of his face is covered and his body has to go through the necessary movements, but he still manages to show that Porter is almost overwheled with his recollections. He flinches, he blinks, he squints and screws up his eyes, he makes sounds as if Porter’s breath is out of control – and so we get an impression that he manages to pull himself together, but with an effort. Another reason I wrote about Porter in that post is simply because he is my favorite character in Armitage’s work and I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk about him. 🙂
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On the contrary I’m really happy when the blog is read elsewhere by generous readers, so thanks for passing it on. Good point about Porter and it’s interesting to ask if there’s a difference in the physiognomy between a Proustian moment and other kinds of memories. Thanks so much!
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