Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Allegory of Love & The Quality of Mercy

lewis and hathaway

I swear this series should be re-titled, "Lewis and Hathaway:  A Bromance".  I don't know if the gay episode (as I like to think of it) put this idea into my head or not, but it seems like it's all about Hathaway's and Lewis' relationship now.  Whereas before it was all about ideas and art and me oggling Lawrence Fox, which was much more fun.

It's been a few weeks since I wrote a review, because I wasn't feeling particularly inspired by the episodes.  But just because I wasn't reviewing doesn't mean it wasn't airing, or that I wasn't watching!  The episode after Life Born of Fire was The Great and the Good.  I don't have much to say about that episode, but you can read Ruth's review of it at Booktalk & More if you're interested.

The episode after that was called Allegory of Love.  Here, we met Dorian, a very Oscar Wildesque (as you might have guessed by the name) fantasy writer who is huuuuugely successful.  HUGE.  Best thing since CS Lewis--who was a resident of Oxford and shared the same surname as Inspector Lewis (mentioned several times during the episode).  Anyway, someone dies, I forget who, and then other people die, and Lewis and Hathaway think it has something to do with Dorian's fiance, Alice--named after Alice from Alice in Wonderland, which was created by yet another Oxford resident, LEWIS Carrol (yes, also mentioned).  There's a surplus of creepy professors running around, and Dorian is obviously hiding something.  My first guess would have been that he's gay, but the writers already played that card this season.  So what could it be???

This was an okay episode, although I have to say--can we not go for the sexual shocker every single episode?  Also, Lewis' stubborn refusal to apparently read ANYTHING at all gets somewhat annoying.  Finally, Hathaway flirted with a girl in a bar (not gay, not gay at all), and I hated her.

In The Quality of Mercy, an actor in a student production of The Merchant of Venice is murdered, but no one cares because everyone at Oxford is a cold-hearted bastard.  But who cares about the murdered people?  Not me, that's for sure (hahaha).  The significant thing that happens during this episode is that Hathaway discovers who killed Lewis' wife!  Yes, it's true!  You thought they were going to drag that out until the last of the last episodes and have it be a huge dramatic thing, but no.  The actual unveiling of the murderer (or woman-slaughterer) was waaaay anticlimatic.  Hathaway, however, was quite humorous with the watching-Lewis-out-of-the-corners-of-his-eyes-as-if-waiting-for-him-to-explode bit.

And here's where it just gets too bromantic for me, because Hathaway is all concerned about what Lewis will do when he finds out.  So he... asks their supervisor's advice?  Oookay.  And then of course he has to tell Lewis eventually (duh-sigh), and Lewis ends up proclaiming, "You just proved you don't know me at all!  Or yourself!"  And they pout. Under direct questioning, Lewis refuses to admit that he ever felt anything for Hathaway other than professional admiration, and Hathaway looks like a puppy that's just been kicked by its mom.  Aw, sad.

Will Lewis and Hathaway mend their battered relationship?  Will they hug and share their feelings over a pint?  Will Hathaway ever stop with annoying quote attributions?  Hopefully we'll find out... next Sunday!


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