By Slanted Light

I'm very relieved to know that you're not bunking off (like I used to do *all* the time so I've got a nose for it...).

I agree with you about the murkiness of their morals but I think I was referring more to doyle getting away with it in terms of the various discussions in fandom over the years about things like that e.g. idealist vs. pragmatist etc. and I don't think I can recall anyone citing the baby incident as an example of Doyle acting pragmatically, irresponsibly or immorally. It's a good point and, as I say, one which I've never thought of before.

If anything - and I've said this before - I find Doyle the darker of the two, because he can suggest something like that, while at the same time seeming to want to act with conscience... as if he's a bit more out of control than Bodie, not sure where his lines are, which to me makes him just a tad more dangerous than someone who knows exactly where their lines are and why, as Bodie often seems to...

Yeah, I know what you mean, but I think the very fact that we see that Doyle can act without control - can lose it - in front of us, Bodie, Cowley, everyone, leads me to think that in some ways he's less of a threat than he at first seems *because* it's there in front of us, it's on the surface and we know what's going on inside and out, whereas I think Bodie's very different......steel-like in that he rarely loses his temper, expressionless, more controlled and contained and yet....his mask hides what he can feel for the Frances Cottinghams of the world etc. I think the scene which says it all for me is when Doyle hits the Coogan brother...while he's lashing out in obvious temper I still finds it's Bodie's he did warn you which sends shivers down my spine - not only shivers of fear but excitement too, of wondering who is this person? Is he angry because he's a natural thug or because he can't stand seeing his best mate assaulted? It's that depth which, as I say, is both threatening and exciting. With Doyle, I feel that what you see is what there is. Yes, he loses his temper but so do children and neither frighten me, but quiet, controlled menace does.