I'm a fast reader, especially when faced with the prospect of a 2hr train ride, a 40min Tube ride and a 3hr flight! Lots of interesting stuff in the novels. I'll pick out a few bits.
- Meres and Callan hate each other. Disappointingly, although two novels are set post-S2, there's little indication of their rapprochement until the very end. - 'Taormina was Meres' kind of place: elegant, affluent, and slightly camp.' - Meres is much more clearly interested in women in the novels, as opposed to the TV series or indeed the short stories. That is to say, he's sexually interested in women: I wouldn't say that he likes women. I would venture that he likes them vulnerable - in the second book, Callan breaks into his house and there's a girl doped on marijuana and speed that Meres has acquired for her (she says she doesn't necessarily like Meres, but he's 'a super lover'(!)). With Eltringham (schoolmate who was in the Guards with him) they talk women, and the narration says something like 'Eltringham was a dilettante; Meres was an expert' - which, to me, is rather like saying a man is an 'expert' in partridge, i.e. as a hunter. He's often shown flirting and charming women to get information, usually with no sincere emotion behind it. - Further to that last point: Callan knows where Meres lives, in Chelsea; a house Meres can afford through 'private means'. - Meres is often assigned to work with Fitzmaurice, who delights in pissing him off. - There are various scenes of Meres torturing people. Always a delight, especially when he starts calling people 'sweetie' and the like. In one, he kicks the victim, and Fitzmaurice immediately stops him - "Hunter said to stop you if you looked like you were enjoying it." "I only hit him once!" "Once was enough." In another scene, one of the victims notes that his voice is slightly breathy with excitement, but his hands are completely steady. - In the fourth novel, Meres is assigned to manipulate a man called Kleist, by being his friend. His narration - because we get quite a lot of Meres' POV in this book - is a joy for its sarcasm. Also, the narration keeps referring to him as handsome, good-looking, etc. (including sometimes when it's Callan doing the narrating!). Anyway, eventually Meres discovers pornography with a 'mild homosexual theme' in Kleist's attic, and we get this line: Honestly, Hunter should just have told him. It would have made things so much simpler. It's very matter-of-fact, and I dunno about you, but I interpret that as Meres being absolutely willing to seduce Kleist for the job... - Indeed, one of the things they use to blackmail Kleist is that he appears to have formed a 'romantic friendship with a young Englishman' - i.e. Meres. When we later get Kleist's narration, it's clear that he does have a crush on the 'beautiful young Englishman'. - Callan shags a lot more women in the novels. The women get varying amounts of character development, but the 70s-style male-female relations get rather wearing after a while.
Yes, the TV show is mostly Meres-->Callan, with Meres doing the flirting. Because Meres is in the subordinate position, I think, he's always trying to get Callan's attention. Callan already knows he's got Meres' attention (because Meres wants his job, if nothing else!), and he doesn't needle in the same way. Despite the rivalry, Callan clearly trusts Meres by The Richmond File, which I think is his way of showing appreciation for him; as is the trust shown when Meres apparently drops round for a cup of tea in some series 4 episode. He doesn't show much concern for Meres, because he trusts Meres to look after himself. Meres getting shot on the job does come up in his confrontation with Hunter at the end of 'Once a Big Man, Always a Big Man', and Callan's clearly unhappy about it and the risk Meres has been put at; but overall, Callan's attitude is less solicitous than Meres' towards him. (Mind you, Meres suffers rather less than Callan does).
'Hark at you' is what you say when somebody says something about you (usually unflattering) that they themselves are guilty of. 'Hark at you, telling me not to forget to put the washing on when you've never done a load in your life!' and all that. Meres goes: 'I love fancy dress parties'; Callan: 'I can tell! [describes Meres' outfit]' So when Meres' goes 'Hark at you' he's pointing out that Callan needn't make comment about how into it Meres is when Callan himself has gone pretty hard in the costume department too. 'Duckie' is a very camp sort of endearment - exclusively used by women and queeny men.
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Date: 2019-07-27 12:24 pm (UTC)- Meres and Callan hate each other. Disappointingly, although two novels are set post-S2, there's little indication of their rapprochement until the very end.
- 'Taormina was Meres' kind of place: elegant, affluent, and slightly camp.'
- Meres is much more clearly interested in women in the novels, as opposed to the TV series or indeed the short stories. That is to say, he's sexually interested in women: I wouldn't say that he likes women. I would venture that he likes them vulnerable - in the second book, Callan breaks into his house and there's a girl doped on marijuana and speed that Meres has acquired for her (she says she doesn't necessarily like Meres, but he's 'a super lover'(!)). With Eltringham (schoolmate who was in the Guards with him) they talk women, and the narration says something like 'Eltringham was a dilettante; Meres was an expert' - which, to me, is rather like saying a man is an 'expert' in partridge, i.e. as a hunter. He's often shown flirting and charming women to get information, usually with no sincere emotion behind it.
- Further to that last point: Callan knows where Meres lives, in Chelsea; a house Meres can afford through 'private means'.
- Meres is often assigned to work with Fitzmaurice, who delights in pissing him off.
- There are various scenes of Meres torturing people. Always a delight, especially when he starts calling people 'sweetie' and the like. In one, he kicks the victim, and Fitzmaurice immediately stops him - "Hunter said to stop you if you looked like you were enjoying it." "I only hit him once!" "Once was enough." In another scene, one of the victims notes that his voice is slightly breathy with excitement, but his hands are completely steady.
- In the fourth novel, Meres is assigned to manipulate a man called Kleist, by being his friend. His narration - because we get quite a lot of Meres' POV in this book - is a joy for its sarcasm. Also, the narration keeps referring to him as handsome, good-looking, etc. (including sometimes when it's Callan doing the narrating!). Anyway, eventually Meres discovers pornography with a 'mild homosexual theme' in Kleist's attic, and we get this line: Honestly, Hunter should just have told him. It would have made things so much simpler. It's very matter-of-fact, and I dunno about you, but I interpret that as Meres being absolutely willing to seduce Kleist for the job...
- Indeed, one of the things they use to blackmail Kleist is that he appears to have formed a 'romantic friendship with a young Englishman' - i.e. Meres. When we later get Kleist's narration, it's clear that he does have a crush on the 'beautiful young Englishman'.
- Callan shags a lot more women in the novels. The women get varying amounts of character development, but the 70s-style male-female relations get rather wearing after a while.
Yes, the TV show is mostly Meres-->Callan, with Meres doing the flirting. Because Meres is in the subordinate position, I think, he's always trying to get Callan's attention. Callan already knows he's got Meres' attention (because Meres wants his job, if nothing else!), and he doesn't needle in the same way. Despite the rivalry, Callan clearly trusts Meres by The Richmond File, which I think is his way of showing appreciation for him; as is the trust shown when Meres apparently drops round for a cup of tea in some series 4 episode. He doesn't show much concern for Meres, because he trusts Meres to look after himself. Meres getting shot on the job does come up in his confrontation with Hunter at the end of 'Once a Big Man, Always a Big Man', and Callan's clearly unhappy about it and the risk Meres has been put at; but overall, Callan's attitude is less solicitous than Meres' towards him. (Mind you, Meres suffers rather less than Callan does).
'Hark at you' is what you say when somebody says something about you (usually unflattering) that they themselves are guilty of. 'Hark at you, telling me not to forget to put the washing on when you've never done a load in your life!' and all that. Meres goes: 'I love fancy dress parties'; Callan: 'I can tell! [describes Meres' outfit]' So when Meres' goes 'Hark at you' he's pointing out that Callan needn't make comment about how into it Meres is when Callan himself has gone pretty hard in the costume department too. 'Duckie' is a very camp sort of endearment - exclusively used by women and queeny men.