January Meme: Falling for Peter Capaldi
Jan. 6th, 2020 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakruuger wanted me to talk about anything Peter Capaldi related. Now, the first thing I've ever watched him in was the tv version of Neverwhere - he was playing the angel Islington, and with the appropriate creepiness, too - but I can't say this made me sit up and notice. And his bit part as Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii wasn't, either. But then Torchwood: Children of Earth happened. And he was so fantastic in it, that I thought: wow. Wow. Who is this actor? John Frobisher for the most part is our heroes' antagonist in CoE, but he's not the type of flamboyant villain that you'd think draws attention. He's a bureaucrat - he's where Torchwood, Wales, got their salaries from - and the decision condemning Team Torchwood (and several other people) to die at the start isn't made out of personal animosity; it's the classic "following orders" situation. (As we'll find out, following orders is also what Jack Harkness did, several decades ago.) And yet Frobisher isn't the caricature of an unfeeling machine on legs, either. The way Capaldi plays him through out all five episodes draws you in despite the fact that Frobisher misses, until the end, every chance not to follow orders, despite the fact he ends up taking not just his own life but that of his wife and daughters. He's so very, deeply human. Which is the point.
The 456 are the outward threat in CoE, the true monsters are what humans are ready to do - and yet the saving graces are also what humans are ready to do. The administration whom Frobisher had served until it asked that one human sacrifice too much is brought down by Frobisher's secretary, who hasn't forgotten all their years together, in addition to our heroes and their allies. And the thing is, Capaldi has sold you - well me - on caring for Frobisher as well. He's the pov character through most of the scenes that don't feature one of the Torchwood gang.
The most suspense and horror in CoE happens via conversations, not action pieces, and the fact that this is so and works is a case of direction, acting and writing all coming together so fantastically well. Frobisher's negotiatons with the 456 are, objectively speaking, nothing but one man talking to a glass tank to a shape in it carefully only hinted at, but Peter Capaldi is incredible in those scenes (and their aftermaths, as when Frobisher after the first of these conversations leaves the room and only then permits himself to break down in the floor and just sit, silently), and it's a screaming injustice that he wasn't showered in awards as a result. The COBRA meetings in Day Four are nothing but people sitting around a table, talking, not often raising their voices. And yet these scenes are among the most horrifying I've ever ever seen on tv, with the way the unspeakable becomes rationalized and rendered in euphemisms terribly familiar. Because there is not a moustache-twirling supervillain bent on ruling the world in sight. These are very human beings, and that's the most chilling thing of all.
It's been a decade now since Torchwood: Children of Earth aired. Since then, reality proved that governments can be for more like caricatures than like three dimensional portrayals when they sell out the world. But I still find myself holding my breath when I think of Capaldi as Frobisher, of his face when he realises that the euphemism-wielding people in power have just told him to serve up his children to a monstrous fate. What he does with his eyes.
There are a lot of tragedies happening in Children of Earth. Capaldi made me care about the one of a bureaucrat whom starts his introduction into the Torchwoodsaga by forwarding a killing order, and made me understand - which is not the same as condone - why Frobisher, throughout all five episodes, does what he does from that point onwards.
The Other Days
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Date: 2020-01-06 05:00 pm (UTC)That's where I first noticed him, too!
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Date: 2020-01-06 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-06 05:55 pm (UTC)Thank you!
From yours—
Frobisher's negotiatons with the 456 are, objectively speaking, nothing but one man talking to a glass tank to a shape in it carefully only hinted at, but Peter Capaldi is incredible in those scenes (and their aftermaths, as when Frobisher after the first of these conversations leaves the room and only then permits himself to break down in the floor and just sit, silently), and it's a screaming injustice that he wasn't showered in awards as a result.
That's actually one of my strongest memories of the entire series, the density of emotion in Frobisher's first interview with the ambassador of the 456. The badly concealed nerves, the foolhardy little breath of relief before he knows what he has to fear and the entirely understandable terror when he does, the decades of professional self-effacement with which he pulls himself together to play both diplomat and hard man with the 456, every tentative lick of confidence at his apparent progress dashed away in the next eruption of screaming and slime; there's something utterly wrecked and defenseless in the way he just slides down the wall as soon as he's out of the room, he's a stalky, awkward man, it would be funny if you couldn't see his face. (Capaldi does amazing physical acting.) It's tremendously impressive for the colorless paper-pusher he was introduced as. It's not a victory; it's an atrocity. Nothing he does is uncomplicated and neither are the audience's feelings about him.
Since then, reality proved that governments can be for more like caricatures than like three dimensional portrayals when they sell out the world.
It's so disappointing.
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Date: 2020-01-09 11:59 am (UTC)Agreed. Have you seen the music video "Someone You Loved" he did for his cousin Lewis? He gives a stunning performance in it without a single line of dialogue. Another good example is in Devil's Whore where he played King Charles; the scene where Charles is executed is a masterclass in physical acting.
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Date: 2020-01-09 05:13 pm (UTC)I have not, and I will check it out. Thanks!
[edit] That was lovely.
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Date: 2020-01-07 02:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-07 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-08 01:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-09 05:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-08 07:26 pm (UTC)And the interesting thing after seeing The Thick of It is that on paper, Frobisher and Malcolm Tucker are very similar characters - both are men working behind the scenes in politics, who are willing to go to great lengths to serve their country/party - but even the physicality of the two characters is completely different. Tucker is a force of nature, while Frobisher is mousy and reserved, and yet both have a surprising vulnerability to them.
(and you really need to watch The Thick of It - I'd argue that its fourth series is probably the closest we'll ever get to Capaldi playing Macbeth)
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Date: 2020-01-09 05:27 am (UTC)Capaldi somehow managed to make him sympathetic despite all the horrible things he did (and not in a "the villain was the true victim all along" kind of a way).
Yes, this, exactly.
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Date: 2020-01-09 10:59 am (UTC)Same. I had watched Alan Partridge back in the day, but had no idea he was behind it, so I 'discovered' him while working my way though Capaldi's filmography. I'm really looking forward to both David Copperfield and Avenue 5.