** Sorry if the title is a bit of a spoiler, but if you have not seen Downton Abbey season 3 stop reading now **
That question came by email in reaction to my analysis of Thomas Barrow. Really? That is what you took away from my post?
No he is not. “Sexual predator” is fraught with all kinds of emotional connotations, but at its core is the assumption that the victim has been hunted and that the hunter has likely used guile and deception or a position of power to achieve his goal.
You cannot point to that in Thomas’s behavior. He was overly familiar with Jimmy in the way he touched him, but that was meant to test his reaction. Thomas himself said when confronted by Carson that no one could speak out and he had to read the signs that someone was like him. When Jimmy did not rebuke him it lead him to believe he might feel the same way.
What he missed, of course, were Jimmy’s facial expressions and that he in no way reciprocated. If Jimmy had said something or even gently moved his hand away that would have been the end of it. Thomas would never intentionally place himself in a position that might lead to his exposure and loss of his livelihood. I am not blaming Jimmy for any of this. He was manipulated into believing that rebuking Thomas could hinder his advancement or even lead to his dismissal, but it was not Thomas who did it.
And then there was the kiss. In Thomas’s scenes leading up to it you can see his agitation, his uncertainty and his hesitation. Even as he is about to lean in to kiss Jimmy he pauses in what could be seen as anticipation, but is just as easily trepidation. This is not the end of a hunt nor is it a well-thought-out plan. It is impulse fueled by desire, desperation and misunderstanding. Had Thomas thought to awaken Jimmy to ask him, to find out if what he sensed was real, there would have been some uncomfortable moments, but none of what followed would have happened. But then that would not make for a good story
That question came by email in reaction to my analysis of Thomas Barrow. Really? That is what you took away from my post?
No he is not. “Sexual predator” is fraught with all kinds of emotional connotations, but at its core is the assumption that the victim has been hunted and that the hunter has likely used guile and deception or a position of power to achieve his goal.
You cannot point to that in Thomas’s behavior. He was overly familiar with Jimmy in the way he touched him, but that was meant to test his reaction. Thomas himself said when confronted by Carson that no one could speak out and he had to read the signs that someone was like him. When Jimmy did not rebuke him it lead him to believe he might feel the same way.
What he missed, of course, were Jimmy’s facial expressions and that he in no way reciprocated. If Jimmy had said something or even gently moved his hand away that would have been the end of it. Thomas would never intentionally place himself in a position that might lead to his exposure and loss of his livelihood. I am not blaming Jimmy for any of this. He was manipulated into believing that rebuking Thomas could hinder his advancement or even lead to his dismissal, but it was not Thomas who did it.
And then there was the kiss. In Thomas’s scenes leading up to it you can see his agitation, his uncertainty and his hesitation. Even as he is about to lean in to kiss Jimmy he pauses in what could be seen as anticipation, but is just as easily trepidation. This is not the end of a hunt nor is it a well-thought-out plan. It is impulse fueled by desire, desperation and misunderstanding. Had Thomas thought to awaken Jimmy to ask him, to find out if what he sensed was real, there would have been some uncomfortable moments, but none of what followed would have happened. But then that would not make for a good story
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