Les vaisseaux fantômes

Is this a strange thing for Dundy to do here? Not at all. He's directly outside the door; he doesn't have even a shred of plausible deniability if he's caught by Crozier.

But of course, neither does James. And operating on the assumption that nothing in this show is random, I do suspect that small lingering shot is there for a reason, which is to show us Dundy looking out for number one. I think there's an element of foreshadowing to it: showing us in a small harmless way something that will come back later with much higher stakes, and much more devastating consequences for James than just being left behind to deal with Crozier.

This is probably a good time to say: this isn't a Dundy hate post! The morality of Dundy's choices isn't the point here. On a rational level, his later solution to the desperate situation they find themselves in makes perfect sense.

(On an emotional level, it still breaks my heart - because I suspect that James "best walker in the service" "dives into rivers to rescue strangers at the drop of a hat" Fitzjames would have carried Dundy if need be, if their positions were reversed - but ultimately there are no right choices in this situation, and that's what makes it compelling.)

I think Dundy is representative of a position that applies (in various ways) to all the lieuts: he's privy to just enough information to know how screwed they are, but has no real power to do anything about it. The lieuts are all in this uncomfortable middle position, watching their shipmates divide into two equally alien groups: on the one hand, there are the ones who, as horror and deprivation chip away at them, turn out to be gold. They rise to the occasion and in some cases emerge as larger-than-life and almost saintlike. On the other hand, there are the ones who are either actively agitating for, or not strongly opposed to, outright mutiny. And in the middle, there are the lieuts, unable to join either.