#nuanced performances

During the confrontation with Eugene in the observatory offices, and they’re trying to talk Eugene down, I was struck by how angry Jack was. “But you ran away like a coward,” he says. There’s a very hard edge to his voice and his lips twitch with the slightest hint of a snarl. 

I was lucky -- I did not serve during a time of conflict. Even if there had been one, my duty was such that I would have still been behind the scenes, listening and hacking and writing reports. But I think I can imagine what Jack thinks in this moment: How afraid he and his mates must have been, going down range for the first time; how many of them must have swallowed that fear to do what they felt had to be done. And how many of them died, facing those fears, while Eugene ran away. 

Then there’s the idea that the war somehow justifies all that Eugene has done. Jack has been there and done that -- he’s been to the edge of the abyss and back again. Eugene had a choice, and he chose to embrace the violence. 

...all said with just the tone of his voice and that twitching snarl.