On Stranger Tides Review Part 2: The Navy Version
Being an account of my thoughts on Lieutenants Groves and Gillette in On Stranger Tides.
First… Some Context about Where I'm Coming From
Sitting here, having just seen On Stranger Tides for a third time, I scarcely know where to begin. I suppose that it’s perfectly obvious by now that a great deal of my love for the PotC franchise centers around a couple of characters who are incidental to most of the major action, and whose personalities and characters have been largely constructed by fandom. I first became aware of Gillette and Groves when I started reading a lot of fic about Commodore Norrington. All of a sudden, those two gentlemen with only a couple of funny lines each became very interesting to me, and they grew on me even more when I started to try and write them. Somewhere in the midst of plotting an epic Sparrington fic in which both lieutenants have important roles to play, I realized I wasn’t calling them Gillette and Groves any more. (The fic, sadly, never got written.) They were now Andrew and Theodore whenever I thought of them (my apologies to those who have different names for them… my versions of them share the popular fanon names), and I loved them both for their own sakes, not just as accessories of James'. I loved Theo’s brash, ever so slightly inappropriate sense of humor, I loved Andrew’s quiet, incisive wit and sense of propriety, I loved the fact that both of them have a deep sense of loyalty, even if it expresses itself in different ways, and I loved the way they interacted with each other and with James in fics that were both mine and other fans’.
Needless to say, I missed them both dreadfully in DMC, and when I found out that Theo was going to be in AWE, I did a little happy dance. But then, he was working for Beckett, a fact that I maintain weighed heavily on him afterward. (I have no evidence for this. Not a shred. But… I have to think it’s true, because it weighed heavily on my version of him.) Character considerations aside, Theo’s working for Beckett was… good in the sense that it got him into the story at all, but bad in the sense that he got reduced to being the villain’s henchman, and I had to do a whole lot of mental gymnastics and explaining to keep him in line with how I’d always seen him.
So, when all of the OST pictures started coming out, I nearly vibrated out of my skin I was so excited that the two of them were going to be back, on screen together, and in proper navy uniforms on a proper navy ship, from the looks of things. Considering their relative unimportance in the grand scheme of things, I couldn’t have asked for more. (I know some people, one Andrew Gillette especially, would disagree that there is any such thing as a proper navy ship when said ship is captained by Hector Barbossa… but at least the Providence is nominally the property of the crown, and crewed by mostly respectable seamen.)
And now… what actually happened in the movie.
The funny thing is… if they hadn’t both been killed, if they’d both survived the battle at the Fountain, this post wouldn’t be a rant at all. What you would be hearing from me is a whole lot of squee with a healthy side of disappointment that Andrew didn’t get more lines.
Because those two characters who showed up on screen? Those were my navy boys again. No mental gymnastics needed. In a way, that made watching what happened to them in the end harder. It would have been easier if they had been unrecognizable versions of themselves who just happened to look and sound like the Gillette and Groves I’ve come to love over the years. But no. For me, those characters we see in On Stranger Tides… were them. So much so that it was kind of unsettling, in fact. They both act exactly how I would imagine Andrew and Theo would in the situations in which they’re placed. There’s Andrew’s very obvious, badly subsumed fury at having to serve under Barbossa that manifests in a whole lot of glaring and an occasional brilliant snarky comment, Theo’s sense of compassion and duty towards the men who serve under him, Theo’s odd, ambiguous relationship with Barbossa, and the fact that the two of them are so beautifully, honorably brave that it makes my heart ache every time I watch it.
In Which I am Miffed that Andrew Didn't Talk More and Delighted at When He Did
I continue to be annoyed that Gillette didn’t get to talk hardly at all. I’m perfectly satisfied with how much Theo got to talk, but couldn’t Andrew have said just a couple more things? Not that I don’t love him being annoyed and holding Barbossa’s crutch like he’d like to bludgeon the man with it, or standing next to Barbossa during the “pep talk” scene looking like he's wondering who he angered to be stuck on a ship with a man who’s crazy enough to be going on about mermaids… but I wanted more. More navy, less Jack swinging on ropes or chandeliers or tromping through the swamp. The other super frustrating thing is that Andrew and Theo didn’t talk to each other. They stood next to each other a lot, and I swear that there were times when there was some silent communication of the “WTF? Are we actually going to go along with this?” variety going on between them, but would it have killed the writers to let the two of them exchange a few lines? *pout* So, their friendship remains in the realm of fanon.
But the one line that Andrew did get was wonderfully, delightfully him. I never would have thought the writers would let him do it in a million years, but of course Andrew has to be the one to poke fun at Barbossa's peg leg... Another very insightful fan once suggested that Andrew snarks at Barbossa and didn’t snark at James because he respected James. Barbossa doesn’t deserve his respect, as so when there isn’t anyone to see it (can’t be accused of insubordination or endanger the chain of command if the entire crew just got drowned by mermaids…), Andrew has no problem letting Barbossa know exactly what he thinks about him. He may get only one line that isn’t yelling orders, but… what a line to have, making fun of Barbossa to his face. I really selfishly wish that we’d been able to see Theo’s face right after Andrew said that, because in my head, he was trying, without much success, not to smile. (And Theo really needed something to smile about right then...)
A Whole Lot Mostly About Theo
The entire fandom has had Groves pegged as a bit of a pirate fanboy since we all saw the admiring light in his eyes while proclaiming, “That has to be the best pirate I’ve ever seen.” I've always been torn between on the one hand, secretly wanting him to turn pirate (like Murtogg and Mulroy do at the end of AWE) because I thought it might get him into more scenes, and he'd look awesome in a pirate costume, and on the other hand thinking that pirate!Theo is a terrible idea because it would make him less than he should be as a character, and he probably wouldn't (or couldn't) be friends with Andrew any more. :-(
So really, Theo serving under an ex-pirate captain was an interesting compromise as far as I was concerned. I think it's fascinating that he never fanboys over Barbossa. Not once. I think this goes to show that it's Jack that Theo admires, not pirates in general. And… there's a big difference in admiring a clever rule breaker from afar and having to serve under one of them, especially when it's Barbossa, who, for all that he's a fascinating character, is still capable of harsh (sometimes necessary…) cruelty when the situation demands it. Over the course of the film, from the first scene with Gibbs' the near-hanging to the scene where the Providence sinks, Theo seems to have a slowly dawning comprehension of just how ruthless Barbossa is willing to be to get what he wants. Hanging Gibbs? Man was a condemned pirate whose sentence was commuted not by a real judge, but by Jack Sparrow in disguise. Abandoning that sailor who jumped overboard and letting him drown, though… that's an entirely different matter. I love that Theo's first reaction is to order the ship to come about so they can try and save him. And I love the surprise and… the little bit of disgust on his face when Barbossa says no. I've always thought that Theo takes his position as an officer very seriously, and failing to help a man whose fallen overboard, especially when most sailors couldn't swim (at least I think I remember reading that was true…) is a serious breach of trust. (We'll get to the more serious breach of trust later...)
Speaking of trust… I think it's interesting that Theo is the one who goes to Barbossa about the men’s fears about Whitecap Bay and Andrew is the one waiting at the edge of the quarterdeck almost like he’s standing guard. I think the two of them both came up with the plan to talk to Barbossa about the rumors, but it was decided by both of them that Theo should be the one to bring it up because he could do it without looking like he wanted to murder their captain.
At first, I thought that Theo might have been the one talking to him because he had the higher rank, but looking at the uniforms Andrew definitely looks like he outranks Theo… much more gold braid on his coat, but Theo is the one doing all the talking, and seems to be the one in charge when Barbossa isn't around, especially on the trek through the jungle. *throws hands up in frustration* So, my running theory is that they have the same rank, but Theo just hasn’t had the time to get a new uniform yet, and as he’s the one who can actually SPEAK to Barbossa without grinding his teeth or saying wonderfully snarky things… he’s the one Barbossa deals with, and though it might seem like he's in charge, they really both are. Theo's just got a louder voice, so he gets to shout orders while they're trudging through the oversized fauna. ;-)
Back to the scene with Barbossa's "mermaid waters, that be our path" speech for a moment. First of all, I love Theo's "Find your courage, or be ready to purpose your fear" line. He is… so staunchly, bravely, British-ly, naval-ly awesome in that moment, I have to pinch myself to keep from swooning a bit. I would have been happy if he had been the one giving the motivational speech here, but I suppose the demands of the story required Barbossa.
Also, I noticed that of all the men on board, Andrew seems to be the only one who isn't the least bit impressed with the “Are we not King's men?” speech. We get to see Theo saying “aye…” a bit hesitantly when Barbossa asks them the question, but if I remember correctly, Andrew doesn’t. One might argue that we just don't get to see him say it, but I maintain that the day Andrew Gillette answers in the affirmative to the question "Are we not King's men?" when "we" includes Barbossa is a day the devil needs to knit a sweater.
And one more thing before I get to the stuff that REALLY shot cannonballs through my poor, navy-loving heart… The lead-up to the Naval Battle That Never Was was beautifully shot, and it was so intense that it had my heart racing at the prospect of an epic ship battle between the Spanish and the Providence with a Disney-sized budget. I feel horridly cheated that we didn't get one. Not enough "important people" present on either side to make it worthwhile, I suppose. *grumblegripecomplain*
I Said I Wanted Gillette and Groves to Meet Some Mermaids… This Isn't What I Meant.
If you spend any time around me in real life at all… you know I rp Groves. A lot. And you know that my Theo!muse's fascination with mermaids borders on obsession, and that he is a staunch believer in their existence. (My version of him also believes in leprechauns and dragons and faeries and… the list goes on for quite a while.) So, when I heard that there were going to be mermaids in PotC4, my dearest wish is that a little mermaid really would flop up on deck… right on Andrew Gillette's well-shined, disbelieving shoes, if possible, with Theo right beside him with a "told you so…" look on his face.
So, you know all of those stories about how one must be careful what one wishes for when dealing with genies and other supernatural wish-granting creatures? Well… I feel like one of the poor fools who didn't think her wish through. I knew I probably wasn't going to get what I really wanted, so just wished really hard that Theo and Andrew would have at least one scene with at least one mermaid. And that's precisely what I got. And… It. Was. Not. Okay. When the camera showed someone poking that poor dead mermaid, and it panned up and it was Theo… I gasped a little. Really, movie? Theo and Andrew finally get to see a mermaid, and it's a dead one? And a whole bunch of living ones are about to sink their ship and kill all of the crew who didn't come ashore. Great. Just great. Why don't you have a unicorn come by and stab a kitten with its horn while you're at it. <--Bitter Groves and mermaid fan is bitter, realizes that the legends about unicorns are generally "nicer" than the legends about mermaids, and doesn't care.
And right on the heels of the first dead mermaid… we get what I've started calling THE SEAGULLS SCENE. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. I kind of hate Barbossa here… it’s true that they wouldn’t have been able to do anything, and Theo’s compassionate impulse probably would have gotten him killed, but Barbossa makes him say he doesn’t even hear it. I get chills every time I watch it… “What do you hear, Mr. Groves?” “Seagulls… nesting. Nothing more.” Oh Theo… the look on his face is just devastating, and my heart dies a little bit every time I watch that scene. It has occurred to me that a ship that Theo crews on sinks in every single PotC movie he’s in. In CotBP, I’ve always thought he was assigned to the Interceptor. It’s where he is when we first meet him… in AWE, he’s on the Endeavour. And in this one, he gets to watch the Providence go down while Barbossa threatens his life if he lifts a finger to help the men who are still alive. STOP EMOTIONALLY DEVASTATING MY NAVY, MOVIE.
Flagratious Wig Abuse
This movie sees the return of some pretty flagratious wig abuse as they make their way inland toward the Fountain. And I'd be lying if I didn't say that I didn't smile a little at the fact that both Groves and Gillette are increasingly disheveled. A friend of mine leaned over and whispered to me during these scenes that she thought Andrew tried to fix/wash/salvage his when they stopped to rest… an image I have not been able to get out of my mind ever since because it is now my canon. Thank you, Jess.
In all seriousness, Gillette and Groves carry on quite bravely slogging through the jungle with Barbossa, and later with Jack. Though this bit of the movie was another disappointment of the "the letter of what I wanted without being what I wanted at all" variety. Theo has been a Jack fanboy since the first scene he's in. But they've never spoken, and I don't think they've ever been in a scene together that wasn't a huge group scene. But this… this was much more intimate. Just Jack, Gibbs, Barbossa, Groves, Gillette, and a few more navy fellows making their way to the Fountain. Sinking the Providence was almost forgiven when I realized that Theo was now part of the core group going to the Fountain. I thought, "Surely he and Jack will talk to each other at least once, and it'll be hilarious… Right? Right?" Dream on, self. Did Jack and Theo ever speak? No. They didn't. What a wasted opportunity.
I've got to say that Theo holding Barbossa's poisonous frog jar is pretty fun. The concentration on his face as he holds it steady and snaps the lid on… I'm half tempted to say Theo thinks the deadly little critters are kind of neat. I have only a fuzzy basis for this in canon, but I think he's taking to the unexpected trek to the fountain quite well. As much as he might not like or respect Barbossa, he’s going to the Fountain of Youth, for all love, and Theo's got a bit of a taste for such wild, crazy adventures.
The big thing that made me super happy was that Theo gets to untie Barbossa from the tree, having had the brains to figure out that the promised signal wasn’t coming, and his assistance would be very welcome. Way to think for yourself, Theo… epic win. And he loses the wig here, and spends the rest of the movie looking SUPER AWESOME. Not that I don’t love wigs… heaven knows I do… but this movie (not so) subtly encodes the idea that wigs = fake/false, so I kind of love that he loses his and gets to "be himself" a bit. Now… that being said, I also LOVE that Andrew keeps his wig (and hat, too, if I recall) until the very end. Because he would. You know those scenes in DMC of James still wearing his poor wig even though it’s covered in mud and has long since started resembling a dead creature? Yeah. That would be Andrew.
The Scene at the Fountain of Youth
We're getting close to the end now. And I'll just say… how much do I love the two of them standing behind Barbossa, looking badass and brave and awesome right before the fight with Blackbeard’s crew? SO MUCH. They're both so lovely. Theo is ready to draw his sword first, with his pretty (if slightly dirty) blue navy coat tossed back behind him out of the way… (and showing off a very well-turned leg…) Andrew follows suit, with this steely, cool resolve on his face that made me go OMG I love you so much Andrew it’s not even funny. Please stay alive and keep being awesome with Theo. This was the point where I started being really worried about both of them. I was a little worried when Jack and Barbossa got captured by the Spanish. I kept waiting for them to pan back and show a pile of dead navy men, killed by the Spanish on patrol… so Theo showing up to cut Barbossa’s ropes was not only awesome, but a huge relief. Ghosts don’t show up and cut ex-pirates off of trees.
Because Gillette had had so few lines throughout the movie up to that point, it was his life I was really worried about, and as the fight went on, I found myself panicking just a bit every time he wasn’t in shot. I was, in all seriousness, whispering, “Come on, Andrew… don’t die… please…” and other similar things right up until Blackbeard killed him. That moment… I am still not ok with it. I kind of want the DVD to come out yesterday so I can see exactly what happened and run it back when I need to. I’ve tried to pay attention… really I have… but how on earth did he get in between Barbossa and Blackbeard in the first place? And… the way Barbossa treats him when he dies… *deep breath to calm rising fury* NOT OK. Yes, I know Barbossa isn’t a nice man. But Andrew just died for a cause that they ostensibly shared. “Get off me” is not the appropriate response. (I know… Barbossa has never been the one for appropriate responses, but saying nothing and just letting him fall would have been better than what really happened.) SO. MUCH. ANGERPAIN. Still, Barbossa’s utter lack of respect aside, it… wasn’t a terrible death. He wasn’t killed by a random pirate, but by Blackbeard himself, and it was in a climactic scene where things mattered… As minor characters go, it’s a good way to die. But… NO. Just… NO. I wrote that last sentence, and something in me broke a little at being so rational and “nice” about it. I get that Blackbeard needed to kill some people who weren’t Barbossa in this fight to make him intimidating and dangerous. But it didn’t have to be him. It didn’t have to be Andrew. There are scores of other people around… a couple of nameless navy fellows who didn’t have lines are still tagging along, I’m guessing (otherwise, who else is on Barbossa’s side other than Jack, Gibbs, and the lieutenants?). Have Blackbeard kill one of them. There is no reason for Andrew specifically to die here. It’s wasteful, it’s needless, and it got rid of one of my favorite people in the entire franchise with no story-related payoff whatsoever. And part of me really wants to storm away from the franchise angrily, declaring that I’m never going to see another pirates movie again in protest. But the part of me that agrees with Theo about Jack won’t let me do that.
And then… the fighting stops. At this point, I was still in shock from Andrew’s death, and I was thinking to myself, “At least Theo’s still ok… Right? Right? I saw him in the background sword fighting like a badass and being generally amazing… he’s got to be ok…” But why did the fighting stop? The bloody Spanish showed up. The instant I saw someone holding that Union Jack, I winced a little and thought to myself, “Whoever’s holding that is about to get shot.” Then, I realized who it was… and my heart just froze. It… still hasn’t thawed out entirely, and I think it’s starting to get a bit freezer-burned. Losing fictional characters who have made themselves at home in my little fangirl heart tends to do that.
I am of the opinion that Theo didn’t expect to live through his speech. He couldn’t have. He knew the situation was desperate, and he’d just seen Andrew, his best remaining friend, get killed. (Yes, I know their friendship still isn’t canon. It is for me.) So what does he do? Gets up on that island in the face of overwhelming odds, makes a target of himself, and dies trying to stake a claim for king and country in the wild hope that the Spanish might actually respect it.
Theo’s death, at least, gets the respect it deserves from the movie. We get a heartbreakingly lovely shot of him falling, covered by the flag. (Too melodramatic, you say? Um… the grieving fangirl kindly says shut up. If I’d had my way, there would have been clouds opening, rays of sun falling on his poor, dead face, and an angelic choir. <-- Mostly kidding. Mostly.) In the end, Theo gets to die heroically for the country he served, and he gets recognized for his bravery by one of the coolest, most criminally underused characters in the whole movie. You’d think I’d hate the Spaniard for killing Theo… and I probably would if it wasn’t for the “make a record of that man’s bravery” line. I choke up every time I hear him say it. He may have just killed my Theo, but… The Spaniard noticed that Theo was awesome. And that means so did the filmmakers. That is… so much better handled than James’ death it isn’t even funny. (Yes, James gets to stab Davy Jones with his own sword, but he dies because he gets skewered by an overgrown splinter, which is something I still haven’t forgiven.)
I like to think that if the situations had been reversed with the English marching in to find a ragtag band of Spanish already there… the Spaniard would have done exactly the same thing Theo does, and Theo would have shot him while at the same time recognizing how incredibly badass he was.
If the writers cared more about Theo, I’d say that his heroic death (like James') functions as “redemption” for working for Beckett, but I don’t think they thought about it that hard. They seem to have forgotten Beckett entirely. At least, as much as it pains me to say it, Theo's death seems to be more uniquely his own than Andrew’s. It makes more sense here that one of the officers would be the one trying to claim the Fountain, but… I still want to know… did it have to be Theo? They’ve spent the whole moving giving him lines and making him awesome and letting him take initiative and show off that marvelous personality of his… and then they kill him. And that means that all of that buildup? That was meant to make us care when he died. And that makes me, as a fan who has cared about him SO MUCH for so long, so blindingly furious I can hardly see straight. I feel used and emotionally tossed around. I'd tell myself it gets better, but I still can't watch AWE without feeling like I've been punched in the gut, so… not holding out much hope there.
So…
There it is. There's my rant. Gillette and Groves were both entirely too good for the movies that created them. Their original creators obviously didn't care for them even a tiny fraction of the amount their fans did. But I have a feeling this isn't the last that fandom will see of them. Death has never stopped Navy fans from loving, writing, drawing, and acting fannish about people before… Why should they be any different? Me? I've got two unfinished post-OST fics in which they feature prominently already, just sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to finish them up.
Finally, I'll leave you with this: both of them died practically within arm's reach of one of the most amazing resurrection plot devices ever given to a fandom.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go put that Fountain to good use.
First… Some Context about Where I'm Coming From
Sitting here, having just seen On Stranger Tides for a third time, I scarcely know where to begin. I suppose that it’s perfectly obvious by now that a great deal of my love for the PotC franchise centers around a couple of characters who are incidental to most of the major action, and whose personalities and characters have been largely constructed by fandom. I first became aware of Gillette and Groves when I started reading a lot of fic about Commodore Norrington. All of a sudden, those two gentlemen with only a couple of funny lines each became very interesting to me, and they grew on me even more when I started to try and write them. Somewhere in the midst of plotting an epic Sparrington fic in which both lieutenants have important roles to play, I realized I wasn’t calling them Gillette and Groves any more. (The fic, sadly, never got written.) They were now Andrew and Theodore whenever I thought of them (my apologies to those who have different names for them… my versions of them share the popular fanon names), and I loved them both for their own sakes, not just as accessories of James'. I loved Theo’s brash, ever so slightly inappropriate sense of humor, I loved Andrew’s quiet, incisive wit and sense of propriety, I loved the fact that both of them have a deep sense of loyalty, even if it expresses itself in different ways, and I loved the way they interacted with each other and with James in fics that were both mine and other fans’.
Needless to say, I missed them both dreadfully in DMC, and when I found out that Theo was going to be in AWE, I did a little happy dance. But then, he was working for Beckett, a fact that I maintain weighed heavily on him afterward. (I have no evidence for this. Not a shred. But… I have to think it’s true, because it weighed heavily on my version of him.) Character considerations aside, Theo’s working for Beckett was… good in the sense that it got him into the story at all, but bad in the sense that he got reduced to being the villain’s henchman, and I had to do a whole lot of mental gymnastics and explaining to keep him in line with how I’d always seen him.
So, when all of the OST pictures started coming out, I nearly vibrated out of my skin I was so excited that the two of them were going to be back, on screen together, and in proper navy uniforms on a proper navy ship, from the looks of things. Considering their relative unimportance in the grand scheme of things, I couldn’t have asked for more. (I know some people, one Andrew Gillette especially, would disagree that there is any such thing as a proper navy ship when said ship is captained by Hector Barbossa… but at least the Providence is nominally the property of the crown, and crewed by mostly respectable seamen.)
And now… what actually happened in the movie.
The funny thing is… if they hadn’t both been killed, if they’d both survived the battle at the Fountain, this post wouldn’t be a rant at all. What you would be hearing from me is a whole lot of squee with a healthy side of disappointment that Andrew didn’t get more lines.
Because those two characters who showed up on screen? Those were my navy boys again. No mental gymnastics needed. In a way, that made watching what happened to them in the end harder. It would have been easier if they had been unrecognizable versions of themselves who just happened to look and sound like the Gillette and Groves I’ve come to love over the years. But no. For me, those characters we see in On Stranger Tides… were them. So much so that it was kind of unsettling, in fact. They both act exactly how I would imagine Andrew and Theo would in the situations in which they’re placed. There’s Andrew’s very obvious, badly subsumed fury at having to serve under Barbossa that manifests in a whole lot of glaring and an occasional brilliant snarky comment, Theo’s sense of compassion and duty towards the men who serve under him, Theo’s odd, ambiguous relationship with Barbossa, and the fact that the two of them are so beautifully, honorably brave that it makes my heart ache every time I watch it.
In Which I am Miffed that Andrew Didn't Talk More and Delighted at When He Did
I continue to be annoyed that Gillette didn’t get to talk hardly at all. I’m perfectly satisfied with how much Theo got to talk, but couldn’t Andrew have said just a couple more things? Not that I don’t love him being annoyed and holding Barbossa’s crutch like he’d like to bludgeon the man with it, or standing next to Barbossa during the “pep talk” scene looking like he's wondering who he angered to be stuck on a ship with a man who’s crazy enough to be going on about mermaids… but I wanted more. More navy, less Jack swinging on ropes or chandeliers or tromping through the swamp. The other super frustrating thing is that Andrew and Theo didn’t talk to each other. They stood next to each other a lot, and I swear that there were times when there was some silent communication of the “WTF? Are we actually going to go along with this?” variety going on between them, but would it have killed the writers to let the two of them exchange a few lines? *pout* So, their friendship remains in the realm of fanon.
But the one line that Andrew did get was wonderfully, delightfully him. I never would have thought the writers would let him do it in a million years, but of course Andrew has to be the one to poke fun at Barbossa's peg leg... Another very insightful fan once suggested that Andrew snarks at Barbossa and didn’t snark at James because he respected James. Barbossa doesn’t deserve his respect, as so when there isn’t anyone to see it (can’t be accused of insubordination or endanger the chain of command if the entire crew just got drowned by mermaids…), Andrew has no problem letting Barbossa know exactly what he thinks about him. He may get only one line that isn’t yelling orders, but… what a line to have, making fun of Barbossa to his face. I really selfishly wish that we’d been able to see Theo’s face right after Andrew said that, because in my head, he was trying, without much success, not to smile. (And Theo really needed something to smile about right then...)
A Whole Lot Mostly About Theo
The entire fandom has had Groves pegged as a bit of a pirate fanboy since we all saw the admiring light in his eyes while proclaiming, “That has to be the best pirate I’ve ever seen.” I've always been torn between on the one hand, secretly wanting him to turn pirate (like Murtogg and Mulroy do at the end of AWE) because I thought it might get him into more scenes, and he'd look awesome in a pirate costume, and on the other hand thinking that pirate!Theo is a terrible idea because it would make him less than he should be as a character, and he probably wouldn't (or couldn't) be friends with Andrew any more. :-(
So really, Theo serving under an ex-pirate captain was an interesting compromise as far as I was concerned. I think it's fascinating that he never fanboys over Barbossa. Not once. I think this goes to show that it's Jack that Theo admires, not pirates in general. And… there's a big difference in admiring a clever rule breaker from afar and having to serve under one of them, especially when it's Barbossa, who, for all that he's a fascinating character, is still capable of harsh (sometimes necessary…) cruelty when the situation demands it. Over the course of the film, from the first scene with Gibbs' the near-hanging to the scene where the Providence sinks, Theo seems to have a slowly dawning comprehension of just how ruthless Barbossa is willing to be to get what he wants. Hanging Gibbs? Man was a condemned pirate whose sentence was commuted not by a real judge, but by Jack Sparrow in disguise. Abandoning that sailor who jumped overboard and letting him drown, though… that's an entirely different matter. I love that Theo's first reaction is to order the ship to come about so they can try and save him. And I love the surprise and… the little bit of disgust on his face when Barbossa says no. I've always thought that Theo takes his position as an officer very seriously, and failing to help a man whose fallen overboard, especially when most sailors couldn't swim (at least I think I remember reading that was true…) is a serious breach of trust. (We'll get to the more serious breach of trust later...)
Speaking of trust… I think it's interesting that Theo is the one who goes to Barbossa about the men’s fears about Whitecap Bay and Andrew is the one waiting at the edge of the quarterdeck almost like he’s standing guard. I think the two of them both came up with the plan to talk to Barbossa about the rumors, but it was decided by both of them that Theo should be the one to bring it up because he could do it without looking like he wanted to murder their captain.
At first, I thought that Theo might have been the one talking to him because he had the higher rank, but looking at the uniforms Andrew definitely looks like he outranks Theo… much more gold braid on his coat, but Theo is the one doing all the talking, and seems to be the one in charge when Barbossa isn't around, especially on the trek through the jungle. *throws hands up in frustration* So, my running theory is that they have the same rank, but Theo just hasn’t had the time to get a new uniform yet, and as he’s the one who can actually SPEAK to Barbossa without grinding his teeth or saying wonderfully snarky things… he’s the one Barbossa deals with, and though it might seem like he's in charge, they really both are. Theo's just got a louder voice, so he gets to shout orders while they're trudging through the oversized fauna. ;-)
Back to the scene with Barbossa's "mermaid waters, that be our path" speech for a moment. First of all, I love Theo's "Find your courage, or be ready to purpose your fear" line. He is… so staunchly, bravely, British-ly, naval-ly awesome in that moment, I have to pinch myself to keep from swooning a bit. I would have been happy if he had been the one giving the motivational speech here, but I suppose the demands of the story required Barbossa.
Also, I noticed that of all the men on board, Andrew seems to be the only one who isn't the least bit impressed with the “Are we not King's men?” speech. We get to see Theo saying “aye…” a bit hesitantly when Barbossa asks them the question, but if I remember correctly, Andrew doesn’t. One might argue that we just don't get to see him say it, but I maintain that the day Andrew Gillette answers in the affirmative to the question "Are we not King's men?" when "we" includes Barbossa is a day the devil needs to knit a sweater.
And one more thing before I get to the stuff that REALLY shot cannonballs through my poor, navy-loving heart… The lead-up to the Naval Battle That Never Was was beautifully shot, and it was so intense that it had my heart racing at the prospect of an epic ship battle between the Spanish and the Providence with a Disney-sized budget. I feel horridly cheated that we didn't get one. Not enough "important people" present on either side to make it worthwhile, I suppose. *grumblegripecomplain*
I Said I Wanted Gillette and Groves to Meet Some Mermaids… This Isn't What I Meant.
If you spend any time around me in real life at all… you know I rp Groves. A lot. And you know that my Theo!muse's fascination with mermaids borders on obsession, and that he is a staunch believer in their existence. (My version of him also believes in leprechauns and dragons and faeries and… the list goes on for quite a while.) So, when I heard that there were going to be mermaids in PotC4, my dearest wish is that a little mermaid really would flop up on deck… right on Andrew Gillette's well-shined, disbelieving shoes, if possible, with Theo right beside him with a "told you so…" look on his face.
So, you know all of those stories about how one must be careful what one wishes for when dealing with genies and other supernatural wish-granting creatures? Well… I feel like one of the poor fools who didn't think her wish through. I knew I probably wasn't going to get what I really wanted, so just wished really hard that Theo and Andrew would have at least one scene with at least one mermaid. And that's precisely what I got. And… It. Was. Not. Okay. When the camera showed someone poking that poor dead mermaid, and it panned up and it was Theo… I gasped a little. Really, movie? Theo and Andrew finally get to see a mermaid, and it's a dead one? And a whole bunch of living ones are about to sink their ship and kill all of the crew who didn't come ashore. Great. Just great. Why don't you have a unicorn come by and stab a kitten with its horn while you're at it. <--Bitter Groves and mermaid fan is bitter, realizes that the legends about unicorns are generally "nicer" than the legends about mermaids, and doesn't care.
And right on the heels of the first dead mermaid… we get what I've started calling THE SEAGULLS SCENE. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. I kind of hate Barbossa here… it’s true that they wouldn’t have been able to do anything, and Theo’s compassionate impulse probably would have gotten him killed, but Barbossa makes him say he doesn’t even hear it. I get chills every time I watch it… “What do you hear, Mr. Groves?” “Seagulls… nesting. Nothing more.” Oh Theo… the look on his face is just devastating, and my heart dies a little bit every time I watch that scene. It has occurred to me that a ship that Theo crews on sinks in every single PotC movie he’s in. In CotBP, I’ve always thought he was assigned to the Interceptor. It’s where he is when we first meet him… in AWE, he’s on the Endeavour. And in this one, he gets to watch the Providence go down while Barbossa threatens his life if he lifts a finger to help the men who are still alive. STOP EMOTIONALLY DEVASTATING MY NAVY, MOVIE.
Flagratious Wig Abuse
This movie sees the return of some pretty flagratious wig abuse as they make their way inland toward the Fountain. And I'd be lying if I didn't say that I didn't smile a little at the fact that both Groves and Gillette are increasingly disheveled. A friend of mine leaned over and whispered to me during these scenes that she thought Andrew tried to fix/wash/salvage his when they stopped to rest… an image I have not been able to get out of my mind ever since because it is now my canon. Thank you, Jess.
In all seriousness, Gillette and Groves carry on quite bravely slogging through the jungle with Barbossa, and later with Jack. Though this bit of the movie was another disappointment of the "the letter of what I wanted without being what I wanted at all" variety. Theo has been a Jack fanboy since the first scene he's in. But they've never spoken, and I don't think they've ever been in a scene together that wasn't a huge group scene. But this… this was much more intimate. Just Jack, Gibbs, Barbossa, Groves, Gillette, and a few more navy fellows making their way to the Fountain. Sinking the Providence was almost forgiven when I realized that Theo was now part of the core group going to the Fountain. I thought, "Surely he and Jack will talk to each other at least once, and it'll be hilarious… Right? Right?" Dream on, self. Did Jack and Theo ever speak? No. They didn't. What a wasted opportunity.
I've got to say that Theo holding Barbossa's poisonous frog jar is pretty fun. The concentration on his face as he holds it steady and snaps the lid on… I'm half tempted to say Theo thinks the deadly little critters are kind of neat. I have only a fuzzy basis for this in canon, but I think he's taking to the unexpected trek to the fountain quite well. As much as he might not like or respect Barbossa, he’s going to the Fountain of Youth, for all love, and Theo's got a bit of a taste for such wild, crazy adventures.
The big thing that made me super happy was that Theo gets to untie Barbossa from the tree, having had the brains to figure out that the promised signal wasn’t coming, and his assistance would be very welcome. Way to think for yourself, Theo… epic win. And he loses the wig here, and spends the rest of the movie looking SUPER AWESOME. Not that I don’t love wigs… heaven knows I do… but this movie (not so) subtly encodes the idea that wigs = fake/false, so I kind of love that he loses his and gets to "be himself" a bit. Now… that being said, I also LOVE that Andrew keeps his wig (and hat, too, if I recall) until the very end. Because he would. You know those scenes in DMC of James still wearing his poor wig even though it’s covered in mud and has long since started resembling a dead creature? Yeah. That would be Andrew.
The Scene at the Fountain of Youth
We're getting close to the end now. And I'll just say… how much do I love the two of them standing behind Barbossa, looking badass and brave and awesome right before the fight with Blackbeard’s crew? SO MUCH. They're both so lovely. Theo is ready to draw his sword first, with his pretty (if slightly dirty) blue navy coat tossed back behind him out of the way… (and showing off a very well-turned leg…) Andrew follows suit, with this steely, cool resolve on his face that made me go OMG I love you so much Andrew it’s not even funny. Please stay alive and keep being awesome with Theo. This was the point where I started being really worried about both of them. I was a little worried when Jack and Barbossa got captured by the Spanish. I kept waiting for them to pan back and show a pile of dead navy men, killed by the Spanish on patrol… so Theo showing up to cut Barbossa’s ropes was not only awesome, but a huge relief. Ghosts don’t show up and cut ex-pirates off of trees.
Because Gillette had had so few lines throughout the movie up to that point, it was his life I was really worried about, and as the fight went on, I found myself panicking just a bit every time he wasn’t in shot. I was, in all seriousness, whispering, “Come on, Andrew… don’t die… please…” and other similar things right up until Blackbeard killed him. That moment… I am still not ok with it. I kind of want the DVD to come out yesterday so I can see exactly what happened and run it back when I need to. I’ve tried to pay attention… really I have… but how on earth did he get in between Barbossa and Blackbeard in the first place? And… the way Barbossa treats him when he dies… *deep breath to calm rising fury* NOT OK. Yes, I know Barbossa isn’t a nice man. But Andrew just died for a cause that they ostensibly shared. “Get off me” is not the appropriate response. (I know… Barbossa has never been the one for appropriate responses, but saying nothing and just letting him fall would have been better than what really happened.) SO. MUCH. ANGERPAIN. Still, Barbossa’s utter lack of respect aside, it… wasn’t a terrible death. He wasn’t killed by a random pirate, but by Blackbeard himself, and it was in a climactic scene where things mattered… As minor characters go, it’s a good way to die. But… NO. Just… NO. I wrote that last sentence, and something in me broke a little at being so rational and “nice” about it. I get that Blackbeard needed to kill some people who weren’t Barbossa in this fight to make him intimidating and dangerous. But it didn’t have to be him. It didn’t have to be Andrew. There are scores of other people around… a couple of nameless navy fellows who didn’t have lines are still tagging along, I’m guessing (otherwise, who else is on Barbossa’s side other than Jack, Gibbs, and the lieutenants?). Have Blackbeard kill one of them. There is no reason for Andrew specifically to die here. It’s wasteful, it’s needless, and it got rid of one of my favorite people in the entire franchise with no story-related payoff whatsoever. And part of me really wants to storm away from the franchise angrily, declaring that I’m never going to see another pirates movie again in protest. But the part of me that agrees with Theo about Jack won’t let me do that.
And then… the fighting stops. At this point, I was still in shock from Andrew’s death, and I was thinking to myself, “At least Theo’s still ok… Right? Right? I saw him in the background sword fighting like a badass and being generally amazing… he’s got to be ok…” But why did the fighting stop? The bloody Spanish showed up. The instant I saw someone holding that Union Jack, I winced a little and thought to myself, “Whoever’s holding that is about to get shot.” Then, I realized who it was… and my heart just froze. It… still hasn’t thawed out entirely, and I think it’s starting to get a bit freezer-burned. Losing fictional characters who have made themselves at home in my little fangirl heart tends to do that.
I am of the opinion that Theo didn’t expect to live through his speech. He couldn’t have. He knew the situation was desperate, and he’d just seen Andrew, his best remaining friend, get killed. (Yes, I know their friendship still isn’t canon. It is for me.) So what does he do? Gets up on that island in the face of overwhelming odds, makes a target of himself, and dies trying to stake a claim for king and country in the wild hope that the Spanish might actually respect it.
Theo’s death, at least, gets the respect it deserves from the movie. We get a heartbreakingly lovely shot of him falling, covered by the flag. (Too melodramatic, you say? Um… the grieving fangirl kindly says shut up. If I’d had my way, there would have been clouds opening, rays of sun falling on his poor, dead face, and an angelic choir. <-- Mostly kidding. Mostly.) In the end, Theo gets to die heroically for the country he served, and he gets recognized for his bravery by one of the coolest, most criminally underused characters in the whole movie. You’d think I’d hate the Spaniard for killing Theo… and I probably would if it wasn’t for the “make a record of that man’s bravery” line. I choke up every time I hear him say it. He may have just killed my Theo, but… The Spaniard noticed that Theo was awesome. And that means so did the filmmakers. That is… so much better handled than James’ death it isn’t even funny. (Yes, James gets to stab Davy Jones with his own sword, but he dies because he gets skewered by an overgrown splinter, which is something I still haven’t forgiven.)
I like to think that if the situations had been reversed with the English marching in to find a ragtag band of Spanish already there… the Spaniard would have done exactly the same thing Theo does, and Theo would have shot him while at the same time recognizing how incredibly badass he was.
If the writers cared more about Theo, I’d say that his heroic death (like James') functions as “redemption” for working for Beckett, but I don’t think they thought about it that hard. They seem to have forgotten Beckett entirely. At least, as much as it pains me to say it, Theo's death seems to be more uniquely his own than Andrew’s. It makes more sense here that one of the officers would be the one trying to claim the Fountain, but… I still want to know… did it have to be Theo? They’ve spent the whole moving giving him lines and making him awesome and letting him take initiative and show off that marvelous personality of his… and then they kill him. And that means that all of that buildup? That was meant to make us care when he died. And that makes me, as a fan who has cared about him SO MUCH for so long, so blindingly furious I can hardly see straight. I feel used and emotionally tossed around. I'd tell myself it gets better, but I still can't watch AWE without feeling like I've been punched in the gut, so… not holding out much hope there.
So…
There it is. There's my rant. Gillette and Groves were both entirely too good for the movies that created them. Their original creators obviously didn't care for them even a tiny fraction of the amount their fans did. But I have a feeling this isn't the last that fandom will see of them. Death has never stopped Navy fans from loving, writing, drawing, and acting fannish about people before… Why should they be any different? Me? I've got two unfinished post-OST fics in which they feature prominently already, just sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to finish them up.
Finally, I'll leave you with this: both of them died practically within arm's reach of one of the most amazing resurrection plot devices ever given to a fandom.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go put that Fountain to good use.