A Question of Priorities Part 2

Same warning applies. Beware of interpretation below!


It’s an interesting little shot we get after about an
hour at the hospital. We see the 2 parents, Mary a
picture of worry, Straker with his emotions closed off
tighter than a drum, and Rutland strategically smoking
in between them, seemingly unconcerned. We see more
worried parents and some macho male head-butting
before Straker prevails over he’ll get the needed
medicine.

Finally, after Straker is probably over an hour late
getting to the “studio”, his beeper goes off over the
unusual UFO situation in progress. Mary’s expression
speaks volumes. “I have to leave.” In a nasty tone,
“You always had to leave.” Ouch. Straker keeps on
glancing at Mary, wishing for once she’d understand,
but leaves without defending himself. He just gets the
information about the drug from the doctor.

When Straker finally arrives at HQ, Alec briefs him,
but both Alec and Ford realize that Straker is
unaccountably distracted. Alec follows Straker to his
office. What follows is one of my favorite sequences.
It is also one of those places where what is going on
is not obvious from the dialog. The interplay between
George Sewell and Ed Bishop is wonderful.

Straker walks in and sits. Alec stands at the door a
minute, trying to gauge what’s going on with Straker
and decide how far he should inquire into the problem.
Straker eyes Alec as he comes in and sits down. Alec
asks if everything is all right. Straker’s reply is,
“Is it ever?” He gets a file off the stack and fiddles
with it, saying without words, “I’m busy, Alec, go
away.”

And this is part of the tragedy. Straker is
pretending everything is okay (or as okay as it gets),
but his son is in critical condition in the hospital.
He won’t even let Alec, who is probably his closest
friend, know what is going on. If he had, things
might have ended differently. But Straker has to go
it alone.

Alec still tries to draw him out a bit and asks him to
come along for some dinner. Straker declines and Alec
decides he’s done all he can for now. I think that
Alec feels that Straker is, after spending the day
with his son, regretting what he had to give up or
lost because of his job.

Straker sits and waits a moment to be sure Alec is
gone before calling and giving orders for the
transport to be ready to leave immediately. Then the
cracks start to show in Straker’s control. He asks
Miss Ealand to call a number for him. It’s the
hospital. He’s struggling to remain calm and business
like as he asks for intensive care. There is no John
Straker there. Straker tries to figure out what has
happened then learns his son is listed as John
Rutland. It’s like a final slap in the face from
Mary. There is no change in John’s condition.
Through this part, Ed Bishop’s eyes get red and his
eyes start to tear. Control looks like it is almost
shattered.

This part of this scene always impresses the heck out
of me. I was raked over the coals in another forum
for not being impressed by a certain actress’
performance. It was in a scene where she is
supposedly in a lot of emotional pain and is even
sobbing, but her eyes stayed clear and dry. I never
felt her supposed pain. I think right here is why I
wasn’t impressed. Ed Bishop played this scene
quietly, without histrionics, but the pain I see in
this scene hits me every time.