It's been a week. We've had a lot of things go wrong at work and a lot of changes. For me, as I said over at the other blog, it is a season of loss. And I've lost again. There are times when you know what is right to do but that doing it is going to cause more problems. So you go with it.
Guy has a lot of those days with the Sherriff. There are times when your plan is to go with it because going against the tide, or orders, and doing what you're supposed to do is actually more hassle than it is worth. So you do what you are told and keep your head down. You know the plan will backfire but no one will listen. So you wait for the fallout. Guy has a lot of those fall out days. Actually, I think that is his job description. More than once though, even Guy, black hearted, soul-less, some would say gut-less Guy just can not stomach one more horrible thing. And his compassion comes out. Of course he covers his compassion with a plausible "save for future use" justification to be "nice". But every time Guy was nice to someone it backfired on him. And this expression sums up the cavalcade of thoughts that run through your head at those times.
I think Guy is one of the most misunderstood characters ever. And as compared to Robin, far more interesting because of it. Especially since there was the reformation and transformation process in the latter part of the third series. His complexity offers more similarity to each viewer than Robin's happy-go-lucky and somewhat superficial characterization in this series. Guy is the dose of reality that this legend has always needed. Sure John was an ass. Richard was non-existent while he was gallivanting across the bloody Judean sand dunes. Robin was maybe not supposed to be a caricature of a local hero, he did have those nightmares to fill in the missing parts of his personal story, but he just isn't like the majority of us. Guy is us. Wee at once hate him and love him for it.
I've never seen such a cock-sure jackass be so convincingly full of self doubt when he gets a few moments alone. It's like being at work. Everyone sees someone who is certain that she knows what is going on. Most of the time I do. Most of those days though it is a convincing ruse. I know the best way to do my job. But I do not know anymore that it should be done that way. I make too many enemies. My outward confidence has been misunderstood, misreported and mistaken for callousness and aloofness. According to some I don't belong there.
And I don't. I know I don't. In my head. Where Guy lives in his head he knows he should be somewhere better than Nottinghamshire. He knows he should be better than the flunky to a whack job like Vaisy. The thing is.... that is in the head. What the heart and the self image knows is completely different. Guy's self image tells him that the mistakes he's made are insurmountable and he deserves to be a flunky because he couldn't be a better step brother to Robin or better son to his parents. What his heart tells him is that even though he still cares about his countrymen and the people in the shire there is very little he can do to change things to make everyone's life better. All three voices will wage war in his head. To make matters worse, Guy is kind of a dork. He is not socially well adjusted because he keeps judging himself. In judging himself he has drawn a veil around him so even if he had decided to go against the Sherriff before Robin came home to be the Hero, he would not believe that anyone would work with him because to him, his past is as fresh to them as it is to himself. In many ways, Guy is stuck being the twelve year old kid who couldn't control his pesky little almost step bother. Classic oldest sibling bullshit.
That is why I like this picture so much. He's reliving every choice and consequence against his intention and finding that he lacks in everything but good intention. I know that look too well. And the only thing that you can do is smile and walk away. This is a lot more pleasant in sentiment than my original meme concept. I had wanted there to be something about fantasizing about what you would do to your enemies.
Oddly enough... that might be more a me thing to do than a Guy thing to do.
Anyway. I hope that this helps my "Guy" friend on her rough days. She is a single mom with two jobs and a chronic non life threatening disease. She is going to have a lot of days where this is going to be the best face to wear.
