Lt. Gary Fisk

[housemouse]

I would like to take a moment to consider Lt. Gary Fisk



I find myself torn about Lt. Fisk. I get frustrated when I watch the Pilot and he asks the detectives to say he is on the phone. I get frustrated when he tells Jim in Rub a Tub Tub that he can follow the Eric/cologne hunch but he'll be on his own if it doesn't work out. I get frustrated when he points out to Jim that everything Marty says isn't a dig, when most of the time it clearly is.

So who is this Fisk? Does he support Jim? Is he angry that the blind guy who sued the department is put in his squad? Does he let go of the anger, or is he always a little tougher on Jim than he needs to be?

I love Fisk's facial expressions, I love his pissed off step-sisters remark, but I am ambivalent about Lt. Gary Fisk.

[bjobsessed]

Just off the top of my head, I definitely think Fisk didn't really like or want Jim in the beginning. There is pretending he is on the phone, "This way pup", "No one wants to go out on the street with you," giving him nothing cases etc etc. As time goes on, I think he respects Jim on some level anyway. He can't deny that Jim can solve cases. Then there's the gun. He doesn't do an "I told you so" when Jim tells him the gun is missing and he doesn't pressure him to give up the gun either. He lets Jim come to his own decision.

Sometimes he seems harder on Jim, but maybe that's because he thinks that he needs to be to cover his own butt if anything goes wrong.

I really do like the guy. I think he's a great Lt. But sometimes......I know what you mean.

[bjobsessed]

P.S. Maybe another reason to watch the show--keep an eye on Fisk. As if any of us needs one.

[maggiethecat]

Just another reason to celebrate the Blind Justice creative team for not giving us the usual cardboard, one dimensional cop characters.

I love that, even at the end, Fisk is a bit of a puzzle. That's what makes him so deliciously watchable (right, Kyt?). You never know quite which way he's going to jump, do you? Off the top of my head, I can think of a few times I expected him to react one way, and he went in the opposite direction. And Michael Gaston made every moment count, in a role where he really wasn't given all that much screen time. Compelling? Oh, yeah. And then some. (Maybe why I'm still waiting for him to climb out of that well in Prison Break.)

1. Was anyone else surprised at how little support Fisk gave Jim during the Chief of D's infamous "ass kicking?" He really did leave Dunbar to twist in the wind. Interesting dramatically, but still . . . .

2. The beginning of "Rub a Tub Tub," when, despite the fact that Dunbar had thus far closed two difficult cases (one, of course, being the Tongue Collector homicides the squad had been working on, unsuccessfully, for months), Fisk treats him like a ham-fisted rookie who wouldn't know how to behave around the murdered man's widow or ex-partner. A little over the top, a little unnecessarily harsh, I thought. But again, dramatically interesting.

Well, apparently the top of my head didn't go that far. Can't think of any more examples right now . . . but I'm sure you all can!

[mlm828]

maggiethecat said:

Was anyone else surprised at how little support Fisk gave Jim during the Chief of D's infamous "ass kicking?" He really did leave Dunbar to twist in the wind. Interesting dramatically, but still . . . .

Actually, I wasn't surprised. The Chief is Fisk's boss, after all. And I never thought arguing with the Chief was one of Jim's smarter moves. The expression on Fisk's face during the scene tells me he feels the same. I always cringe a little when I watch that scene.

[bjobsessed]

mlm828 said:

maggiethecat said:

Was anyone else surprised at how little support Fisk gave Jim during the Chief of D's infamous "ass kicking?" He really did leave Dunbar to twist in the wind. Interesting dramatically, but still . . . .

Actually, I wasn't surprised. The Chief is Fisk's boss, after all. And I never thought arguing with the Chief was one of Jim's smarter moves. The expression on Fisk's face during the scene tells me he feels the same. I always cringe a little when I watch that scene.

Me too. Jim was still in his bull in the china shop mode then. He hadn't quite learned that the best way to prove himself was to quit trying so hard and just do his job. The rest would take care of itself.

[hoosier]

At first I thought that Fisk was going to be the typical hard-nose lt. giving Jim the typical hard time. I am sure he was not thrilled with being handed this problem since he already had the tongue collector case on his plate. He had to juggle trying to incorporate Jim into the squad besides deal with Jim's wanting to get back into the field, all the media hype and the issue of the safety of Jim, the other detectives and the public. He was blunt with Jim about the facts of life and I think by giving him rookie cases hoped to wean him off the "getting back into the field" dream he was carrying.

But, he had to admit that Jim did know what he was doing and even backed him in the Crider case by telling Marty that it was "Dunbar's case".

I was a little surprised that he didn't make more of an effort to disway Jim from going undercover. Maybe, like the rest of the squad, he sometimes forgot that Jim was blind.His reaction to seeing Jim fumbling as he hung up his phone ,as if it hit home again that Jim really couldn't see.

Another Jim/Fisk scene that I especially liked was in 4 Feet Under was when he called Jim to task about not seeing Galloway. Jim did his little song and dance about being 'busy' and wanting to have time to settle in with the squad and then countering with "was it because I dug up that dead dog?" Fisk countered with it was a condition of his reinstatement, not taking any bull**** off his new detective.