Zap2it : A weird thing happened for me in episode 6: I realized I actually kind of love Black Jack, and I've heard I'm not alone. That probably isn't an emotion fans of the books are expecting to feel towards Jack. Was winning people over to the dark side before they really dive into Claire and Jamie in episode 7 part of your intention with these scenes in "The Garrison Commander"?
Tobias Menzies: [ laughs] I think it's kind of the responsibility of every actor to fight for their character and make their case, I suppose; make the argument for them. I think Jack's no different. He can't just be irredeemably bad. He's a human, and so what's interesting and I think rewarding is we get a chance to see a bit of what is behind Jack and what's going on and why he does some of the things he does. I think it's a nicely complex episode and really pays off. So yes, I think absolutely. For all the characters, we want them to be as three-dimensional as we can make them, and so this is definitely the episode where everybody gets to see his underbelly.
This episode also features a much longer scene with you playing Black Jack opposite Claire, instead of playing Frank opposite her. Can you talk a bit about switching gears with Caitriona and playing this much more fraught relationship?
It was a real sort of change of pace, in a way, and it's a real sort of change of pace for the season. We get this scene that's only about a page and a half in the books, and the writers have taken this moment, this meeting, between these two people and transformed it into an episode. It was exciting and also [I felt] a certain amount of trepidation, because if you're going to have most of an episode being two people in a room, you'd better make it good. [ laughs] It's got to hold the attention of the audience. It felt like a really exciting challenge.
We had some great writing to work with. I think there's a really strong dynamic between those two people, and I think that's one of the things that's successful in what we filmed. It feels like an interesting and complicated chess match between the two. They feel well-matched at times, so there's a sort of relish -- certainly for Jack -- meeting someone who can spar with him. Both those characters are negotiating a lot of different aspects. ... It has loads of payoff in this. I was really happy with how it came out. I think it's really good for the show to have those switches in pace and tone.
One of the more interesting interviews I've read. Thanks
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