I get it that we like our Perkins slightly differently, but I'm curious about your version. In your version there's ultimately no difference between machine Connor and Perkins. But if you were to try to find those differences, what would they be? I don't believe you wouldn't want them to be different in Some respect, even if some minor ones. If they were to work together, what would cause conflict, when would they disagree? And how would that conflict look like/get resolved?
I talked about it in the past but I'm interested in your distinction of these two.
Not gonna lie, my ideal version of Perkins and Connor is to have the two of them mashed together into a singular being, played by David Coburn. But that's not just because I think that they are incredibly alike, but because I believe that introducing a negotiator tritagonist for Markus to go up against in one half of his endgames when Connor is right fucking there is, at best, redunant.
But as for the differences between the two... Yes, while I do think that they are shockingly alike for a reason, there absolutely are differences that can simply be boiled down to 'Perkins is a human and Connor is an android.' Those two facts about them will alter how they behave in certain situations, like how I usually portray Connor as attempting to be polite first when entering a conflict and then slowly devolving into rudeness when backed up against the wall. And while I do think that maybe earlier in his career, Perkins might have been like that, the fact is that he's not right now because he's learned that he no longer needs to. That man does not pull his punches at all with Markus in the Demonstration, to the point where he doesn't even bother to introduce himself when going straight for the guy's metaphorical jugular. "The troops are gonna charge in a minute or two and you're all gonna die if you don't surrender." That's Perkins' attempt at negotiation; at least with Daniel, Connor can pretend to care. But that's also because Connor's an android. Quite literally, he's built to serve, so politeness is always going to be his first instinct. Sure, it's often part of his act and will fade away as quickly as he puts up the facade when he starts receiving some pushback, but attempting to be well-mannered and civil is generally his bread and butter.
But at the same time, I also think that some of his personal reasoning behind that politeness comes from the fact that Connor does view himself as a hero, the only one standing between the weak, defenseless humanity and the evil, chaotic deviants who want to reek havoc upon society. If he comes off as polite, it's because in his mind, Connor sees himself as Superman-- and Clark Kent is known, amongst other things, for his politeness. I don't think that Perkins has those thoughts about himself. Sure, he knows that he's good at his job, but it's still a job at the end of the day. He may go back to Quantico after this and get his thrills from the validation he gets from his supervisors (probably because I see him as someone that wants to climb the ladder at the FBI), but he does eventually go home. There's an off-the-clock for Perkins. Connor, as an android, doesn't get that luxury.
And that's, again, where I think that they differ. Because part of Connor's facade is that he comes off as 'Just Some Guy,' which is why Hank has this complete holy shit moment when Connor takes off like a shot in Nest and starts doing fucking parkour on top of a train in his pursuit of Rupert. Connor looks like the little nerd who grew up, maybe got a gym membership that he uses once a week, pays his taxes and has a mild caffeine addiction and is still with his prom date from highschool... but he's not. And that's not just because Connor can fling himself across six lanes of traffic and survive without a scratch, or merc seven armed guards in the blink of an eye, or hold Hank up with one hand while mercilessly considering whether he's gonna drop him over the edge of a building, but because as an android, Connor doesn't get to have that life. Taxes and gym memberships and prom dates are for humans, in the same why that the job that Perkins has and the life he also possesses off the clock are for humans too. To Perkins, what he's doing is his job. To Connor, the case is his identity.
And that's, I think, what brings some element of horror to Perkins' character to me. Whereas Connor's eldritch abomination-ness comes from the fact that he's an unkillable hunter/assassin bot masquerading as Just Some Guy, Perkins actually is Just Some Guy. Outside of work, you'd probably never look twice at the man. He orders Chinese take-out from the shop around the corner and listens to the news in the background while munching on his General Tso chicken. He absolutely goes to the gym once a week and pays his taxes and absentmindedly holds the door open for someone if they are walking into a building while he's heading out. I think he's got kids, two sons and an ex-wife that he lost because he was too focused on his work and too lost regarding how to be a good partner and parent to the family in the photo on his desk. He likes his job and his co-workers are the closest things he's got to friends even though they don't really like him and he's got a goldfish that he feeds each morning before going into work.
I don't think he sleeps well, but not out of guilt or terror but out of a chronic condition he's had since he was a kid. I think he's sensitive to gluten, and hates the fact that that means he can no longer drink the beer even though he's always like white wine better. I don't think that he's cruel in all aspects of his life, but that he's so ruthlessly driven when on the job that he puts blinders on and just barrels forward uncaring of what gets in his way between where he is now and where he wants to be five years in the future. I doubt that he votes. I doubt that he actually cares what Warren's doing unless on order like the Jericho Raid is coming down from her office.
I think that Perkins actually is everything that Connor pretends to be, and Connor is everything that Perkins wishes that he actually was. He is someone that wants the job to just be it, whereas Connor can eventually want to be something else beyond his job.
And that's why I think that if you put the two of them in a room for long enough that they'd just piss each other the fuck off. It's not because they're too different, but because they're too similar-- no one likes looking at a mirror too long, after all. I do think that they'd find a way to work with each other, with frightening efficiency and cut-throat determination that would get them paired up time and time again moving forward - much to each other their chagrin. I don't think that they'd ever get to the point where they'd have a confrontation like Hank and Connor do in Bridge, or even the fist-fight brawl that Connor and Gavin do in the evidence locker. But if there was ever going to be a situation where Connor genuinely had to become 'just a machine designed to accomplish a task,' it would be with Perkins. Thought I do get the feeling that Perkins would be the one person that absolutely would turn a blind eye to how many rules Connor can break, but only so long as it was continuing to get him results. The moment it stopped being advantageous to Perkins, Connor would be out the door if not dead on the floor.
I'm probably just rambling at this point, but that's generally the gist of the differences that I believe are in their characters. That being said, I do wish that they'd actually been the same character and think that we were absolutely robbed by not having a Connor versus Markus fight-with-words in the Demonstration in a contrasting parallel to their fight-with-fists in the Revolution.
