A second round of Bookish means I have another headcanon / meta / think pieces about the series. Again.
If you haven't watched the series, what are you doing ?????
First of all, we should talk about Mark's choice of acting with Gabriel in episode 5 and 6.
As viewer, we know that Gabriel and Trottie are in a lavender marriage, very unusual arrangement. We saw Gabriel acting a bit 'queer' but he very much restrained himself.
However, by episode 5 we watched Gabriel less restrained. He is more comfortable to show his more 'queer' side. He is more bouncy. He is sassier. He still put a front in the public, but when he alone with Trottie, we - as viewer - are allowed to see Gabriel more of himself.
Mark showed this very well in the way he portrayed Gabriel changed. It is a subtle changed but it is there.
Next thing I noticed upon rewatching is how Episode 5 and 6 showed us a lot about Gabriel's past. Since we now found out about Gabriel and Trottie's arrangement, we got to see glimpses of Gabriel's past in his habit.
When he met the Balkan's princesses, he gave them a military salute as he bid them goodbye. It was just a split-second thing and you might miss it on the first watch. However, at the end of Episode 6, Trottie pointed out the salute when Gabriel did it again.
"Are you missing the war?"
"I don't know what's the correct protocol."
Gabriel Book not knowing the correct protocol when meeting royalty? I doubt it is the actual reason and more of the fact he just used to do it for so long that his body did it.
Then there was Gabriel and Edmund Kind.
Gabriel called (introduced) Edmund as 'Kind. Edmund Kind.' and this phrases repeated multiple times along episode 5 and 6.
Both Mark and Matthew are huge james bond fan (they did a bond documentary years ago for BBC). It is not a surprised if 'Kind. Edmund Kind' is a play of 'Bond. James Bond.' especially when later in Episode 5, Edmund implied about his training when the princess questioned him.
Edmund Kind stared at a barrel of a gun dead-on, not even flinching.
Then when asked why he walked silently, he said "It is part of my training"
Edmund mentioned that he knew Gabriel from long ago. However, he was stunned and confused when Gabriel showed up and told him that 'his wife already checked in'. They saw each other during the war, since they went down to the Fruit Seller below the hotel which meant Gabriel hid the fact he was married.
My thoughts are still jumbled and all over, but I really hope we get to learn more about Gabrel's involvement during the war and it would be great to have Edmund Kind show up again, even if it's in flashback....
