Am I the only person who felt sorry for Jimmy Beck? *spoilers* - Cracker (1993) Discussion

[–] PepperNSalt13 19 years ago

Beck says it was compassion but I'd say more like lazy police work. How difficult was it to follow up? Not at all. His alibi was broken by one visit. And since they were chasing a murderer, checking out the story should have been automatic (if it were true, no harm in checking). This is what haunted him so badly. He was never one show sensitivity to any other suspect so why would Albie be any different. Beck's instincts were wrong...again.

I should say, I never liked Beck's character. He always creeped me out more than a little bit. (the acting was superb, Lorcan did a fantastic job). Not sure if he was vulnerable or just deeply, deeply troubled. Beck basically admitted to being a date rapist (what's the left hand for? to pin the arms while the right hand...) I'm sure it was alluded to by Fitz more than once that Beck was messed up (on a few levels) since childhood. So maybe as a child I feel sorry for him but as an adult he needed a good shot to the lid.

As well, I always wondered if his 'love' of Bilborough was a little more than trusted friend and co-worker. His obsession with the family was downright disturbing after a while. I'd bet he loved his boss in ways than he could never admit to himself.

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[–] ivana2804 19 years ago

Well I think that you are both right in a way. Jimmy Beck was a complex character, at first he seemed like another dumb boorish 'laddish' cop, but he was in fact a very tortured, insecure and disturbed character (just as many other similar 'lads' are, I'm sure - the macho facade they put on usually covers their insecurities). This troubled side only really came out after Billborough's death. He seems to have adored Billborough because he saw him as a better man, the kind of man he could only dream of being. In regard of your comments, you might say that this kind of adoration is always a bit like being in love. (This does not mean that I consider Beck a closet homosexual, but that there is a certain homoerotic, or however you call it, part in many people's psyche; this is why I think the theory that everyone is basically - more or less- bisexual, is a true. Which doesn't mean that all those people can actually be classified as 'bi', unless they are actually likely to have sex with a person of the same gender. But many men feel a certain fear and insecurity over that aspect of their psyche, as they fear it would make them less of 'real men' - and that's where homophobia stems from. Beck's reactions in the episode with the teacher who killed his pupil are a good example.)

Beck's strained relationship with Penhaligan and his jealousy/hatred of Fitz are indicative of his deep insecurities. The rape seemed almost like a way for him to 'punish' her for what he saw as contempt directed at him (which he spoke of in his phone call to the radio in an earlier episode), and which obviously hurt him a lot, more so since he felt she was right to feel so. That he was particularly hurt and worried over what SHE thought of him, has of course lot to do with the fact that she was a woman, and an attractive one to booth. It's fair to assume that Beck isn't that successful or happy in his relationships, and he seems to display a fear of women, particularly those he feels attracted to (which is, again, not that uncommon among that sort of men - as I said, a big macho facade, a scared, vulnerable boy inside.) He seemed to feel her involvement with Fitz as adding an insult to injury (in his own twisted mind, of course). Particularly since he always felt such a strong dislike for Fitz - I would say it was mostly because of Fitz's intellect and sharp remarks, which made him very uncomfortable, and jealous.

In short, Beck's character is far from likeable, and later on in the show he becomes downright despicable, but it's the mark of the greatness of the show that he can still ellicit some sympathy, even in his last scene. The villains on this show are never one-dimensional.

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[–] PepperNSalt13 19 years ago

Thanks for the great feedback! Truly, I never meant Beck was a closet homosexual (thank you for recognizing that). My guess would be that he never loved a man in any way before (brother, father, mentor, etc) and didn't know what those feelings were when they finally manifested. He definitely loved him more than just his friend and co-worker (but not in a sexual way). This magnified the guilt he felt when his lack of action resulted in Billborough's death.

I must admit when they revealed Penhaligan consented to sex with Beck in the past I was indeed suprised. Fitz I can understand but Beck baffled me. I agree wholeheartedly with what you said about Beck's actions. To me, he cracked when he found out about their affair and took it as a personal affront. Something that required punishment. Women had a lot of power over him, their opinions and reactions to him held great weight...even the hooker he went to for comfort. Unfortunately he took the worst route to get a sense of power back and even he knew it.

Still I find it difficult to drag up any sympathy for Beck. I didn't have any sympathy for the minister and his cohorts either (Big Crunch ep2.2), but my heart broke for the 'bad' guys in Best Boys (ep3.2). This show had deeply layered characters that were a pleasure (and sometimes fright) to meet. Looks like I'll be renting it again.

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[–] dannysays 19 years ago

Penhaligon never consented to sex at anytime with Beck though, Beck's comments to Fitz when he said she had were purely a wind-up to Fitz in order to get Fitz to start questioning things, and make him think he was just one of many. He also said Bilborough slept with her which wasn't true either. I think the main motive to the rape was always made very obvious - guilt over Bilborough's death and the relationship that deterioated with Penhaligon because of it. I do think he was always very envious of Fitz in many ways, whether it be his intellect, his wit, the relationship he had with Penhaligon, and because of the way Fitz looked down on Beck as well, maybe there was an element of getting back at him too. Beck was a great, great character though - wonderfully portrayed by Lorcan Cranitch - and sorely missed after he went out of the series.

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[–] albert_gilsop 19 years ago

The series lost a lot when Beck went, I thought. He was such a brilliant, complex character, perfectly played by Cranitch.
Maybe I did feel sorry for him a little, because he was obviously not a happy man. He did bad things and was often thuggish, apart from the rape itself.
But he wasn't totally a bad man, he had some good qualities, he admired Bilborough because he recognised the sort of man he himself would like to be, if he could, and although often a bully and willing to bend, even break, the rules, mostly he was on the side of the victims in his work, and wanted to put the bad guys away, and he showed loyalty to his colleagues, well, the male ones anyway.
There are some elements he shares with Vic Mackey (The Shield) I think, in that he has a moral ambiguity, but is probably good more than bad, or at least that is how he started out if not how he ended up.
Beck wasn't the nicest charcter, but he was the most interesting, and drove the show, I thought, more so than even the excellent Fitz himself. It wasn't half as good when he went, a lot of the tension went out of it.

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[–] crchadwick 17 years ago

I don't think it was laziness on Beck's part. Firstly, Albie had the perfect and convenient excuse for having no hair - cancer, and he also had seemingly authentic confirmation of his illness, in the form of papers. From the policeman's perspective, it would have seemed very unlikely that a murderer would have taken such lengths to prove his innocence or even have been able to acquire such papers. Secondly, when Albie brought the papers out, it would have seemed downright insensitive for Beck to have challenged the authenticity of his illness. You can tell from Beck's reaction to the lie about cancer that he feels very embarrassed to have accused a cancer patient of being a racist murderer. His demeanour quickly changes from his usual casual rudeness to friendliness and courtesy, and he stubs out the cigarette that he lit up without asking. Beck is confident that he has done the right thing in letting Albie off - yet he hasn't, and his actions have horrific consequences. Therein lies the tragedy.

Of course they've brought forth juniper berries, they're juniper bushes!

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[–] squallypuckerdum 19 years ago

I have to say right out that I can't bring myself to feel sorry for a rapist. That said it's interesting to me to note that Beck himself was a rape victim. The novel version of Brotherly Love by Jim Mortimore has several passages of internal Jimmy Beck dialogue in which he relives his father abusing him. Also his mother's descision to ignore this. A part of one of these speeches is in the show when he discusses how as an outsider from Ireland moving to Manchester he at first found sympathy from the girls...but they finally tired of him and he was left to fend for himself. Twice rejected by women? Well, I'll leave that to Fitz to work out if it's a motive/cause etc.! Jim Mortimore brings out the indulgent self pity of the man who knows his poor work led to the death of a friend and colleague. I can only echo those who praised Lorcan Cranitch as he really is superb.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] hpootel 19 years ago

I actually felt sorry for Jimmy Beck on several occassions. One was when Fitz went after him - Fitz burrowing into people is utterly terrifying to behold. Heck, I felt sorry for Albie Kinsella having to endure that. Another was after he'd died and his sister told Fitz that Beck admired him. It was only then that it really hit me that Beck knew perfectly well that he'd become the kind of dirtbag he hated. He hadn't simply done regrettable things, he'd really crossed over and he knew Fitz knew it. Given that we knew exactly how little Jimmy Beck had in his life - gutting.

I too echo the praise for Lorcan Cranitch - I hated Jimmy Beck, wasteful, thuggish, raping bastard that he was. Yet I could take no more joy in his demise than Fitz could because I felt I understood him some, thanks to Cranitch.

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[–] Sabrejetp 18 years ago

Jimmy Beck was pretty useless, a careless policeman who caused his bosses' death thru laziness and then lied to himself by saying he did it out of compassion.

He's a rapist of course, and he uses what he learned then when he did his best to hurt Fitz when he spoke of Penhaligan's tattoo.

He wanted Bilborough' wife too, when he goes around to see her with the flowers on Bilboroughs birthday he hopes to seduce her, he's shocked to see Bilboroughs brother there but he's disapointed too that she has a new lover.

Yet he admires Fitz and Fitz must have thought something of him to; Fitz tries to help him, Fitz perhaps thought that Jimmy, like most of us, had good intentions but was damaged by his past.
Fitz names the baby Jimmy, he saw some good in him.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] stinky_ray_jackson 18 years ago

I felt sorry for Beck at the end, despite hating him in the earlier shows.

The truth is Jimmy messed up over Bilborough, but it was an easy mistake to make and quite forgivable had it been any other character that made it.

Bilborough's dying words were "Get the bastard Jimmy, for me and for Katrina." And Jimmy did. In the process, Jimmy saved the lives of everybody in the police station where the bomb had been posted. Nobody ever mentions that to Jimmy. Nobody ever points out that he made some repayment on his mistake. He just gets reprimanded for sending a few vengeful kicks Albie's way by a new boss who doesn't really have much time for him.

And Fitz, after all the times he has sat someone down and given them the guilt versus grief speech, decides instead to twist the knife over Bilborough. Instead of helping Beck, he pushes his buttons. Unforgivable really. Especially since Fitz should have known what a volatile character Beck was. Beck is responsible for the rape, but a psychologist of Fitz's skill knows when he's driving someone to the edge. He did it for sport. Beck never said he admired Fitz. Jimmy's sister said that Fitz was always mentioned, had made a big impression on Jimmy. Yeah. By burrowing into his mind and screwing him up worse.

And he named his baby Jimmy. Guilt. Guilt and cheap sentimentality.

(BTW The rapist that Jimmy impersonated used rape as a way of hurting the *men* to whom the women were attached (e.g. the taxi boss, the dole officer). It was their manhood he was attacking. Jimmy then rapes Panhandle. Who was he trying to hurt? Who had been getting the better of him since forever? Who had been twisting the knife over Bilborough? Beck was going after Fitz at least as much as he was going after Penhaligon.)

(BTW2 I liked an earlier comment to the effect that Jimmy's love for Bilborough might have homosexual overtones. Fitz suggests at one point that Jimmy's homophobia is based on a repressed homosexual urge. Most of the stuff Fitz says in that scene is confirmed by Jimmy in his confession to Fitz two seasons later. Not the homosexual part, but if all the rest of Fitz's profile were right??? Maybe Jimmy told himself that it was admiration, but Bilborough was pretty far from being the greatest copper who ever lived despite Jimmy's description of him. So maybe that admiration was something else.)

The climax with Beck was classic. The fact that "Shirley Temple" was going to walk free triggered the part of Jimmy that cared for justice, and it finally became ascendent. "I believe in atonement." he said in the car on the way to the last jump. I don't think this was a gutless suicide. It was justice and penance, rolled together, and it showed that he had a streak of character despite everything.

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[–] Dlp07 18 years ago

Completely agree with all of the last post. It was good how the reason why Fitz's baby was named Jimmy was never made clear- that left it open to individual interpretation so yeah, that could well be right. And Fitz never acknowledged any responsibility for helping push an obvious human time bomb over the edge- he must have known it though as you say. Also Lorcan Cranitch was brilliant as Beck. Actually- another interesting thought: Is there any significance in the fact that Beck shares his creator's first name? McGovern has often said he puts a lot of himself into the killers (Kerrigan, Albie, Kenny etc) so could Beck have been his impatient, traditional, no- nonsense side? You have to admit an old school copper as aggressive, outwardly macho (yet inwardly insecure), un- PC thug like Beck was the perfect adversary for a psychologist! Also, having just seen The Departed, is Beck perhaps an example of a Freud quote used in that film- that "The Irish are the only people impervious to psychoanalysis" ? I know Fitz never got to properly interrogate Beck but it did take him two years to finally "Crack" him.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] panaboydean 18 years ago

I weep for Jimmy Beck everytime I watch "Cracker", never a nice guy, but Lorcan Cranich did an incredible job of acting.

It has never occurred to me that Fitz and Judith named their 3rd child James after Jimmy Beck. I have always assumed it was an off-camera nod to "Cracker"'s creator, Jimmy McGovern.

What a great tv show! And I am so happy we have it on DVD in its original form now in the States. Every few months I watch all of it again!

"columnated ruins domino"--"surf's up".

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[–] puirt-a-beul 18 years ago

I did feel sorry for Beck as a person, though not for most of his actions ... through the entire series, to be honest.

There's some very perceptive thought in the posts in this thread. I'm not too sure about Beck's feelings for Bilborough amounting to unrealised homosexuality, though of course it's a possibility. But I think that Beck knew what a non-achiever he was, and he tried to mask his ineffectiveness with thuggery. He was a generally rotten policeman, and I think his idolisation of Bilborough -- who was the only person who treated him kindly and with any degree of respect, after all -- was also an attempt to gain credibility by association. (And let's face it, for a lot of us, perhaps most, sexual attraction in large part grows out of how that person makes us feel about ourselves. Bilborough made Beck feel valuable, when no-one else did; so Beck felt affection for him in return.)

So when Bilborough died, Beck knew that he had not only lost his only ally, his only hope for being considered effective or capable, but that it was his own typically poor policework that had allowed it to happen. Sheesh, that would have been enough to push him right over.

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[–] combatreview 18 years ago

Homosexual or not, I think Beck was definitely in love with Bilborough...

Still, I've found msyelf wondering lately... do you think when Jimmy Beck died that he went to Hyde in 'Life on Mars'? I bet he'd have been much happier if he did.

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[–] lornamd-1 16 years ago

I did feel sorry for Beck after Billboroughs death for how tortured he was by guilt. I think that while he admired Billborough in life his obsession and idolization of him only came after he died. People are often romanticized in death and after Billborough died he became this hero and martyr in Jimmy's eyes and Jimmy felt that life would be perfect if Billborough came back. I remember when Jimmy asked Penhaligon if she fantasized about rape and was told off by Wise he said that Billborough would have supported him speaking his mind even though Billborough would most likely have stuck up for Jane and told him to shut up.

I agree Beck was a very complex, interesting and brilliantly acted character and "unpleasant but deeply vulnerable" is a good description of him.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] fanaticita 15 years ago

Jimmy Beck was an amazing character, and the actor who played the role really stretched his acting muscles. He was one of most well defined characters in the series I believe, next to Fitz. Complex, complex, complex! I was shocked at the end of Brotherly Love, but I saw something coming, and it wasn't going to be good I figured.

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