What they do for their father figure?

[sidney]

I was rereading Book 12 of my epic fan fiction and I came across this passage after Hannibal is shot by the KGB and brought to the hospital:

"Face and Murdock remained in the hallway. Lost. Hannibal meant so much to both of them. He was their hero. Their leader. Their boss. Their… He was their father figure. Face with his stupid cigars, trying to copy Hannibal. Catering to his every whim. Murdock always trying to please him and impress him and make him laugh. Both of them were in so much pain."

Face and Murdock are waiting while Hannibal is in surgery and they actually bicker, obviously because of stress. It's a really high-intensity emotional moment (in my opinion, but I'm pretty biased when it comes to my story).

Do you think Face tries to copy Hannibal? Does Face cater to his every whim? Does Murdock do the things he does to try to impress him and make him laugh?

[Pico Bob]

Its a nice set of questions.

I think that Face does kind of try to be Hannibal but doesnt quite make it. I remember how indecisive he was in ROAD TO HOPE when he was in charge of the operation in the alley.

Face does tend to cater to Hannibal's every whim, even though Face usually doesnt like them. It shows a lot of respect.

There is sometimes the impression that Murdock acts up knowing that Hannibal will like it, and that it will annoy BA even more. An example might be the Irish accent routine in BIG SQUEEZE. Its not the entire reason, though, as Murdock also does crazy things when Hannibal isnt around.

[amyk]

I'm not sure that Face is catering to Hannibal's every whim. I think it is more that Face does not want to appear unprepared for anything, like how it is fairly easy to get him to do something if he is told he probably can't....for example, getting the supplies he obtains in HOLIDAY IN THE HILLS. But he may want to sort of emulate Hannibal, like with the cigars. I guess we could have more of a theory about that if we recall how Face seemed to hate cigars in one of the earlier episodes but then he ends up smoking them fairly often in later episodes. Maybe he overcame his distaste of them in order to emulate Hannibal.

I think Murdock enjoys when Hannibal plays along with his acts....whether that is to impress Hannibal or not, I don't know.

[Katia]

I've wondered before if part of the reason Murdock acts goofy is to amuse people (besides himself).  I once had a coworker who was a practical-joke type, and he'd always do silly stuff to make me laugh.  I finally figured it out one day: I think he was one of those people who thought I could "smile" more (I have RBF most of the time), but instead of telling me to smile (ugh), he'd just do something to make me want to smile, which I thought was a cool way to go about it. 

I gave that same gimmick to Murdock in my fanfic re: my OC, and then thought, "Maybe he really does do it for the other guys sometimes."  (I mean, for their benefit in some way, even if just to mystify or annoy them.)

I've also played around with a bit where he does it to make the other VA guys laugh, too.

I think Murdock really values all the other guys a lot.  The impression I get with him is that locked away most of the time as he is, the jobs really bring a lot to his life and so do Hannibal/Face/B.A., because he probably hasn't got that many other people in the world.  Most of the other guys at the hospital are insane (truly), the staff probably aren't going to get buddy-buddy with dudes who are insane, so when Murdock gets out on a job with the team, it's like having a normal life with normal people (with that considered, you might think he'd play it straight more often when he's with them, so as not to alienate them, but, they know what he's about, so...).  IOW... Murdock's life is very small, and any time he gets to get out of that, it's a big deal to him.

For Face, I wonder... is it that he dotes on Hannibal, or is he just a schmoozer?

[amyk]

It kind of makes me sad to think of Murdock not having that great of a life other than when he is out of the VA. But he seems to like living in the VA, so hopefully he is truly happy there. However, it does not seem like he has many friends there. Dr. Richter seems to be his closest friend from there.

I think Face is primarily a schmoozer, but I do think he likes making Hannibal proud of him, too.

[Katia]

I kind of write Murdock as getting along with the other patients even if they're not besties, but I know that's not exactly canon since one of the nurses says outright that he mostly keeps to himself. Then again, for all we know, he's the loner type and prefers it that way (Murdock as introvert? I dunno... it's hard to tell).

That's kind of the only thing about Murdock, which I think I've mentioned before (or maybe it was just in the "what's in Murdock's head?" thread I keep meaning to post)... why does he insist on staying there? I mean, I know, he gets room and board for free (well, on the taxpayer dime), but is it worth it?

[amyk]

Well, he does seem extremely attached to Dr. Richter and very distressed when he went missing, and Murdock also was very distressed in BEAST when they released him from the hospital, so he must find some comfort in living there beyond just getting his room and board taken care of.

[Katia]

That's what I'm thinking, but it makes you wonder what. Stuck in a rut?

And then there's the fact-- I know I've mentioned this before-- that there's that episode in S5 where Hannibal suggests Murdock might have to pretend to be insane again for a job, and Murdock's really upset at the prospect of possibly going back to a mental hospital. What changed, that he went from "will do anything to stay here" all the way to "super-distraught at the possibility of going back"?

Ah, okay, I didn't post it yet:

And, there must be *something* going on with him. Why does a grown-ass, nearly-middle-aged adult want to live in a mental hospital rather than their own independent life? It's not quite akin to still living with one's parents, but it's still a refusal to live independently, be self-supporting (in fact, one could actually say quite harsh things about someone who purposely fraudulently lives on the taxpayer dime, as much as I love Murdock). So what is it that makes him not want to be his own man?

[amyk]

I don't know that he was being serious when he seemed to be upset about the possibility of going back to a mental hospital in that S5 episode where he portrays himself as Frank Sinatra....in fact, he seemed to rather enjoy that, didn't he?

I don't know that Murdock can really hold down a job....in S5, we see him having "real jobs" but he never seems able to keep one beyond one episode. So maybe he really does feel like he needs the free room and board at the VA.

[Katia]

I think he did have fun with that Sinatra job, yeah. I always thought the distress was real, though, even if he got back into the role well. (I actually thought it was a bit weird that they wrote that in. I suppose they had some sort of reasoning for it, but I'm not sure if I picked up on what it was-- was it to demonstrate that he really was sane now? Or did they just think it was funny?)

I always assumed his constantly-changing jobs were part of the humor, but, to take it more seriously-- I wouldn't be surprised if Murdock had ADHD, and always having something new to do would be right up his alley, then (doesn't mean he *can't* hold a job, just that he'd like the change). And, too... I imagine it hurts your employment if you suddenly disappear for days at a time (their jobs). He's the only one who holds down traditional steady employment; the rest are more freelancers-- and maybe that's for a reason.

I found an old thing I'd written that I think was for one of the threads here that I never posted, that sort of fits:

Guess it would be helpful to figure out what line of business he may have been in pre-Vietnam, what he may have gone to college for (if he did), etc.  Like, for B.A. and Face it makes sense.  I'm still sure B.A. does some sort of mechanic work on the side (either at a shop or on his own/as a contractor), and Face probably runs scams and gets into business schemes.  Hannibal's a bit out of left field but that's okay, at least we know what his gig is.  Murdock?  I find it hard to believe he's only fit for/wanting menial jobs (he's pretty smart and comes across as pretty handy and able/willing to pick up new things), but maybe that's how it is when you have a big resume gap because you lived in a mental hospital and he needs to work his way up.

[HoudiniDerek]

I can believe that Hannibal is the father figure.

However, I guess I'm not sure that they are trying to emulate him or make him laugh. I think they naturally act like some of the other people they are around after a while, like most people do. Habits rub off at times. I also think you could argue that Hannibal might get some of this from the guys too. Hard to say since we did not know them until after they had been around each other for so long.

[amyk]

That's a good point, HD, i.e. that when the series starts they have already known each other for many years. But that makes good fodder for fan fiction, for people to write about how they were before they knew each other or as they got to know one another. For some reason, that is not really something I tend to think about too much. It just feels like they know each other so well, pretty much right from the pilot episode (even with the alternate Face!), so maybe I just cannot imagine them not knowing each other.

[Katia]

Yeah, I've thought about that before, too, that by now they're used to each other, used to working together, etc. Of course, it's also that they're lucky that they found other people they get along/work well with.

I've seen people make the point, though, that there are four of them, and that surely the original A-Team (in the army) was much larger, so what happened to the others? It's a fair question... would be interesting to find that out.  Was it just these four on the bank heist?  Or only these four (really three) who got caught/arrested?  Or only these four (really three) who escaped from prison?

Makes you wonder how they got started, though (at least, I've wondered, but we know I like to overthink movies/TV shows/books/whatever).  The three escaped and were like, "eh, what else are we gonna do... hey, let's go round up Murdock!"  Or...?

[amyk]

I think Sidney's epic series of books provides her perspective on all of this.

On another note, I really like it that it feels to me right from the start of the series like they all have really known each other for years.

[sidney]

Aug 4, 2023 20:09:27 GMT -5 Katia said:

I've seen people make the point, though, that there are four of them, and that surely the original A-Team (in the army) was much larger, so what happened to the others? It's a fair question... would be interesting to find that out.  Was it just these four on the bank heist?  Or only these four (really three) who got caught/arrested?  Or only these four (really three) who escaped from prison?

Man...
Wouldn't it be terrible if they *were* the only ones who escaped? And the others already faced the firing line or something? That would be absolutely awful!
That would explain why they weren't still trying to break them out... If they were DEAD!