some observations on Nate in "The Miracle Job"

[stellaluna_]

I re-watched "The Miracle Job" today for the first time since its original airing, and some things jumped out at me that I didn't catch the first time around.

• This episode is an excellent showcase for Nate's ability to avoid answering when he doesn't want to respond. When he goes to see Paul in the hospital, he avoids the issue four times in the space of about 30 seconds: Paul expresses surprise over how or why Nate would have read the police report; Nate ignores this. Paul asks, twice, if Nate has talked to Maggie; Nate ignores him each time. Paul says that he knows hospitals are hard for Nate; Nate ignores him. Later, Sophie asks Nate if he's okay, and he tells her that Paul is an old friend and that he owes him -- which is, of course, not an answer at all.


• I've previously written at length about Nate's Catholicism and how it likely affects his outlook, so I won't go into that again here. I'm linking to it because this was the episode that inspired that post, and I still think that everything I wrote about there is absolutely crucial to Nate's character.


• Hardison explicitly says: You're a Catholic. You want to fake a miracle. That's mortal sin territory. And Nate is completely unfazed, doesn't even bat an eyelash or hesitate in the slightest, which ties in with his passive self-destructive bent. (The mortal sin of suicide, in which he would actively have to destroy himself? That's out. Things that are likely to help him destroy his life, or that will let him commit mortal sins for which he has convenient excuses? Those are a-okay.)


• Paul seems dismayed yet unsurprised that Nate is planning to do something shady, which casts further doubt on the idea that Nate was ever the White Knight or an uncomplicatedly honest man.


• Paul also calls Nate out on his desire to play God, and Nate himself, when asked what he's intending to do, says that he's "just going to move God's plan along."


• Nate does have a rare moment of emotional honesty when Sophie asks him if he feels guilty about Sam. He first says no, then immediately corrects himself and says yes, and his face is unguarded in a way that we rarely ever see it at any other time during the show.


• Of course, this is immediately followed by a very important exchange between the two of them. Sophie first points out that he never cheated on Maggie; Nate says he was tempted, and Sophie says that he never was, that he was the good guy and that was part of what made it fun back then. And I want to transcribe the next part of the exchange, because I think it's important:
  
  Nate: Back then. And what about now?
  
  Sophie: I don't know. What about now? That's what we have to figure out. Well, by we I mean you, of course.
  
  Nate: Of course, of course.
  
  Sophie: Just, um, don't take too long.
  
  Why is this important? Because it's the very first time that the two of them have a conversation about the status of their relationship, and Nate is the one who brings it up. Nate makes this an issue between them first, and puts that whole question on the table. This makes the times when Sophie later raises the issue -- in "The Wedding Job" and "The Mile High Job" in particular -- even more interesting, because I think she's reacting, in part, to this conversation.
  
  And I think that Nate genuinely cares for Sophie -- I even think that he genuinely loves her -- but it's also a very good example of the way he gives her just enough hope to keep her reeled in, just enough for her to want to stick by him. There's an unavoidable hint of manipulation in it, particularly because it does follow that moment of unguarded emotional honesty about Sam and Maggie.
  
  Again: Nate is the first one to raise the issue between them. I think this is key to a lot of what happens between them in subsequent episodes. It also puts their conversation in "The Stork Job" in an interesting light, because while Nate's "Sounds like someone I know" remark is directed at Sophie, he could just as easily be talking about himself there.


• I still don't think that's coffee in the travel mug Nate has at the beginning. Or, at least, it's not just coffee.


• Again with the subtlety of how Nate's drinking is handled: we never see him specifically holding a drink in this episode, but there are certainly moments at which he appears somewhat less than 100% sober, particularly towards the end.


• Nate seems entirely too pleased with himself over breaking the seal of Confession. And, as a Catholic (not to mention as a former seminary student), he knows exactly how big a violation that is.


• That Nate will manipulate Sophie doesn't mean he doesn't love her; that he loves her doesn't mean he won't manipulate her.