Posted 08 January 2010 - 08:26 PM
I never bought that Bond had any feelings for Paris Carver. Perhaps I'm merely projecting because I have no feelings for that hoity-toity society cougar. Still, he was on a mission and had to 'pump' her for information. If that meant claiming that she was the one who got 'too close for comfort' so be it. His brief display of emotion upon leaving her dead could have been just an expression of regret that yet another innocent bystander suffered for becoming involved with him. At least, that's all I would have had to express for her.
And lay off Bond's affection for Elektra King. He was impressed with her courage until he came to suspect that she was still involved with Renard. He was conflicted emotionally while also frustrated with M's prohibitions. So he had to shoot Elektra ('rule #1: always call their bluff'), and all she got was the same brief moment of mourning that Paris got. Well yeah, he had a submarine to catch.
Kara, on the other hand, was such a sweetie it's no wonder Tim's Bond fell for her. He was as impressed with her pluck and her ingenuousness as he was with her musical talent. And he expressed it all with just a quiet glance. I believe Dalton was John Gardner's model for actor David Dragonpol('the man with the glass head') in Never Send Flowers.
But when it comes to expressing pain, denial and rage simultaneously, no-one beats Daniel Craig's performance in Casino Royale, when he gave up trying to revive Vesper (although I think he owed Fields a little more than she got).
The question should be, just how emotional do we want Bond to be? No-one complained when Connery casually stepped over the bodies of his friends and lovers to carry on his mission (Kerim got a little more consideration than Quarrel, but Tilly, Paula, Aki and Plenty didn't even get a second glance). George was directed not to shed tears over Tracy - a quiet sob was considered enough. Roger eulogized briefly over Lisl and Vijay, but the only friend he ever avenged was Ferarra, and even then he was pretty cas about it. Dalton's rage at the death of Saunders was quite a surprise, but how much more do we want? Bond can't function if he's constantly an emotional wreck, so he has learned - and in Craig we've witnessed the process - to shut off his emotions and to take his ego out of the equasion. In 23 we should see a Bond more like what we're used to, which is bad news for any more characters like Fields.