Captain Francis Crozier and James Fitzjames- Pettiness and Turning Points

This is one of those things that has probably been pointed out by the fandom before, but since I haven’t seen it mentioned, I’d like to address it- The way Captain Francis Crozier’s perspective on events taints our view of James Fitzjames, and glosses over just how badly he screws his second over in the first half of the show.

Now, from the very first episode, the show makes it very, very, very clear that of the three highest ranking officers of the Franklin Expedition, Captain Crozier is the most capable, experienced and wise. Sir John Franklin is borderline buffoonish, so certain that “God will see them through”, that he seems to almost forget his own Arctic failures. Then there’s Fitzjames, eager to please Franklin and seemingly frustrated that Crozier doesn’t like him. Crozier complains about how annoying he finds Fitzjames to Blanky, then we cut to the officers all having dinner together, with Fitzjames cheerfully regaling everyone with a story that most of the men seem to enjoy (the audience however will feel uncomfortable with how lightly James’ talks about killing people), while Crozier looks like he’s desperately trying not to stab him. Suddenly Crozier cuts in with a humiliating comment that pretty much torpedoes James’ story and leaves Franklin stumbling to pick up the pieces. Since all of this is through Francis’s perspective, and since James’ story made the audience uncomfortable, the audience feels little sympathy for James’ humiliation.

This is important.

Crozier’s dislike of Fitzjames, and the audience’s position as sympathetic to Crozier, makes it easy to downplay Fitzjames’ early positive moments. His friendliness to the men? It’s just for attention. His bravery when leading the charge to rescue Franklin? He’s just showing off. 

This calculated dismissal by the audience of Fitzjames makes it easy to miss just how badly Crozier starts to F^%$ him over after Franklin’s death. What’s the first thing Crozier does after he takes command? He overturns Franklin’s last order and sends out a sled team. Given that Fitzjames himself is too focused on how Crozier’s not giving the men time to grieve, it’s easy to miss WHO Crozier orders to lead the team. It’s Lt. Fairholme of the Erebus. Why is this important? Because Erebus has just lost both its captain AND its first lieutenant (Gore) and now Crozier is ordering Erebus’ third lieutenant on a mission that will likely see him gone for months. This leaves only Commander (now Captain) Fitzjames and second lieutenant Les Vesconte to run the Erebus. Crozier makes no offer to send one of his own officers to help. Nothing.

Next comes Punished as a Boy, which ends with the majority of The Terror’s crew leaving the ship to go to Erebus. Who doesn’t go to Erebus? Any of the Terror’s officers. So now Fitzjames and Les Vesconte are trying to control nearly double the men, mostly by themselves. At this point, Crozier’s alcoholism is bad, but he’s still coherent enough to make some good decisions (mainly protecting Lady Silence from the others), but by the next episode even that is gone. Edward Little is forced to take Crozier’s place at command meetings, trying to cover for his captain’s alcoholism, and ends up saying to Fitzjames, “Much ado on Terror”. Which, bless Ned’s heart is absolutely the wrong thing to say. Fitzjames has been running a full to bursting ship, with only one other high ranking officer to help, while Terror is running on a skeleton crew with all its officers around to help. This is the first moment where the audience starts to realize that there’s more to Fitzjames than Crozier gave him credit for- because instead of tearing a strip off Edward Little- he recognizes that it’s not the lieutenant’s fault and reins his temper in. 

Things come to a head when Fitzjames bursts in on Crozier’s interrogation of Lady Silence. She’s just given the captain a positively brutal (and totally justified) verbal beating, and when Fitzjames comes in it’s basically round 2. Fitzjames is pissed and for the first time, the show is clearly on his side. When Crozier takes a drunken swing at him, it’s the least sympathetic we’ve seen the older man so far. It’s a turning point for both characters. One that forces the audience to rethink what they believe they know about both characters. We still understand Crozier’s frustration with Fitzjames (particularly his jealousy of the younger man), but we also realize that much of Crozier’s frustration is based on his idea of Fitzjames, not the man himself.