I find it very interesting that it is James who voices concern about the amount of superfluous shit they’re packing when they’re about to leave the ships (a very practical and reasonable objection) and the way Francis brushes it off for… well, sentimental reasons.

Because the truth is that, yes, Crozier is a better sailor, he’s experienced with polar seas, but once the ships can’t sail that’s no advantage at all. I’m convinced that he knows this, and that’s a big part of why he becomes so bitter and drunk and unhinged. He’s completely out of his depth and he knows it. While for Fitzjames, it’s pretty much business as usual, trapped in hostile territory? No big deal, let’s work with what we have and keep morale up. Blanky’s pep talk (which is, by the way, James requesting advice) only encourages him to step up his people skills even more. 

So yeah, Crozier is a brilliant sailor but a terrible leader, and Fitzjames is clueless about polar environments but is very good at managing teams and organising stuff. But then again, Royal Navy, hierarchies, classism and resentment… and that’s how you end up with a Lost Expedition

I always view James as a man who is pragmatic in a way that escapes both Sir John and Francis. For all his insecurities, and even when he’s straight up dying, he never wallows or postures or lashes out like either of the other men; he acts, and he always acts practically.

When we first meet James, we see through Francis’ perspective that he is a bit of a bitch, a bit of a yes man, (and very shiny and attractive, thank you Dave and Soo). And even in the way Sir John treats him, he’s fond of James but doesn’t seem to see his worth (James is overlooked by both Francis and Sir John in favour of Gore’s experience).

As the show progresses, we are shown that James is a capable captain (2x capacity Erebus with only one lieutenant running smoothly), a capable commander entire (while Francis is sobering up), and every bit a man of action as he had boasted about being (shooting the tuunbaq with the rockst). Nor is be above taking advice (from Blanky, as stated above) or from admitting Francis’ far greater experience, in that be wants him to step up and do his job.

James doesn’t walk a mile on the dark to yell at Francie about stealing whiskey from him. He did that because Francis’ isn’t functioning, and if he’s going to have to be forced to sober up / declared unfit, then its practical to do that now rather than when they’re about to walk out. (And also because, despite what Francis thinks and how James acts, he respects Francis enough to say things to him that Blanky even won’t - friendship and rank aside. )

He’s insecure, yes, but not impractical, and you do see it in the start of ep7 when he mentions the extraneous shit the men are packing. And in that scene we also see Crozier’s downfall, his heart. He cares too much, and, in Jared’s own words, that blinds him. He wants to get every man out, and that causes more to die because it blinds him to his practicals.

I always thought this practicality was the gunnery lieutenant, career in warships coming out in James ; rather than the discovery service that seems to operate on a much less formal and interpersonal level that created Sir John and Francis.

In conclusion to my stream of consciousness; they’d have made a dream team if James wasn’t dying by the time Francis sobered up and earned the respect he was due.