Cracker: Men Should Weep

Men Should Weep
Air dates: 11/21/94, 11/28/94, 12/5/94
Written: Jimmy McGovern
Directed: Jean Stewart

With Jimmy McGovern's return, Cracker goes unabashedly controversial. Men Should Weep seems deliberately provocative, showcasing misogyny, rape and racism. It's full of brilliant moments, with Geraldine Somerville, Lorcan Cranitch and Ricky Tomlinson at the top of their games. Yet it feels overstuffed, with McGovern biting off more than he can chew.

Floyd Malcolm (Graham Aggrey) is a malcontent cabbie living with his mom (Rachel Davies), and has no luck with women. He's also a serial rapist who targets the wives of men who slight him. The case grows intensely personal when Jane Penhaligon becomes a victim. As the police track Floyd, Fitz deals with Penhaligon's trauma and Judith's return, five months pregnant and hoping to change Fitz. It becomes clear that Penhaligon's attacker wasn't Floyd - and Penhaligon suspects Jimmy Beck.

Men Should Weep provides a commendably delicate look at rape. McGovern shows it not only traumatizing but thoroughly humiliating, leaving physical and psychic scars. Floyd's first victim Catherine (Marian McLoughlin) is forced to relive the event repeatedly, recounting it for police, then revealing intimate sexual details to examiners. Aside from Penhaligon's courtesy, she finds little comfort or sympathy: "It's so much more helpful when the victim's educated," opines one callous examiner. There's certainly no accusation of enjoying or "deserving" it, even though one victim experiences orgasm.

Geraldine Somerville dominates this installment. It's tough watching this strong, playful woman reduced to inconsolable grief and vulnerability, her worst fears violently realized. Her professional views of rape crumble when experiencing the real thing; uncomprehending colleagues asked why she bathed, why she didn't scream. Discovering Judith's pregnancy unsettles her further; she can't lean on Fitz for guidance any more than Wise. It strains credulity that Penhaligon's still allowed to work on the case, but her ruined mental state registers powerfully. When she accuses Beck of rape it very well could be delusion.

McGovern shows male reaction as embarrassment mixed with insensitivity. There's Tom Carter (John McCardle), Catherine's husband, beating an innocent man (Tony Rohr) to reassert his masculinity. He feels emasculated by Catherine's rape, considering himself a victim. Wise shows Penhaligon compassion but only offers lame assurances that "We'll catch this man." Fitz plays an unusually detached role: Penhaligon doesn't even tell him what happened. Worse, his radio show inspires Malcolm to murder his last victim. (After To Say I Love You, one would expect the police to curtail Fitz's media appearances!)

But Beck is most strikingly effected. This case sets something off, as if Floyd embodies Beck's Id, an extension of his sexist male aggression. He tells Tom Carter that he'd "give him a medal," then rows violently with Wise. Penhaligon's flippant admission that she "fantasizes about rape" provides the final push to someone already warped with guilt, rage and incomprehension. Beck resents his "compassion" towards Albie Kinsella, but bests that criminal's "sickening sentimentality" by cozying up to Catriona Bilborough. Beck becomes such a twisted pile of neuroses one almost pities him.

In Floyd Malcolm, Weep provides the series' most repulsive villain. McGovern does little to make Floyd sympathetic, helped by Graham Aggrey's coldly subdued acting. He's arrogant, bitter and a cheat (collecting fraudulent welfare checks), embodying every negative black stereotype. Like Albie Kinsella, Floyd implies he deliberately plays to the stereotype, a self-appointed avenger against racism. Yet Fitz suggests an alternate motivation; when Mrs. Malcolm relates how Floyd received his scars, our blood runs cold. This generates a twinge of sympathy, but Floyd's crimes are so heinous he's beyond redemption.

Understandably, Weep's racial politics generated controversy. "The big black man in the alley is a myth!" Wise tells Beck, insisting that "White men rape white women." Is the system cutting Floyd an unfair break? We think so after Floyd somehow procures a high-powered lawyer (Angela Wynter) to stop Fitz's interrogation. Yet Floyd's siblings seem well-adjusted, despite identical upbringing. Some people are just monsters, looking for a convenient way to justify their crimes. Floyd's rap sheet suggests something more pernicious than racial resentment.

So why not rate Men Should Weep higher? Frankly, it's a mess. Powerful as they are, the various strands don't neatly tie together. The story moves from theme to theme, discarding each as it moves along. In Act III the rape angle's heavily downplayed, with awkward racial discussions taking center stage (complete with gratuitous reaction shots of DC Skelton). Penhaligon recovers enough to launch her vendetta against Beck; Fitz gets distracted by Judith's belated return. Weep doesn't have the balance of Cracker's best episodes.

One another level, we'll note how skull-crushingly idiotic Wise and Co. come off. Floyd gets arrested three times before episode's end, always going free. On one occasion they're checkmated by Floyd's lawyer, but otherwise there's no excuse. Worse, idiots Harriman and Skelton lose Floyd on a surveillance run and arrest an innocent cabbie (Ewen Cummins) on Floyd's word. What of McGovern's social commentary when his plotting hinges on cops acting monumentally stupid?

Finally, I must again object to Cracker placing characters in arbitrary danger. Penhaligon's rape works because it fits the episode, and McGovern takes time to show its devastating effects. But the climax? Judith returns to Fitz, five months pregnant, for little reason beyond setting up the denouement. Floyd comes calling, Fitz disarms him with an assist from Mark, police arrive, end story. It's not only predictable but annoyingly contrived. 

But just when you think McGovern's lost it, he redeems all with a knockout finale. Penhaligon breaks into Beck's apartment (tellingly juxtaposed with Floyd stalking Judith), swipes his revolver and holds Beck at gunpoint. The scene ends with Beck prone as Penhaligon shoves the pistol down his throat, calmly promising to kill him. It's great stuff, a chilling cliffhanger that sets the stage for even darker tragedy.