James Devereux in The Hide
Was he Foyle's son do we think?
shareOne of the things I find fascinating about the final episode is the deliberate ambiguity about whether Foyle is Devereaux's father, and fans interpret his interest in James'/Jack's case differently. Some feel it was because he loved James' mom that he would endeavor to help him out; others feel it is clear that Christopher has two sons. Probably because I'm such a romantic and like to think about Foyle's love life, I fall into the latter camp, but upon repeated viewings, there are numerous clues that support my case.
Hi cnb. Thanks for your reply. Yes, I like the way it's ambiguous too .... but then I always "have to know" so I'd be interested to hear your numerous clues.
shareAlthough Foyle could have acted out of a sense of duty to Caroline, even if her child were not his son, it seems as if she would have said her final goodbye to him differently if the child had definitely been her husband's. She begs him not to contact her ever again, which it doesn't seem as if she would even have to do if she were pregnant with her husband's baby. Foyle's personal code would not let him come between the child and his father, no matter how much in love he was with the child's mother--but she has to urge him not to contact her--because he knows he is the father. As one TV discussion forum poster put it, otherwise she would spell it out: “My husband and I are going to have a baby, and our fling must come to an end.” But instead she speaks in a veiled way about staying with her husband "for the sake of the child.”
At one point Sir Charles tells Foyle, "James always was more her son than mine."
Charles' wife tells Foyle that as a child, James wanted to be a policeman.
James is a principled-though-complex man despite the self-centered, unethical, indeed murderous behavior of Sir Charles... in short, James is a man more like Foyle.
Sam Stewart asks the teacher at St Saviour's if she remembers a schoolboy named Christopher Foyle, and the teacher comments that he was always asking questions. Then we see a scene of Jack Stanford and James in the British Free Corps, and Stanford observes how James is always asking questions.
Foyle's reactions of pain to certain recollections about Caroline and her son (particularly when the former housekeeper tells Foyle about Caroline's nickname for her son of "Jack," because of his love of a certain adventure book character) lead me to believe that Caroline was sharing interests with James that she had shared with Foyle.
So there you go--none of these is a hard-and-fast indicator, but I think there's a reason why the writer put them in there.
You convinced me! I came here to see if there was an discussion of this because I suspected Deveraux was his son but wasn't sure. You make such good points, it is now clear that he was and upon a second viewing, the way Foyle looks at James, especially in the last scene confirmed it for me. I agree with some of the posts here that the final season had some problems but Kitchen's acting in this episode was, IMHO, his best.
(in case anyone wonders why Foyle would't tell James he was his father, my rationale is with the conviction and probable hanging of his father for his mother's murder, James would inherit the money and title. Foyle wouldn't want to jeopardize that for him.)
I recently watched The Hide again after a long hiatus.
There is no doubt he's Foyle's son, IMHO.
The scene on the beach between young Foyle and James's mother makes it pretty clear that she's pregnant and they cannot be together---the wording is clearly inferring Foyle is the father otherwise they wouldn't be having that conversation about how due to her pregnancy she has to return home.
James also has mannerisms like Foyle's. Andrew Scott has mimicked a lot of Foyle's studied mannerisms like lifting his head and tilting it when he speaks. James did the same thing in his cell a couple of times.
James also has a demeanor much like Foyle's....Andrew Scott plays him as a man of very few words...almost none in fact...and as a stoical man of principle--just like Foyle is as a man.
I think we were led to believe by Horowitz that the apple doesn't fall far from the genetic tree with James and Foyle.
And lastly, Foyle sits across a small table from James and speaks with James in the cell about his case and lets on he knew his mother.
Foyle says, "I KNEW your mother..." LONG PAUSE.
Then he looks very strongly into James's eyes and says with great deliberation: "I. Knew. Your. Mother."
James gives a small reaction and his mouth moves as though he's going to speak but he stays silent. The two men looked at each other a bit longer, until Foyle was sure James understood the pointed implication of "KNEW."
At that point James knows Foyle is his real father. And so do we.
Hi PE I agree that it's definite.
I'd love to see Andrew Scott back again! Don't know whether we will though.
I wondered about the timing of the pregnancy. She said to Foyle on the beach that she was going back to Charles. How long had they been apart? When was the last time she slept with her husband? Things seemed pretty shaky. If All Charles cared about was keeping up appearances and no scandals, he may over looked the fact that this child wasn't his. He got his son and heir.
SkiesAreBlue
I thought about this. Foyle was a man of integrity. He had to let Caroline go to protect him but out of love mainly for her.
He probably hated not acknowledging his son.
He couldn’t save her from an abusive man but he could at the end save his own son and honor her.
At the same time his son got his full rightful inheritance too.
In some ways Foyle is always an outsider to the upper crust a common theme over and over in the show, but now he has become a complete bridge through vindicating his son who is a part of the upper class who gets his full inheritance.
I watched this episode twice, and it appears to me that the James Devereaux character's (and the actor's) physical movements may be deliberately modeled on the way Kitchen plays Foyle. Observe his stillness and quietness, both in body and expression (or non-expression; Foyle plays everything very close to the vest, as they say; he'd make a formidable poker player). I saw, or thought I saw, several small, subtle behaviors that could be meant to be suggest that they are father and son.
James Devereaux' mother had apparently been separated from her husband so one wonders when/how she became pregnant by him. And her relationship with Foyle was obviousy physical; he says "I knew your mother." And later, to emphasize the point: "I knew her." In the Biblical sense, one assumes. Foyle later says "she decided to return to her husband" (I don't think he says "your father") for the sake of the child.
I agree it's left ambiguous but I think strong hints are there.
Just saw the episode again on PBS.
It's just so very clear through the implications that Foyle knew Devereaux was his son.
How could the director and Horowitz have written James any more clearly to have Foyle's stoic reticence? He was like a carbon copy behaviorally.
I recalled also after seeing it again today that Foyle not only said I KNEW YOUR MOTHER(and he said it twice for emphasis) with every implication there could be in that statement....but Foyle also told James directly that Foyle KNEW she was pregnant. His mother and Foyle had discussed it. Foyle relayed that conversation to James, so he'd have no doubt Christopher was his real father.
Foyle told James his mum had decided to go back to her husband for all the reasons one would have in 1916-18.
Foyle told him she decided to raise "her son" within the framework of a family that already existed with her marriage. Ergo, his mother was saying the boy was not her husband's but she was going back for appearances sake and to give the boy a proper family and not have a scandal.
It also mentioned that her husband was away a lot and not present in her life when she was with Foyle. It's subtle and quick, but it's mentioned.
And if that were not enough, look back at Christopher's behavior in the case (and the strength of Kitchen's expressions that were not typically "Foyle like") throughout. Foyle was never one to wallow in personal details unless a case warranted it. But in this case, the subtlety of the way Kitchen played Foyle when he was paying visits to James, were fraught with a heightened intensity in the way he was questioning him. It was very "un-Foyle." Ergo, he was emotionally involved.
How many more clues we need to know James is Foyle's, I cannot imagine.
I also think he's James' father for all the points listed above, and also because of the way he was in the car back in the beginning and saw the newspaper headline. He looked shocked and jumped out of the car to grab a paper and started investigating it straight away, even though he'd only just resigned from the police. There was a sense of urgency to him and if he was his father, that would make sense.
Kim