Annotated 42-5
Love the chemistry between these two, and I’m glad we got this scene in before saying goodbye to their relationship. HR is at his most likable here, and I’m reminded of his early vibe with Carol, where they seemed to be charming near-equals before the narcissism started really poisoning that relationship.
I mean, it’s not like you can’t see the signs of it here. HR casually dismisses Ulak’s whole religion with a flick of a phrase, and I’m not sure he isn’t just cleverly praising himself when he praises the architecture of the portal. Though clearly HR’s the only Hurricane designer who knows his work affects a whole universe, how much of that work he did himself is a little ambiguous. He barely knew who Graiya was, after all.
Still, he knows how to nurture subordinates in ways they won’t easily forget. Only later, after it’s amply demonstrated that he never cared about them as anything but temporary stepping-stones, will they turn on him.
Rereading this with knowledge of what comes later makes me hope that Ashok’s ghost is already hanging around Ulak, and just choosing not to show himself, yet. ‘So…On the topic of “pointless sacrifices to made up death gods”…’
There’s bosses you fess up/apologize to, and bosses you just avoid and hope it never comes up. The fact that he trusts/respects HR enough to even bring it up unprompted is saying something.
Ulak is Carol’s alt.
Change my mind.
I like to think it’s a bit of the original HR still getting through. Obviously he doesn’t really care for these cultists, but I think it’s his natural response to a respectable subordinate going “aw, man, boss, I think I messed up, and I’m sorry I let you down.” He’s definitely sinking deeper into his narcissistic delusions, but this moment still speaks to the human he once was, and he responds to it automatically, without really thinking about it.