Three: Marcus Boone (Anthony Lemke)

[Just Here]

A true bad-ass, he is the flip side to ONE’s principled coin – which is why the two are often at odds, developing a (grudging) like-hate relationship over the course of their journey. He is mercenary through-and-through, a Hans Solo type, always looking out for himself. But he must come to accept the fact that, if he’s going to survive long enough to reach the outer colonies, he’s going to have to learn to get along.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Just Here

[Mars477]

Guys, I figured it out! This show is a genius with its subtle character building. You see, Three either has a tiny dick and/or is completely impotent, and this is where his jerkass personality stems from! This is represented by the big ass rifle he totes around as compensation, and also by the fact that when fired that rifle does absolutely fuckall. It's genius!

[margol29]

^^^^^ I would have agreed with your comment up until a few episodes ago. I really hated #3. But he has started to grow on me. What I can't figure out......why was 3 so bad ass in the dream episode as to wanting to throw 5 into the space chamber and eject her off the ship?

[call me ishmael]

My guess is that eventually we will learn it was misdirection and that he was putting her there to either fool someone else or because it was actually a protected space.

[MissLucas]

Yeah, I also think it's telling that we haven't seen how that scene played out ultimately.

 

Three's writing was over-cliched at the beginning but it looks as if the writers and the actor have got a better grasp on the character. I like the little twists they added like his obsession with food or that he just can't get over Five's ventilation crawling. Those work better for me than the twu luv backstory.

[CoderLady]

I was prepared to hate Three at the start but I'd forgotten how good the Stargate people are at fleshing out characters and creating bonded teams. Now I'm looking forward to where things are going.

[krimimimi]

My guess is that eventually we will learn it was misdirection and that he was putting her there to either fool someone else or because it was actually a protected space.

I was thinking along the same lines. Does the ship even have a brig (why would it?)? So except for quarantine in the med lab (where someone is liable to walk in and find her) or the vault with no atmosphere (so not a great idea, as we've seen), that's probably a good location to put someone on lockdown. And as we saw with Four in the second ep, threatening something (like torture) doesn't mean you're actually going to do it. Obviously, she wasn't ejected, and had to get out of there somehow.

Twice now we've seen Three fold to threats to teammates' well being (when the real Jace was threatening One, Three offered 2 tidbits (that the crew had lost their memories, and that they had guns to sell), and the code for the vault when Two was threatened in the airlock) to stave off violence. So I don't think he's anywhere near as hardcore as he makes out. Or maybe he's pragmatic and just tries to keep people in play as long as possible. It's worked so far, so who knows.

I was wondering if it won't turn out that he was the (pre-wipe) captain. I figure it's him or Two. I could also see this being part of a Dread Pirate Roberts scenario, and the crew is recently hired on, but didn't really know each other going in. (One and Five are definitely new.) And Three's more of a conman than a villain. We do have Sarah's vouching for him, but we don't know how long she's been in stasis. It could have been a while, and he's been busy amassing wealth.

We also still have the Rothgar question to answer. Rothgar was confirmed to be male and known to the miners. The miners also met all of our male crew members, so none of them are Rothgar. So maybe Rothgar runs guns (like for the miners) and is part of the crew that left Three behind on Sarah's planet. And when Three went to settle that score, he got Rothgar's guns. That would wrap up two open storylines in one. Why do I feel the need to do that here? We had two clues that made the characters think their paths had intersected with Rothgar's - the shipment of guns and the necklace found in One's room. Something that stood out - Three's quarters were bare when he moved in, so not necessarily his. So what if One was in Three's room? One found a pair of specs in his room, and I can't picture a rich guy in the future needing specs. I figure that's supposed to be a clue as to whose room it was, and the specs most likely belong to Three or Six. And Three was kind of squinty when he was reading, but that may just have been the tears....

Either way, I've come to enjoy Three. He brings humor, both in terms of the character's snark and physical humor on the part of the actor, and I think I'm getting more enjoyment from him than anyone else at this point. I wouldn't have expected it at the start. He and One have done a total swap for me. One's lack of competence makes a big difference for me, and I completely agreed with Three's "I'm trying to put food on our table. What have you done for us lately?" take on One. Plus on rewatch, Three annoys me less in the beginning than he did the first time around, and One annoys me more until they reach the point in the season where One becomes annoying man and I watch the show around him. But I think there's also a pretty big gap in the quality of the acting, too, which certainly doesn't harm Three. Just my take, mileage varies of course.

 

edit: typo was driving me bonkers... x.x

Edited August 29, 2015 by krimimimi

[shapeshifter]

I've always liked Three, so having others come around to that point of view makes me smile. I posted early in the season that Three reminded me of SG1's O'Neill, and he still does.

[atomationage]

I agree that 3/Marcus Boone started off badly and improved over the first season.  In S02E01 I was disappointed that he didn't at least stay for one more day in the infirmary and try to get the aide not to made a bad report of him and send him off to ECT.  The aide may just have been trying to scare him off, and he did. 

[atomationage]

Blue Mountain State is the gift that keeps on giving.  Anthony Lemke's character gets ice rod therapy:

[Ely]

Quote

I've always liked Three, so having others come around to that point of view makes me smile. I posted early in the season that Three reminded me of SG1's O'Neill, and he still does.

Me, too, I remember how we had to defend him quite a bit in season 1 ;). To be fair he was not easily likeable and he was not meant to be. Lemke did a fantastic job with him. But I think the writers have mellowed him out a little as well in s2 to make him more palatable. The concept was so different in s1 with the triangle and One being the golden boy.

Same with Two. She's to me what Three was to a lot of others. Now she's less annoying although still one of my least favorite characters.

[sjohnson]

One as the "golden boy?" The butt of the jokes but never the cool dude? Plainly people do see things differently. It seemed to me that One was clearly painted as the moralist, something nobody in the audience wants to see, not the golden boy. 

The scene where Boone's whining prompts a promise from Two about how they'll do a heist, and he can pick the target, I thought was clearly meant to continue that absurd insistence Boone is a charming rogue. But to me he came across as thrill-seeking, greedy and amoral. I'm pretty sure the show thinks I'm watching wrong, though.

[MissLucas]

The writing for Three was just too trope-heavy in the beginning. Once the actor and the writers gave the character some breathing space he started to feel more like an actual human being and less like a walking and talking cliché. And although the show gave him both a tragic love-story and a childhood trauma we get reminders that he has a dark side too. He's got things he has to atone for and he knows it even if he can't remember them.

Edited September 17, 2016 by MissLucas

[sjohnson]

The power of his tragic love despite amnesia wiping out almost all memory is truly amazing. Ditto, the power of forgotten childhood to warp the personality. But I must demur on one aspect, there is no dark side to his personality, the show I think wholeheartedly endorses his occasional necessary massacre...and they are supercool badassery to boot.

[MissLucas]

I have to disagree about the show condoning his actions. Five looked more shocked than impressed when she saw the carnage in sci-fi rednecks cabin. Did the guys have it coming? Yes, but she was still shocked and in my opinion she acted as stand-in for the audience. I viewed the scene more as a stark reminder how dangerous he could be and less of 'look what a badass!' - YMMV. And it's clear that he himself does not value his life that highly. Otherwise hallucinatory girlfriend could never have convinced him that easily to put the gun to his head. His actions in the episode where he rescued Five also showed a willingness to self-sacrifice born out of self-loathing.

[Wouter]

1 hour ago, MissLucas said:

I have to disagree about the show condoning his actions. Five looked more shocked than impressed when she saw the carnage in sci-fi rednecks cabin. Did the guys have it coming? Yes, but she was still shocked and in my opinion she acted as stand-in for the audience. I viewed the scene more as a stark reminder how dangerous he could be and less of 'look what a badass!' - YMMV. And it's clear that he himself does not value his life that highly. Otherwise hallucinatory girlfriend could never have convinced him that easily to put the gun to his head. His actions in the episode where he rescued Five also showed a willingness to self-sacrifice born out of self-loathing.

I agree, even though those brothers deserved it the carnage was still presented as a shocking thing. They reinforced this with Kierken going through the motions afterwards, emphasising the brutality of his actions.

Like Shapeshifter and Ely, I see shades of O'Neill in him, too. Nothing to do with morality or leadership qualities, but the way the character speaks and reacts - both almost always need an explanation from the resident tech wizards (and act as audience stand-in in that way).

[sjohnson]

Well, I've become convinced that commercially savvy producers always, always write for Team Walt too. You do not leave part of your audience unsatisfied. It's that I'm not too happy when they play it both ways. I'm not a big believer in ambiguity or "shades of grey" when it's an evasion.

It's not clear to me how "shocking" is incompatible with badassery. They would seem to me to go together very well indeed. Badassery is always cool. At any rate, the brothers are not just villainous but hissable villains in an episode where he is noble and self sacrificing (and his girl comforts his hurts!) The only reason he was shot was because one managed by sheer luck to catch him by surprise. This is the second time when one man is worth three or four of his opponents. The show is saying something there, I think, even if they throw in some big lug humor to humanize him a little. 

[Redemption]

Three is a heck of a lot more complex then people assume. He gives on a personality of a bumbling idiot and a jerk that cares only for himself, but in Season 1 you see how much he cares and loves, it comes back up in Season 2 where he actually nearly cries telling Five off to try to save her from the GA in the woods. She sees right through his attempt to make her leave, he right there showed more character then anyone could believe of him. Despite his refusal to show weakness in front of others, at multiple points he forgives everyone but himself and even starts to forgive Six. Three goes from the ruthless killer to being a rock for others. He also intentionally portrays his ignorance of science and technical things, but secretly is clearly more intelligent then Six. He knows a lot more about ship operations and physics then he lets on. He also has some medical knowledge that he has rarely used. I wouldn't be surprised in Season 3 he opens up even more to showing his wisdom if not higher IQ is a great deal more then previously thought.  Three also has an understanding of the android that only five recognized. Not trying to say Six isn't intelligent he is clearly politically savy (he pegged the eventual war with corporations way before any of the crew did) and can fly a ship but his other knowledge is lacking.

Edited November 30, 2016 by Redemption

[2727]

I'm watching a movie from 2013 called Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery that stars Lemke. He's all cleaned up and looks quite sexy but beyond that, his detective character works for the Sûreté du Québec and he gets to trot out his French. Made me smile.