Toby?
Toby was a closet case right?
shareNo, there was no suggestion of that. Quite the opposite. He was really devastated when Sophie threw him over.
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Nah, he's straight, in both book and series. Curiously, he doesn't have another girlfriend that we know of after Sophie departs. Nice to see a hetero boy who is not homophobic and convinced that every gay guy is after his botty, though. But does anyone else think that Toby is rather bland? The other main characters are multi-faceted, ambigious and intriguing, but Toby remains this 1-D object of beauty, as if he were just a plot device for the luring of Nick.
shareI think that's one place where the TV adaptation failed the book... in the book, it's all so clearly from Nick's point of view (which is clouded by his naivety, idealism, and a certain amount of romantic fantasy), so it makes sense that Toby is so 1-D. Only at the end, when it's falling apart quite badly for Nick, is there any suggestion that there's more to Toby than we've seen so far, because that's the first time Nick's considered the idea.
Cat's line, preserved in the film straight from the book, about us not loving people because they're beautiful, but thinking them beautiful because we love them, is key: it highlights Nick's flawed set of values. His view of Toby, faithfully rendered in the film, but without the valuable context of the book, is an example of that.
Hmmm, I differ from you about Cat's line about beauty. I think Cat is in many ways the moral compass of the story; she's not afraid to get stuck into Maurice Tipper about being rich and mean, or, when godfather Pat dies, to declare how pathetic it is that no one dares to admit he died of AIDS. But it's these admirable moments that make her all the more dangerous, because she plays with our sympathy. Cat is incredibly dangerous --- she's a femme fatale but woefully naive with it. Towards the climax of the story she is once again hanging out with the photographer who dumped her some years before, not realising (or choosing not to realise) that he's using her to dig dirt about her family, just as he had tried to use her earlier to get access to Margaret Thatcher. Cat may have meant to bring down her father (he deserved it, I reckon!) but did she so callously have to bring down her "darling" Nick too? Neither in book nor film is she there at the end to say goodbye to him.
Anyway, in the context of her character, her line about our thinking people beautiful because we love them is wilfully naive. Possibly she says it just to sound philosophical and, yes, play with Nick's sympathies. I think most of us adults can admit that though we like to see the people we love, some faces are beautiful, some are ugly and most are ordinary. It may not be politically correct to say so --- it's supposed to be all about "inner beauty" (yawwwwwn!) --- but let's not be disingenuous. (By the way, I put Hayley Atwell (Cat) and Dan Stevens (Nick) most definitely in the beautiful category, without knowing or loving either of them!)
Cat is, indeed, a femme fatale, particularly for her father.
I did not pick up any vibes in either book or movie that Toby's sexual orientation was not heterosexual. He knows that Nick (who improbably has never had sex before graduating from Oxford and moving in with the Feddens) is gay, but doesn't seem to realize that Toby has long been in love with him.
Toby felt betrayed when he found out about Nick and Wani in the book. It was not shown on the TV version.
I thought Cat had a much bigger role in turning the whole story around, after her relevations to Russell.
Toby knew Nick fancied him - all men know when they are desired, c'mon! he was in love with the idea of Nick being in love with him and flattered guys found him attractive. He was offended Nick hadn't told him about Wani as he still then felt he was Nick's trusted friend and to a degree, confidant.
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