> By this, if I understand correctly, he means that it would have been equally
> poignant if Diane had been around for the final episode. I agree. But,
> frankly, the last person I'm thinking about when "it" happens is Marianne
> (or Diane). I'm thinking about Neil who's going to have yet another ghost on
> his back.
My perspective is that all throughout the series, Willie muses about
leaving SIS: he's underpaid, underappreciated, he's seen too many
friends die, he clashes with Burnside frequently, he's disgusted about
the capriciousness with which the higher-ups regard the lives of
the Sandbaggers and allow them to be used by the CIA, etc. Although
he isn't as driven or obsessed as Burnside, you get the impression
that he stays with the SIS because he has nothing else -- if he left,
where would he go? Hence I see the presence of Marianne as adding
poignancy to his death -- you get the sense that his involvement with
her (and Burnside's demands that Willie end the relationship) might
have been the nudge that pushed Willie out of SIS altogether very soon.
Whatever Diane might have said or done, I don't remember seeing anything
to indicate that Willie might have had the least bit of romantic
interest in her.
- David