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Now, you know what I call this, children? I call this the perfect start to an evening! The night is young, there's a beautiful girl, and somebody's going to die! That's you, by the way.
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~ Hyde, gleefully introducing himself to a mugger and his girlfriend.
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Mr. Hyde is a major antagonist and part-time villain protagonist in the BBC series Jekyll. As the series is a sequel of sorts to the original novel, Hyde differs from his literary counterpart in several different respects.
To begin with, instead of simply being the alter-ego of the series' Jekyll equivalent, Dr Tom Jackman, Hyde is a fully-developed secondary personality in his own right - albeit one accompanied by a physical transformation. Similarly, he was not created through a serum, but simply came into being as the result of genetic inheritance and psychological impacts that occurred throughout Jackman's life; as such, all he requires is a certain time of day or a certain kind of emotional stimuli in order to seize control. Likewise, rather than being initially under Jekyll's control, Hyde immediately has the upper hand over his other self thanks to a wide variety of superhuman abilities.
A childlike personality with little in the way of restraint, Hyde glories in destruction and chaos at any given opportunity. The only thing keeping him from stooping to murder is the threat that Jackman will hand himself over to the police should he ever discover that Hyde has killed; to that end, he keeps his rogue personality monitored by security cameras in his home and GPS trackers when abroad. Needless to say, Hyde's primary goal for most of the series is to find a way to seize control of Jackman entirely and live his own life as he sees fit. However, a major corporation has set its sights on capturing Hyde and harnessing his powers for their own ends, a predicament that soon forces the two personalities into an uneasy partnership in their attempts to escape capture.
Both Tom Jackman and Hyde were portrayed by James Nesbitt.
Appearance[]
At first sight, Hyde is often mistaken for Tom Jackman; however, closer examination reveals subtle differences in their facial structure and build: two inches taller than his other self and slightly skinnier in build, he sports a slightly narrower jawline, along with darker hair and a distinctive widow's peak in place of Jackman's disorderly curls; flashbacks to Hyde's earliest manifestations suggest that he also sports denser hair on his arms and legs. The most distinctive difference between the two personalities can be seen in his eyes, which are jet black and often appear haloed with tiny blood-red rings.
Indeed, the sight of the eyes opening is usually the second-most recognizable sign that Hyde has taken over, the first being the flickering disruptions to electrical lighting systems that always precede a transformation. The transition between the two personalities is immediate and almost imperceptible, commonly occurring in the space of a single second - usually while Tom's back is turned or during one of the distinctive light flickers. Many observers have difficulty noticing any difference between the two unless they know exactly what to look for, and even those who do happen to notice the subtle variations in appearance tend to believe that Hyde is actually one of Jackman's relatives.
Hyde also demonstrates an ability to warp his appearance further, occasionally manifesting jagged fangs - usually in spontaneous attempts to startle those around him by roaring in their faces.
It's later revealed that Tom Jackman is a perfect genetic throwback to his ancestor, Dr Henry Jekyll; in much the same way, the modern Hyde is almost identical to his Victorian counterpart - the only recognizable distinction between the two being the numerous open sores on the original Hyde's face (presumably the result of untreated STDs).
Powers and Abilities[]
From the moment that he first manifested in Jackman's mind, Hyde has consistently demonstrated a gift for superhuman speed: his first act upon emerging from dormancy was to vanish through an open window while Claire's back was turned; since then, he has gotten into the habit of ambushing both friends and enemies alike by suddenly appearing in front of them, usually while roaring in their faces. Though he's not quite fast enough to dodge bullets, he's more than capable of crossing short distances at a seemingly impossible pace, in many cases appearing to teleport. Even during a comparatively mundane visit to a local pub, he can down four highly alcoholic drinks at superspeed without even flinching, and then promptly knock out the man sitting next to him without anyone else in the pub noticing.
Hyde is also possessed of great strength: most commonly, he uses this to throw opponents for improbable distances - at one point flinging a full-grown African lion out of its enclosure, over the perimeter wall of the zoo and onto the roof of a surveillance van parked outside. However, there are limits to his strength, a fact that both Jackman and K&U exploit while restraining him through use of heavily-reinforced straps or alloy chains in order to keep Hyde in check. Of course, even with these precautions in mind, he still has a habit of demonstrating fresh extremes of physical prowess: in the first episode, Hyde is able to evade capture by scaling the side of a building with his bare hands, easily climbing the sheer wall in a matter of seconds.
Though often viewed as crude and childish, Hyde still exhibits impressive mental and sensory capabilities: by simply smelling a target's sweat, he can determine their diet, pets, current health, perfumes they have worn in the past, even how long since they gave up smoking - and how long they have until they die of lung cancer; he can also detect lies by listening to the speaker's heart-rate, and can even sense drugs in his bloodstream, at one point observing how it "tickles." When his powers expand during the fifth episode, he gains the ability to view Jackman's memories at will, to the point that he can even rewind all the way back into the memories of the original Dr Jekyll and interact with the personality of the original Hyde. At times, he also displays something akin to telepathy: during the altercation at the zoo, after killing one of the lions, he is able to command the rest of the pride by thought alone. During the finale, this power expands to transmitting thoughts to human minds - Hyde bombarding the K&U staff with a single repeated message via phone, computer, paper, and even via the Hyde clones locked up in the basement: "run if you want to live."
Later, the electrical disruptions that announce the transition between Jackman and Hyde are later revealed to be a form of electrokinesis: in order to allow the personality to manifest physically, the process requires energy most commonly siphoned from neighboring electrical systems. In fact, when Hyde is inspired to resurrect Jackman's personality, he is forced to leech energy from most of London in order to successfully manifest his other self, resulting in massive blackouts across the city.
Last but not least, Hyde also has a power to share or restrict damage from his other self: most commonly, he deliberately allows the exhaustion, headaches and hangovers he has acquired while dominant to affect Jackman as well. Later, when the two personalities finally start working together, Hyde goes so far as to protect his other self from potentially fatal injuries - ultimately saving Jackman in the long run.
Quotes[]