Hmmn - I think the things you describe do mesh for me, because I don't see any conflict between Needing to control, being a perfectionist, knowing everything he can and then figuring no other knowledge is worthwhile and killing prisoners while interrogating them, dumping fellow agents in it to preserve his own advantage, toying with the consent of his friend with benefits. In fact I can completely see how the second part can come out of the first! And the idea, too, that Doyle can save him by reacting differently despite a similar need to control, be a perfectionist, know everything he can etc. Actually I'm not sure either of them think that no other knowledge is worthwhile - we've seen both of them learn from each other already in the story, and be willing to do so.

I do agree that things seem to be okay for a little bit, and then suddenly blown apart again, which is rather roller-coaster-ish, but really that's what life is like, so even that isn't entirely off the map.

I think for me the difficulty is that we seem to see Doyle's pov when he's feeling weak and unsure, but we see Bodie's pov when he's feeling sure and all-hero, and so I think it's as much an imbalance in the writing, for me, as anything else.

If I were to guess (since I don't remember what happens, despite reading this before!) I'd say that Gabe is probably going to be a catalyst for Bodie realising that he does actually fancy Doyle, and then realising that he has stronger feelings about him. I'm quite looking forward to seeing what happens though, cos I'd like to think that Angelfish can be a bit more complex than that... *g*