Single Father Episode 4
I have seen it and I have some thoughts on the theme of the series and my opinion of the ending.
But first a poll!
The spelling of Dave's last name remains a bit of a mystery so I thought I'd see if there was a consensus on the issue. The end credits on the episodes use no last names so they are useless. The BBC has Tyler on their official website -- which is probably how Tyler ended up everywhere else too. However, the show uses Tiler on at least two occasions -- the friend finder website and some paperwork in ep. 4. I've mostly converted to Tiler but I've been thinking about him as a Tyler for months now and it's bugging me! :D
Poll
1. Having seen the whole series I can now state with ASSURANCE that the theme of the show is not 'single father raises kids after death of partner...and so on' or even 'single father deals with death of partner' as was stated in the media. No, no, no. The theme is in actual fact 'Dave Tiler is the MOST FERTILE MAN IN SCOTLAND. And he's not only the most fertile ever, but also no woman can resist him.' (But of course! What woman would want to after all?) It is probably a good thing that he spent very little time standing near other women during the course of the series. Who knows what could have happened!
2. But really, joking aside, the show is about fertility. Wanting a child but not being able to have one (Anna), adopting children (Beatty), blending families (Dave/Rita, Stuart&Lucy), having children too young (Tanya), becoming a single parent through loss of your partner (Michelle, Dave), making unilateral decisions to have children (Sarah, Rita claimed to do so but we have no proof), choosing to have children alone (Rita, Sarah until the end), not wanting children (Matt). With such an abundance of children and families, I don't have any particular problems with the fact of Sarah being pregnant at the end. What's one more baby? Sarah unilaterally deciding to have a child is more problematic though. However, her admitting it was stupid (and that she was not thinking straight) and planning to not bother Dave about it helps. And, hell, Dave doesn't have a problem with it. *shrugs* So why should I? I certainly don't hate Sarah for it. She's flawed like everyone else in the show.
3. While I don't quite get why Sarah chose deliberately to get pregnant, (or rather why the writer went there) I do get why she chose Dave instead of Matt for the project. And not just because one is played by David Tennant. Heh. Not only do both Matt and Sarah admit that their relationship was failing for a long time, but we see Sarah withdraw from him physically as soon as she became attracted to Dave. Why would you want a child from someone that you barely want to talk to anymore, never mind touch? Talk about a long term reminder of a relationship that you'd like to forget. And who can resist the MOST FERTILE MAN IN SCOTLAND anyway?
4. As with the previous episode, David Tennant's performance here continued to be excellent! I loved him grieving in the courtroom scene, breaking into sobs of relief as he read the DNA tests, getting frustrated with the kids when they all had nits (hee), and connecting with Lucy. He has quite definitely elevated the material, changing it from something that I would have switched off into something I enjoyed watching.
But first a poll!
The spelling of Dave's last name remains a bit of a mystery so I thought I'd see if there was a consensus on the issue. The end credits on the episodes use no last names so they are useless. The BBC has Tyler on their official website -- which is probably how Tyler ended up everywhere else too. However, the show uses Tiler on at least two occasions -- the friend finder website and some paperwork in ep. 4. I've mostly converted to Tiler but I've been thinking about him as a Tyler for months now and it's bugging me! :D
Poll
1. Having seen the whole series I can now state with ASSURANCE that the theme of the show is not 'single father raises kids after death of partner...and so on' or even 'single father deals with death of partner' as was stated in the media. No, no, no. The theme is in actual fact 'Dave Tiler is the MOST FERTILE MAN IN SCOTLAND. And he's not only the most fertile ever, but also no woman can resist him.' (But of course! What woman would want to after all?) It is probably a good thing that he spent very little time standing near other women during the course of the series. Who knows what could have happened!
2. But really, joking aside, the show is about fertility. Wanting a child but not being able to have one (Anna), adopting children (Beatty), blending families (Dave/Rita, Stuart&Lucy), having children too young (Tanya), becoming a single parent through loss of your partner (Michelle, Dave), making unilateral decisions to have children (Sarah, Rita claimed to do so but we have no proof), choosing to have children alone (Rita, Sarah until the end), not wanting children (Matt). With such an abundance of children and families, I don't have any particular problems with the fact of Sarah being pregnant at the end. What's one more baby? Sarah unilaterally deciding to have a child is more problematic though. However, her admitting it was stupid (and that she was not thinking straight) and planning to not bother Dave about it helps. And, hell, Dave doesn't have a problem with it. *shrugs* So why should I? I certainly don't hate Sarah for it. She's flawed like everyone else in the show.
3. While I don't quite get why Sarah chose deliberately to get pregnant, (or rather why the writer went there) I do get why she chose Dave instead of Matt for the project. And not just because one is played by David Tennant. Heh. Not only do both Matt and Sarah admit that their relationship was failing for a long time, but we see Sarah withdraw from him physically as soon as she became attracted to Dave. Why would you want a child from someone that you barely want to talk to anymore, never mind touch? Talk about a long term reminder of a relationship that you'd like to forget. And who can resist the MOST FERTILE MAN IN SCOTLAND anyway?
4. As with the previous episode, David Tennant's performance here continued to be excellent! I loved him grieving in the courtroom scene, breaking into sobs of relief as he read the DNA tests, getting frustrated with the kids when they all had nits (hee), and connecting with Lucy. He has quite definitely elevated the material, changing it from something that I would have switched off into something I enjoyed watching.