The Paradise
I just watched the first episode of The Paradise, the Downton Abbey knock-off about country girl Denise, who gets a job at one of Britain's first department stores.
The good: the costumes and the scenery are awfully pretty, and I am a total sucker for department store stories (is that even a thing?), and Denise the department store clerk seems promising if rather nebulous.
The bad: I don't think they mean the main male character to come across as quite as skeevy as he does, but he totally, totally does. He's courting a local young lady because he wants her father to invest in his department store, and while he says he's "just not ready" to get engaged yet, I kind of think he will never be ready, has no intention of being ready, and is seducing her for kicks, giggles, and cash.
Meanwhile, he's been having an affair with one of the other clerks, although recently he's cut that off, which broke her heart and has made her into a terrible person. But I don't think we're supposed to be on her side, given that she takes it out on Denise, who seems to be his new favorite. He totally comes onto Denise when he calls her into his office to discuss her performance so far - and apparently this is something he does regularly, because the other girls warn her obliquely beforehand.
Denise swears that she's not interested in him romantically - she doesn't want him, she wants to be him. We'll see if they stick with that. If Denise ends up running a shop, I might actually get behind that storyline, but if she ends up with Mr. Creepypants...no.
Having written this out, I feel rather boggled that they could have meant this guy to be anything other than a total cad. But some of their cinematographic choices imply that they see him as a Great Heroic Innovator with a Tragic Past (which presumably makes all his bad choices about women okay?), so...well then.
But the costumes are so pretty! You can see why I'm torn about whether to continue watching.
The good: the costumes and the scenery are awfully pretty, and I am a total sucker for department store stories (is that even a thing?), and Denise the department store clerk seems promising if rather nebulous.
The bad: I don't think they mean the main male character to come across as quite as skeevy as he does, but he totally, totally does. He's courting a local young lady because he wants her father to invest in his department store, and while he says he's "just not ready" to get engaged yet, I kind of think he will never be ready, has no intention of being ready, and is seducing her for kicks, giggles, and cash.
Meanwhile, he's been having an affair with one of the other clerks, although recently he's cut that off, which broke her heart and has made her into a terrible person. But I don't think we're supposed to be on her side, given that she takes it out on Denise, who seems to be his new favorite. He totally comes onto Denise when he calls her into his office to discuss her performance so far - and apparently this is something he does regularly, because the other girls warn her obliquely beforehand.
Denise swears that she's not interested in him romantically - she doesn't want him, she wants to be him. We'll see if they stick with that. If Denise ends up running a shop, I might actually get behind that storyline, but if she ends up with Mr. Creepypants...no.
Having written this out, I feel rather boggled that they could have meant this guy to be anything other than a total cad. But some of their cinematographic choices imply that they see him as a Great Heroic Innovator with a Tragic Past (which presumably makes all his bad choices about women okay?), so...well then.
But the costumes are so pretty! You can see why I'm torn about whether to continue watching.