Thoughts on Malory Towers - 5 - The Match
Actual sports acted out in a weird and slightly odd manner? Actual depictions of teachers abusing students on children's television? Well, that's basically the two parts of this episode...
Trying to be fair, I get that these kids have probably never played (or maybe heard of) lacrosse before this show but the scenes of lacrosse are kind of off and feel a bit under-prepared. That said, lacrosse has traditionally been a contact-sport for men and a non-contact sport for women so trying to match up the rules to cover both probably leads to similar issues to "touch-rugby".
Huh, I've just realised that the girl playing Pamela isn't that much taller than the first formers really… Except Mary Lou and Darrell who are both short.
I think it's also good they're showing Sally's stomach aches earlier on, despite Blyton's supposed "foreshadowing" of Sally's issues all she really did was portray her as an ice queen pre-adolescent who exploded over nothing and had no friends. The appendicitis came out of nowhere.
Ron's back with more sexist nonsense, this time passed onto him by Grandad. This scene is really clumsy. Maybe it was meant to be like that? Like Ron was parroting what he'd been told? More likely it was just stilted acting though, I'm just being generous.
I read a comment about Ron on social media that properly irks me relating to this scene - it said "I feel sorry for the boy from the village, having given Darrell his bike, his bag of humbugs (butter rations!) and a box of oranges in return for the occasional smile". There were quite a few people who followed up with messages in agreement that Ron was hard-done by. So time for my aside-rant on this:
Firstly, if we assume Darrell was true to her word (and she is portrayed as a character who would be) then she will have paid Ron the shilling for renting his bike making that a business transaction complete so nothing is owed there. Then the humbugs were basically pushed on Darrell as a sympathetic gesture because Ron wanted to cheer her up. That was his choice, she wasn't exactly portrayed as particularly wanting them. Finally, the oranges in this episode are not his being given away as he's delivering them to the school as part of his job. What exactly do people think he should get in return? The comment and the other people who agreed ended up coming across as advocating for the concept of “a boy/man was nice to a girl/woman so now she owes him something”, which is a really slippery-slope of a thought process to be getting into.
Sally is not a baby, she doesn't need escorting to the San and she is running away to prove that point to you Pamela. Then she's going to be very stroppy with Darrell and tell her to mind her own business, leaving Darrell very confused. Guess what kid, people are confusing.
For all the losses to Alicia's character, she does get the occasional good line: "Better that than someone who talks endlessly about themselves… Oh, speaking of Gwen".
This scene is a bit confusing. Are they meant to be surprised by the music? Is it meant to be risqué or something? I suppose it's kind of like when all the kids were dancing to Elvis, it was considered scandalous. This music sounds like it has roots in Jazz and Blues so let's face it, racism played a role in why the music was considered so shocking. Still not sure what they're meant to be conveying with the initial reactions here though.
There's another continuity error here with Sally's being shown in the bed between Darrell and Mary Lou but yet the scene the next day shows that she was still in the San.
Ah-ha, plot twist! Darrell's secret past is going to come out. Also, your cousin Joan hates you Gwen. Like everyone else. I guarantee she doesn’t want to see you. Ever.
Do these kids only have one set of pajamas? Or multiples of one style? I know, there's no reason other than budget but still...
In hindsight, I like how Darrell's big secret and the abuse (even though no-one calls it that, they call it bullying) was slowly introduced over the episode. Sally's reaction to Darrell's hesitant starter about Miss Gale is done in a way that indicates that she's sensed something not right has happened and it clues the audience in that this is something that bit more serious.
See Gwen, Joan hates you.
These girls look older than the Malory Towers kids and definitely older than 12, some of them look similar in age to the seniors referenced in Episode 2 when Gwen is trying to use the phone. I imagine we are meant to assume they're the same age though and not that St Hilda's are sending their senior team to paste Malory Tower's juniors.
I did genuinely laugh with Gwen here even though she is being catty, "St Hilda, patron saint of bad taste".
Is Joan meant to be first reserve or something? She hasn't got a lacrosse stick and there's no other students here watching so why else is she there (I mean obviously as a plot device but in the context of the series it makes no sense).
Alicia's ghost shit does not fly with Penelope. And then we see that the whole terrible hair thing does have a purpose. On the re-watch, Penelope's nervousness is better played than I first realised. The young actor does a pretty good job of acting uncomfortable around Miss Gale.
"Sally! Are you better?" "Yes Mary Lou, that's why I'm outside in my jammies and a dressing gown you muppet". I think Matron just turfed her out so she didn’t have to watch her. It seems her style.
This is another one of the scenes where the size of the school is downplayed. I assume this is the small kids team but in a school like Malory Towers, all of the school would have turned out (and St Hildas would have brought more spectators). It kinda falls a bit flat in scale, though I imagine there were budgetary reasons.
As much as Ron winds me up, I am a fan of his sweater vest here. Though JJ says this is because I have ridiculous taste in clothing.
I think they cut some of Sally's lacrosse explanation to Ron here because Ron says "But...she wasn't" to the ruling about Darrell covering and we as viewers (assuming that most viewers don't have an in depth knowledge of lacrosse rules) just have to kind of go with that. Except we've already been told a minute ago that Ron doesn't know the rules of lacrosse so how would he know what covering is without Sally’s input?
I think the lacrosse scene would have benefited from actually showing some more of the gameplay because the viewer doesn't see the harrying, fouls or stick checks Darrell is subject to.
The exchange at the restart of "Can you stop messing me around?" "What do you think?" deepens the something serious part.
Joan ran off to eat her sandwich on the bus to avoid her bitch cousin. I'm surprised she didn't hide in a tree or something. Though her speech here is fabulous, punctuated with popping a bit of sandwich in her voice.
The "Miss Gale abusing Penelope" scene is understandably quite horrible and it's weird how Miss Gale, a serial abuser would risk getting caught but I suppose the theory here is she was so angry at Darrell getting one up on her that she forgot about self preservation?
Darrell hitting Miss Gale's hand away fits well with a student scared of being hurt by an abusive adult. And after the big revelation, I think there is some interpretation possible that Miss Gale went after Darrell for some reason and Darrell pushed her off in a panic or slapped her hand away and Miss Gale stumbled, blurring the lines between a push and a fall. I think it may even have been better if Darrell had pushed her, except it was as an act of self-defense and fear.
Walking into the door was predictable but it was kind of necessary to diffuse the tension.
The girls discussing the new gossip is so good and in character. And Emily's relief that it wasn't something else they were discussing. I see Matron (oh alright, it was totally Margaret) did manage to source a hot water bottle for Sally though to fulfill their duty of care.
I should do an eye roll count for everytime Gwen talks. I think Sally's have to 5 or 6 now. Alicia's on 2 or 3.
Also, a lady should not behave like you Gwen. Though they probably do.
How didn't Darrell's parents realise that someone was cutting their kids hair? Given that her haircut is meant to be dreadful in this context, I'm guessing it wasn't the one her parents chose…
Also, Darrell's explanation and Miss Grayling's follow up is a simplified description of classic abusive behaviour. (Vague future episode references) It's a shame they didn't look more into the wider/longer term impact of this abuse on Darrell but maybe that's a future series thing. It is possible to read it into some scenes though. I don’t see why Darrell had to have a punishment either, it doesn’t make sense at all except to serve a plot point.
Aaaw, team spirit.
Are you done making excessive analysis of a children's TV show yet thesoulofchaos? Hahaha, no, I'm just getting started. There's a pandemic, what else do I have to do?
Trying to be fair, I get that these kids have probably never played (or maybe heard of) lacrosse before this show but the scenes of lacrosse are kind of off and feel a bit under-prepared. That said, lacrosse has traditionally been a contact-sport for men and a non-contact sport for women so trying to match up the rules to cover both probably leads to similar issues to "touch-rugby".
Huh, I've just realised that the girl playing Pamela isn't that much taller than the first formers really… Except Mary Lou and Darrell who are both short.
I think it's also good they're showing Sally's stomach aches earlier on, despite Blyton's supposed "foreshadowing" of Sally's issues all she really did was portray her as an ice queen pre-adolescent who exploded over nothing and had no friends. The appendicitis came out of nowhere.
Ron's back with more sexist nonsense, this time passed onto him by Grandad. This scene is really clumsy. Maybe it was meant to be like that? Like Ron was parroting what he'd been told? More likely it was just stilted acting though, I'm just being generous.
I read a comment about Ron on social media that properly irks me relating to this scene - it said "I feel sorry for the boy from the village, having given Darrell his bike, his bag of humbugs (butter rations!) and a box of oranges in return for the occasional smile". There were quite a few people who followed up with messages in agreement that Ron was hard-done by. So time for my aside-rant on this:
Firstly, if we assume Darrell was true to her word (and she is portrayed as a character who would be) then she will have paid Ron the shilling for renting his bike making that a business transaction complete so nothing is owed there. Then the humbugs were basically pushed on Darrell as a sympathetic gesture because Ron wanted to cheer her up. That was his choice, she wasn't exactly portrayed as particularly wanting them. Finally, the oranges in this episode are not his being given away as he's delivering them to the school as part of his job. What exactly do people think he should get in return? The comment and the other people who agreed ended up coming across as advocating for the concept of “a boy/man was nice to a girl/woman so now she owes him something”, which is a really slippery-slope of a thought process to be getting into.
Sally is not a baby, she doesn't need escorting to the San and she is running away to prove that point to you Pamela. Then she's going to be very stroppy with Darrell and tell her to mind her own business, leaving Darrell very confused. Guess what kid, people are confusing.
For all the losses to Alicia's character, she does get the occasional good line: "Better that than someone who talks endlessly about themselves… Oh, speaking of Gwen".
This scene is a bit confusing. Are they meant to be surprised by the music? Is it meant to be risqué or something? I suppose it's kind of like when all the kids were dancing to Elvis, it was considered scandalous. This music sounds like it has roots in Jazz and Blues so let's face it, racism played a role in why the music was considered so shocking. Still not sure what they're meant to be conveying with the initial reactions here though.
There's another continuity error here with Sally's being shown in the bed between Darrell and Mary Lou but yet the scene the next day shows that she was still in the San.
Ah-ha, plot twist! Darrell's secret past is going to come out. Also, your cousin Joan hates you Gwen. Like everyone else. I guarantee she doesn’t want to see you. Ever.
Do these kids only have one set of pajamas? Or multiples of one style? I know, there's no reason other than budget but still...
In hindsight, I like how Darrell's big secret and the abuse (even though no-one calls it that, they call it bullying) was slowly introduced over the episode. Sally's reaction to Darrell's hesitant starter about Miss Gale is done in a way that indicates that she's sensed something not right has happened and it clues the audience in that this is something that bit more serious.
See Gwen, Joan hates you.
These girls look older than the Malory Towers kids and definitely older than 12, some of them look similar in age to the seniors referenced in Episode 2 when Gwen is trying to use the phone. I imagine we are meant to assume they're the same age though and not that St Hilda's are sending their senior team to paste Malory Tower's juniors.
I did genuinely laugh with Gwen here even though she is being catty, "St Hilda, patron saint of bad taste".
Is Joan meant to be first reserve or something? She hasn't got a lacrosse stick and there's no other students here watching so why else is she there (I mean obviously as a plot device but in the context of the series it makes no sense).
Alicia's ghost shit does not fly with Penelope. And then we see that the whole terrible hair thing does have a purpose. On the re-watch, Penelope's nervousness is better played than I first realised. The young actor does a pretty good job of acting uncomfortable around Miss Gale.
"Sally! Are you better?" "Yes Mary Lou, that's why I'm outside in my jammies and a dressing gown you muppet". I think Matron just turfed her out so she didn’t have to watch her. It seems her style.
This is another one of the scenes where the size of the school is downplayed. I assume this is the small kids team but in a school like Malory Towers, all of the school would have turned out (and St Hildas would have brought more spectators). It kinda falls a bit flat in scale, though I imagine there were budgetary reasons.
As much as Ron winds me up, I am a fan of his sweater vest here. Though JJ says this is because I have ridiculous taste in clothing.
I think they cut some of Sally's lacrosse explanation to Ron here because Ron says "But...she wasn't" to the ruling about Darrell covering and we as viewers (assuming that most viewers don't have an in depth knowledge of lacrosse rules) just have to kind of go with that. Except we've already been told a minute ago that Ron doesn't know the rules of lacrosse so how would he know what covering is without Sally’s input?
I think the lacrosse scene would have benefited from actually showing some more of the gameplay because the viewer doesn't see the harrying, fouls or stick checks Darrell is subject to.
The exchange at the restart of "Can you stop messing me around?" "What do you think?" deepens the something serious part.
Joan ran off to eat her sandwich on the bus to avoid her bitch cousin. I'm surprised she didn't hide in a tree or something. Though her speech here is fabulous, punctuated with popping a bit of sandwich in her voice.
The "Miss Gale abusing Penelope" scene is understandably quite horrible and it's weird how Miss Gale, a serial abuser would risk getting caught but I suppose the theory here is she was so angry at Darrell getting one up on her that she forgot about self preservation?
Darrell hitting Miss Gale's hand away fits well with a student scared of being hurt by an abusive adult. And after the big revelation, I think there is some interpretation possible that Miss Gale went after Darrell for some reason and Darrell pushed her off in a panic or slapped her hand away and Miss Gale stumbled, blurring the lines between a push and a fall. I think it may even have been better if Darrell had pushed her, except it was as an act of self-defense and fear.
Walking into the door was predictable but it was kind of necessary to diffuse the tension.
The girls discussing the new gossip is so good and in character. And Emily's relief that it wasn't something else they were discussing. I see Matron (oh alright, it was totally Margaret) did manage to source a hot water bottle for Sally though to fulfill their duty of care.
I should do an eye roll count for everytime Gwen talks. I think Sally's have to 5 or 6 now. Alicia's on 2 or 3.
Also, a lady should not behave like you Gwen. Though they probably do.
How didn't Darrell's parents realise that someone was cutting their kids hair? Given that her haircut is meant to be dreadful in this context, I'm guessing it wasn't the one her parents chose…
Also, Darrell's explanation and Miss Grayling's follow up is a simplified description of classic abusive behaviour. (Vague future episode references) It's a shame they didn't look more into the wider/longer term impact of this abuse on Darrell but maybe that's a future series thing. It is possible to read it into some scenes though. I don’t see why Darrell had to have a punishment either, it doesn’t make sense at all except to serve a plot point.
Aaaw, team spirit.
Are you done making excessive analysis of a children's TV show yet thesoulofchaos? Hahaha, no, I'm just getting started. There's a pandemic, what else do I have to do?