Home Fires 1.6
May 1940
I enjoyed Steph teaching Sarah and Frances to shoot/letting them have practice/irritate each other like sisters do and the scene with Joyce basically admitting to Frances that her husband is a coward and she likes being exceptional. Samantha Bond’s acting has a lot to do with that. And she was wearing a well-cut coat. They also explained away Frances’s husband’s absence, which I noted in the last ep.
One could be snarky and say it was just for the sake of her cakes, but the WI, okay, basically Frances found a way to get rid of the loathsome Bob. May he take many risks. The moment where Pat was back on the committee, making excellent suggestions, was more telling than her walk to freedom.
I wished they could help Alison too. For all that I was pleased that Teresa saved her life and found out and stood the friend, her solution was ridiculous. Given that she’s meant to be an intelligent, educated woman, giving the money for the ambulances wasn’t really that solution, and what did she think running after the police car was going to achieve? As news of Alison’s arrest becomes public, hopefully the WI can step in. Or Frances, because she Gets It Done.
Dr Will was slightly suffering from tennis spectator head because of the blocking when he finally told his daughters about his cancer, although he should have waited for Erica to be there too.
Blondie was being snide to Joyce, but in a fab dress.
If that was an attempt to ramp up the tension as to who was getting the telegram, it failed. I admit, I lost sympathy with Mim several episodes ago, even if I think she’s clearly mentally ill. I hope the pregnancy doesn’t overwrite the fact that her reactions were extreme before that. How strong does poor Bryn (who had PTSD after WW1) have to be?
My initial response was that Mrs Wing Commander needed to deal with her philandering husband first and foremost.
I get why Erica was so furious with Laura and I agreed with a lot of what she said about the consequences of the affair and for calling Laura on being motivated by jealousy of Kate, but there was no space for the girl to reveal she was somewhat coerced - in as much as she knows it - beyond the lies and the sweet talking by her older married boss. And in her response to the matter being made public and her father thus finding out, and blaming Stan, Laura seemed very childish. (I keep holding out for Kate and Laura to become members of the WI by the end of the war, although it’s also possible that the war will mean leaving the village for them.)
Serve him right that Mrs Wing Commander is divorcing him.
Meanwhile, brava, Sarah for telling your fancy man that a few ambulances are better than none.
The way things ended between them means that Sarah will be able to look Adam in the eye when he comes back. (Except she was emotionally unfaithful.) A part of me rather wishes that Adam won’t come back and the RAF officer comes back to Great Paxford for Sarah by the end of the war, and cooks for her and she stands up to him for the rest of their days. (I worry that some of this is residual Paradox feelings.)
The final part of the ep was very much about the drama you’d expect at the end of the series, with the war moving on to a new period, a few things resolved and a few things left hanging. The big moment for me was the committee celebrating over Joyce offering her tennis courts for the WI’s war work, not everyone being drawn outside to look at the CGI planes. It’s not been flawless, subtlety has often suffered because it’s a look at a whole community (in an ITV drama), but the actors have wrested out good moments. Plus I’ve liked the way it’s been shot, even if I know it’s glossy. And a mainly female-focused drama, where the active community is all-female, is a good thing - we had Steph and Isabel’s capability on the farm and Claire continuing to make brave choices over Spencer. As for the future, I wonder if they’ll find an antagonist to replace Joyce...
This entry was originally posted at http://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/184074.html.
I enjoyed Steph teaching Sarah and Frances to shoot/letting them have practice/irritate each other like sisters do and the scene with Joyce basically admitting to Frances that her husband is a coward and she likes being exceptional. Samantha Bond’s acting has a lot to do with that. And she was wearing a well-cut coat. They also explained away Frances’s husband’s absence, which I noted in the last ep.
One could be snarky and say it was just for the sake of her cakes, but the WI, okay, basically Frances found a way to get rid of the loathsome Bob. May he take many risks. The moment where Pat was back on the committee, making excellent suggestions, was more telling than her walk to freedom.
I wished they could help Alison too. For all that I was pleased that Teresa saved her life and found out and stood the friend, her solution was ridiculous. Given that she’s meant to be an intelligent, educated woman, giving the money for the ambulances wasn’t really that solution, and what did she think running after the police car was going to achieve? As news of Alison’s arrest becomes public, hopefully the WI can step in. Or Frances, because she Gets It Done.
Dr Will was slightly suffering from tennis spectator head because of the blocking when he finally told his daughters about his cancer, although he should have waited for Erica to be there too.
Blondie was being snide to Joyce, but in a fab dress.
If that was an attempt to ramp up the tension as to who was getting the telegram, it failed. I admit, I lost sympathy with Mim several episodes ago, even if I think she’s clearly mentally ill. I hope the pregnancy doesn’t overwrite the fact that her reactions were extreme before that. How strong does poor Bryn (who had PTSD after WW1) have to be?
My initial response was that Mrs Wing Commander needed to deal with her philandering husband first and foremost.
I get why Erica was so furious with Laura and I agreed with a lot of what she said about the consequences of the affair and for calling Laura on being motivated by jealousy of Kate, but there was no space for the girl to reveal she was somewhat coerced - in as much as she knows it - beyond the lies and the sweet talking by her older married boss. And in her response to the matter being made public and her father thus finding out, and blaming Stan, Laura seemed very childish. (I keep holding out for Kate and Laura to become members of the WI by the end of the war, although it’s also possible that the war will mean leaving the village for them.)
Serve him right that Mrs Wing Commander is divorcing him.
Meanwhile, brava, Sarah for telling your fancy man that a few ambulances are better than none.
The way things ended between them means that Sarah will be able to look Adam in the eye when he comes back. (Except she was emotionally unfaithful.) A part of me rather wishes that Adam won’t come back and the RAF officer comes back to Great Paxford for Sarah by the end of the war, and cooks for her and she stands up to him for the rest of their days. (I worry that some of this is residual Paradox feelings.)
The final part of the ep was very much about the drama you’d expect at the end of the series, with the war moving on to a new period, a few things resolved and a few things left hanging. The big moment for me was the committee celebrating over Joyce offering her tennis courts for the WI’s war work, not everyone being drawn outside to look at the CGI planes. It’s not been flawless, subtlety has often suffered because it’s a look at a whole community (in an ITV drama), but the actors have wrested out good moments. Plus I’ve liked the way it’s been shot, even if I know it’s glossy. And a mainly female-focused drama, where the active community is all-female, is a good thing - we had Steph and Isabel’s capability on the farm and Claire continuing to make brave choices over Spencer. As for the future, I wonder if they’ll find an antagonist to replace Joyce...
This entry was originally posted at http://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/184074.html.