Zella
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Posts posted by Zella
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26 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:
Well, doesn't that follow history as it was written? Ernst had venereal disease for years because of his promiscuity. And think of all the women he passed it on to. Charming.
Oh I agree! Not sure why the quote is showing that as my words since it was something I was quoting. I think the show has actually been quite a bit more flattering to Ernst than he ordinarily would have been depicted.
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On 1/30/2018 at 2:20 PM, iMonrey said:
The show makes a constant and obvious distinction between Albert and Ernst - one is broody, sober, proper and upright. The other is a bounder, a cad, a ladies man, a drinker, a philanderer. I find it rather telling that so many people seem to prefer Ernst just because he seems like he'd be more fun or because he's cuter or something. I'll take the nice dependable guy over the guy who's going to give me the clap any day, thanks very much.
For me, most of my favorite characters in any show or movie or book are not people I would like or want to be around in person, which is what is appealing about them in a fictional setting. You can enjoy them without putting up with their BS.
So, I agree Ernst is not someone you'd want to be married to, but that doesn't mean he's not a lot more fun for me to watch.
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9 hours ago, kwnyc said:
It was quite noticeable that the lighting in France was very bright and sunny, as opposed to the usual cloudy/overcast English lighting. that's a bit of a cheat, but not much, since they were a few hundred miles south. This season is definitely stronger than last, and the last episode and this (with so much of the action taking place outside of England) have been particularly good.
The French scenes were so lovely! It was a fun trip away from the usual sets, and I highly approved of the bathing scene. My brother happened to be watching with me and caught the previous episode with all the Coburg scenes. As soon as he saw all the grim and dark interiors, he said, "That' a really German house." France was a nice contrast to that too. :)
1 hour ago, elle said:I do not care for the forbidden love story line for them, for Ernst and the Duchess, for Skeritt and Francetelli.
Agreed. I enjoy the show, but I feel like they do a pretty mediocre job of developing subplots, especially of the romantic variety. Drummond and Alfred just sort of came out of nowhere, and there's not enough character development for either one of them. I honestly couldn't name a distinguishing personality characteristic for either one. I really enjoy Ernst as a character, but I really don't care about his infatuation with the Duchess. I am liking some of the downstairs action slightly more this season--like reforming the administration of the palace--but I still think Skerritt and Francatelli completely lack chemistry.
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1 hour ago, Arwen Evenstar said:
But, Lord M, always the gentleman was not going to give Victoria any more information than that. He would not have wanted to share such sordid things with his queen, and he was reluctant to speak ill of the dead.
Yes, he was a lot more gracious about it than I would have been! That was a great moment when he realized she didn't know and had to explain it as tactfully as possible.
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Yeah around here, the big 3 for a Christian college experience are John Brown in NWA, C of O, and then Evangel in Springfield. For what it's worth, I have noticed people who go to John Brown seem to be more likely to have enjoyed their college experiences than people who went to C of O or Evangel. I actually had a classmate at the University of Arkansas who was an atheist but still had fond memories of her time at John Brown. That was decidedly not the experience of the atheists I knew at C of O.
That's good she is at least living in the dorms! I think she dodged a bullet getting out of the Duggar circus.
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2 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:
College of the Ozarks, I think. If not that, definitely another Christian college in NWA. She can go home for lunch anytime she wants to, ie. she's close to home.
If she's in NWA, she's probably at John Brown. C of O is near Branson, MO. She'd probably fit in at either place, though. (I've lived in NWA most of my life and spent a miserable 3 years surrounded by Duggar-lite people at C of O.)
Edited to add: The MRS degree was popular at C of O. I feel like I'm one of only a handful of people from my class there who is still single.
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15 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:
Ernst has really become one of my favorite supporting characters. He was hilarious dealing with the prissy princess (she isn't a women, she`s a thistle!), and quite moving dealing with his dead father and his brother. He and Albert have great brotherly chemistry, and I really love their scenes.
The scenes between Albert and Ernst were one of the only reasons I initially warmed up to Albert in the first season. Albert's still not a favorite of mine, per se, though I don't mind him anymore, but I feel like he has more of a personality when he's with his brother. It seems like it's the only time he can be himself and be vulnerable. I don't doubt that he loves Victoria deeply, but I still think he's a lot more comfortable actually hanging out with his brother. I honestly cannot see him getting drunk around his wife ever.
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7 hours ago, proserpina65 said:
And if anyone would know about Byron's attention seeking, it would be Lady Caroline Lamb's husband.
Indeed! As soon as they mentioned Ada Lovelace, I was looking forward to how it would be revealed who her parents were. I was not disappointed.
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2 minutes ago, voiceover said:
As usual, Ernst knocked it out of the park. That quiet moment at his father's casket; the "Strike one! Two! Three! Yer out!!" courtship with Lady Sucked-a-Lemon; and every scene with his little brother.
I wonder if the actors are friends IRL; they certainly work well off each other as siblings.
I wasn't familiar with David Oakes before watching this show, though I realized in hindsight that I had seen him in an episode of Endeavour. But I think he's one of the best actors on the show and his portrayal of Ernst is definitely one of the highlights.
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Ah okay thank you! I was starting to think they were going to burn through the whole series in about a month.
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12 minutes ago, elle said:
While I normally enjoy behind the scenes stories, I find myself being pulled out of any piano scenes now.
They did include that then? I missed it, when was it mentioned?
I think Lord Melbourne mentioned it during the party scene. If my memory serves me correctly, he was talking about how she was like her mother (scientific) and then how she was like her father (likes attention). Victoria didn't know what he meant, and that's when he dropped the Byron bomb.
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1 minute ago, elle said:
Hoping for you!
I was surprised that our PBS ran the last two episodes before the new ones today and that we got TWO episodes in a row again! Does anyone know if that is going to be a regular feature?
That surprised me too. Did they combine episodes like this when it initially aired? I first watched the show on DVD last summer, so I watched each episode individually. I don't offhand remember other British series I watched on PBS combining all their episodes together like this. It seems like it is more common to combine the first 2 or last 2 into 1 episode and then do 1 episode a week otherwise.
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1 minute ago, elle said:
All righty, when Paget said "we can't always be with the one you love" who else immediately thought "love the one you're with"?
Can anyone tell me what kind of dog Islay is?
I do hope you are somewhere where you can be safe, Zella!
A quick sum up: Victoria went to visit the injured men and is overcome with emotion, Peel ushers her away quickly. At the palace, the Duchess tells the Queen that her display of emotion was appropriate and tells her that she understands what Victoria is feeling after the birth of her son, that she too experienced this after the birth of her daughter. She then goes on to say she knew how hard it was for Victoria to go out but that the next time will be easier, that each day will get a little better.
Mr. F is the prime suspect of who told the press about the boy Jones, so Skeritt confesses all to the Queen and Lehzen, explaining about her cousin the real Emily Skeritt. Victoria is upset and disappointed to have to lose Skeritt. While she would be willing to keep her, she knew that Albert would not and fires Skeritt. (did you see how that plays out later?)
I commented on that particular plot twist in the history thread, but I do not believe that it was foreshadowed.
Thanks so much! I appreciate it! It was just thunder storms where I live, but there were tornado warnings to the north and to the south. Thanks so much for the recaps! I was especially confounded by the first scene since it was obvious something had happened, but it was never quite clear what. I think the only thing I missed with the servants must have been Victoria firing her. I was wondering why Albert intervening would make a difference. I'm hoping I can watch this episode either on Amazon or PBS later this week without any weather interruptions.
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I missed more of this episode due to storm warnings. I have no idea what happened when I assume Victoria went on her first official visit and I also missed the scene where Skerrett is fired.
I always enjoy any episode that has a lot of Ernst and Albert hanging out together because the show does a good job of capturing a close sibling relationship, so I liked that aspect of this episode. I also had a good laugh at Ernst's efforts to make nice with the "thistle." I thought the reveal about Uncle Leopold was stupid and came out of nowhere, though. I had been planning on rewatching the whole series after this one wrapped up, just because I like doing that. I'll have to keep an eye out to see if they ever foreshadowed this plot twist in season 1.
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Tornado warnings in my area omitted some of the stuff on the silk in the beginning for me.
The double-punch of Dash and Lord Melbourne made me ugly cry. That was a lovely goodbye scene between Lord Melbourne and Victoria.
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In my personal experience, people who have had really controlling childhoods tend to either grow into adults who feel uncomfortable without having their life controlled by another person or they are absolutely opposed to anything that seems controlling, even if it isn't intended that way. I think Victoria definitely falls into the latter category.
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I haven't seen The Crown yet--am currently on what seems like the waitlist of infinity at my local library--but everything I've heard about Philip is that he and Albert are very different men! Truthfully, I'm not even the world's biggest Albert fan (I'm much more of a Lord Melbourne and Ernest girl), but I think the show has done a great job of making it clear that he is a good consort and husband.
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I've never seen Albert as wanting to be king, even if that is how some of the other characters see him. He strikes me as an intelligent, accomplished, energetic person who is restless and frustrated with nothing to do and that the things he tries to do for Victoria are his well-meaning efforts to either reduce her stress/workload or because they are causes near and dear to his heart. I can understand why Victoria finds that frustrating at times, particularly his efforts to help her that leave her out of touch with what is going on, but I've never gotten a usurper vibe from him.
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8 hours ago, LittleIggy said:
He didn’t say her face. He said to the scullery maid “your face.”
Yeah I figured that out. I guess that's what I get for only partially paying attention to anything that happens downstairs. :)
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Seeing as Victoria picked one of her most senior attendants without ever meeting her, I'm thinking the palace hiring committee for the chef was probably not the most methodical. ;)
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I think if the downstairs characters had more developed personalities or better chemistry, it could work, but as is, it really seems like it is inserted to imitate Downton Abbey and it's almost painful for me to sit through. The writing for those scenes is also just bland and hard to follow. I enjoy the show, but I've come to look on the downstairs moments as when I go get a snack, which is a shame because ordinarily it is something I would be interested in.
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It might have been! I assumed it was intended for her based on her reaction.
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3 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:
Wow, that was really horrible! What an ass.
I agree, they can drop the downstairs stuff altogether. And the whole Invasion of the Street Urchin was just a waste of film.
Yeah, I know I am probably supposed to root for Mrs. Skerrit and Francatelli, but I can't. He was such a creep last season and now he's just an asshole. I get why he's angry, but I am not invested in that story line at all.
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53 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:
Why was Skerritt crying about after Francatelli was back in the kitchen? Did I miss something?
He told her the pots and pans needed to be so clean that he could see all of the pockmarks in her face.
I intensely disliked the downstairs drama last year, and I really am not looking forward to more of it this year.
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Joy and Austin: This One Time At Family Camp
in Counting On
A few years ago, I was working in a public library and overheard one of our patrons, a fundamentalist Christian homeschooler with 6 children, telling one of her friends how much she and her husband paid in fines for not having insurance. It was definitely a point of pride for both of them, though I privately did wonder what they would do if they encountered a medical emergency, seeing as the husband was self-employed and was the only source of income. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Dillards were the same way.