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MJ Frog

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Everything posted by MJ Frog

  1. I am not the expert on this, but I believe partying that late was not uncommon back then. I think it was fairly routine at these big affairs to wrap things up around dawn or a little later. Which seems crazy, looking back on it. But you'll notice going back even further, in some Austen stories, they have people coming home from big society parties around daybreak. ETA: this was already answered a couple of times by other posters who did a better job of it.
  2. Yeah, she doesn't creep me out either -- she just seems like a basically sweet kid who has become very attached to a new mother figure. I had forgotten she was in Station Eleven! I think a lot of people on this board might enjoy The Age of Innocence (both the movie and the book written by Edith Wharton), which takes place in New York high society at about exactly the same time as The Gilded Age. The movie has an outstanding cast (which includes Reverend Dead Poet himself, Robert Sean Leonard in a small role) and is really beautifully done. Highly recommended.
  3. This. It was far worse than anything they are showing us here. This show takes place only a few years after Grant’s presidency, during which he was compelled to send federal troops into the South several times to quell widespread violence and intimidation, the details of which truly are the stuff of nightmares. So I think it was fine to spend an episode having the city gal getting a taste of just how bad things could get down south.
  4. I think this is an excellent point and can be applied to all of the cultural norms where there is a huge gulf between our time and theirs -- sexism, racism, homophobia. No period drama is ever going to fully portray those realities. This is, in the end, a TV show and it has to be palatable to the sensibilities of modern audiences. Period dramas have always been pretty anachronistic in this way, and are only getting more so.
  5. And Beau Gadson as young Margaret had quite a resemblance to Vanessa Kirby. Outstanding casting.
  6. Everything that I've heard about Charles paints him in a good light as a father, so I don't find him particularly unbelievable here. At least, no more unbelievable than Prince Philip (a character I actively hated for long stretches of this show) suddenly being a font of fatherly wisdom. Charles has faults aplenty, and we have seen many of them. There are no shortage of reasons to be angry with him. But he isn’t Snidely Whiplash either -- few people are. He can be childish and selfish, but he has also been shown to be capable of genuine sensitivity and depth of feeling. In the context of this drama he is a complicated fellow, as are many people, and that complexity is a hallmark of good writing.
  7. Exactly. And knowing what I know about Nazis and WWII, it really wasn't over the top. This was a regime that attracted the worst of the worst, and brought out the worst in those who weren't already terrible. They really were that bad and more. I have many of the same objections others do, but not to that. Speaking of, a younger Colin Firth would have been great in the role of the father, or any number of other distinguished male British actors, but not Mark (love you buddy, but no). Also, in his first scene, the bad guy reminded me a little too much of Hans Landa (Inglorious Basterds), although that was mostly the writing. And I suppose Landa does cast a big shadow when it comes to movie Nazis. One last thing is that it seemed a blind girl in a small town would be pretty easy to find. She was out and about enough that there would be a pretty good chance of just spotting her in the street. And failing that, a house to house search would find her in short order. Apparently big diamonds can't get no love these days. People always throwing them in the Atlantic. Otherwise, it was reasonably enjoyable. Good cast, minus a certain exception, and an enjoyable enough, if often implausible, story (the diamond thing felt like something out of a young adult novel). It's just that I am always up for a good WWII story, and I'm glad people are out there trying, I just wish they were trying a little harder.
  8. Oh Kasia, you are my favorite in a show with so few people to like. I suspect we will never find out what happens to you, either because the show is cancelled, or Zofia jumps ship for something better. And the thing is, even if you save Poland from the Nazis, you will have the Soviets to deal with for years to come.
  9. I think it works either way. The show gave us plenty of reasons to think Diana still loved Charles, and I think Charles might credibly believe this. And, while the ghosts are supposed to be in the minds of the those who see them, I believe we are also meant to think to think of them as fairly accurate representatives of who they really were. We are meant to take what they're saying as largely true, rather than only as something filtered through the living person's perception of them.
  10. I may not believe in ghosts, but I love them as a dramatic device, and I love them here. We are all haunted by the dead, metaphorically if not literally. Haunted by memories, and by the bit of them that lingers within us. Having imagined conversations with people who are no longer around to have them, to say the things you couldn't say, or never got to, is an essential part of the way we process things. I understand this move was not popular in the press. Too bad. I thought it worked quite well in a vehicle that is, first and foremost, a drama. But then again, one must consider the source. I am one of the few people who enjoyed that movie several years back called King Charles III, an imagining of Charles' accession to the throne where the dialogue was in the style of Shakespeare. Diana's ghost featured prominently there as well, though not as benign.
  11. I agree. I thought that whole conversation was lovely.
  12. As portrayed here, Mohamed Al-Fayed is a character Shakespeare would very much have reckognized -- the overbearing king plotting to ensure his dynasty.
  13. Indeed, and she especially seems to need the attention of men (this need likely stemming from the coldness of her father). And I have to say, she knows how to draw them in and is VERY good at it. So much of how she speaks and the way she uses her body appears to go towards this end. I find myself completely mesmerized. I am so impressed with Elizabeth Debicki's performance, not just as a portrayal of Diana, but all the subtleties she employs to convey that need for male attention, and the irresistable combination of shyness, vulnerability, and mischief she uses to get it.
  14. Dualla! Who somehow hasn't aged since Battlestar Galactica.
  15. Good riddance, Paige. That woman is nothing but trouble, with a capital Trouble. Where she goes, chaos follows. Preacher, you may not see it now, but you are now much less likely to be murdered or put in jail.
  16. Well, heck. I enjoyed that and would really like to see where it all goes. I really don't think this got much in the way of promotion. I read a review of the book in the New York Times when it came out, and though I never read it, the concept was definitely intriguing enough to stick with me. If I had heard of the show I would have checked it out right away. As it is, I caught purely by chance. I hope it gets renewed.
  17. Yeah, after the first hour I stopped going to get tissues and just brought a bunch with me. I hadn't yet read or seen anything that delved into that awful time of waiting immediately after the war. The combination of hope and terror must have been torture.
  18. Welp. That was devastating. I am in awe of Otto Frank. Awe in all its various shadings: "a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder." Minus the tragic flaw, he was like a figure from a Greek tragedy, tossed about by the whims of the Gods and then doomed to live with the horror of it all. I cannot imagine how he was able to go on, but I am glad he found meaning and purpose through Anne's work. And I am glad he had such wonderful friends in Miep and Jan -- I found myself unreasonably happy to hear he lived with them for the next seven years. How could it have been any other way? I can't believe I haven't read Miep's book already, but it is now next on my list.
  19. MJ Frog

    S04.E06: the wizard

    Well I'll be darned. Just rewatched the season three finale and that's exactly what it was. Thanks for clearing that up. Yep, now it all makes more sense to me. Jesus it's been hard to tell what's real and what isn't this season. Although I did understand the cop thing was a call back, but now I remember from where and why she walked away.
  20. It's like the back half of the season has been one long fever dream. I loved the humor in this episode, but there were so many things that were so nonsensical that I was constantly getting bumped out of the story. And I am doubtful that any of it will make any more sense after the season finale. Man, why is it so hard for good shows to stick the landing?
  21. MJ Frog

    S04.E06: the wizard

    So, I rewatched the scene where Sally is attacked(?) and I cannot make head or tail of it. The attacker (who seems to want to be stealthy but also announces his presence beforehand) closes the bedroom door on Sally, seeming to trap her in there while he's in the living room. And only then do we hear sounds of a struggle and the attacker screaming that she got him in the eye with something metallic. While she's still in the bedroom. What in the world happened there? I sincerely doubt any of this is going to be cleared up within the series. Bill has some explaining to do, and it's never a good sign when you have to explain your story to the audience.
  22. Indeed. And it really does make the music of the show that much more pedestrian. The older I get the more I believe that "Gold Dust Woman" is one the greatest pop recordings ever, and it is quite a jolt to be reminded that, oh yeah, THIS is what the show was going for, this is how we're supposed to believe everyone feels about this music. Which, to be fair, is impossible. Fleetwood Mac was Fleetwood Mac for a reason. Putting The Six's music alongside theirs is like comparing a rose in full bloom to a dandelion.
  23. MJ Frog

    S04.E06: the wizard

    Exactly this. It grosses me out. And these people are often demanding and entitled, little different from the paparazzi except that they expect the celebrity to do something for them. I have no problem with Bill bowing out from that aspect of fandom, and I am sure he's quite nice to his fans otherwise.
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