Morlock

Back then it was probably more for eye candy. Every show had at least one hottie, even cop shows like TJ Hooker would have a hot female cop. It was probably some kind of nod to feminism or whatever as well but in the 80's and before that it wasn't like it is now where you feel you are being hit over the head with politics in every show and movie.

She or perhaps the actress who played her became so needy. Everything started to focus around Gabby. Stupid storylines started to be written just to make Gabby the centre of attention. I can't say I hate her but I am happy she has left the show all the same.

I'm pretty new here, if I respond to any of the threads in that original link do they still register anywhere? I liked this show to begin with but after season 1 it became a second rate horror film the way they made the Swede this unkillable villain. By the time they ended up hanging him in the final season I had forgotten about Cullen's original purpose and actually stopped watching at that point because the show was over for me.

I watched Season 1 not expecting much but ended up really loving it. It is awesome how many shots they sling at PC nuttery and how interesting the rivalry is between Daniel and Johnny even after all these decades. It's like even when they come close to making up something happens, usually a misunderstanding that sets them off again. I hope S2 is just as strong and it doesn't turn into a farce like so many other tv shows.

I'm just a casual viewer as well because my wife watches. What was Lizzie's plan? I don't think there was one, unless for some weird reason she though he was safer there. Oddly enough he would have been able to escape if she didn't decide to visit him too! Yay Lizzie! No idea what purpose the banker served. When this show started it had a bit of darkness to it but like so many American shows it has ended up as boring soap opera.

Yeah it was a bad season. In a way too much happening but no depth on any of it so it seemed like it was empty. The one thing they placed way too much emphasis on was the Duchess and Footman story and that was boring. I don't know why they were fighting so much either. The real Victoria mourned Albert for the rest of her life yet our V&A seem to be almost indifferent to each other yet keep making babies. I think Albert is bored, at least in the show. He is also struggling to maintain a sense of masculinity at a time when the man ruled his house and family. I don't think Albert was bullying Bertie, not necessarily dealing with him in the right way but I know I have wanted to drop kick the little shit across the room a few times. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to his behaviour. He does not seem retarded or anything. Given the way S3 ends it seems Albert's health issues are starting, maybe that brings V&A closer together?

Yeah I know that is what makes it odder. She has made up for what she missed out on. But I also get her point, she has had a lot of disruption in her life. Keeping her back meant that she lost pace with her group of class mates, now by advancing her to where she was supposed to be she will lose track of her current classmates not to mention fitting in again with her old ones. I know it might be a different school too but you know what I mean. In the end, for her it is the system screwing with her again. I think she has had enough. Praise would be new to her but having a personal essay posted online isn't a good thing. I am a little like her personality wise and I would be pissed off. I too would just want to be left alone.

Getting away from Pearson hell for a moment, how hot was that blonde teacher?! WOW!

I thought it all looked rather nice there. I put it down to their social class. I watched that entire episode and yet must have blanked out here and there because I didn't pick up on that.

I am only a casual viewer as my wife watches but it's like they have this emotion quota that they need to fulfill every week. Just always upping or trying to up the ante a little more. Most of the time the drama is ridiculous and to support this weeks flashback story. So now she is a wannabe ballerina, as others have mentioned she never showed an interest or spoke about ballet before. So after decades of not doing it she just walks in and can dance to some degree and decides she can just say she wants a job teaching. Asides from talent there are so many other factors, suitability for working with children for a start! The main core of characters on this show are so entitled and unrealistic it's unbelievable.

I played guitar as a teen. I put it down around 20 and didn't start again until 45 so a gap of 25 years. Some of it was still there, I remembered some chords, theory etc but my fingers were almost back to beginner level. I had work mates asking me to teach them and I kept saying that I haven't played in 25 years, I am still learning or relearning myself. I went away on a holiday for a week not long after re-starting and when I came back I found that I had gone backwards a little and that was just 1 week! The way this show makes it look is you can just start again after such a long break and it's like you never stopped. It's not like that in real life. Someone mentioned the ball player who never made the majors but teaches instead. I think sports might be different, I don't know. But art like dancing and music aren't the same as sport. You really do need to keep practicing it to stay sharp.

I feel like the writers are in love with the idea of jumping back and forward in time so they were short on ideas and thought "Hey, wasn't there a big war around the time this guy was in his late teens/early 20's?"OMG there was, Goggle it! Oh man, Vietnam, lets do that!" And of course that brought on the misery of the Uncle and how he must be saved by the terrible trio.

Going back to the first season now and going on memory but I found it interesting and gutsy given the times we live in to show the racism and judgement they received from black people. If I remember correctly their was even some judge who didn't want to give them custody of Randall because they weren't black and then you had the scene at the pool where the black people were criticizing them for not cutting Randall's hair properly. I found that all of that interesting given Randall's black parents gave him up in the first place. You get a lot of that theme running through the show. In the most recent ep Deja is all upset that the "White teachers" feel she can skip a grade. It isn't said but I feel it is implied that she feels the "white teachers" are feeling sorry for her or are too scared to be called racist or something so are trying to give her an unfair advantage. I also get the impression she is racist.

Thinking about this again I think Victoria has an advantage in being female and young, not to mention an attractive Queen as well. She gets to ask questions, she is allowed to not know because no one expects a woman to know anything anyway. The Prince on the other hand has to at least pretend to know as he cannot afford to appear ignorant. Quite often he is amazed by some new idea or science when he should be questioning it. But he doesn't because I think he knows he can't defeat the person in argument a lot of the time. Even if he is right.

One thing I like about English TV series is they don't run a show into the ground like America does. They have a set amount of seasons and the episodes tend to be pretty tight without resorting to filler eps which have nothing to do with the main storyline. That said this season has been pretty empty. Kind of jumping around to different events almost every week except keeping that terrible Duchess and Footman story. Some key things happened this season but they were done in a way that was forgettable really. You have the revolutions in France, the death of Skerrit due to cholera and the cholera outbreak, the Queen meeting Nurse Nightingale, the exhibition. Key events of the time period and yet glossed over really. And for what? So we can see a footman seduce a naive Duchess? So we can see more about the servants and everyone else but the person the show is named after. I thought this was going to be in the vein of The Crown which balances human drama with historical events quite well. At this rate the Crimean war which is just a few years away will be reduced to a couple of minutes of story line. I don't think Joseph would like the ruggedness either. Just going on his body which I know is the actors body but anyway he is quite soft and a dreamer. I can't see him fighting off Indians or outlaws etc. Or ploughing a field. I think it is just human nature to complain about ones job though! Not to mention these people are kind of teased in a way. They are so close to the lap of luxury and yet all they get to do is serve and watch.