S02.E08: Lobster Américaine

[Pallas]

TBA

[meep.meep]

I liked it.  Loved the shots of everyone hiding from the feds behind Julia's kitchen set.  And Blanche finally recognized what Judith had done for her.

 

[LisaM]

Loved how Julia rallied the entire GBH team to defeat the feds. The final shot of Julia and Paul in bed seemed to be a rebuke to the rumors.

Pleased for Alice and Isaac; her mother's reaction cracked me up. Cracked up at Avis' continual "fuck off, Stanley". Loved the scenes with Blanche and Judith. I felt as if this was the farewell for Blanche to the series. If it returns, Judith may be elevated (unless she gets screwed over). Also loved Judith telling Simca off. 

Hope there is a 3rd season. 

[iMonrey]

Did the Feds really ever raid WGBH? Or was this just an invention of the show? The whole caper seemed rather silly to me.

I remained baffled by the outsized role Blanche played in this show. She barely has anything to do with Julia at all and is only peripherally connected to the rest of the story. Maybe the writers felt they had to give Judith Light a bigger part simply because of who she is or how much they were paying her. Or maybe they just really like Judith Light.

I think maybe it speaks to how little the show really has to say about Julia, beyond how her show got started and how well it did. They have to do all these side stories with Alice and Russ and Avis and Judith and Blanche and Simca because there really isn't enough to tell about Julia to fill eight hours a season. 

I'll be curious to see if it gets renewed, I don't know how well it's doing for MAX.

[txhorns79]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Did the Feds really ever raid WGBH? Or was this just an invention of the show? The whole caper seemed rather silly to me.

I believe it was an invention of the show.  I felt like the whole storyline would make more sense if it was set a decade earlier during the actual Red Scare.  I didn't really enjoy it here.   

 

8 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Maybe the writers felt they had to give Judith Light a bigger part simply because of who she is or how much they were paying her. Or maybe they just really like Judith Light.

I was thinking they wanted to develop Judith Jones beyond her role as Julia's editor, so they gave her someone in her non-Julia life to play off. 

[Magnumfangirl]

On 12/24/2023 at 11:40 AM, iMonrey said:

there really isn't enough to tell about Julia to fill eight hours a season. 

Yes, that's it exactly.  Once The French Chef became a hit, what else is there to tell about it?  I've decided the show is really about the beginnings of PBS and Julia Child is just a piece in that story, but this portrayal  of her seems more like a drag queen parody than anything resembling the real Julia.  I've watched a few episodes of season 1 of The French Chef on youtube and the actress looks and sounds nothing like the real deal.    The real Julia's voice, accent, and inflection reminds me of Martha Stewart and her body type is more runway model than linebacker.  IDK...this show is just weird....🤷‍♀️

Edited December 25, 2023 by Magnumfangirl

[Juneau Gal]

8 hours ago, Magnumfangirl said:

Yes, that's it exactly.  Once The French Chef became a hit, what else is there to tell about it?  I've decided the show is really about the beginnings of PBS and Julia Child is just a piece in that story, but this portrayal  of her seems more like a drag queen parody than anything resembling the real Julia.  I've watched a few episodes of season 1 of The French Chef on youtube and the actress looks and sounds nothing like the real deal.    The real Julia's voice, accent, and inflection reminds me of Martha Stewart and her body type is more runway model than linebacker.  IDK...this show is just weird....🤷‍♀️

Yep, 100% agree and posted the same thought several episodes ago. 
I too have been bothered by how large the actress portraying Julia is, silly I know, but it kinda takes me out of the show.  Julia Child was a tall, statuesque woman, but not heavy. Sarah Lancanshire when in Happy Valley was not this heavy, so I thought maybe they were padding her for Julia. That and her labored breathing is off putting. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Lancashire is certainly not that heavy in The Crown.

[Juneau Gal]

7 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Lancashire is certainly not that heavy in The Crown.

I don't believe she is in The Crown.

 

[peeayebee]

I don't care that Sarah Lancashire doesn't look or sound exactly like Julia. I love the performance, and I love the character she's created.

Alice's finance is a catch. I like him a lot.

I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised Stanley just came and went. Not too much point. It's another sign of the show working to create storylines for all the different characters.

[purist]

Perhaps it's because I didn't grow up knowing who Julia Child was or seeing her in the media (I'm Australian), but I'm loving this series sick. I find Sarah Lancashire's performance mesmerising - especially when she fixes someone with a piercing look after they've said something questionable, and makes them justify their statement. The contrast with her Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley is miraculous. She's like Britain's Meryl Streep.

I also thoroughly enjoy David Hyde Pierce, Bebe Neuwirth, Fran Kranz, Fiona Glascott and Brittany Bradford. Fictionalised or not, they're all fabulous characters.

[EtheltoTillie]

7 hours ago, Juneau Gal said:

I don't believe she is in The Crown.

 

Never mind. I’m completely confused. Now I have to figure out what I was confusing this with. 

[LisaM]

10 hours ago, purist said:

Perhaps it's because I didn't grow up knowing who Julia Child was or seeing her in the media (I'm Australian), but I'm loving this series sick. I find Sarah Lancashire's performance mesmerising - especially when she fixes someone with a piercing look after they've said something questionable, and makes them justify their statement. The contrast with her Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley is miraculous. She's like Britain's Meryl Streep.

I also thoroughly enjoy David Hyde Pierce, Bebe Neuwirth, Fran Kranz, Fiona Glascott and Brittany Bradford. Fictionalised or not, they're all fabulous characters.

Agreed! Add Judith Light to the list. I love watching her as Blanche. 

[Yeah No]

On 12/24/2023 at 8:45 PM, txhorns79 said:

I believe it was an invention of the show.  I felt like the whole storyline would make more sense if it was set a decade earlier during the actual Red Scare.  I didn't really enjoy it here.   

I was thinking the same thing.  1964 was too late for that.

Also, although this show tries very hard to keep the wardrobe, scenery and props true to the period I spotted a 1968 (it also could have been a '69, I didn't look at it close enough) Buick Skylark in the street scene with Alice and Isaac.  And it had modern looking custom wheels, too.  And my mom owned a 1970 Buick Skylark when the body style changed again so it had to be either a '68 or '69 because the '67 looked completely different too.  Yeah, I'm the savant of '60s and '70s cars....

On 12/25/2023 at 11:48 PM, Juneau Gal said:

Yep, 100% agree and posted the same thought several episodes ago. 
I too have been bothered by how large the actress portraying Julia is, silly I know, but it kinda takes me out of the show.  Julia Child was a tall, statuesque woman, but not heavy. Sarah Lancanshire when in Happy Valley was not this heavy, so I thought maybe they were padding her for Julia. That and her labored breathing is off putting. 

Thank you I feel exactly the same way and have said similar here before.  She doesn't have the speech and mannerisms down right.  I can even get over the extra weight if those other things were more similar.

On 12/26/2023 at 1:12 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

Lancashire is certainly not that heavy in The Crown.

Even if she wasn't in the crown she wasn't even that heavy on THIS show last season!  I took a look at an episode and was actually shocked at how much she's gained.  And she even seems to have gained more as THIS season has progressed!  If she gains any more it will look completely out of place for the character. 

On 12/27/2023 at 1:57 AM, purist said:

Perhaps it's because I didn't grow up knowing who Julia Child was or seeing her in the media (I'm Australian), but I'm loving this series sick. I find Sarah Lancashire's performance mesmerising - especially when she fixes someone with a piercing look after they've said something questionable, and makes them justify their statement. The contrast with her Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley is miraculous. She's like Britain's Meryl Streep.

I also thoroughly enjoy David Hyde Pierce, Bebe Neuwirth, Fran Kranz, Fiona Glascott and Brittany Bradford. Fictionalised or not, they're all fabulous characters.

There are things to love about this show like Bebe and DHP, but when the central character is based on a real person and the show goes to great lengths to make her seem like that real person the things that aren't right about her (which in some cases are very unrealistic) are like chalk on a blackboard for people like me that grew up with Julia and have been big fans of her since her TV debut all those many years ago.  Julia was one of THE first TV personalities I ever knew and has been a part of my life forever, since I was 4 and a half years old!  And I remember that debut episode, too!  It was a big deal in my mother's life so it was a big deal for me too.  It's almost like watching a show based on a friend or relative where they get BIG parts of that person all wrong.  

I don't care how beloved Lancashire is for other roles, I'm not familiar with her anywhere but here and I'm not loving her portrayal to be honest.  I caught a few scenes from the movie  "Julie and Julia" a couple of months ago and I have to say I appreciated Meryl Streep's portrayal better.  It wasn't perfect and she didn't look at all like Julia facially, but I could live with it!

Oh, and I can't forget to bring this up - 

In the interview Russ Morash did last year (which I posted in a previous episode thread) he said that the bit where the GBH crew, etc. are sitting (hiding) on the floor behind Julia is completely misunderstood by this show.  That was based on a publicity photo (I believe for a pledge drive) where they were making the point that it took a team behind her supporting her to create the show.  It was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek humor.  Morash said something to the effect that it was embarrassing and laughable that this show would put that forward as actually happening!  It just goes to show how they are not doing enough research and are seriously putting forth as history stuff that is not history at all.  And given that the real Russ Morash is still alive, they could have at least consulted him for some context on the show.  They obviously didn't listen to his interview or learn anything from it either.  I don't expect everything to be 100% accurate but stuff like this doesn't help how I feel about this show.  I get it that this is fiction based on history but why even put that kind of stuff in there if it wasn't an attempt to mimic history?  At least if you're going to do that, get it right!

Edited December 28, 2023 by Yeah No

[Magnumfangirl]

On 12/28/2023 at 2:41 AM, Yeah No said:

I spotted a 1968 (it also could have been a '69, I didn't look at it close enough) Buick Skylark in the street scene with Alice and Isaac. 

I noticed the out of place car, too and I wasn't even alive in the 60's, but the most  anachronistic thing about the show is the dialogue.  No one in the 1960s would have described food as "amazing."  That word used to only be used for things that were actually amazing.  My grandparents probably never used it in their lives except when singing in church.  

[ProudMary]

On 12/28/2023 at 3:41 AM, Yeah No said:

Also, although this show tries very hard to keep the wardrobe, scenery and props true to the period I spotted a 1968 (it also could have been a '69, I didn't look at it close enough) Buick Skylark in the street scene with Alice and Isaac.  And it had modern looking custom wheels, too.  And my mom owned a 1970 Buick Skylark when the body style changed again so it had to be either a '68 or '69 because the '67 looked completely different too.  Yeah, I'm the savant of '60s and '70s cars....

Me too, for '60s and '70s cars; heavy on GMs, in my case. Yes, I caught the out-of-time Skylark immediately, even though it was only on-screen for a short moment. It surprised me. I'm glad to hear others noticed it too.

[rejnel]

Loved this show and am sorry to see it end. It wasn't perfect, but often enchanting, and with such terrific actors. Great to see so much of Robert Joy and Judith Light. Fiona Glascott is a real find (I see she's got a lot of credits, but she was new to me, and I like her so much!). And so many others, in both major and minor roles, who were all fantastic and very welcome on my TV.

Clearly, they started to move the lens back to create a show about mid-century American life (or a certain sector of it) rather than focusing on one person, and that eventually became fine with me, but it would have been best served with another two or three seasons! 

 

Edited May 28 by rejnel
EDITED TO ADD A COMMA.