S02.E04: Chocolate Mousse

[Pallas]

Back in Boston, Julia faces pushback from disheartened WGBH staff. 

[LisaM]

Did not know that real life Julia faced pressure from Jim Brass and Hoover. Curious about his threat re Paul.

Blanche is really a sad, tragic figure. I've always loved Judith Light. 

So glad that Alice's mother was supportive. 

 

[iMonrey]

This was more like it. Everyone back together again at the TV station. Still don't care about Judith and Blance though. I wish they would just drop that storyline, I don't get why it's even a thing.

I'm not altogether invested in Avis and Stanley either, although at least Avis has a stronger connection to Julia and the TV show. That's mostly how I feel about Alice's private life too.

Speaking of which, how infuriating was that scene with the doctor who refused to prescribe contraceptives? Realistic for the times, I'm sure, but I still just wanted to punch him in the face. Probably more than a hint of racism there too.

I didn't recognize whoever that was who confronted Julia at the butcher's. Have we seen him before? First Simka and now this guy. The show keeps introducing new characters and pretending we already know who they are. I thought it was funny he kept being so picky about how the butcher was trimming the steaks then didn't even buy them.

So . . . what's this guy got on Paul? I'm suspicious there's a same-sex relationship in Paul's past. It seemed like maybe they were hinting around at something like that two episodes ago when the gigolo was flirting with him.

[Juneau Gal]

One of the things that had Paul leave the foreign service is that he was, wrongly, accused of having “homosexual tendencies”. He was an artistic man who married later in life, supported his wife’s career efforts, enjoyed what were considered at the time more feminine pursuits, and all that equaled gay in the eyes of the government. Sad that any of that was ever, and in some cases still is, an issue. 

[BingeyKohan]

5 hours ago, Juneau Gal said:

One of the things that had Paul leave the foreign service is that he was, wrongly, accused of having “homosexual tendencies”. He was an artistic man who married later in life, supported his wife’s career efforts, enjoyed what were considered at the time more feminine pursuits, and all that equaled gay in the eyes of the government. Sad that any of that was ever, and in some cases still is, an issue. 

I’m not at all excusing his dismissal on those grounds but I wonder if the reasoning was partially that it made him more susceptible to honey pot traps  since that would be more powerful blackmail material than heterosexual  affairs.

I feel like this is an UO here but I am not enjoying this season as much. The plots, while important, are dreary and mostly seem designed to give Sarah Lancashire a lighter load.

[iMonrey]

5 hours ago, BingeyKohan said:

I feel like this is an UO here but I am not enjoying this season as much. The plots, while important, are dreary and mostly seem designed to give Sarah Lancashire a lighter load.

This episode was OK but the first three were dismal IMO. Too many unnecessary subplots with the supporting characters.

[Juneau Gal]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

This episode was OK but the first three were dismal IMO. Too many unnecessary subplots with the supporting characters.

I think the problem with the series is that Julia’s life was at its most interesting BEFORE she made it. It would have been interesting to see her foreign service work, meeting and dating Paul, going to cooking school, etc. They rushed right into her WGBH days; she’s a success, so now what can they do for her character development? Not a whole lot, so they have to focus on the supporting characters. We, of a certain age, know the TV Julia, that’s not new to us. Learning more about her life before all that would have been new and interesting. 

[peeayebee]

On 11/25/2023 at 9:49 AM, iMonrey said:

This was more like it. Everyone back together again at the TV station. Still don't care about Judith and Blance though. I wish they would just drop that storyline, I don't get why it's even a thing.

I also like everyone back together. The supporting character stories are not so interesting to me either. I guess the producers didn't want to lose those characters from season 1. Or maybe the characters had to be there so as not to leave a vacuum, but there wasn't much for them to do, so these separate storylines were created.

I'm still not sure what Blanche's problem is. At the beginning of this season I thought she was having cognitive issues. Now I just don't know. I also don't much care about Judith. At least Russ and his bad 'documentary' is connected to the TV station. I do like Avis and Stanley, probably because their characters are charming.

 

19 hours ago, Juneau Gal said:

One of the things that had Paul leave the foreign service is that he was, wrongly, accused of having “homosexual tendencies”. He was an artistic man who married later in life, supported his wife’s career efforts, enjoyed what were considered at the time more feminine pursuits, and all that equaled gay in the eyes of the government. Sad that any of that was ever, and in some cases still is, an issue. 

Thanks for the info. I got the feeling the FBI guy was implying something homosexual. Was this whole coercion from him to Julia based on fact?

 

3 hours ago, Juneau Gal said:

I think the problem with the series is that Julia’s life was at its most interesting BEFORE she made it. It would have been interesting to see her foreign service work, meeting and dating Paul, going to cooking school, etc. They rushed right into her WGBH days; she’s a success, so now what can they do for her character development? Not a whole lot, so they have to focus on the supporting characters. We, of a certain age, know the TV Julia, that’s not new to us. Learning more about her life before all that would have been new and interesting. 

Yes! Too bad they couldn't do flashbacks. But then, that would add more characters.

I was happy (and surprised) to see Alice's mother be so supportive and 'girlfriend-ish.' 

[MonicaBWQ]

I’m lost! What year is this supposed to be?

[Pallas]

The French Chef''s second season aired in 1963/64. (The first episode -- "Caramel Desserts" -- was shown eight days after President Kennedy's assassination.) Both SNCC and the SDS were already three years old by then, though opposition to US actions in Vietnam was still in very early stages.

[MonicaBWQ]

24 minutes ago, Pallas said:

The French Chef''s second season aired in 1963/64. (The first episode -- "Caramel Desserts" -- was shown eight days after President Kennedy's assassination.) Both SNCC and the SDS were already three years old by then, though opposition to US actions in Vietnam was still in very early stages.

Thank you, It seemed to me they were jumping a bit though out the decade with references. 

[anniebird]

On 11/25/2023 at 11:49 AM, iMonrey said:

 

 

Speaking of which, how infuriating was that scene with the doctor who refused to prescribe contraceptives? Realistic for the times, I'm sure, but I still just wanted to punch him in the face. Probably more than a hint of racism there too.

 

In the late sixties, if you were unmarried, you could tell the doctor you had really bad cramps and be put on the pill. Just about everyone I knew had really bad cramps.

[MonicaBWQ]

1 hour ago, anniebird said:

In the late sixties, if you were unmarried, you could tell the doctor you had really bad cramps and be put on the pill. Just about everyone I knew had really bad cramps.

I had them in the ‘80’s too. In fact my doctor when I was in my late teens asked if I had them. 🙄

[Js Nana]

On 11/26/2023 at 5:39 PM, Juneau Gal said:

I think the problem with the series is that Julia’s life was at its most interesting BEFORE she made it.

Back in the 80s, my teen age daughter was impressed with Julia Child not because of her cooking show, but because of her foreign service work.

[chaifan]

On 11/25/2023 at 11:49 AM, iMonrey said:

Speaking of which, how infuriating was that scene with the doctor who refused to prescribe contraceptives? Realistic for the times, I'm sure, but I still just wanted to punch him in the face. Probably more than a hint of racism there too.

Oh, waaaay more than a hint of racism.  Remember, Helen Elaine recommended this doctor to Alice.  Which means that this doctor apparently didn't have problem giving contraceptives to an unmarried white woman.  But he automatically assumed Alice had multiple partners, aka was a whore, didn't believe her when she said "just one", and gave her his moralistic lecture.  So yeah, major racist there.  And I think that was the whole point of the scene - not to show that it was hard for women to get contraceptives at that time, but for Black women to get contraceptives.

On 11/26/2023 at 7:17 AM, BingeyKohan said:

I’m not at all excusing his dismissal on those grounds but I wonder if the reasoning was partially that it made him more susceptible to honey pot traps  since that would be more powerful blackmail material than heterosexual  affairs.

The "susceptibility to blackmail" excuse is what they trolled out through the 80's (maybe even later?) to justify discharging gays from the military or gov't service.  And to some extent, it was true, as you could easily get a gov't employee fired by outing them.  Of course, if the gov't just came out (no pun intended) and said "Be Gay!  We don't care if our employees/military are gay!" then there would be no leverage for blackmail.  hmmm... can't imagine why they didn't think of that....  /s

I'm not sure how I missed this show when it came out last year.  I recently "discovered" it, and watched the first season over a week or two.  I'm enjoying Season 2, and I actually liked the separation of the characters between France and Boston.  I like that we're seeing Julia deal with her celebrity, and realize that it is changing her life and the lives of those around her.  I loved the scenes with John Paul Sarte and Avis.  I love Paul's support and admiration of Helen Elaine.

 

 

 

Edited January 1 by chaifan
For some unknown reason I was calling Elaine Helen. oops.

[Bklyndeb]

On 11/25/2023 at 11:49 AM, iMonrey said:

Speaking of which, how infuriating was that scene with the doctor who refused to prescribe contraceptives? Realistic for the times, I'm sure, but I still just wanted to punch him in the face. Probably more than a hint of racism there too

Access to birth control wasn't guaranteed even for married couples until Griswold  v. Connecticut in 1963.

There are some on the Supreme Court who would like to return to those days.

And I'm clearly in the minority here, but I liked the plot lined and character development in the first three episodes.