Ah, Upstairs Downstairs

[alias_sqbr]

Was going to play Mass Effect 2 today to head towards being ready for the DLC tomorrow, but the Windows machine died. So I had to get my canon femslash needs met elsewhere.

Half remembered paraphrasing of a scene that amused me:

Lady Agnes: My women's exercise group is low on numbers, so I said we would make up the numbers!
Maids: But we have duties in the afternoons, your Ladyship.
Lady Agnes: I admire your work ethic! But there are classes every day, I'm sure there's one you can go to in your time off.
Maids: ...
Lady Agnes: And don't feel self conscious, the great thing about these classes is that we're all equal! Isn't that wonderful?
Maids: ...yes, your ladyship.

Lord Hallum is a bit more self aware, but still isn't a Standfast Symbol of Old Fashioned Britishness like the guy from Downton Abbey. England being set up as this wonderful haven for Jews is...accurate if we compare to Germany, but still makes me think of my grandma's less than joyful experiences as a Jewish Londoner in the same era.

EDIT: Awwww, and now Hallum is being a douche and lady Agnes is taking him to task.


And we have met Alex Kingston's character's ex-girlfriend and she's being all brooding, it's great.

OMG WHILE I WAS PREVIEWING THIS THEY MADE OUT. And the Duke of Kent is rather obviously trying to use the lesbian romance novel to hit on Hallum but Hallum just wants to talk about the Nazis awwwwww. *ships Agnes/Hallum/Kent, suspects it will all end badly* ...ok he was just giving a heads up about Blanche and Hallum got all huffy about the Scandal, bah to him. And then there was lesbian makeouts and sadness.

Gosh Persy is annoying. I do like that she's still sympathetic in her way. And her abortion didn't kill her, hurrah! Bad girls like her ALWAYS seem to die. However: STOP HITTING ON HALLUM PERSY. Even ignoring the way it would break Agnes's heart etc, they are so ridiculously wrong for each other, he gets annoyed at AGNES for being thoughtless and "scandalous". (She is of course also wrong for him, being Wrong For Men is almost her entire character)

There's a subtle but pervasive male POV in the het relationships (though not all the time, lots of Bechdel passing scenes hurrah). Spargo is such an audience stand in woobie, we were clearly supposed to take his side after his flirtation with Persy and fascism and now once again he's the poor Decent British Man With Feet of Clay dealing with a Difficult Feisty Woman, albeit a more sympathetic one this time. DUDE WAS A FASCIST, HE IS NOT MY AUDIENCE STAND IN.

Ok I will stop there this is getting long :)

Comments

[tree]

*flail* so excited someone i know is watching this! my twitter was nothing but AWESOME THINGS BLANCHE SAID every time it was on iview.

and it wasn't renewed for a third series. *sob*

i do have some sympathy for spargo, though. he, unlike persey, actually stepped back from fascism once he realised what it was really about. i imagine a lot of working class people were drawn to fascism for the same reasons he was.

[alias_sqbr]

I had (and to some extent still have) sympathy for Spargo too, really I think my problem with him is less HIM and more the way the narrative frames him. Plus growing up around my grandma has given me very strong knee jerk reaction against the whiff of fascism or anti semitism.

[leecetheartist]

I remember Upstairs Downstairs from when it was first screened here in the 70's. We watched it regularly. It was so popular that there was a spin off show telling you how to cook some of the dishes - I was fascinated with the "Quail and Grape" dish when I was small.

[alias_sqbr]

I watched it a bit when it was on reruns when I was a kid, but never entirely got into it. Partly, i think, because I never ended up watching contiguous episodes so it never entirely made sense.

[pebblerocker]

Ugh, Spargo is presented as a Nice Boy who made a Totally Understandable Mistake, and we're supposed to like him? I've only seen early bits but he gave me the creeps. I suppose it's better to show that not all bad things are done by irredeemably evil people, but...

[sqbr]

Yeah, something about the way it was done really rubbed the wrong way. I've seen "character joins bad guys, realises their true nature and leaves" done in ways that didn't annoy me before, and this wasn't it.