On to the murderous glare that Bates levels across the breakfast table at the nefarious valet Mr. Green, when Mrs. Hughes and Anna can't quite pull off nonchalance in his presence. Or anything near it, for that matter. To be honest, it would be rather satisfying to see Bates put the screws on Green for what he did to Anna. Satisfying, and unsurprising. But at the rate this season is going, that story line (which was already horrifying and sickening) will just become some jumbled, unrealistic quagmire of dramatic pauses, dour looks, and melancholic music, with no real satisfaction or justice to be had. If Bates chooses to act, it will not be justice, it will be revenge. Cold, calculated revenge.
It is as though each episode this season is trying to live a lifetime in less than an hour. Where is the glorious, heartbreaking tension of season 2, when almost every encounter between Matthew and Mary was electric, and actually led to character development on her part? This season she is merely the fox picking up the hounds, and by the end of this episode has three on the run. First is Evelyn Napier, who has no real chance because he is so completely bland and absolutely lovely, in his character and qualities, next Tony Gillingham, the ridiculously handsome and kind family friend who just can't stay away, and finally Charles Blake, the priggish and pragmatic outsider. Blake appears at this point to be the most unlikely candidate of the three, but he is the most like Mary in his core character, and he gets her ire up, qualities she finds hard to resist. Evelyn would be a solid decision because of his impeccable integrity and the fact that he lives life at the same level to which Mary is accustomed. Tony would make sense, too, because like Matthew, he lives beneath her, and madly loves her in spite of herself. But it will most likely be Blake who wins the prize, at least in some small way. Mary can't resist a fight, and until this episode he and she could not have a polite conversation (even if it looked like that was what they were doing).
The entirety of the situation in which Mary and Charles Blake saved the pigs was absolutely ridiculous and furthermore incongruous with what we know of Lady Mary. Whether or not she is beginning to emerge as the new, true leader of the estate, and no matter how much she cares about the success of the endeavors to expand their cash flow, we all know that Mary would not take a walk after dinner with a man she despises, only to discover that her pigs are dying from dehydration, and then proceed to save them by toting buckets of water through the mud in her dinner dress. This is Mary, not Sybil. Character development my foot (hers were disgusting, did you notice?). And suddenly Mary can cook an egg? Sybil couldn't even properly turn on the water to fill the kettle the first time she stepped in the kitchen. Writers, please, let's be true to what we know and find another way to spark a friendship that no one really wants to see developing
Edith's situation in this episode, and really the entire season, is quite saddening. She brought it all down on herself, but I can still feel sorry for her. The father of her child is missing, so Edith is left to rely on Aunt Rosamund for strength and friendship. Aunt Rosamund, the foxy know-it-all who has been known to steer her nieces the wrong way before. Thanks to her, Mary and Matthew spent the entire first world war engaged to the wrong people. Ugh.
But back to Edith. Because of the stigma and shame attached to unwed pregnancy in the 1920's, and with the fear of being cast out of her family if the truth became known, Edith resolves to abort the baby. She shares her determination with Rosamund, who lends her support, regardless of how she truly feels. I can't ever feel quite settled with a situation when Rosamund is involved. And so the two women head to the clinic where Edith will terminate her pregnancy. As they wait, Edith watches a young woman crying in another room. We assume this woman has already undergone her procedure, though she might have just been having second thoughts, as Edith quickly begins to do. Either way, the impact of seeing the other woman's unchecked tears is enough to change Edith's mind entirely. Edith and Rosamund leave the clinic, baby still safe. After the nose dive into all things sinister and horrible with Anna's rape earlier in the season, I was relieved to see the sanctity of life upheld in the episode. Perhaps not every single part of this season will be awful, just the majority of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment