Single Father Episode One
Oct. 13th, 2010 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vervet_monkeyOK, back to coherence now I think...
I'll just begin by saying I loved this episode. It made me cry, and I don't cry, especially not at TV. Now this might be partly due to watching it after a long frustrating day, 1 year after Mr Gately went and died on us and with a certain Miss Spurrell buggered off to France. But even so, shows still don't do that to me. So all my complaints here, they're not really complaints. Most of them actually made the show awesome, but during the show they made me want to scream a little. Which is a good thing!
Unlike most watching I didn't really have a clue what was going to happen. I mean I figured from the title that it wasn't going to remain a happy family for ever, but the scene where Rita died really shocked me. It was so blunt, so not gory, not dramatic. Just blunt. There it is, deal with it. No rushing ambulances or screaming.
I've seen people wondering if we're meant to like Rita. I think yes (or at least I do). She obviously adores her children and her husband. She's working hard to hold down a job, studying for I guess maths GCSE and raising a family with 4 kids. She snaps occasionally but who had a mother (or father) that didn't. I know mine did (admittedly I think I did everything in my power to make her but...) And she knows when she's been unreasonable. I like her, she's real.
The scene where Dave goes to collect the kids from school was the first one that made me cry. I think it was so well done, just complete collapse. And the first thing he worries about? The kids. Good man. Speaking of the kids, amazing actors. It's a lot of depth to ask from them, and I think they got it down perfectly. At not one point did they do cringey kid acting things.
Dave leaving the kids to go out on his bike made me want to hit him. They've just lost their mother, what if they'd woken up and he wasn't there? I get why he did it, but it still had me moaning at the TV. (See above comment about complaints!) The police response did leave me a bit confused. Surely they should have driven him home? I mean, tact was defiantly given and more than needed, but he still was hardly in a state to drive, he was a danger to himself and others. So I didn't want them to actually charge him, but at least make sure he's safe.
The scene with the kids playing up and Evie planting the flowers made me smile and cry at the same time. It was so sweet and heartbreaking. And I think got how kids portray grief too.
'Half sisters only get half a vote' Ouch. Poor Lucy. I would have left there and then I think. Dave didn't deal with that particularly well either, the boy didn't seem to be punished. Which I can understand, he probably didn't mean it, was just frustrated and confused, but still, it was a harsh thing to say. The thing with the photo was good though (again with the crying). But then he didn't tell Lucy that her DNA didn't matter. Surely that's what she was calling out for? 'I've raised you, I love you, so do your brothers and sister, you are my daughter.' kind of thing. Probably with 'But I'll support you looking for your father if you want to'. But emphasis on this being her family.
Then the breaking down in the bathroom. 10 weeks he's had to hold all that in, poor man. He hasn't had the space and you see it. Almost as powerful as the scene in the school, although that hit home harder for me. Amazing acting, I don't think I want to know how he got that kind of emotion. The kiss... I don't know... I get where it came from, but maybe that's the only bit of the whole show I actually didn't like. It seemed cheap to me and maybe that was the point, I'm not sure. I think I might work it out after the next eps.
The best bit about this show I think? I forgot it was Tennant, which might seem a weird compliment. But all the acting was so so raw and powerful all I could see was the characters. At no point did I see the Doctor there. That's unusual for me.
So in case you didn't get it yet, I liked that. The bits that made me grumble and scream, I think they were supposed to. Isn't that kind of the point of good television?
I'll just begin by saying I loved this episode. It made me cry, and I don't cry, especially not at TV. Now this might be partly due to watching it after a long frustrating day, 1 year after Mr Gately went and died on us and with a certain Miss Spurrell buggered off to France. But even so, shows still don't do that to me. So all my complaints here, they're not really complaints. Most of them actually made the show awesome, but during the show they made me want to scream a little. Which is a good thing!
Unlike most watching I didn't really have a clue what was going to happen. I mean I figured from the title that it wasn't going to remain a happy family for ever, but the scene where Rita died really shocked me. It was so blunt, so not gory, not dramatic. Just blunt. There it is, deal with it. No rushing ambulances or screaming.
I've seen people wondering if we're meant to like Rita. I think yes (or at least I do). She obviously adores her children and her husband. She's working hard to hold down a job, studying for I guess maths GCSE and raising a family with 4 kids. She snaps occasionally but who had a mother (or father) that didn't. I know mine did (admittedly I think I did everything in my power to make her but...) And she knows when she's been unreasonable. I like her, she's real.
The scene where Dave goes to collect the kids from school was the first one that made me cry. I think it was so well done, just complete collapse. And the first thing he worries about? The kids. Good man. Speaking of the kids, amazing actors. It's a lot of depth to ask from them, and I think they got it down perfectly. At not one point did they do cringey kid acting things.
Dave leaving the kids to go out on his bike made me want to hit him. They've just lost their mother, what if they'd woken up and he wasn't there? I get why he did it, but it still had me moaning at the TV. (See above comment about complaints!) The police response did leave me a bit confused. Surely they should have driven him home? I mean, tact was defiantly given and more than needed, but he still was hardly in a state to drive, he was a danger to himself and others. So I didn't want them to actually charge him, but at least make sure he's safe.
The scene with the kids playing up and Evie planting the flowers made me smile and cry at the same time. It was so sweet and heartbreaking. And I think got how kids portray grief too.
'Half sisters only get half a vote' Ouch. Poor Lucy. I would have left there and then I think. Dave didn't deal with that particularly well either, the boy didn't seem to be punished. Which I can understand, he probably didn't mean it, was just frustrated and confused, but still, it was a harsh thing to say. The thing with the photo was good though (again with the crying). But then he didn't tell Lucy that her DNA didn't matter. Surely that's what she was calling out for? 'I've raised you, I love you, so do your brothers and sister, you are my daughter.' kind of thing. Probably with 'But I'll support you looking for your father if you want to'. But emphasis on this being her family.
Then the breaking down in the bathroom. 10 weeks he's had to hold all that in, poor man. He hasn't had the space and you see it. Almost as powerful as the scene in the school, although that hit home harder for me. Amazing acting, I don't think I want to know how he got that kind of emotion. The kiss... I don't know... I get where it came from, but maybe that's the only bit of the whole show I actually didn't like. It seemed cheap to me and maybe that was the point, I'm not sure. I think I might work it out after the next eps.
The best bit about this show I think? I forgot it was Tennant, which might seem a weird compliment. But all the acting was so so raw and powerful all I could see was the characters. At no point did I see the Doctor there. That's unusual for me.
So in case you didn't get it yet, I liked that. The bits that made me grumble and scream, I think they were supposed to. Isn't that kind of the point of good television?
