The Hour: More Thoughts
Aug. 24th, 2011 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightFirstly, thanks to everyone who left me writing prompts. Some of them are great, and maybe something will come of them. I hope so anyway.
More thoughts about the finale of The Hour and the series in general behind cut. Lots of spoilers.
On further reflection, I'm still not disappointed, though parts of the finale did have a bit of a 'it's the last episode, there won't be another series, have to tie up all the loose ends' feel about it. Which is not to say there won't be a second series (Abi Morgan is apparently writing it as we speak), but the BBC hasn't greenlighted it, no matter what the Sun says.
Re: the finale itself, I found it unbearably tense up until Freddie's interview with Lord Elms began, but afterwards felt a little deflated (was disappointed in Hector, truth be told, even though his bottling out and putting his career first was in character) because the revelations when they came - what happened to Ruth Elms, who was the BBC mole - felt rather trite and predictable. Also, Romola Garai didn't convince me as Producer Bel (a character we've not actually seen a lot of of during the course of the series, as, for a show about a TV show, there hasn't actually been a lot in it about the TV show) and so I didn't really feel she deserved the round of applause at the end. I wish the Bel/Lix roles could have been reversed, in fact, though that would have changed the whole dynamic of the series. But Lix would have worked better as the producer and Bel as some kind of cub foreign affairs reporter.
Also, not to detract from Anton Lesser's performance, because he just is that good, Clarence's motivations felt confused to me and I ended up wondering what on earth the show was trying to say about the politics of the BBC (if anything). However, I suppose a lot of spies have muddled motivations. Clarence was clearly one of the idealistic kind of spy, not the venal kind, so it's perhaps not surprising that his idealism led him to make some very bad/wrong choices, because idealism often does.
On the personal level, I liked Marnie Madden very much in this episode. Some steel under the veneer of wifely concern in the scene where she brought Hector his razor and toothbrush. I also liked the Freddie/Bel stuff, which I thought a nice portrait of a genuine friendship between a man and a woman. Best of all, though, I liked the Freddie/Hector scene in the gents, which was slashy perfection.
So overall, I'd give the finale 7 out of 10, with points detracted for confusing/predictable elements (and they never did explain why Kish killed himself), but the series as a whole I'd give more to - say 9 out of 10. Whatever anachronisms may have crept into it, I enjoyed the mystery, and most of all enjoyed the characters because of some stellar acting from all concerned. Oh, and it was way, way better than the majority of the stuff on TV these days. So there.
More thoughts about the finale of The Hour and the series in general behind cut. Lots of spoilers.
On further reflection, I'm still not disappointed, though parts of the finale did have a bit of a 'it's the last episode, there won't be another series, have to tie up all the loose ends' feel about it. Which is not to say there won't be a second series (Abi Morgan is apparently writing it as we speak), but the BBC hasn't greenlighted it, no matter what the Sun says.
Re: the finale itself, I found it unbearably tense up until Freddie's interview with Lord Elms began, but afterwards felt a little deflated (was disappointed in Hector, truth be told, even though his bottling out and putting his career first was in character) because the revelations when they came - what happened to Ruth Elms, who was the BBC mole - felt rather trite and predictable. Also, Romola Garai didn't convince me as Producer Bel (a character we've not actually seen a lot of of during the course of the series, as, for a show about a TV show, there hasn't actually been a lot in it about the TV show) and so I didn't really feel she deserved the round of applause at the end. I wish the Bel/Lix roles could have been reversed, in fact, though that would have changed the whole dynamic of the series. But Lix would have worked better as the producer and Bel as some kind of cub foreign affairs reporter.
Also, not to detract from Anton Lesser's performance, because he just is that good, Clarence's motivations felt confused to me and I ended up wondering what on earth the show was trying to say about the politics of the BBC (if anything). However, I suppose a lot of spies have muddled motivations. Clarence was clearly one of the idealistic kind of spy, not the venal kind, so it's perhaps not surprising that his idealism led him to make some very bad/wrong choices, because idealism often does.
On the personal level, I liked Marnie Madden very much in this episode. Some steel under the veneer of wifely concern in the scene where she brought Hector his razor and toothbrush. I also liked the Freddie/Bel stuff, which I thought a nice portrait of a genuine friendship between a man and a woman. Best of all, though, I liked the Freddie/Hector scene in the gents, which was slashy perfection.
So overall, I'd give the finale 7 out of 10, with points detracted for confusing/predictable elements (and they never did explain why Kish killed himself), but the series as a whole I'd give more to - say 9 out of 10. Whatever anachronisms may have crept into it, I enjoyed the mystery, and most of all enjoyed the characters because of some stellar acting from all concerned. Oh, and it was way, way better than the majority of the stuff on TV these days. So there.
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-24 10:04 am (UTC)I really enjoyed Anton Lesser and the other character I thought was brilliantly underplayed was Tim Piggot Smith (but I have a soft spot for him as I worked with him a few times when I worked in BBC Radio Drama and he was lovely!).
:)
My favourite line of the last episode was from Marnie 'there's only so much humiliation a girl can take'.. wonderful stuff.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-24 10:16 am (UTC)Kish denied that he'd done it, but that doesn't mean he didn't, of course. I suppose it could have been his guilt about what happened to her that made him kill himself? It wasn't clear.
I agree Tim Piggot-Smith was great. I did enjoy Lord Elms's relationship with Freddie (clearly the son he never had) enormously.
My favourite line of the last episode was from Marnie 'there's only so much humiliation a girl can take'.. wonderful stuff.
:) I agree. I also liked Lix's "Don't be wet," to Bel.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-24 10:41 am (UTC)I know Hector bottled it (which the writer has admitted is an anachronistic term) but it worked for me - it did give Freddie his chance and he was wonderfully intense, even if the cutoff was rather predictably-timed. I loved all those details too, like the Interlude and the "Normal Service will be resumed" card.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-24 11:13 am (UTC)Agree with all of this. Julian Rhind-Tutt has been brilliant throughout. I thought his scene with Hector in last week's ep, where Hector threatened to out him and he responded with nothing but a slight wince, was masterful. And the scene in the viewing room was great. I thought that Marnie's comments revealed a lot about her. They had a kind of undermining sexism with subtles undercurrents feel to me, though possibly I'm imagining it.
I agree Hector bottling it was in character. He was prepared to go so far, but no further, which is another reason why his conversation with Freddie in the gents was so brilliant. It was all set up right there. His admiration of Freddie's bravery, and deprecation about his own wartime heroism etc. He's just not brave in the way the Hour, and Bel, required him to be.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-24 04:58 pm (UTC)In general, I think I'm with you: there were lots of moments and aspects I liked, but also things that felt a bit trite. I actually thought the applause was for Lord Elms at first, which I really liked as a double-edged comment about what he had actually done by coming in, but also his class meaning that people would give him the recognition. I was a bit disappointed when I realised it wasn't, because I'd come around to Lix's way of thinking with Bel, and by that point had got quite fed up with her welling up every three seconds - if only because she's supposed to be some 50s powerhouse and she'd never have got anywhere without being able to take flak!
I thought Clarence's outburst was very good as outbursts went, but, yeah, a bit like you I wasn't quite sure where it had come from nor where it was meant to take the story. Certainly the series felt (in the end, I think) like a long novel cut down to fit six episodes - I think there could have been some tightening of focus, though I'm not actually sure how that could have come about. I think there might have been too much of that BBC series thing of clearly compressing what's meant to be several months into six weeks (with one hour per week), so it was hard to really feel like the time was passing. But that may just be my taste.
On the most minor of points, I was also distracted by one of the secretary-extras I saw walking around with a great combination of a magenta skirt and bright yellow cardigan. This was all fine until she seemed to be walking around in every single scene, which unsuspended my disbelief somewhat (in my head she became 'walking secretary'). Someone somewhere needed to have redressed her for a couple of her appearances...
But my gripes shouldn't bring down what was essentially a triumph! Here's to the hope of S2. *raises glass*
no subject
Date: 2011-08-25 01:24 pm (UTC)I don't blame you. They so often don't live up to expectations. This one wasn't bad as these things go.
because I'd come around to Lix's way of thinking with Bel, and by that point had got quite fed up with her welling up every three seconds - if only because she's supposed to be some 50s powerhouse and she'd never have got anywhere without being able to take flak
She made a bit of an effort in this ep to project a more steely character, but it really didn't work for me I'm afraid. She hasn't really dragged the show down or anything bad like that, but Romola Garai is the only one in the cast who hasn't entirely convinced me.
Re: the mustard cardy, I know of what you speak. It was rather distracting. They should have given her one in beige. :)
But yes, roll on season 2 (hopefully). The mystery may have been a little disappointing but for the most part the characters are just too good and too well drawn for them never to be seen again. In that sense alone the show is like Mad Men. You don't watch that for the action sequences (and The Hour did manage a good 40 minutes of tension in this ep before it stuttered slightly).
no subject
Date: 2011-08-24 10:18 pm (UTC)That was my big problem all along. I used to work at the BBC, though in radio not telly, and a woman producer in News even in the 80s and 90s had to be the toughest of the tough. In the 50s they'd have eaten Bel alive.
Lix would have worked better as the producer
Yes, much. She would have been far more believable.
I really did enjoy the show though because the characters were fabulous and I do hope it gets a second series.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-25 01:26 pm (UTC)I thought as much. It's probably not that different now.
I really did enjoy the show though because the characters were fabulous and I do hope it gets a second series.
Me too. I enjoyed the characters - even the minor ones - enormously. And though I'm a long way from convinced by Romola Garai's Bel, I like her enough that I'd be willing to suspend my disbelief if it means we get more of the other characters.