James from London
International Treasure
Season Three
it’s sad to think that the rest of the Poletti family - who brought instant sunshine to the series, but also had a background of tragedy that had yet to be fully explored - won’t be seen on this series again.
That's so interesting. I've finished Season 3 and still hadn't really registered their absences were permanent!Likewise the Goldbergs were mentioned by name in Episode Two, yet it appears that two of the three of them have left for good. I loved what they brought to the series, and they, too, are a definite loss. Episode Two included a Jewish ritual and a challah was sent by the Goldbergs - who were conspicuous by their absence. It seems wrong that they haven’t interacted with René.
Again, I hadn't clocked this consciously, but it's just what happened with Falcon Crest -- by Season 3, there wasn't a Hispanic character in sight -- and, more gradually, EastEnders which started off as a truly multi-ethnic soap, yet by the (admittedly great) '90s was almost exclusively caucasian.It’s impossible to discuss this without noting that - for whatever reason - characters who are from ethnic minorities are evidently those who are considered the most expendable within the framework of the series.
It’s perhaps worth noting, too, that the three new characters so far this season (the housekeeper, the conspicuously gay doctor and the stuffy old Blimp) all appear to add to the series’ now almost ubiquitous WASP factor.
Yeah, James seems to attract these futuristic gay men who have time travelled from the 21st century to tell him everything's cool and the most important thing is you to be true to yourself, bla bla bla. Both Dr Henry and the fella he kissed in the barn in Season 1 have the same ability to effortlessly unnerve James the way Luke Fuller did Steven Carrington when he was married to Claudia on Dynasty, just by their smouldering well-adjustedness. I guess the demands of soap, or soapish drama, require this kind of archetype to move things along, but how interesting it might have been if James had instead encountered someone as inhibited and ill-adjusted as himself whose gaydar didn't automatically ping at first sight? What would have happened? Maybe nothing, and I guess AP2CH is about stuff happening.Said doctor is treating George. Or at least picking up treating him from Sarah, who took over his care in the ambulance and used a non-sterilised instrument to remove the bullet when she somehow knew that it was vital to remove it rather than leave it (she instructed the trained ambulance staff to get her a pen or a piece of wire). And as Doctor Henry Fox intuitively knew at a casual glance, she’d done the right thing. Not that he’s too bothered, as he spends most of his time outside chain smoking with James (James smokes now?) and gazing into his eyes with all the subtlety of Jim Carrey.
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