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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 332896" data-attributes="member: 23">Well, Part 2 of 42 gave me a moment that was absolutely everything I&#039;d want from this series. Not only did we get a degree of resolution with both Neil and Bruce but it was tied in with a significant life event for a participant and a reunion between two participants.The latter is something I&#039;ve been craving, since I feel I need to see how different sections of the original participants interact as adults, with the thread of the series running through their lives and, with busier lives this hasn&#039;t happened very much. The only other example of a reunion I can think of is that between Paul and Symon when they revisited the children&#039;s home.Bruce&#039;s wedding felt very special, because we&#039;ve watched him grow up and seen his personal life somewhat on the back burner compared with his vocation. Watching the wedding near the beginning of Part 2 felt hard to top, until at the end of the episode we saw Neil - now a Lib Dem councillor in Hackney - living a life that&#039;s more fulfilled and ticks off things he&#039;d wished in earlier films (albeit he seemed at the time to think the dream was too out of reach to be a possibility).42&#039;s winning moment was tying these two stories together by returning to Bruce&#039;s wedding ceremony and zooming out to show Neil standing before Bruce and his bride, and only after this telling us how the two had reunited years earlier during a gathering related to the previous event. Neil and Bruce are the two participants who have been most in need of companionship, which makes their friendship feel all the more important.They&#039;re also the two who have taken paths that have been unexpected. Neil&#039;s the child of teachers who opted out of the life they intended for him. Bruce is the public schoolboy who has never allowed his background to overshadow his empathy for everyone no matter what their background. Indeed, Apted has asked each of them &quot;Aren&#039;t you better than this?&quot; at least once (Neil in regard to squatting in a caravan, Bruce in regard to his choice to teach at an inner city school).I hope these threads continue.The other big surprise for me in 42 was Jackie living in Scotland. There&#039;s an interesting reverse symmetry to the three girls becoming more apart at a time when Bruce and Neil are coming together. And after my previous comment about Sue being rather conservative, that came across most strongly with Lynn this time round as she spoke about what she felt was a moral decline in the country. I&#039;d be interested to hear more about the participants&#039; stances on political and social issues. I suspect I might be quite surprised.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 332896, member: 23"] Well, Part 2 of [I]42[/I] gave me a moment that was absolutely everything I'd want from this series. Not only did we get a degree of resolution with both Neil and Bruce but it was tied in with a significant life event for a participant [I]and[/I] a reunion between two participants. The latter is something I've been craving, since I feel I [U][I]need[/I][/U] to see how different sections of the original participants interact as adults, with the thread of the series running through their lives and, with busier lives this hasn't happened very much. The only other example of a reunion I can think of is that between Paul and Symon when they revisited the children's home. Bruce's wedding felt very special, because we've watched him grow up and seen his personal life somewhat on the back burner compared with his vocation. Watching the wedding near the beginning of Part 2 felt hard to top, until at the end of the episode we saw Neil - now a Lib Dem councillor in Hackney - living a life that's more fulfilled and ticks off things he'd wished in earlier films (albeit he seemed at the time to think the dream was too out of reach to be a possibility). [I]42's[/I] winning moment was tying these two stories together by returning to Bruce's wedding ceremony and zooming out to show Neil standing before Bruce and his bride, and only after this telling us how the two had reunited years earlier during a gathering related to the previous event. Neil and Bruce are the two participants who have been most in need of companionship, which makes their friendship feel all the more important. They're also the two who have taken paths that have been unexpected. Neil's the child of teachers who opted out of the life they intended for him. Bruce is the public schoolboy who has never allowed his background to overshadow his empathy for everyone no matter what their background. Indeed, Apted has asked each of them "Aren't you better than this?" at least once (Neil in regard to squatting in a caravan, Bruce in regard to his choice to teach at an inner city school). I hope these threads continue. The other big surprise for me in [I]42[/I] was Jackie living in Scotland. There's an interesting reverse symmetry to the three girls becoming more apart at a time when Bruce and Neil are coming together. And after my previous comment about Sue being rather conservative, that came across most strongly with Lynn this time round as she spoke about what she felt was a moral decline in the country. I'd be interested to hear more about the participants' stances on political and social issues. I suspect I might be quite surprised. [/QUOTE]

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