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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 344091" data-attributes="member: 23">Board Wages / The Path Of Duty / A Suitable Marriage / Magic Casements continuedThe series has carried on quite nicely without Sarah for now. In addition to James, we’ve met his sister Elizabeth Bellamy. As the spirited daughter returning from her studies in Europe who challenges convention with her progressive thinking, she feels like the template for such Dynastic characters as Fallon Carrington, Amanda Carrington and even Kirby Anders. She’s also something of a character archetype for period dramas: the one whose views are widely accepted by the times in which their series airs, but seen as outrageous and provocative for the period in which said series is set. This gives sections of audience someone with whom they can relate or feel relaxed around (remember that the series was made when second wave feminism was everywhere), but also allow for some tongue in cheek comments when characters are shocked by the very notion of a woman being able to hold a conversation. Any anachronisms are explained away by the broad life experience and privileged education (and anything European says “worldly” even to Brits), and it all kind of works. As I said, she’s kind of an archetype now, but I’m not sure if Elizabeth was the first of her kind. Either way, she’s enjoyable to watch. Of course, we all knew Elizabeth would have been better off with solid Laird Angus rather than cold, Teutonic Baron Klaus who is kind of a cross between Rolf Gruber and Peter De Vilbis. But since Elizabeth is only seventeen, knows next to nothing of the impending war and has almost certainly never watched either The Sound Of Music or Dynasty we can understand her naïveté.The homosexuality was a most unexpected twist. And a double one at that since not only Klaus but series regular Alfred. Again, it’s something that seems pretty daring for 1971, even though I did literally blink as Rose walked in so I’m not quite clear how explicit the vision was (I suspect it was tastefully offscreen). I’m not quite sure how to feel about the gay or bi characters being a cold, controlling, sociopathic traitor and a mentally unstable introvert, easily led down the wrong path, but it was 1971, the twist was an effective one and I’d take some very real drama over politically correct saccharine blandness any day. Alfred’s departure, like Sarah’s, shows that there are very real repercussions for characters and those around them which affect the series in a very noticeable way. Between the end of the third and fifth episodes alone, two of the original series regulars have departed, and so nothing can be taken for granted. Curiously, the storyline I’ve found most surprising and outrageous is the one that’s probably the most standard soap fare: Lady Marjorie falling for her son’s friend, half her age. I had vaguely envisioned Upstairs, Downstairs as being a little more twee and cosy, and so (even with what’s come before it), I fully expected a story about growing feelings of attraction between the two that could never be fulfilled.Still reeling from the mild surprise of Marjorie going, unchaperoned, to Captain Charles Hammond’s room, I could not have been more surprised when that first kiss came. And I found myself surprised all over again when we cut back to the two of them in bed after some rumpy pumpy. Frankly, I’d have been less surprised if James had developed the crush on Charles (especially since I know dishy David Kernan best for his role as half of a same-sex couple in Carry On Abroad). Again, I think the context of time helped. Not just this being the first decade of the Twentieth Century, but it also being filmed at a time when affairs were a relative rarity in British soaps (today, of course, it would be more surprising not to see illicit lovers in bed in any given episode). And there’s Lady Marjorie herself. Everything we’ve been told about her so far is that she values propriety and reputation above all else. She extols traditional, Conservative values and so is one of the least likely candidates to be in this position. And yet, through a 2022 prism, we know that those who espouse traditional, Conservative values most loudly are among the biggest hypocrites, so perhaps it’s not as out of character as we’d think. It’s just hidden better. This allows the series to have its cake and eat it.The prose between Marjorie and Charles was distinctly - almost comically - purple at times. There were some very flowery exchanges and the performances were rather theatrical and melodramatic. It’s almost as though they were taking their cues from the likes of Coward plays (indeed, with Marjorie breathily sighing Charles’s name again and again, I kept thinking of Round The Horne’s regular Coward spoof, Charles and Fiona). Following that thought through, there’s a truth to that, since many people’s responses to moments of heightened drama could possibly be influenced by the dramas they’ve watched which are perhaps the only relatable kind of template for the situation. Marjorie and Charles’s relationship felt very Dynasty Season One. He was almost like Steven Carrington to her Claudia Blaisdel, but the shared love of the arts and the poetry recitation also made him Ted Dinard to her Steven Carrington. While I’m at it, Marjorie’s speech to Charles about her reasons for ending their affair was like a preview of the one Karen Fairgate would give to David Crane for ending her (non-consummated) affair. The resolution to the situation was really quite touching. Richard working out what was going on and dealing with it with a euphemistic speech about him doing what’s required in his political vote out of loyalty, because it’s what they treasure most felt note-perfect. For him to confront it head on would have felt wrong, and I’d been expecting it him to do the WASP thing of simply ignoring it, so what we got was best case scenario.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?