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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 348671" data-attributes="member: 23">Series Four The Hero’s Farewell / Missing Believed Killed / Facing Fearful OddsOnce again it’s been an eventful series of episodes, covering some seven months’ worth of on-screen time and much melodrama. Ironically, the more that happens, the less I find I have to comment. This is a series where the nuance and the small, character moments are what really speak to me. These are certainly still present, though rather less noticeable when there is so much happening.The telegram telling of James being “missing, believed killed” at the end of The Hero’s Farewell is up there as one of the most cliffhanger-y episode endings. While I’m sure it’s very much an accurate representation of the uncertainty facing many families with loved ones enlisted overseas, the fact that it’s temporary, with the reveal of James in his overseas hospital bed in the very next episode makes the entire arc feel conventionally soapy (albeit a far less cliche scenario by the standards of  1974). Reinforcing this feeling, he has a mild case of soapy amnesia and in his first scene post-absence is reunited with the step-cousin who has a major - and reciprocal - crush on him.Georgina’s crush seems at this point to be common knowledge. Her emotional pleas on discovering James is to be returned to England leave so little doubt that even WASPs Richard and Hazel later pass comment on it (the former saying something along the lines of “Oh, it’s just a cousinly infatuation”). The fleeting awkwardness between Hazel and Georgina is enjoyable, particularly with Georgina silently rebuffing Hazel’s goodbye peck on the cheek. It will be interesting to see how Georgina interacts with both Hazel and James once the war is over, though a lot will happen between then and now (and indeed, a lot has happened in the episode since). Hazel can be incredibly difficult to read. At times there’s quite an entitled air that makes me question her motives (and think James would probably be better off with his step-cousin). Following her extramarital dalliance and the death of her airman, she gravely announced to Richard that she’d decided she loved James as though it was something virtuous (“That’s as it should be”, he said, marvellously understating things). Then there was all the angst and hand-wringing when James was missing (she was quick to decide he was dead). And then her drive to return James to Eaton Place, even though his surgeon in France made clear it could kill James (perhaps she felt the loss was worth risking since she was already envisaging life without him). It’s plain that going to get James, returning him home and tending to his needs is driven by guilt, and I’m curious to see where it goes. Virginia Hamilton has returned to acquire Richard’s help with her son’s court martial. He puts her in touch with Sir Geoffrey, leading to a courtroom drama with a difference (the charge of cowardice is brought by none other than General Von Klinkerhoffen). It’s a tense episode, that drives home the pressure the very young soldiers were under, and feels genuinely sad - and a little shocking - when, having been sentenced to just a reprimand, he ends up being killed in battle by episode’s end. It’s tantalisingly oblique, leaving the possibilities to resonate: it could have come through him over-compensating to make up for his previous shell-shock; or because he was put in harm’s way by colleagues who viewed him as cowardly. Perhaps he even wanted to die. It’s suggested from the report that his death is a simple, inevitable accident of war, and there’s every chance this is the case. But we already know from James that what’s written about a soldier’s death in battle can be extremely unreliable. Also facing military problems is Edward, now AWOL as he was due to be posted back to France. Daisy only gives him up on learning that Edward could face a firing squad. Let it not be said the stakes aren’t high. Gareth “Nescafé” Hunt has made his debut as James’s footman, returning the then-presumed-dead soldier’s effects to his family. I know that he becomes a regular and having seen his debut I’m looking forward to this.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?