Downton, Merlin and many more to write about

Sunday late, I am finishing catch up on TV shows while I watch what became the penultimate episode of Winds of War by Herman Woulk

I have watched the first four episodes of Haunted on the BBC a series which has disappointed because it is created by the same team responsible for Spooks. I will write more when the series is completed.

I watched a little of Strictly Come Dancing results show after Surprise Surprise which was a sickly sweet and then the Antiques Roadshow followed by Downton Abbey where I missed part last weekend but have seen all the other episodes.

I was not impressed with the opening episodes of the new series but this changed with the third and subsequent episodes and has become essential Sunday evening viewing despite some well trodden story lines.

The key developments so far have been the death of one of the daughters when giving birth because of the blinkered view of the Consultant who ignored the advice of the family doctor. The father of the child who had to come to Downton for sanctuary from the Irish Independence cause and is former Chauffer to the household is determined to bring up his son as a catholic. Her ladyship appears to have forgiven her husband for his backing of the Consultant against the GP, letting him back into her bedroom.

Bates the former Valet to his Lordship, falsely imprisoned because of the machinations of his former wife who made her death appear murder instead of suicide has a hard time in jail because of the machinations of a prison warder and another prisoner. His wife becomes worried when she receives no letters for several months as does he but this is put right and evidence comes to light which leads to his release from jail and return to the Downton Community,

His Lordship nearly loses the estate because of bad investment judgement and family are forced to consider downsizing. They are saved when his son in law and who will inherit the estate with the death of his Lordship, also inherits money from the family of his former fiancée. He feels he cannot accept until learning that it was the fiancée‘s wish when evidence of a letter comes to light. The Ladyship’s mother comes to visit from the USA played by Hollywood Legend Shirley MacLaine and is feted for her financial help until it is understood her wealth is also tied and she cannot bail the family out.

Having rescued the family Mathew is determined to put the estate on a sound financial footing with new investment equipment and reorganisation and is resisted by the agent and his Lordship. With the land agent resigning after 40 years change becomes a reality and a solution to what to do with the young widower is to make him the land agent for the estate under the supervision of Mathew. The son is christened in the Catholic Church and the Grandparents attend with his Lordship photographed with the Catholic Priest and the Father and his child.

The other daughter is jilted at the altar because of the age difference between her and the suitor and she has written a feminist letter which has been published and the editor wants her to write a regular column much to her father’s opposition. She meets the editor in London who takes a shine and she agrees to become a journalist.

The former maid with illegitimate son gives him up to the grandparents. She has managed an income through prostitution which creates problems with the household and the villagers when she is taken on by Mathew’s mother.

The Housekeeper was thought to have cancer for a time but the tests come back negative. The rogue former Footman and former homosexual lover of a Lord, also war time racketeer thinks as the valet to his Lordship with the incarceration of Bates that he is safe to continue his wicked ways and take a shine to the new footman at the expense of another house staff member who he drops in the proverbials from time to time. However when he misunderstands the interest is reported to the Butler, things now look grim for him much to the delight of her Ladyship’s personal maid who herself has much to answer having been directly responsible for her Ladyship’s miscarriage.

I have watched the episodes of (Young) Merlin, series nine in which Arthur is now King and married to Guinevere the former Lady’s maid to his half sister Morgana who spends all her time plotting to kill Arthur and take the Kingdom. In the two part opening episode Arthur’s Bane he sets off with Merlin to try and find out what happened to his men sent on a surprise attack to rescue other men held from a previous expedition to find out what was going on. They had been betrayed by the daughter of a Druid who was in the service of Guinevere. Morgana was using the men with others as slaves try and find what she thought was an artefact with great powers to foresee the future. What she does not know that the power is a creature who first rescues one of Arthur’s key men and then Merlin himself who the being recognises for his true self. Morgana has a young dragon presumable that from the egg which Merlin had given to the ancient Dragon played by john hurt that previously freed. However as Lord over the Dragons is able to prevent the young dragon doing damage. Merlin is concerned from having a vision in which a young druid who Arthur previously saved will be responsible for the death of the King in a battle. He is a relative of Morgana. When he comes across Merlin and Arthur captured he treats them as prisoners. They manage to escape but are recaptured by Morgana but the young man intervenes stabbing her which allows Arthur and Merlin to survive with the rest of his men. Arthur rewards by making the man a knight but Merlin remains concerned.

In the third episode Arthur’s father returns as a ghost having been unintentionally let out from the spirit world by Arthur’s in search of saying a proper goodbye to his father and seeking the man’s approval. The spirit is opposed to Arthur’s marriage and the way he is running the kingdom and seeks to destroy his son and his son’s wife. With help of Guis, the court Physician Merlin and Arthur are able to send the King back to the spirit world. I watched the fourth episode on Monday on the I player part of the Wii purchase a couple of episodes behind which I will watch on the I player and which followed a familiar pattern with Arthur well motivated but taking irresponsible risks for himself and his men and Merlin still playing the fool of personal assistant, knowing something is wrong which the village idiot would have recognised and allowing Arthur into yet another trap set by the evil Morgana. On one hand the failure to deal with the woman is gross negligence but if they did there would no continuing series.

I am also a couple of episodes possible three behind on Atlantic City the third series which seems more violent, more sexual and without any redeeming features from what I have seen to date. I hope to comment further when I catch up.

I have failed to catch up on the past eight episodes of the final season of the Soprano’s. I did watch the greater part of the Godfather part one recently and was struck was a great film it is compared to most of what has appeared on screens since about the Mafia in the USA,

On Saturday I watched almost all of five episodes of the Mini series of Herman Wouk’s Winds of War with Robert Mitcham and Ali McGraw and Topol have a part as does Ralph Bellamy as President Roosevelt. I was so tired that I recorded what I thought was the final episode only to discover it was the penultimate. Fortunately when I checked the final episode was showing although I missed the greater part but at least saw the conclusion going to bed at 1.30 The six episodes was shown back to back over 12 hours but which long periods of repetitive adverts. The Story is of the Second World War told through the eyes of the character portrayed by Mitcham as a naval officer who is appointed as attaché to Berlin and encounters the Nazi high ups including Hitler. His wife is a political and social embarrassment and serves as a vehicle to illustrative the seductive aspects of the regime. One of his sons baulks the naval tradition and become enamoured with a Jewess, and older woman McGraw who is McGraw torn between the young man and a Diplomat based in Poland. The two meet up through working for an uncle based in Italy and then when she visits Poland to see the diplomat and other family members (Topol) who live close to the German border just before the invasion. They escape with difficulty she to Norway and home to the USA and he to his father in Berlin before also returning to the USA. Mitcham forecasts that Hitler will do a deal with Stalin from his contacts in the Reich which impresses the President who had previously encountered decades before and gets Mitcham to send him private briefings. The series ends with Mitcham going back to sea in command after saying one married son, a naval officer and with the other son in submarine, believed to have been sunk at Pearl Harbour but which turns out to be a mistake. It is not clear if he and Ali have tied the knot or if she has married the Diplomat. His other daughter goes into TV production in New York. His wife seeks a divorce but then changes her mind. The original book has 1000 pages and was followed by War and Remembrance covering the rest. I have purchased both books from Amazon for a total of £12.

I have watched two of the six episodes to be broadcast of Hebburn, which I am finding very funny in part because I know the area well and its people. The series has Vic Reeves as the father and Gina McKee as his wife and is shot on location

There is no time now to write about the Newsroom a brilliant series in style of the West Wing and created by the same team. I will return to this series as I will tot he Sopranos when I move significantly into the new phase in my work and life.

I have come across another film The Thing, A prequel to the 1982 film of the same name. In 1982 an extra terrestrial vehicle is discovered below Antarctic ice by a Norwegian research team. They then discover what appears to be the dead remains of someone from the machine and remove the body into camp only to discover that it is not dead but has the capacity to hide in the bodies of selected human beings in such a way that most people will not detect the transfer.

The object of the creature is to escape from the area and multiply among the general population. Stopping the creature is led by Palaeontologist Kate Lloyd with the detection method to look at his teeth of other unit members as the creature cannot cope with metal fillings and a mouth will reveal this except for those who other forms of fillings, or the absence of any metal implants in their body. At the end of the film when it looks she and other members of team who survive are successful, a dog runs off, implying that he Thing has become the creature. I understand this is how the first film opened. Clever as it will make a number of viewer go to the original film. Not I thought.