Return the Cranford Part 2
Cranford finally came to a close... of course I'm sure they'll find a way to bring them all back if this garners as many awards as the previous series did, which I'm sure it will despite not being as good. Overall I was left with the feeling that this entire series was extraneous. It contained one or two laughs, but taken as a whole, it was just trying to be the original, but without the overall Gaskell arc. Despite the original having two extra stories fused into the Cranford text, the first series never felt anything other than a whole, whereas this felt like disparate elements jarring together for 90 minutes. We spent 3 hours and a few seasons with our friends only to have everything that was jostled out of place put back to where it was when we started. The heartache of Gem leaving followed by his return. The railroad which was coming suddenly wasn't, then it was... why bother treading over the same stories over and over. Plus there was a melancholy air that pervaded the whole show and made it more depressing than previously. Where we had the young love and the old guard, now we have the bitchy set upon youth who we aren't emotionally invested in, and then the old favorites are so wistful and sad, realizing that if they don't embrace change and the future their town is dead. Plus the upheaval and taciturnity of Harry doesn't do justice to the Harry that Mr. Carter so believed in... I'm not going to rehash ever bit now, perhaps when it airs on PBS later this month and I'm not worried about spoiling it, I'll dissect more... but new callous youths and wistful old friends does not a riveting series make... also one scene with Tim Curry!?! How horribly underused... even if it was the best scene in the entire series to date.
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