Season 9 - Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic (1979-1980)
Until American Gods I never thought a show with Ian McShane could ever be bad. He elevates every show he is in, from American Horror Story to Dallas. Though technically American Horror Story should not even be mentioned in the same breath as the magnificent juggernaut that was Dallas. But needs must. Because of American Gods I came to the realization that he isn't capable of saving every show and that's when I gave myself permission to never watch American Gods again. The fact that Bryan Fuller couldn't make it work should have been my sign to abandon it before the end of the first season but I just had to get to the episode filmed at The House on the Rock. If you know, you know. Now I'm not saying that Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic is bad. It's nowhere near the level of American Gods, it's just that it's so damn forgettable. The main problem is that four episodes is too short to do the life of Benjamin Disraeli credit. Either it should have been longer or shorter, and as for what they chose to focus on? They really needed someone to come along and tell them that the minutiae of back door political deals that took up an entire episode was mind-numbing. He was a larger than life character and they seem to make him into a caricature. Not via the acting I should note, because with Ian McShane, as previously noted, and Rosemary Leach, Anton Rodgers, Patricia Hodge and the like, they aren't going to give a bad performance, they are going to be let down by the material. And they were. The first episode was basically Disraeli sewing his wild oats. Yes, he was a Lothario. The second episode is him trying to get his foothold in politics while having a comfortable domestic life. The third episode is him being the confidant of the Queen. The forth episode, as previously mentioned, is political minutiae as he is hailed as an elder statesman. And, while this outline seems to make sense, each episode tackling the furtherance of his life, the way things change so rapidly in his life because of the condensed timeline gives the viewers whiplash. Character's opinions wildly swing between scenes from hate to love. The most vivid examples are with his wife and Queen Victoria. His wife, Mary Anne Disraeli, was originally the wife of Benjamin's friend and colleague Wyndham Lewis. He thought her vapid and stupid. So how, one year after the death of Lewis, was he marrying her? A cynic would say it was for her money, but he also apparently had a change of heart and viewed her as far shrewder than he ever could have guessed. We don't see this. One scene he's talking about what an idiot she is and the next he couldn't live without her advice. Say what!?! How did that happen? The same thing happens with Queen Victoria. She won't talk to him and then he's her dearest confidant. This just doesn't make sense. Show don't tell. But even if they had shown the change in these relationships properly his relationship with his sister would have made me forever hate him. His sister is the caregiver for their father Isaac and when he's dying he offers no monetary support for his sister. Yes, money was tight, but he was buying a luxury house down the road while forcing his own sister out of her home! At least in a shorter version perhaps we wouldn't have seen this nasty and selfish side to the great statesman. But in a longer version perhaps we could have had some semblance of a cohesive life. As it is this is just bits and pieces that we're supposed to put together to make up a whole. Contradictions and all. Yes, perhaps this is more realistic, but it doesn't make good television.
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