Season 32 - Me & Mrs. Jones (2002-2003)
To me, and I think the majority of viewers, Masterpiece Theatre has always been about period dramas. Yes, there is the occasional series set in the present day, and let us never forget that there's technically a Masterpiece Contemporary. Because when Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery! were incorporated under the umbrella of Masterpiece we somehow ended up with a third show, Masterpiece Contemporary, which, since 2008, has only aired fifteen movies and three series, which isn't much. The point being, whenever a contemporary show airs on Masterpiece Classic as I will call it for this one time only because otherwise you might think I'm talking about the contemporary iteration, I almost never watch it. Looking back I've literally only watched Us, for Tom Hollander, and King Charles III, because I had heard good things, when they initially aired. As for Me and Mrs. Jones? I don't know when I first saw it, but do know it was during the halcyon days when my second PBS station started reairing Masterpiece Theatre at midnight on Sunday. Those were the good old days. As for Me and Mrs. Jones? I had remembered very little about it and I really don't think it would have felt so painfully of it's time if I hadn't seen it in over twenty years. Salmon colored faux marbling with wall sconces with actual candles!?! Oh no, we are not going back to the Venetian vampire look ever again thank you very much. What I couldn't get over, besides the wall treatments, was that this feels like Richard Curtis wrote an episode of Masterpiece Theatre. Like people were brainstorming new ideas for a romantic comedy and they said, Bridget Jones but make her PM! So Love Actually actually. But hang on a minute! One of my most hated movies of all time didn't come out until 2003, so, where'd you get the idea for my mom's most hated plotline in that movie Richard Curtis? And seriously, if you think my hatred of that movie is all-encompassing, my mom when she'd get on a tear about how Martine McCutcheon's character was obviously based on Monica Lewinsky could not be contained. Flames on the side of her face! Of course she'd totally approve of this movie, she did love her Robson Green. As for this movie? I can't actually justify any reason that this possibly aired on Masterpiece Theatre other than it's like if House of Cards was a gender swapped romcom. So, the same amount of sexual tension just less murder. Caroline Goodall and Robson Green have great chemistry, but I couldn't get over the hurdle that she was able to totally forgive him for lying to her because in the end it cost him his career. Which, to be fair, was a nice about-face. He did have genuine feelings for her and he didn't betray her and she went on to lead her country the way she wanted because he encouraged her to just be herself and not follow in the shadow of some man. So, it was, on one level, very empowering for women, but on another, she was behaving like a schoolgirl... Which I guess is empowering in it's own way? She can be silly in love and rule the world? So girl power? Yeah? Too bad this movie was a year too late to capitalize on the mantra made famous by The Spice Girls. Oh, and I totally just remembered that Baby Spice has a small role in the sequel to House of Cards, To Play the King. Maybe I am onto something here...
The House of Cards Trilogy was a defining moment in television history. When The Best of Masterpiece Theatre was chosen for its thirty-fifth anniversary it easily made the top twelve with every celebrity interviewed reciting Francis Urquhart's famous line; "You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment." Until now I had only watched the first arc, House of Cards, and one can't deny Ian Richardson's talent. This role was made for him. The way he insouciantly address us, the audience, as his confidants and collaborators, and his breaking of the fourth wall is iconic. This was the insight into the backstabbing world of politics and the monarchy we had been longing for adapted by Andrew Davies from a book written by a Thatcher insider. The problem I had when I first watched House of Cards is that Francis Urquhart is, in my mind, asexual. What turns him on is power, not other people, unless it's his control over them. He only begins an affair with the young journalist Mattie Storin, played by Susannah Harker, because he realizes that that is what she wants and that is how he'll exert control. This is his leverage. Making her feel special. But her desire to call him "daddy" was just too creepy. There's just such an ick factor to it that Mattie and her relationship with Francis is actually creepier than the fact that Kevin Spacey played the role when it was adapted for American audiences by Netflix. Years later going back to watch this I was still just revolted by the whole "daddy" of it all. But I was determined. This was the time for me to not just watch the first arc but to finish the whole series by watching To Play the King and then The Final Cut. First off, watching this when I was already suffering form political fatigue was probably not the best of ideas, but that's on me. The problem I have with the final two arcs is, taken as a whole, they don't feel like a logical progression of the character. Once Francis becomes Prime Minister he proceeds to make all the mistakes that his predecessor did which led to Francis ousting him. What's more he begins another affair which makes even less sense because this is supposedly purely sexual in nature, and, as I've said, he is not a sexual being. What's more he somehow succeeds in toppling the monarchy. To an extent. To Play the King is about him clashing with the new king played by Michael Kitchen and they portray the man who is in all but name Charles III as a very nature loving, exercise obsessed, goody. The exact opposite of Francis and he just bows down to Francis for no reason I can see. It literally makes no sense, nor does how they portray the Royal family by noticeably not referring to the real people and their problems but doing it with a nudge and a wink. But this show keeps unraveling more and more. It literally collapses like a house of cards with Francis somehow catching remorse. This is not a man who has remorse and becoming a secondary character before his ignoble assassination in The Final Cut is absurd. He's Shakespearean, he's Machiavellian, he's not, in any way, human. Yes, you could say he went the way of Macbeth, on which this is heavily based, but no. It doesn't work. In the final analysis did I end up hating the whole series? You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment.
