Season 25 - The Final Cut (1995-1996)
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.
Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong was a man convicted and hanged for the murder of his wife in 1921 and the attempted murder of his business rival, Oswald Martin, later the same year. He would probably have gotten away with the murder of his wife if not for his attack on his rival, whose father-in-law was the local chemist from whom Armstrong bought the poison used in both cases supposedly to deal with the dandelions in his yard. The practically nonexistent dandelions. The father-in-law put two and two together and the rest, as they say, is history. The case inspired both Dorothy L. Sayers and Frances Iles, AKA Anthony Berkeley Cox. But it was Michael Kitchen and his genius who brought this man so fully to life. First off, let it be known, I am a Michael Kitchen stan. I fell in love with his understated method of crime solving in Foyle's War and worked my way through his back catalog. If you haven't seen him as Branwell Brontë in The Brontes of Haworth I question your dedication to the actor, your love of British miniseries, and your interest in the Brontës themselves. Yes, the absolute fro of hair and mutton chops for days may at first distract you, but once you hear that voice, well, you are in for another classic Kitchen performance. And it's that ability to reel you in, to side with him that this drama uses so deviously. For the first quarter of this miniseries you identify so strongly with Kitchen as Armstrong that you can see why he'd kill his wife. She's portrayed as a demanding harridan. She's unmanageable and untenable and by being given just this glimpse into this couple's life we see that Armstrong really only had one way out. But that's the point, we are given just this slice of life. His views, his opinions, his struggles. Then, after she is dispatched, we see a different side of him. Maybe his wife wasn't how he portrayed her to us. Little hints of who he really is starts to seep in. The womanizing, the venereal diseases. All this comes as a shock and makes you think, how could I have gotten the wrong end of the stick so thoroughly. That is all down to the genius of Kitchen. Once we know the truth and he sets his eyes on Oswald Martin, brilliantly played by David Thewlis the series shifts once more into a dark comedy with Armstrong's ham-handed attempts to get ride of his rival. First he attempts to bump off Martin with poisoned chocolates. But not being able to witness the ingestion leads to a bit of a mix-up. Therefore the second attempt is done under his watchful eye at his home. In other words, his desire to destroy his rival makes him show his hand. This leads to much palaver. Did Armstrong just try to kill him? Wait, were those chocolates him? And then the father-in-law putting it all together. Brilliant. The timing leads to it being humorous without being overplayed. The trio arriving to report their findings to the police is comic gold but also, just three desperate people trying to save themselves. Needless to say, Armstrong doesn't get away with it. But, for a moment, Kitchen made you wish he did.
Country Matters started with delight and surprise. So many favorite actors as fresh faced youths! There's Ian McKellen, Peter Firth, looking about twelve but actually nineteen, and yes, that is Isobel Crawley! It took me about fifteen minutes to confirm it was indeed Penelope Wilton in her second ever television appearance. I mention it to save you the fifteen minutes of confusion that I grappled with. But once you get past these revelations and the discordantly cheery theme music you come to the realization that this series is nothing but unrelenting pain and misery. The second episode almost did me in. I never give up on shows and "The Mill" made me want to throw in the towel. Every single episode just grinds you down with despair. Rape, unwanted pregnancies, prison, disfigurement, stillbirth, lies, affairs, suicide, unhappy marriages, on and on and on, grinding you down more and more. Many people complain that this DVD release contains only eight of the thirteen episodes produced, famously omitting episodes staring Upstairs, Downstairs favorites Pauline Collins and Meg Wynn Owen, as well as a second Peter Firth episode, but most importantly episodes starring Jeremy Brett and Michael Kitchen. All I can say is that if they are anywhere near as depressing as the eight episodes I slogged through we are all better off without them in our lives. Because I can tell you now, there is no way in hell I could have made it through five more episodes, I barely made it through these. Going back to the worst of the lot, "The Mill," it's about a poor girl no longer wanted under her parents feet so she's sent off into service where she dutifully attends to her bedridden mistress while being raped every night by her mistress's husband. She of course gets pregnant and is run off home. Why would ANYONE want to watch this? Episode after episode shows the perils of pregnancy for unwed women, but this was wantonly cruel. All these episodes are adapted from the works of A.E. Coppard and H.E. Bates, and after Bates's "The Mill" I came to dread his episodes, despite the fact he wrote the delightful The Darling Buds of May. Which makes it extra ironic that the ONLY story that could be said to have a semblance of a HEA was his "The Ring of Truth." So if you REALLY feel like after this last year you could do with a big old helping of despair, might I suggest Country Matters for your viewing masochism?
I am delighted that this gem of a show is available on DVD, albeit as an extra on the DVD release of the far inferior The Queen's Sister, which ironically aired on a rival station to PBS, BBC America. This production in just an hour gives an insightful and oftentimes hilarious look into the marriage of George IV, AKA Prinny, and Caroline of Brunswick. To say theirs was not a love match would be understating it. But what is amazing about this little glimpse into royal life during the Regency Era is that all the vitriol spewed back and forth showing them as nothing more than children was taken from what they actually said. They seriously said this!?! I'm horrified to think of what Prinny on Twitter would be like. Note to self, I want to see the Prince Regent on Twitter as a parody account. Seriously, why isn't this a thing!?! All I had remembered of A Royal Scandal was the interesting framing device of a narrator and the brilliance of Richard E. Grant as Prinny and Susan Lynch as Caroline evilly glaring at each other while on a very nice black and white tiled floor. Obviously hinting at the combative chess-like nature of their marriage. So for your edification and mine I rewatched it. I was blown away by who they got as the supporting cast! And I didn't even remember there was a supporting cast! Michael Kitchen, Frances Barber, Denis Lawson, Oliver Ford Davies, and Ian Freakin' Richardson as the pitch perfect narrator! This cast was more than one could hope for, how did I forget them!?! The subtlety of Michael Kitchen facing the opprobrium of Prinny's rage and just replying that he was sent to set up a marriage not weigh in on the suitability of the match. Perfection! Oh, and my favorite scene by far is when Caroline arrives in England and is greeted by her husband's mistress, Lady Jersey! There's a real repressed British cat fight about Caroline's dress and in particular her hat. Caroline wins on the point of her hat! She LOVES that hat! It has been said of Lady Jersey that she possessed "a heady mix of charm, beauty, and sarcasm" and I really can't think of a better way to describe this little glimpse at royal life, come for the charming sarcasm!
Mrs. Dalloway
