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cloudsinveniceOh god, sorry for making two posts in a row, but this episode of Beauty and the Beast (s1ep5, "Masques") is killing me. Seemingly every American series that ran in the 80s had to do A Very Special Episode About The Troubles In Northern Ireland, and they're my kryptonite. The above line was what made me turn to my boyfriend and go, "Give me the laptop back, I need to liveblog this!"
Catherine and her dad are at a Hallowe'en party to honour Briget O'Donnell, an Irish peace activist. Her bodyguard gets anxious about Mr. Chandler's sword and makes some remark about "croppies" which (as tedious exposition explains) might have been current in 1798 but is basically just an excuse for Irish People Being Irish Irishly and George R. R. Martin (for alas, it is he who wrote the episode) to show off his research. There are fears of an assassination attempt by 'Orangemen' (which... you can see what they were going for in terms of using terms associated with different sides in the conflict, but it conjures up really weird imagery of some guy in a sash and bowler hat showing up to murder her, as opposed to some generic UVF or UDA guy).
Anyway, Briget is being played by some Irish American from Wisconsin who does Fakey Floaty Romantic Vaguely Southern Irish Accent (you know the one) despite being from the Bogside ("In Derry," she tells us sadly, "the night has a darker music!") and... oh, it's just going to get worse and worse. But I am gripped. Horribly, horribly gripped. Also, Briget has a thing for Vincent (my boyfriend is now ad-libbing in her atrocious accent: "Sometimes I just want a hairy paw on me fanny!"), so it's not going to end well. I will edit in more awfulness as and when it becomes necessary.
Also the assassin (the actor is apparently the poorly documented Gerry Gibson, and is the only one with a halfway convincing Ulster accent) who's actually chasing Briget is wearing a clown suit, which is sinister but at the same time hilarious. He turns out to be a generic IRA guy, and not, as we'd hoped, her father, which would've fitted nicely with the story arc they're building out of her history. We are now headcanoning that the across-the-barricades love affair with an "Ian" that led her dad to disown her was with Ian Paisley, Jr. (At least the show has a moment of insight when Briget mentions that her father's fundraising "for the widows and orphans" was in fact used to create more widows and orphans - always a bugbear when talking about the American consciousness of the Troubles.)
Meanwhile, Donald has turned out to be a bad guy and is doing a Scottish (don't ask) accent that would embarrass the most limited of Braveheart extras: "I'm no murderer! This is an execution - for Ulster, and Billy!" (Or, "...and belief!" - it's hard to tell.)
Choice Briget quotes so far that show how the script is trying to make her embody The Irish Woman Of Deep Mythic Spirituality:
"And the heart is as stubborn as the Irish!"
"All owls look alike by night!" (At night, all cats are grey? The owls are not what they seem?)
Okay, so finally Catherine and Vincent are getting to have a moment. It's kind of sad how sidelined Vincent got in this by the whole Troubles plot; the beginning, with his father doing the storytelling session with the kids underground, was so promising, and the idea that Hallowe'en's the one night when Vincent can just go out on the town like everyone else is really interesting, but they don't give any sense of how that feels for him. It all devolves into a touristy montage of New York. A line like, "I've lived here all my life, and yet it's as though I've never seen the city... until tonight," is also undermined by the fact they're shooting it in front of a background photo of a particular touristy spot. The one nice moment is when this morning-after-the-night-before is interrupted: a jogger gets startled by Vincent's appearance, reminding him that it's business as usual until next Hallowe'en.
Catherine and her dad are at a Hallowe'en party to honour Briget O'Donnell, an Irish peace activist. Her bodyguard gets anxious about Mr. Chandler's sword and makes some remark about "croppies" which (as tedious exposition explains) might have been current in 1798 but is basically just an excuse for Irish People Being Irish Irishly and George R. R. Martin (for alas, it is he who wrote the episode) to show off his research. There are fears of an assassination attempt by 'Orangemen' (which... you can see what they were going for in terms of using terms associated with different sides in the conflict, but it conjures up really weird imagery of some guy in a sash and bowler hat showing up to murder her, as opposed to some generic UVF or UDA guy).
Anyway, Briget is being played by some Irish American from Wisconsin who does Fakey Floaty Romantic Vaguely Southern Irish Accent (you know the one) despite being from the Bogside ("In Derry," she tells us sadly, "the night has a darker music!") and... oh, it's just going to get worse and worse. But I am gripped. Horribly, horribly gripped. Also, Briget has a thing for Vincent (my boyfriend is now ad-libbing in her atrocious accent: "Sometimes I just want a hairy paw on me fanny!"), so it's not going to end well. I will edit in more awfulness as and when it becomes necessary.
Also the assassin (the actor is apparently the poorly documented Gerry Gibson, and is the only one with a halfway convincing Ulster accent) who's actually chasing Briget is wearing a clown suit, which is sinister but at the same time hilarious. He turns out to be a generic IRA guy, and not, as we'd hoped, her father, which would've fitted nicely with the story arc they're building out of her history. We are now headcanoning that the across-the-barricades love affair with an "Ian" that led her dad to disown her was with Ian Paisley, Jr. (At least the show has a moment of insight when Briget mentions that her father's fundraising "for the widows and orphans" was in fact used to create more widows and orphans - always a bugbear when talking about the American consciousness of the Troubles.)
Meanwhile, Donald has turned out to be a bad guy and is doing a Scottish (don't ask) accent that would embarrass the most limited of Braveheart extras: "I'm no murderer! This is an execution - for Ulster, and Billy!" (Or, "...and belief!" - it's hard to tell.)
Choice Briget quotes so far that show how the script is trying to make her embody The Irish Woman Of Deep Mythic Spirituality:
"And the heart is as stubborn as the Irish!"
"All owls look alike by night!" (At night, all cats are grey? The owls are not what they seem?)
Okay, so finally Catherine and Vincent are getting to have a moment. It's kind of sad how sidelined Vincent got in this by the whole Troubles plot; the beginning, with his father doing the storytelling session with the kids underground, was so promising, and the idea that Hallowe'en's the one night when Vincent can just go out on the town like everyone else is really interesting, but they don't give any sense of how that feels for him. It all devolves into a touristy montage of New York. A line like, "I've lived here all my life, and yet it's as though I've never seen the city... until tonight," is also undermined by the fact they're shooting it in front of a background photo of a particular touristy spot. The one nice moment is when this morning-after-the-night-before is interrupted: a jogger gets startled by Vincent's appearance, reminding him that it's business as usual until next Hallowe'en.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-05 08:41 am (UTC)HA!
This episode sounds thoroughly embarrassing.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-05 01:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-05 02:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-05 11:44 am (UTC)Okay...I wish I had not opened this just as I need to leave for work...I willl look at it once there if I have time, but right from the get go this:conjures up really weird imagery of some guy in a sash and bowler hat showing up to murder her, as opposed to some generic UVF or UDA guymade me bark aughter, scaring two cat enough to flee the living room entirely. Well done! Will comment more in a bit. (I used to watch this show, but I have no memory of this ep at all!)
no subject
Date: 2015-01-05 01:44 pm (UTC)