Victoria: Young England
March 6, 2017 11:33 AM - Season 1, Episode 8 - Subscribe
Victoria goes for rides, shots are fired, no more cakes for Nancy, Victoria smacks-down a King, and birthin' babies is apparently a spectator sport.
I'm going with T-Lo's analysis on this one: "Victoria Ended a Beautiful, But Empty First Season Well".
Not much more to be added to that, really. Of course it's difficult to build dramatic tension when the major plot points are also major historical points, and I don't think they really succeeded in overcoming that problem. Points for trying, and points for lavish production values and all that, but yeah -- I found little that was genuinely compelling about the series.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:41 PM on March 6, 2017
Not much more to be added to that, really. Of course it's difficult to build dramatic tension when the major plot points are also major historical points, and I don't think they really succeeded in overcoming that problem. Points for trying, and points for lavish production values and all that, but yeah -- I found little that was genuinely compelling about the series.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:41 PM on March 6, 2017
Did anyone else get treated to that horrid pre-packaged "afterparty" pledge week special after the show. Gods, it was cringe-inducing.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:33 AM on March 7, 2017
posted by Thorzdad at 5:33 AM on March 7, 2017
Tivo recorded the "afterparty" but I didn't watch it.
Early on in the season I was bored and uninterested in all the servant drama. The upstairs/downstairs mix worked in Downton Abbey because that show was always about the whole house, and as strong characters go everyone was always equal to us as viewers. But here, it's servants vs. Queen F-ing Victoria for our attention, and the vast machinations and manipulations of 19th century royalty are always going to be more interesting. (To me, at least.) Yet here, that world isn't even handled as well as it could be - everything kind of rushed and simplified, to make more time for a dalliance between a maid and a cook. Mind you I could be interested in a show about palace servants, but I feel like you'd need to leave all the royals out of it to make it work.
posted by dnash at 6:09 AM on March 7, 2017 [3 favorites]
Early on in the season I was bored and uninterested in all the servant drama. The upstairs/downstairs mix worked in Downton Abbey because that show was always about the whole house, and as strong characters go everyone was always equal to us as viewers. But here, it's servants vs. Queen F-ing Victoria for our attention, and the vast machinations and manipulations of 19th century royalty are always going to be more interesting. (To me, at least.) Yet here, that world isn't even handled as well as it could be - everything kind of rushed and simplified, to make more time for a dalliance between a maid and a cook. Mind you I could be interested in a show about palace servants, but I feel like you'd need to leave all the royals out of it to make it work.
posted by dnash at 6:09 AM on March 7, 2017 [3 favorites]
I lasted about ten minutes into the afterparty. I had to bail.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:03 AM on March 7, 2017
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:03 AM on March 7, 2017
The afterparty started with the head writer blabbing on about how how she read Victoria's diaries in uni, that she found Victoria to be so modern, and 'just like us', and... I was done. Firstly, I'm not sure I really believe that, and second, that's not at all what I want in my lush British period dramas.
But overall, I enjoyed this series just fine. There were fundamental flaws that prevented it from being all it could have been, and also stopped me from being more engaged in the story.
The production values and such were outstanding, but as a story, it had nothing on more traditional historical dramas, like Edward the King, Lillie, Jennie, the First Churchills, etc. But overall, Victoria was an enjoyable series. I don't regret watching.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:19 AM on March 7, 2017
But overall, I enjoyed this series just fine. There were fundamental flaws that prevented it from being all it could have been, and also stopped me from being more engaged in the story.
The production values and such were outstanding, but as a story, it had nothing on more traditional historical dramas, like Edward the King, Lillie, Jennie, the First Churchills, etc. But overall, Victoria was an enjoyable series. I don't regret watching.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:19 AM on March 7, 2017
I absolutely second dnash on how a show about royalty should not be showing the lives of the servants. I liked it on Downton but hoo boy, does that not work with royals around.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:14 AM on March 10, 2017
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:14 AM on March 10, 2017
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posted by Thorzdad at 11:37 AM on March 6, 2017