shallowness (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shallowness) wrote2023-12-30 09:14 am
shallowness) wrote2023-12-30 09:14 am
Entry tags:
- films,
- ghosts,
- tv in 2023,
- uk
Second Christmas special
I meant to post this yesterday, but time got away with me. (So, there might be two posts today.)
I watched Ghosts - A Gift for You via catch-up. Tl;dr: I laughed, I smiled, I was verkplempt.
I definitely laughed at Thomas saying he was over Alison ‘because of the wee bairn’, continuing the random Scottish thing, but there were a couple of other points where I laughed too. (I must admit that I was relieved that Aniston was the Friends cast member they referenced.)
We had Mike’s sweet call to let the ghosts know the baby’d arrived and then we were into Christmas, with Mike’s mum still at Button House after seven weeks,
Nearly all the ghosts had a thing, with the ‘It’s Christmas’ fakeout and then Robin not feeling Christmassy, Kitty feeling shut out because there was another baby and the ghosts making the most of (cute) Mia being able to see them (allegedly, but I’m glad they referenced Mary) with the Captain trying to learn babytalk while being the responsible one – the father figure, if you will. I adored the lightness of touch with the male ghosts watching Mike be a more hands-on father than you’d have had in their day.
I had to rewind the bit where Fanny popped into the baby’s room – it was a bit spooky. So, Alison decided they’d gaslight Betty about what had happened, using the ghosts to try to prove there were no ghosts, or rather the ghosts with powers, to the others’ resentment. I was glad they had the moment where Betty knew Mike was lying. But by the point that Betty had got the local vicar in to do an exorcism, I was well gripped, unsure like the characters whether it would work, but definitely thinking ‘they’re Alison’s family, you can’t just get rid of them on her like that.’ Also, like everyone, I had forgotten Humphrey.
Home stretch, and Alison deciding to tell the truth – well the bit about it being time for Betty to go and let them work things out on their own, then the ghosts venting all their bottled-up chat at a very weary Alison, and Lady Fanny (who had been like another grandmother all episode, actually) being the first to realise they were doing a Betty. Really poignant that we hadn’t seen the ghosts vote and decide what they were going to tell Alison. (Thomas’s obsession slightly undercut the whole ‘family’ vibe.) I think they’d earned Robin feeling Christmassy then (but maybe his voiceover was too much?)
I was verklempt at the goodbye scene (and Alison would have to be careful about where they moved to, as she’ll always see ghosts.) But oh, the future postscript, where an aged-up Alison and Mike came back annually to the hotel to see them all – really nicely handled because of the lack of close-ups and details, but we got all the information we needed. And then, because it is a sitcom, the plague victims got the last moment, enjoying the sauna, proving the ghosts had made the right decision. (As had the writers, because however much the clamour, there aren’t likely to be any more Ghosts Christmas specials. And this last, like all their Christmas special, was touching and heartwarming, but perhaps even more so. Can the Beeb at least have an arrangement where they’d look at any Christmas-themed script this lot produce?)
By the by, I didn’t realise until I went to see it, but Simon Farnaby co-wrote Wonka (an enjoyable family film, if not quite worth five stars, really.) He and a couple of other Ghosts faces turn up in it.
I watched Ghosts - A Gift for You via catch-up. Tl;dr: I laughed, I smiled, I was verkplempt.
I definitely laughed at Thomas saying he was over Alison ‘because of the wee bairn’, continuing the random Scottish thing, but there were a couple of other points where I laughed too. (I must admit that I was relieved that Aniston was the Friends cast member they referenced.)
We had Mike’s sweet call to let the ghosts know the baby’d arrived and then we were into Christmas, with Mike’s mum still at Button House after seven weeks,
Nearly all the ghosts had a thing, with the ‘It’s Christmas’ fakeout and then Robin not feeling Christmassy, Kitty feeling shut out because there was another baby and the ghosts making the most of (cute) Mia being able to see them (allegedly, but I’m glad they referenced Mary) with the Captain trying to learn babytalk while being the responsible one – the father figure, if you will. I adored the lightness of touch with the male ghosts watching Mike be a more hands-on father than you’d have had in their day.
I had to rewind the bit where Fanny popped into the baby’s room – it was a bit spooky. So, Alison decided they’d gaslight Betty about what had happened, using the ghosts to try to prove there were no ghosts, or rather the ghosts with powers, to the others’ resentment. I was glad they had the moment where Betty knew Mike was lying. But by the point that Betty had got the local vicar in to do an exorcism, I was well gripped, unsure like the characters whether it would work, but definitely thinking ‘they’re Alison’s family, you can’t just get rid of them on her like that.’ Also, like everyone, I had forgotten Humphrey.
Home stretch, and Alison deciding to tell the truth – well the bit about it being time for Betty to go and let them work things out on their own, then the ghosts venting all their bottled-up chat at a very weary Alison, and Lady Fanny (who had been like another grandmother all episode, actually) being the first to realise they were doing a Betty. Really poignant that we hadn’t seen the ghosts vote and decide what they were going to tell Alison. (Thomas’s obsession slightly undercut the whole ‘family’ vibe.) I think they’d earned Robin feeling Christmassy then (but maybe his voiceover was too much?)
I was verklempt at the goodbye scene (and Alison would have to be careful about where they moved to, as she’ll always see ghosts.) But oh, the future postscript, where an aged-up Alison and Mike came back annually to the hotel to see them all – really nicely handled because of the lack of close-ups and details, but we got all the information we needed. And then, because it is a sitcom, the plague victims got the last moment, enjoying the sauna, proving the ghosts had made the right decision. (As had the writers, because however much the clamour, there aren’t likely to be any more Ghosts Christmas specials. And this last, like all their Christmas special, was touching and heartwarming, but perhaps even more so. Can the Beeb at least have an arrangement where they’d look at any Christmas-themed script this lot produce?)
By the by, I didn’t realise until I went to see it, but Simon Farnaby co-wrote Wonka (an enjoyable family film, if not quite worth five stars, really.) He and a couple of other Ghosts faces turn up in it.