Help! My sister is a… (Mitford edition)
Oct. 16th, 2025 08:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessOutrageous - 1.4 Hating and Loving
Start of 1935, and Unity wrote home to describe her meeting with Hitler, startling everyone. But it would get worse…
So, Jessica is Decca? She was about to be presented, hating it, hating the fact that Unity was doing things, and hating what those things were. Deborah was old enough to learn to drive by the family reckoning, but when she met jockey-cum-atomic scientist Derrick, she revealed she wasn’t yet 15. He’d been at uni with Tom. Eventually, this roused Pamela’s big sister energy at his ‘friendship’ with her (relatively subtle echo of Unity’s adoring appeal to Hitler).
Diana was popping off to Germany, interested in getting an invite for her Oswald to meet with Hitler via Unity. Setting aside all the fascism, (which one can’t and shouldn’t), that’s a lot of effort for a man who drops you for his sister-in-law. I know she’d want her divorce and all to mean something, but really, he’s not worth it! (/Eastenders voice.)
Nancy came back to her married home to see how much furniture was still left, and found a slightly reformed Peter, who said his/their friends had lectured him into getting a job and being a better husband. They were trying to fill a Diana-sized gap for Nancy, as she (and Unity) were still angry with her for her book of very gentle satire about fascism, which came out this episode. Presumably the book didn’t sell very well because of the whole pulling of punches.
And then, possibly trying to get one up on a non-political shop girl that her idol wanted to have sex with (Unity’s sex drive possibly being sublimated. I mean the Nazi boy she was using for info was pretty, but I couldn’t get past the skull on his hat, myself), Unity decided to write a love letter by proxy to the German press. But the English daughter of a lord taking the Nazi view on ‘the Jewish problem’ made the news back at home, and we learned that her family weren’t that antisemitic actually, and rather horrified at all the hate she was spewing, especially Decca. (Who then cited that thing about whether it would be worth it to assassinate Hitler, which has something to do with time travel by my lifetime. So, basically, I doubt that Decca Mitford said anything of the sort, and put it down to the modern script.)
Marve ordered Unity back home. Farve kicked Unity out, to Marve’s horror – she was all about reasoning with her daughter and wanting to keep her in the bosom of the family to do so. That they hadn’t discussed how to handle their errant daughter was of a piece with her finding out by accident that he was considering letting the house for money. Of course, as everyone said, Unity was an adult now, and went to Diana.
Heartbroken Decca asking Pam how she could love a sister who spouted such hate, and Pam’s answer made Nancy reach out to Diana, only to find Diana not caring about what Unity had said. Nancy cried out that this was all Oswald’s influence – fair, while Diana blethered on about Nancy thinking she was right simply because she was the eldest and chucked her out of her house.
Diana started drinking after that fight, while Nancy went walkabout and eventually turned to Joss, who it turns out isn’t just gay, but Jewish too, and who was willing to talk out what Diana saw in Mosely, Mosely’s journey to fascism and antisemitism and such ugly truths with his best friend. The episode ended with Diana, driving drunk, leaving a party to go to Oswald (she’d arranged a meeting for him with Hitler and got him jealous that she was spending time alone with another man who was actually in power and actually a dictator instead of a wannabe) and getting involved in a car crash.
We were back to the sarky titles, and every now and then the director remembering that the camera work needed to be edgy, but for all the big political themes, it is ultimately about strained family relationships.
Start of 1935, and Unity wrote home to describe her meeting with Hitler, startling everyone. But it would get worse…
So, Jessica is Decca? She was about to be presented, hating it, hating the fact that Unity was doing things, and hating what those things were. Deborah was old enough to learn to drive by the family reckoning, but when she met jockey-cum-atomic scientist Derrick, she revealed she wasn’t yet 15. He’d been at uni with Tom. Eventually, this roused Pamela’s big sister energy at his ‘friendship’ with her (relatively subtle echo of Unity’s adoring appeal to Hitler).
Diana was popping off to Germany, interested in getting an invite for her Oswald to meet with Hitler via Unity. Setting aside all the fascism, (which one can’t and shouldn’t), that’s a lot of effort for a man who drops you for his sister-in-law. I know she’d want her divorce and all to mean something, but really, he’s not worth it! (/Eastenders voice.)
Nancy came back to her married home to see how much furniture was still left, and found a slightly reformed Peter, who said his/their friends had lectured him into getting a job and being a better husband. They were trying to fill a Diana-sized gap for Nancy, as she (and Unity) were still angry with her for her book of very gentle satire about fascism, which came out this episode. Presumably the book didn’t sell very well because of the whole pulling of punches.
And then, possibly trying to get one up on a non-political shop girl that her idol wanted to have sex with (Unity’s sex drive possibly being sublimated. I mean the Nazi boy she was using for info was pretty, but I couldn’t get past the skull on his hat, myself), Unity decided to write a love letter by proxy to the German press. But the English daughter of a lord taking the Nazi view on ‘the Jewish problem’ made the news back at home, and we learned that her family weren’t that antisemitic actually, and rather horrified at all the hate she was spewing, especially Decca. (Who then cited that thing about whether it would be worth it to assassinate Hitler, which has something to do with time travel by my lifetime. So, basically, I doubt that Decca Mitford said anything of the sort, and put it down to the modern script.)
Marve ordered Unity back home. Farve kicked Unity out, to Marve’s horror – she was all about reasoning with her daughter and wanting to keep her in the bosom of the family to do so. That they hadn’t discussed how to handle their errant daughter was of a piece with her finding out by accident that he was considering letting the house for money. Of course, as everyone said, Unity was an adult now, and went to Diana.
Heartbroken Decca asking Pam how she could love a sister who spouted such hate, and Pam’s answer made Nancy reach out to Diana, only to find Diana not caring about what Unity had said. Nancy cried out that this was all Oswald’s influence – fair, while Diana blethered on about Nancy thinking she was right simply because she was the eldest and chucked her out of her house.
Diana started drinking after that fight, while Nancy went walkabout and eventually turned to Joss, who it turns out isn’t just gay, but Jewish too, and who was willing to talk out what Diana saw in Mosely, Mosely’s journey to fascism and antisemitism and such ugly truths with his best friend. The episode ended with Diana, driving drunk, leaving a party to go to Oswald (she’d arranged a meeting for him with Hitler and got him jealous that she was spending time alone with another man who was actually in power and actually a dictator instead of a wannabe) and getting involved in a car crash.
We were back to the sarky titles, and every now and then the director remembering that the camera work needed to be edgy, but for all the big political themes, it is ultimately about strained family relationships.
