The Bletchley Circle 2.3
Jan. 21st, 2014 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessFirst Susanless episode (she’s in Mumbai, which is how I think Alice pronounced it, but wouldn’t it still have been Bombay at that time or should I check before making such accusations? I feel on firmer ground saying that while I could take Lucy using ‘Okay’ I doubt that Jean would.)
I think the show’s going to do all right, though.
Granted, it decided to put Millie in peril for most of the episode – it was such a relief when she turned on the confidence and got out of the situation with the Maltese mafia boss, who could quite conceivably have killed her for knowing too much. But then, we didn’t know that Jasper had been killed or how.
I liked how we saw Millie’s strengths – lucky for her that Slovakian is so close to Russian. But she is a people person and she observed what she could.
And, of course, she was in that jam because of what happened with Alice. I loved that this episode was so much about the ramifications: that Alice was finding it difficult to get work because of her notoriety, that she got to see that it had affected Milly work-wise too, that Alice and Lizzie were working on their relationship, and that there was a play on the fact that Lizzie’s newly found mother is young enough to borrow her clothes, and also Alice’s hesitation in calling the police and in turning to Jean and Lucy first. And poor Jean had a cane after the gunshot.
I did think Millie was a bit slow in not seeing that people trafficking, specifically for prostitution, was going on, but maybe she hasn’t been reading the same newspapers as we have. (This episod makes me want a The Hour crossover even more.)
I liked Millie’s relationship with Jasper. Also enjoyed that moment of incongruity when these respectable looking ladies marched into the snooker hall, determined to get info. Lucy’s pumping and use of Ben was extremely unsubtle – don’t patronise her, though, seriously, Ben – and how Millie and Lucy’s relationship was treated, because of course she’d know where Millie kept stuff and how to talk to her. But the way Alice fitted in, not perfectly, but by being herself and being brilliant and useful under the constraints of the situation worked.
When one of them is in danger like this, for all that the show is about the waste of their talents or the difficulties of finding outlets for them in the world that they’re living in, it makes me glad that they use their vulnerabilities (and I want them to meet Agent Susan Carter or, more realistically, a woman who is better at working in the field than them).
I also think that Alice having a daughter Lizzie’s age is going to play into her reaction to the girls who left the Iron Curtain to find this grim future. But Millie’s horror and determination was palpable and sympathetic. Obviously the circle needs to bring this gang down, to get Millie and those girls free.
But guh, I love their supportiveness. Even if Alice, Lucy and Jean failed to find her and Millie got out partly because of her own gab, but mainly because of circumstances, they didn’t need to wait hours to go look for her. The whole show is an extension of the code that Millie adhered to in making sure that drunk!Alice got home safe. True, the irony was that Millie’s home wasn’t safe. But they’re going to extend that protection to the girls they know need it, driven by something that doesn’t drive the police and armed with abilities the police doesn’t have.
And, yes, the preview seems to suggest that it will be relevant for plot, but having Lizzie go back to Bletchley, where the circle started, feels important.
I think the show’s going to do all right, though.
Granted, it decided to put Millie in peril for most of the episode – it was such a relief when she turned on the confidence and got out of the situation with the Maltese mafia boss, who could quite conceivably have killed her for knowing too much. But then, we didn’t know that Jasper had been killed or how.
I liked how we saw Millie’s strengths – lucky for her that Slovakian is so close to Russian. But she is a people person and she observed what she could.
And, of course, she was in that jam because of what happened with Alice. I loved that this episode was so much about the ramifications: that Alice was finding it difficult to get work because of her notoriety, that she got to see that it had affected Milly work-wise too, that Alice and Lizzie were working on their relationship, and that there was a play on the fact that Lizzie’s newly found mother is young enough to borrow her clothes, and also Alice’s hesitation in calling the police and in turning to Jean and Lucy first. And poor Jean had a cane after the gunshot.
I did think Millie was a bit slow in not seeing that people trafficking, specifically for prostitution, was going on, but maybe she hasn’t been reading the same newspapers as we have. (This episod makes me want a The Hour crossover even more.)
I liked Millie’s relationship with Jasper. Also enjoyed that moment of incongruity when these respectable looking ladies marched into the snooker hall, determined to get info. Lucy’s pumping and use of Ben was extremely unsubtle – don’t patronise her, though, seriously, Ben – and how Millie and Lucy’s relationship was treated, because of course she’d know where Millie kept stuff and how to talk to her. But the way Alice fitted in, not perfectly, but by being herself and being brilliant and useful under the constraints of the situation worked.
When one of them is in danger like this, for all that the show is about the waste of their talents or the difficulties of finding outlets for them in the world that they’re living in, it makes me glad that they use their vulnerabilities (and I want them to meet Agent Susan Carter or, more realistically, a woman who is better at working in the field than them).
I also think that Alice having a daughter Lizzie’s age is going to play into her reaction to the girls who left the Iron Curtain to find this grim future. But Millie’s horror and determination was palpable and sympathetic. Obviously the circle needs to bring this gang down, to get Millie and those girls free.
But guh, I love their supportiveness. Even if Alice, Lucy and Jean failed to find her and Millie got out partly because of her own gab, but mainly because of circumstances, they didn’t need to wait hours to go look for her. The whole show is an extension of the code that Millie adhered to in making sure that drunk!Alice got home safe. True, the irony was that Millie’s home wasn’t safe. But they’re going to extend that protection to the girls they know need it, driven by something that doesn’t drive the police and armed with abilities the police doesn’t have.
And, yes, the preview seems to suggest that it will be relevant for plot, but having Lizzie go back to Bletchley, where the circle started, feels important.
