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chocolate-cream-soldier · 2 years

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Hi! I don’t know if you take asks but just in case.

I’m curious about your view on gentleman jack s02, and why you find it wasn’t as good as s01, and why you find it inconsistent : is it in comparison to what AL wrote in her diaries or just a general vibe of watching the show? Also, what do you find is inconsistent?

I hope you don’t find my question to be annoying, I’m curious because I don’t necessarily watch TV shows and analyse them, especially queer content (I’m just happy it exists).

Thanks!

Hi! I’m the anon who asked why you thought the 2nd season was inconsistent; saw your lasted reblog. Thanks for the beginning of that answer and take your time for the rest! If anything it’s making me more interested in your point of view, so thank you for taking the time to answer me. Cheers!

I apologize for taking a while before answering you, because I too anon don't do TV show analysis anymore, whatever I feel, I usually tag rant about it and reblog stuff from people who are better equipped and far more eloquent at breaking down and analysing scenes and episodes. I will have a go at it I guess since you asked and I do want to actually try and figure out what exactly kept bothering me through out this season.(it’s long and rambly so rest is under the cut)

I will not go episode by episode cause I am not up for a rewatch of s2. I did rewatch s1 but not recently so it's not exactly fresh in my mind but I do feel I have a good grasp on it because I did watch it several times after it aired, I was absolutely enthralled with Season 1. I feel It was beautifully written and masterfully executed and that's why I got instantly attached to the show and the characters. So whatever I speak off in this reply please understand I do have my biases and I am not doing an objective analysis . I am just giving my opinion.

Season 2 was very different from Season 1 and not in a good way tbh, at least for me. Personally I felt the pacing of this season to be very jarring. And that's a general vibe and not because of the diaries, because to be honest I have not deleved much in the source material myself, I have read the transcribed works in parts and have listened to talks from both the show's creator and crew and people who have done research on AL, but that's like a second hand account therefore obviously those are essentially interpretations and how someone reads it might differ from how I would interpret it if I was directly interacting with the source material. For me the show is the source material with which I've directly interacted right…so I am solely trying to focus on the show and the storylines that gets explored by it.

So when I speak of inconsistency, it's obviously not just one thing, the inconsistency was there in the way the show was scripted for this season, the way it was directed , the editing, all of it just felt off. I have read some analysis from iredreamer and natglee and they both nailed it and I've reblogged those posts they are under my gj meta tag if you want to give those a read.

But borrowing their sentiments let's talk about the storylines first- I too didn't like the dry, clinical approach that they took this season. We see the characters talking about things but they don't really take any actions to resolve that. It's like a pressure cooker situation you know. There's build up with no pay off. Also because they don't expand on certain aspects ,be it the social hierarchy or the political opinions or the personal worldviews of the characters, most of the time you draw only negative inference.

I am going to use a food analogy cause that's what came to mind while I tried analysing it. So you have all these ingredients, now it needs to be properly measured and added together in a cohesive manner, marinated and rested before you can cook so as to have tasty food otherwise it will taste bland. This happened with the show, a multitude of things were brought up, be it the individual character insecurities, the social constraints, the obvious homophobia and the ostracization that follows, the class discrimination, add to that the central relationship between Anne and Ann also was fraught with so many issues that of financial and familial legacy, desire for children and needing it to solidfy a marriage(contextually), Anne's fear of the relationship falling apart in absence of it, Anne's infidelity, Ann's constant struggle with depression and anxiety compounded by internalized homophobia, and general sense of feeling powerless in face of a overbearing family.

So many threads and none got the breathing space or the nuanced exploration that they deserved. And it's baffling to me cause season 1 explored heavy topics and did it so well, it never felt like a cliff's note version, we were allowed to experience and empathize with the characters. That's what made them believeable and relatable despite it being a period drama(and in my case even geographically it's removed from my experience and yet it was relatable!)

Also the amount of dropped plotliness makes you feel like wtf was the point of wasting time on them if nothing was to come out of it?the Sowden storyline(well no complaints there but still!), The kids accidentally witnessing the Ann(e)s being intimate, The Priestley's appearance….that one random dude threatening Anne Lister during the townhall!!!?! Umm what is happening here!

Also storywise there was a lot of rehash of the same topics that we already saw them discuss in season 1 . One might say, well it's because of the influence of the diaries, but at the end of the day this is still a TV show and the narrative needs to move forward, going round and round doesn't really help in engaging me as the audience.

Also the chronology was confusing! I noticed it mostly in episode 6 where Ann speaks of not wanting to go back to that shop where she felt humiliated, but that incident happened actually in episode 7 instead. And even in episode 8 the entire emotinal back and forth between them felt weirdly off!

SJ said in an interview, I am paraphrasing here,- this season is about seeing Anne learning to love in a different way and we will fall in love with Ann Walker as she does too-(I am in love with Ann Walker from day 1 so let's put that aside) but for the characters did it really happen that way?I don't even know. It all was left quite ambiguous …atleast that's what it seemed to me(even tho I don't know why we need to explore the did she love her or not aspect cause season 1 already happened…she can have doubts about it, but from the get go going on and on about whether she is just fond of her or whether she is actually in love…my gods what is going on here?!)

I mean all through this season in almost all of their intimate scenes(barring a couple) the conversation was so weird, was it a way to show how incompatible they are or something?! what is happening?

I mean it started off well, the first fight they had in s2 and the following conversation felt genuine and touching to me and you see that they are communicating and trying to be open about their issues and not bottling it up but it stopped happening as we moved forward into the season. I don't know what was the catalyst for that…maybe it deteriorated after Anne's infidelity? I can't quite remember but yeah even if that's the case what I am trying to say is that in the finale it all doesn't come to head and yet they somehow reconciled…like they are telling me that they understand and accept each other with big fancy dialogues, but there's not much happening onscreen to support that resolution. Cause firstly it took almost 8 episodes for Ann Walker to finally confront Anne Lister and that too she deflected! And now suddenly Ann is back to being ok with it all?! what is HAPPENING?

Another thing that confused and irked me, the conversation of not having a child and Anne's declaration of them and their relationship mattering irrespective of that and it shouldn't have to hinge upon a piece of paper or a having a child to make it legitimate and yet in the finale apparently she has definitely changed her mind about it all so much so that she says as such to Vere, who is (much like me) so taken aback by what Anne's saying that it’s mindboggling! again WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

I seriously failed to grasp the motivations behind the characters and their actions in these regards. where is the exploration to show me how the characters are dealing with difficult situations and coming to their inferences whatever it might be, it’s not that the actors are not capable of pulling off those performances or that writing cannot accomodate for that, cause they did it fine in S1... instead of just telling me! Isn't that suppose to be the advantage of the visual medium?!

I know the storybeats already and if I want to know more I can read up on the transcribed works if need be. What I wanted from the show was an exploration of those issues, of how they dealt with it, how it impacted them! Am I asking for too much? I don't think so!

The direction and editing too was off putting to me. We lost the intimate gaze, before the camera never felt like an intrusion, rather it felt like Anne's way of communicating and sharing her experiences, we were a part of the journey, not just mere observers. But now it feels voyeuristic again(like in most other shows). it's so harsh and removed and frankly sterile. Not something I would’ve expected coming right from season 1 and I don't believe in that class of thought where hard hitting reality needs to be depicted through these kind of detached direction/editing . Then they would not have managed to tackle issues of blatant homophobia, sexual abuse, physical assaults, mental illness etc. in season 1. But they did and it never felt like exploitation for the sake of drama.

At this point I am just disappointed, the more I try to analyse it, the more visible are the discrepancies and shortcomings in this season. It's very hard for me to criticize this show because it brought a lot of value to me, both personally and creatively.

I understand the difficult situations in which this season was made. I am in no way trying to demean people's hardwork. I myself work in the entertainment industry and when people criticizes the amount of hard work one puts into making a project like this it feels disheartening but at the same time we do read up on reviews and criticisms so that we can follow through and deliver quality content to the people. And I am not saying Season 2 was bad TV or anything, it was just not upto my expectations and if they get renewed I would hope that the coming seasons would fare better with their exploration and execution(fingers crossed).

Sorry if it’s confusing as I did went off on tangents and basically it’s a rant, so it might still lack clarity, anon. But maybe I am able to atleast address some of it and I hope you get some understanding as to where I am coming from, thanks for being so patient with me.

#reply #anonymous #raee rambles about gj #gj meta #kind of not really #this is me ranting #sorry for the stream of consciousness kind of reply #it's just a wall of text #who has time to read this #yikes #but I managed to finally string some words after 84 years so hey ho #:P

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