Mr. Selfridge 1x02
Jan. 17th, 2018 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tori_reviewsMr. Selfridge 1x02
Flying Lessons
Or Troubled Takeoff
Having gotten all the necessary setup taken care of we now move into more or less the usual show pattern; Harry dreams up an episode plot while all the soap opera stuff happens around it. There’s still a lot of finding the right gears going on in the writing, how much importance to put on the shopping plot vs. the rest of it; still sorting out how much importance to give most of the characters who aren’t Agnes or Harry; not really knowing who a lot of those characters are yet.
Also, there seems to be a shot from a cut scene in the pilot used. At the start of the episode we see what the management office hall looks like, then when Agnes goes to talk to Grove it’s the hallway like they were in in the pilot, then of course we’re in Grove’s office which matches the normal upper hallway look. I don’t recall a cut scene on the DVD to this effect, but I wonder if the scene where Agnes goes to get the job she was supposed to actually “see the chief of staff” as originally instructed instead of the information being passed along in the background. Aside from maybe the first time I watched the series, where I wasn’t as thrown by the different set, the white walled hallway has always stood out to me as out of place.
Timelines
But that’s not the only very noticeable flaw when analyzing this episode. The timeline in this episode is a mess.
It opens with problems because it’s really unclear how much time has passed between the pilot and the start of this one. A lot of elements still feel very new, but other elements feel like they have these morning routines well established. How long would it take everyone in London to grow this jaded towards Selfridges when they were so busy opening day? Harry and Ellen’s relationship in some scenes feels like they’re right where they were last episode (they don’t seem to be sleeping together yet, just about to), other times she feels like an established mistress that Henri and Grove bitch about behind her back all the time. Should I believe that Henri and Grove are friends? This is about the only time anyone says something like they are and that only works even as an exaggeration if they’ve been working together for a while.
I did note that accessories seems to have the same scarf display out at the start of things as they had set up last episode. And it didn’t look like any of them were loose the get in customers hands. So Agnes seems to have gotten her way.
Then, it often feels like we must have cut to the next day only to then cut again and realize Harry is still looking for Bleriot. Where did they get all the scarves from that quickly? How did George start work the same day Agnes asked to get him a job, it’s not like she could text him? The pacing of Victor’s story does ultimately line up, but it doesn’t feel like it through the episode. When did they actually tell the staff about the event that was going to happen the next day? When Agnes and George get home late they say they had to stay and help set up for the exhibit, but Josie and Roger were already taking a bath before the Towlers come home.
On that last I would be willing to headcanon that Agnes got tapped to help out (even though we only see what should be the design staff setting up the plane) and George stuck around since he didn’t want to go home and see Pa Towler without Agnes. But while I think I like that headcanon, it feels very headcanon as opposed to actual canon.
Pacing between episodes is kind of always a problem for this show, but usually the in episode structure flows better.
Various Affairs
This is in many ways an episode of bad idea relationships. Harry and Ellen, Rose and Roddy, Mardle and Grove; considering the show seems to want us to ship Agnes/Victor, the fact that they’re lumped in with that again sends a mixed message. Even many of the non-romantic relationships on display are not good ones; the Towler family; Mae doesn’t exactly come off as friendly, more snake-like even when she is apparently trying to be helpful; Harry and Henri aren’t exactly shown to be super functional.
Something else that occurred to me only this time, is how casually this show has relationships between woman and younger men. Until we get to Mardle and Florian none of them are seen as exactly good, and that’s the one that actually concerns itself with issues that might come into such a relationship; but aside from the background with Mae and Tony (and implicitly most of Mae’s lovers) we also have the much younger Roddy pursuing Rose. This show plays fast and loose with character ages (there will be discussions of this as we go forward) but aside from Ma Selfridge (who never seems to be trying) it tends to say women can pull whatever men they want. It’s only fair, because there’s usually a fair amount of age gaps the other way too.
That does cast a bit of weirdness on Victor’s plot. Considering the way its set up by Perez (creepy though Perez is) I feel like the woman is supposed to be one of the unwanted and unlucky ones; and since we know nothing about this woman our only insight is the kind of person Perez expects to be hitting on his wait staff. But she’s not the bad looking (not that I’m a great judge I suppose), which I can’t decide if that’s intentional to know if it’s a good choice or not. She seems to be a little shy, so this doesn’t come across as just a product of the age, that this woman is like Mae and interested in a bit of casual fun with some guy she happens to find attractive. But it interestingly avoids making fun of the ‘ugly’ girl since she’s not actually that far from being acceptably attractive. It’s just kind of a weird plot.
I do have another bit of confusion, it was a big deal last episode and tipped off Rose to Ellen and Harry’s affair when Ellen called Harry by his first name. I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be as scandalous here that Mae also always calls him Harry. Rose doesn’t quite react like it is, but Mae’s actress kind of overdoes it as if it should be. And it probably should be a big deal; Mae is a very sexual, very powerful woman with a certain reputation that after a year I’d think Rose would be aware of, in a time when people were less casual about using familiar names.
Meet the Towlers
While narratively it isn’t hard to guess who Reg Towler is almost the moment we meet him, in presentation it’s a little ambiguous just like Agnes and George’s first scene last episode. Looking at the actors’ ages on IMDB, he is old enough to be playing her dad, not by a lot but it certainly could be, and yet he doesn’t quite look it. And like with Agnes and George, that slight ambiguity about how Reg and Agnes know each other is a bit unsettling at first. Not that it’s less unsettling once we have it confirmed that this is her/their clearly abusive dad, but at least one can stop guessing at what their relationship is.
This is also our first real introduction to George and it’s hard to say if this is a good introduction. I don’t think the writers really knew what they wanted to do with George, but it really doesn’t show in season 1. George wasn’t entirely a character is season 1, he was mostly an extension of Agnes and a pair of eyes in the loading bay (but a pair of eyes that didn’t really see what was going on around him). He definitely comes off as kind of dim and simple, Agnes more or less spells that out for us, and s1 doesn’t really contradict that; it doesn’t commit to it entirely, but also doesn’t contradict it. It’s later seasons that couldn’t hold to that; implicitly retconning that he was more young, inexperienced, and naïve in s1 as opposed to actually a bit simple-minded.
But taken as presented, this is a rough episode for George. He’s being picked on and then used at work because he’s too simple to question or stand up for himself; then he’s thrown back in with his terrible dad that is probably a large part of the reason George’s development seems stunted (in either reading of the character).
I do think Agnes ended up agreeing to let Reg stick around largely to avoid a scene. And going back to my initial point, if you were in the story and didn’t know that it’s her father their scene are going to look quite different to an outside observer. I don’t think she liked the choice she made, it’s clear neither she nor George wanted to see their father again, but George doesn’t even get a say.
As for Agnes’ big scene with Mr. Grove, I don’t know that it’s ever clear if Grove is at all right about her efforts. It’s another bit where having a clear timeline might help, is this a couple days after she saw Grove and Mardle together, or is it a month later? Either makes sense for Grove to be paranoid, either because it’s new or because they’ve felt like they had the sword of Damocles hanging over them for weeks. But while Agnes isn’t really the type to blackmail, we know she’s not above playing what cards she does have like she did with Harry. It’s also completely feasible that she wasn’t banking on it at all and was just asking if there were entry level openings for someone like George, and would have asked even if she didn’t know anything else. But at the same time, she knows what she saw, and that they know that she saw them; and it isn’t clear how much that’s part of her game plan with Grove. We’re very much in Groves’ headspace for that scene as opposed to Agnes’.
Something that occurred to me this time for the first time, is that Mardle noted Victor hanging around and scoots off to let him talk to Agnes when he gives her the chocolates. This may be Mardle’s side of the paranoia; that she doesn’t feel like she can say anything to Agnes or even get in the way lest Agnes reveal what she knows about Mardle. Also, while Kitty is still being sort of catty to Agnes, it’s a lot less vicious this time (again being a little unclear if it’s been long enough for that to make sense), and I don’t think it’s just because she wants to share the chocolate.
I really can’t get a handle on how the writer(s) here feels about Victor and Agnes. Because some of his lines are kind of creepy (for example, he’s not taking no for an answer next time), and very much feed into Agnes’ eventual claims that he’s kind of controlling in way she isn’t into. And yet this episode seems to be taking his side in so much of the rest of it.
Ominous lines
Aside from the previously mentioned bit about how Victor isn’t taking no for an answer next time he asks Agnes out, which is a more than a little uncomfortable, there’s a couple of noteworthy lines.
For example, at the end of the episode Harry talks about how sometimes he feels like hurling himself in front a train. That scene’s tone is weirdly dark even before you consider that before the end of the season we will have a character decide to hurl themselves in front of a train.
On the other hand, Henri’s yelling at Harry about how one day Harry will push him too far, feels like it was supposed to be setup, but never follows through. Henri never leaves because Harry pushes him too far, though when Henri does decide to leave Harry flips out and pushes him further away.
Flying Lessons
Or Troubled Takeoff
Having gotten all the necessary setup taken care of we now move into more or less the usual show pattern; Harry dreams up an episode plot while all the soap opera stuff happens around it. There’s still a lot of finding the right gears going on in the writing, how much importance to put on the shopping plot vs. the rest of it; still sorting out how much importance to give most of the characters who aren’t Agnes or Harry; not really knowing who a lot of those characters are yet.
Also, there seems to be a shot from a cut scene in the pilot used. At the start of the episode we see what the management office hall looks like, then when Agnes goes to talk to Grove it’s the hallway like they were in in the pilot, then of course we’re in Grove’s office which matches the normal upper hallway look. I don’t recall a cut scene on the DVD to this effect, but I wonder if the scene where Agnes goes to get the job she was supposed to actually “see the chief of staff” as originally instructed instead of the information being passed along in the background. Aside from maybe the first time I watched the series, where I wasn’t as thrown by the different set, the white walled hallway has always stood out to me as out of place.
Timelines
But that’s not the only very noticeable flaw when analyzing this episode. The timeline in this episode is a mess.
It opens with problems because it’s really unclear how much time has passed between the pilot and the start of this one. A lot of elements still feel very new, but other elements feel like they have these morning routines well established. How long would it take everyone in London to grow this jaded towards Selfridges when they were so busy opening day? Harry and Ellen’s relationship in some scenes feels like they’re right where they were last episode (they don’t seem to be sleeping together yet, just about to), other times she feels like an established mistress that Henri and Grove bitch about behind her back all the time. Should I believe that Henri and Grove are friends? This is about the only time anyone says something like they are and that only works even as an exaggeration if they’ve been working together for a while.
I did note that accessories seems to have the same scarf display out at the start of things as they had set up last episode. And it didn’t look like any of them were loose the get in customers hands. So Agnes seems to have gotten her way.
Then, it often feels like we must have cut to the next day only to then cut again and realize Harry is still looking for Bleriot. Where did they get all the scarves from that quickly? How did George start work the same day Agnes asked to get him a job, it’s not like she could text him? The pacing of Victor’s story does ultimately line up, but it doesn’t feel like it through the episode. When did they actually tell the staff about the event that was going to happen the next day? When Agnes and George get home late they say they had to stay and help set up for the exhibit, but Josie and Roger were already taking a bath before the Towlers come home.
On that last I would be willing to headcanon that Agnes got tapped to help out (even though we only see what should be the design staff setting up the plane) and George stuck around since he didn’t want to go home and see Pa Towler without Agnes. But while I think I like that headcanon, it feels very headcanon as opposed to actual canon.
Pacing between episodes is kind of always a problem for this show, but usually the in episode structure flows better.
Various Affairs
This is in many ways an episode of bad idea relationships. Harry and Ellen, Rose and Roddy, Mardle and Grove; considering the show seems to want us to ship Agnes/Victor, the fact that they’re lumped in with that again sends a mixed message. Even many of the non-romantic relationships on display are not good ones; the Towler family; Mae doesn’t exactly come off as friendly, more snake-like even when she is apparently trying to be helpful; Harry and Henri aren’t exactly shown to be super functional.
Something else that occurred to me only this time, is how casually this show has relationships between woman and younger men. Until we get to Mardle and Florian none of them are seen as exactly good, and that’s the one that actually concerns itself with issues that might come into such a relationship; but aside from the background with Mae and Tony (and implicitly most of Mae’s lovers) we also have the much younger Roddy pursuing Rose. This show plays fast and loose with character ages (there will be discussions of this as we go forward) but aside from Ma Selfridge (who never seems to be trying) it tends to say women can pull whatever men they want. It’s only fair, because there’s usually a fair amount of age gaps the other way too.
That does cast a bit of weirdness on Victor’s plot. Considering the way its set up by Perez (creepy though Perez is) I feel like the woman is supposed to be one of the unwanted and unlucky ones; and since we know nothing about this woman our only insight is the kind of person Perez expects to be hitting on his wait staff. But she’s not the bad looking (not that I’m a great judge I suppose), which I can’t decide if that’s intentional to know if it’s a good choice or not. She seems to be a little shy, so this doesn’t come across as just a product of the age, that this woman is like Mae and interested in a bit of casual fun with some guy she happens to find attractive. But it interestingly avoids making fun of the ‘ugly’ girl since she’s not actually that far from being acceptably attractive. It’s just kind of a weird plot.
I do have another bit of confusion, it was a big deal last episode and tipped off Rose to Ellen and Harry’s affair when Ellen called Harry by his first name. I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be as scandalous here that Mae also always calls him Harry. Rose doesn’t quite react like it is, but Mae’s actress kind of overdoes it as if it should be. And it probably should be a big deal; Mae is a very sexual, very powerful woman with a certain reputation that after a year I’d think Rose would be aware of, in a time when people were less casual about using familiar names.
Meet the Towlers
While narratively it isn’t hard to guess who Reg Towler is almost the moment we meet him, in presentation it’s a little ambiguous just like Agnes and George’s first scene last episode. Looking at the actors’ ages on IMDB, he is old enough to be playing her dad, not by a lot but it certainly could be, and yet he doesn’t quite look it. And like with Agnes and George, that slight ambiguity about how Reg and Agnes know each other is a bit unsettling at first. Not that it’s less unsettling once we have it confirmed that this is her/their clearly abusive dad, but at least one can stop guessing at what their relationship is.
This is also our first real introduction to George and it’s hard to say if this is a good introduction. I don’t think the writers really knew what they wanted to do with George, but it really doesn’t show in season 1. George wasn’t entirely a character is season 1, he was mostly an extension of Agnes and a pair of eyes in the loading bay (but a pair of eyes that didn’t really see what was going on around him). He definitely comes off as kind of dim and simple, Agnes more or less spells that out for us, and s1 doesn’t really contradict that; it doesn’t commit to it entirely, but also doesn’t contradict it. It’s later seasons that couldn’t hold to that; implicitly retconning that he was more young, inexperienced, and naïve in s1 as opposed to actually a bit simple-minded.
But taken as presented, this is a rough episode for George. He’s being picked on and then used at work because he’s too simple to question or stand up for himself; then he’s thrown back in with his terrible dad that is probably a large part of the reason George’s development seems stunted (in either reading of the character).
I do think Agnes ended up agreeing to let Reg stick around largely to avoid a scene. And going back to my initial point, if you were in the story and didn’t know that it’s her father their scene are going to look quite different to an outside observer. I don’t think she liked the choice she made, it’s clear neither she nor George wanted to see their father again, but George doesn’t even get a say.
As for Agnes’ big scene with Mr. Grove, I don’t know that it’s ever clear if Grove is at all right about her efforts. It’s another bit where having a clear timeline might help, is this a couple days after she saw Grove and Mardle together, or is it a month later? Either makes sense for Grove to be paranoid, either because it’s new or because they’ve felt like they had the sword of Damocles hanging over them for weeks. But while Agnes isn’t really the type to blackmail, we know she’s not above playing what cards she does have like she did with Harry. It’s also completely feasible that she wasn’t banking on it at all and was just asking if there were entry level openings for someone like George, and would have asked even if she didn’t know anything else. But at the same time, she knows what she saw, and that they know that she saw them; and it isn’t clear how much that’s part of her game plan with Grove. We’re very much in Groves’ headspace for that scene as opposed to Agnes’.
Something that occurred to me this time for the first time, is that Mardle noted Victor hanging around and scoots off to let him talk to Agnes when he gives her the chocolates. This may be Mardle’s side of the paranoia; that she doesn’t feel like she can say anything to Agnes or even get in the way lest Agnes reveal what she knows about Mardle. Also, while Kitty is still being sort of catty to Agnes, it’s a lot less vicious this time (again being a little unclear if it’s been long enough for that to make sense), and I don’t think it’s just because she wants to share the chocolate.
I really can’t get a handle on how the writer(s) here feels about Victor and Agnes. Because some of his lines are kind of creepy (for example, he’s not taking no for an answer next time), and very much feed into Agnes’ eventual claims that he’s kind of controlling in way she isn’t into. And yet this episode seems to be taking his side in so much of the rest of it.
Ominous lines
Aside from the previously mentioned bit about how Victor isn’t taking no for an answer next time he asks Agnes out, which is a more than a little uncomfortable, there’s a couple of noteworthy lines.
For example, at the end of the episode Harry talks about how sometimes he feels like hurling himself in front a train. That scene’s tone is weirdly dark even before you consider that before the end of the season we will have a character decide to hurl themselves in front of a train.
On the other hand, Henri’s yelling at Harry about how one day Harry will push him too far, feels like it was supposed to be setup, but never follows through. Henri never leaves because Harry pushes him too far, though when Henri does decide to leave Harry flips out and pushes him further away.
