#Tristan is gone and Audrey is with Gerald

[owlsie-hoot]

"How are we supposed to just..."

"Carry on without them? Haven't a damn clue. Take comfort in those we do have, I suppose? There's also whisky?"

04.03

[smallpotato80]

Some thoughts on S4E1 ACGAS

Audrey kept the line between employee and employer.

Siegfried 💔 I think he’s very much realizing he may be alone at Skeldale before too long. Everyone is moving on to the next phase in their lives.

He supported Mrs. Hall, even though he knows it’s a step toward her possibly no longer being there as she has been. He wants her to be happy. That was very selfless. Not surprising because I think he has demonstrated that before.

Really loved the storyline with the boy and how it turned out🥹

Really liked Helen and Siegfried 😅

I kind of inferred that Siegfried has some sense of what happened between Robert and Audrey.

What was the deal with Edward’s photo?🤷🏻‍♀️ That was kind of odd. Why wouldn’t she think she could put his photo up?

Audrey has a tin of memories 😢

I ❤️ Jess and Dash 🐕 🐶

Thank goodness Eva is gone

Audrey said she’s not leaving ….which, to me, means that is going to come up again.

Siegfried didn’t think of Gerald’s intentions toward Audrey. I hear ya Siegfried, it’s hard to take Gerald seriously.

I don’t think the vibe between Audrey and Siegfried was romantic this episode . There was tension there, a lot left unsaid. But I didn’t read romantic tension necessarily. Open to interpretation.

Siegfried and James each seemed extra handsome in this episode

While I missed Tristan, the story still carried on well. This ensemble is very flexible.

Audrey looked so pretty on Easter 😍🥰 That dress is tainted though. But that hat 🤌🏻 Siegfried chose well.

[itssoinevitable]

I just want to add something to anon number 2 (and how they might solve that relationship between Gerald and Audrey). Been thinking about the kiss ever since the Christmas Special (like we all do) and I agree that she cannot simply dismiss it as a mistake. However, I also believe that she would not abandon Siegfried now that Tristan has gone. I think her sense of duty is so high that she would put that over the relationship with Gerald. After all, Skeldale has been the place where she finally found happiness and a (surrogate) family again. So in my ideal little fangirl world, she lets Gerald go to Hull, explains to him that she has made the hard decision to stay in Darrowby and that, although she cares for him a lot, she cannot leave her family again. This would be the only logical solution for me right now. And it would be so lovely if Gerald is the catalyst that made Siegfried realise that he feels more for Audrey than he can admit right now.

@owlsie-hoot is that you?? omg long time! So happy to hear from an old mutual & friend. Also yes yes yes, beautifully put! 100% agreed that Audrey will not abandon Siegfried or Skeldale House. Not just out of a sense of duty, but from a place of loyalty and love. Like you said, she found happiness and family here. She clearly loves Tristan like her own son, and a mother would always wait for her child to come home. And she loves Siegfried too, so much, in whatever way it may be. She has set down roots at Darrowby, and she feels it is her home.

That said, I'd kind of like to see her struggle with it a bit. ( not too long, maybe just an episode or two. ) I'm so torn between wanting a lowkey exit for Gerald, and a scenario where he does ask her to marry him and go to Hull. Actually, the Season 3 CS kind of already framed it that way because it put a lot of pressure on Audrey to choose a side of herself, so to speak, and to choose between the two men in her life. There was urgency for both parties, with Tristan receiving his call up letter and Gerald leaving for Hull.

Imo it very was poignant that Audrey stayed as long as it was strictly a family issue; when Tristan and Siegfried were having their big showdown in the kitchen. But then, when Siegfried was alone and hoping to process his feelings with her after, she felt she was out of time and chose to find Gerald instead. ( painful as it was, I am glad she did something for herself this once. also if it helps Siegfried realise what an oaf he is, all the better. ) I just hope that if she has to make a similar decision again on a bigger scale, with higher stakes, that there should be something else on the table making her stay. ( like the quiet realisation that Siegfried has deeper feelings for her, even if they aren't ready to go there yet. )

Yesss, I definitely think Gerald is going to be one of the factors that makes Siegfried realise his feelings for Audrey in Season 4! Although I don't think it will be a big whump epiphany kind of moment, do you? I was recently rewatching Season 2, where Diana is in the first couple of episodes, and I really hope it will be more like that tbh. Because Audrey actually bristles every single time they're in the same room together, or anytime Siegfried even mentions Diana. I mean, this is a woman who is literally supportive of everyone; she is so understanding when James is pursuing Helen, always encouraging when Tristan likes a girl. But to Diana, who is never been nothing but nice to her -- she really can't stand Diana. She does warm up eventually, but it’s interesting to have had her dislike someone that much to begin with.

And I really hope we're going to see a Siegfried version of that next season. Lots of jealous bristling, but also his signature tantrums and explosions, plenty of shouting about something completely different, when he's actually angry with himself Gerald and terrified he's going to lose Audrey. Everything he used to do with his repressed love for Tristan, but now he does that with Audrey.

[rain-braiding-down-a-window-pane]

Yes.

I mean, I love the show, but somehow this season didn't land, especially the last 2-3 eps.

Helen - She had no real storylines of her own. Relegated to 'mum' without exploring any tension or struggle she might have with it. Even the most natural of mothers have wobbly moments. It would have been interesting to explore that and/or give her a proper story to get her teeth into. Absolute highlight was when in ep. 6 after she'd looked after James, came down to cuddle Jimmy, and had a little cry. A really good moment for her - need more!

James - returned to Skeldale but they didn't really explore any trauma he had. He was seemingly fine for most of the season except for one or two moments + a fever in ep. 6. This needed fleshing out.

Tristan - he says he's fine, we the audience are suspicious about this, and then it turns out he is actually fine. Where's the drama? Where's the conflict? Why is he drinking so much?

Audrey - decides to become ARP warden. This seems great to give her a real story outside of Skeldale but then it's just sort of played for laughs in ep. 5. The depth of her character comes from her relationships with Siegfried, Gerald, her ex husband, her son. Gerald and the ex are gone and she didn't mention her son once!

Siegfried - I don't even know what was going on with him this season. Started out strongly, there's definitely something between him and Mrs H in the first 3 eps, and then it's just sort of abandoned in the last few episodes. I mean they barely had any scenes together and he seems kinda miserable in ep 6 thinking about Miss G.

ACGAS series 5 in general.... (thoughts about 5.6. later)

Where to begin? (that I said I would write no more essays?)(beware this is not really positive)

Maybe with this: The writers seem to have completely forgotten the entire character development from four previous series. I don't get how you can come up with such a series after series 4 (and I mean series as in "season") ?

Harsh words, sorry, but I am annoyed and frustrated and after episode three I had sadly lost faith in series 5. Slowly, but for reasons I try to explain in this very lengthy text post (not everyone will agree with me of course and that's ok).

So far ACGAS has really managed to keep up very high quality writing for four consecutive series. There was the odd episode that I didn't like that much but there was never such disappointment involved.

First: usually the episodes feel well balanced, the storylines are all interwoven in a way, all characters have an equally strong story arc for each individual series and continuous character development. There is also a good balance between heavy and light topics. ACGAS is very good at giving us meaningful quiet scenes that show a character's depth without overdoing it. To me almost all of this was missing in series 5. Mainly because they changed the structure and therefore also the balance of the episodes. Instead of connecting the characters, each episode featured and focused heavily on one couple, giving them a lot of space with one long storyline and the other characters were pushed into the background.

Episode 1 focused on James with an almost 20 minute long sequence of scenes that only featured him and his crew. Usually (and this applies to all subsequent episodes) the show switches back and forth between the different storylines and never lingers too long on one character. That creates a good balance. Because you feel that all characters are treated equally even if the main focus in an episode is only on one character.

Episode 2 focused on Audrey and her new role as warden. The main focus were her and Siegfried in this episode.

Episode 3 put the focus on Tristan's return but also had the christening and Helen's struggle with Hannah and until after the christening the episode felt well balanced to me. But then we didn't see Audrey anymore for almost 15 minutes and focused only on Helen and Hannah as well as on Tristan and Siegfried.

Episode 4 made the same mistake episode 1 made: a very long sequence of scenes that only features Tristan and Carmody. Siegfried was not seen for about 25 minutes.

Episode 5 introduced a potential "love interest" for Siegfried, something I absolutely hated and was extremely annoyed at. After the first two episodes, Audrey and Siegfried's interaction in episode 3 and the couch scene in 4 it felt like a huge step backwards and an ignoring of Siegfried's reaction to Audrey's entire series 4 storyline. Convinced that nothing would come out of this I tried to brush this away as a misstep. A plot device to show Siegfried how important family is for him. This episode also pushed all other characters, except him and Carmody, into the background and although it felt better balanced than ep 1 and 4, the other characters didn't move forward.

Episode 6 was actually the one that stood out from the others and felt like the episodes I love. There was a focus on two couples this time (Tristan and Siegfried / Helen and James ) and they balanced it really well with a fun and a very emotional storyline. Suddenly they remembered how to do it! But only in episode 6. But the entire "love interest" plot was a bit too much through the Tristan and Siegfried scenes, which feels like a disservice to the entire fandom after series 4 when we saw how important Audrey is for Siegfried and when even the press finally realised that these two should be more than friends. The ending sadly felt unfinished to me. No conclusion, no real denouement at all. It felt like it needed two or three more scenes to finish the episode.

I have never complained about an entire series of ACGAS before and I hope this will be the first and last time I am doing this. As much as I love my ship and have of course also watched series 5 from a shippers point of view, it also failed to deliver for James and Helen (until episode 6) and also for Tristan. We knew James was struggling, we saw glimpses of that every now and then but everything felt rather shallow and was not given that much depth. Mainly because this heavy topic was buried underneath a lot of fun and happiness and laughter and silliness that seemed to be the main theme of series 5 (as opposed to the more angsty series 4). Yes, that topic was resolved in episode 6 and also in a good way but the way towards it felt a bit half-heartedly.

Same goes for Tristan. I was so looking forward to his return and they did a great job with that in episode 3 and also in 4 (although episode 4 dragged a lot, and felt a bit repetitive in the end) but after that I would have loved to see the cracks in his mask, see how he really struggles, see him in quieter moments, unobserved by others. This is what made ACGAS so good in the last 4 series! And it was totally missing. Siegfried and Tristan's talk did not really get to the bottom of his troubles at all. I felt that Tristan was not really telling the truth here.

Take Helen. She's a new mom, we saw her struggle a bit with her new role at the beginning but then they did not give her a storyline for herself at all. Throughout series 5 she was mainly used as a plot device to crack single cases. Like the poisoning of Bingo, the poodle incident in episode 3, Frisk's death and resurrection. We only really saw her shine in episode 6.

Audrey had an amazing start with episodes 1 and 2 but from episode 4 onwards she was more or less degraded as housekeeper, busy in the background. Of course there was the "bomb" incident in episode 5 which was fun but in previous series they would have connected that story with the other storylines of the episodes, used it to show what a strong woman she is, how no one can tell her what to do. In interviews it was hinted at that she would get a storyline that tests her mental health. We have not seen any of it at all. Nor have they managed to use her role as Warden to bring the reality of war closer to Darrowby. It was funny, even ridiculous in episode 5. The seriousness of her war effort was wasted almost entirely. And the other major failure was the complete omission of Edward. Which further underlines my main complaint about series 5: lack of depth, lack of character development, lack of meaningful progress. What bothered me most about her storyline was that they separated her completely from Siegfried in the last two episodes. The scenes they shared were mainly her working in the background, except for that moment about going to the Drovers. Suddenly they felt like employer and employee again. And she was a housekeeper. Not a family member. This is something that I really cannot take. Sorry.

And at last Siegfried. We saw him struggle here and there, we saw him embracing his found family in the first 3 episodes. He was the most emotional in episode 3 but after that his character development also kind of stopped and even went backwards with the "love interest" storyline they forced him into. Throughout the last four series, Siegfried has slowly moved from overcoming his grief to testing the waters again with Dorothy and Diana, then his focus slowly shifted back to Audrey. And especially in s4 we saw how much she means to him in more ways than housekeeper/friend. All this was now disregarded in the Miss Grantley storyline which would have fitted into s3 when Audrey and Gerald were not yet a thing but serious enough for Siegfried to react to it every now and then (the "not date" and his reaction to the kiss). At the beginning of the series, the interviews made us think that Siegfried felt left out, as if his work was not important enough. We saw very tiny glimpses of that but only if you look closely. This was another storyline and development left floating on the surface instead of really delving into it and developing it properly. (and I might write an entire essay about Siegfried + Audrey soon) In the end he felt very far removed from Audrey and the married banter was completely gone in the last 2 (maybe 3 episodes) as if the writers decided to extinguish the slow burn all of a sudden.

So overall s5 started well with the first 3 episodes but then started going downhill (for me) halfway through episode 3. A lot of potential was wasted. The focus was mainly on making sure everybody had something to do but they forgot to go deep, to show us what makes this new adaptation of ACGAS special:

It's the much more real, rounded characters, their feelings, their experiences, the way the storytelling goes much deeper and makes the characters more relatable than in the old series.

And when you take that away, you lose bits of the soul, you lose what makes this version of ACGAS so special. It was still there, partly, but not in the way we have seen it in series 1-4.

Now: We still have a Christmas special and it was written by a writer I really trust. However, I have always trusted the writers and they have let me down this year so I am now sadly really anxious about the final episode of series 5. I never thought I would feel that low about a favourite show and my ship again after Downton s6. But I guess there is no escaping that in fandom. Ever. I just want my "giddy anticipation" back :(

[smallpotato80]

Thoughts on 3x04

- Really like Tristan/Flo  Don’t know if it’s long-term, but I think it’s important growth for Tris.  They were sweet and fun! ... Oh, boy. Can we imagine a Pandhi /Farnon gathering? Christmas?  Audrey will be sticking the pipe in Siegfried’s mouth or grabbing his hand  under the table to help him keep his foot out of his mouth.

- Helen and Jim are a great team/love.  Supportive, loving... lovely to see.  

-  Poor Siegfried is having hard time letting his boy go.... When he talked about wanting to give Tris his first car and regretting how that had gone.  Remember, at that time, Siegfried said his father had given him his first and he realized Tris wouldn’t have that... I thought it was about honoring their father, but I think it’s really about Siegfried seeing Tris as his boy.  Good thing Trickie was there for him to smother with attention.  

- Siegfried trying to protect Jim... Siegfried IS in charge of Skeldale, even though he trusts Mrs. Hall to take the reigns on a lot, it is still his show in that he does care for everyone there. After seeing his military experience as a Captain, we know Siegfried is a strong leader.  More than the business though, they’ve become his family.   Can Siegfried really keep Jim home? Tris?  He’s trying but I don’t know. 

-  I’ve already posted this but, Audrey’s scars run deep.  Don’t know if I’m ready for 3x05 and how Audrey comes away from that.... I did not get a good feeling from why she said she wants things to remain the same.  Sorry, I didn’t.   She’s in arrested development.  It also makes the S2CS really sad too...  She put on that pretty dress with a lot of confidence and then decided, what?, nope. Can’t do it. Can’t risk what I have in this safe environment. She decided to forge ahead w/friendship only w/Gerald, only Gerald hoped for more.  Diana gets to move on.  Siegfried gets to move on.  But not Audrey.... And, again, not saying Gerald is her ideal....it’s just sad.   Anyone thinking that this just applies to Gerald may be wrong.  Her “safe” explanation played into what Sam said recently about Audrey’s place being safe at Skeldale during the war.   He also said everything is on the table, but that they are too wise to mess with what works. That’s vague. I do know that I’m not sure Gerald is done.... Tris told Gerald Audrey is family.... Would Siegfried tell Audrey that her place at Skeldale is safe, that she is free to be happy and that means she can pursue life outside of Skeldale?  I actually can. 

- Really don’t know what to say about Siegfried’s reaction  to Audrey/Gerald. I saw it as teasing a bit.  No line between employer/employee there.   I WILL say that I feel we saw more of a reaction from Audrey when Diana was introduced and when Siegfried showed interest in Dorothy.  Was it fear of things changing in her safe space?  He DID react when she came home early though... He was concerned. He had to turn his attention to Helen so....we didn’t see that play out.   What if she came home happy? Honestly, I think he would have been okay.   Him inviting her to go on the car ride with Tris was nice and I’m glad she went along.