house_of_eliott | Episode Discussion : Series 1, Episode 1

So, I'll start, episode 1...and my main thought is how very well it sets up all the characters and all the threads for the future, but also how slow the pace is. It's glacial! No modern drama would ever spend an hour just with one of two incidences and a bit of shopping! It's marvellous to watch.

I am instantly drawn to Bea, Stella plays her with such fire and determination, from her very first scene trying to persuade her father into letting Evie to go art school to her fury with Arthur at her father "runing her life" when she finds out about his second life - I love her. She's not easy to like, certainly, she's shrewish and hot headed but as a character she's amazing. LOVE HER! Despite Stella being rather stunning, they do make Bea look so very drab and washed out, quite clever considering how she shines later on.

I was also struck how very Edwardian everything is, from the clothes to the interiors. The sisters are in buttoned up to the neck blouses and corsets and everything is dark brown and red, plus those huge veils for the funeral! So very different to how we leave them in 1928, it's a real eye opener how much changed in such a few short years.

Ah, Penelope. I love her too. Really everything that happens throughout the whole series is down to Evie going to help Tilly and her mother here, if you trace it through. Fabulous story telling.

And finally, JACKKKKK! Although a Jack I don't love quite as much as later on as he is rather annoyingly pompous here a little (only a little) creepy towards Evie. Not to mention how incredibly insulting he is to Bea ("You'll do though"). In the book by Jean Marsh she tips a bucket of iced water over him at that point, and that's one thing I would very much have liked to see left in. He deserved it. Buuuut, I tend to think that him chosing Bea over Evie with a rather weak excuse has more to the with the fact that he's quite impressed with her/taken with her rather than purely pratical business thoughts. That's my theory anyway and I'm sticking to it!

Wondering whether I did actually ever see the first couple of episodes of HoE, now I've watched them none of it seemed particularly familiar!

Bea is the character that stands out from the first episode certainly. She must've been named for Beatrice in 'Much Ado About Nothing', the character traits and similar situations they share would make it too much of a coincidence otherwise?

One character I'd certainly not remembered is Molly their maid. Loved her scenes, especially teaching Evie to dance.

Evie: "I've only ever danced with Bea."
Molly: "It's just the same with a real man, except there's less to get in the way."

I don't think I'd ever seen the first episode either, I missed it on the ITV3 run too only tuning in for ep 2 so it was a first for me as well when I bought the DVD's. It *feels* very different to the rest of the show somehow, like that was the novel on screen and the rest went on from there? Almost like a pilot.

I'm not overly familiar with Beatrice in Much Ado, but I do know they certainly share many of the same characteristics so it seems likely. Plus, as another layer, she might have been named after Shakespeare within the show too, as later on she calls herself 'Benedict' when tricking Jack with his film sponsorship so maybe she knows her namesake?

I love Molly, they should have kept her in somehow!

I agree with it feeling more like the book. Molly stays with them longer in the book. It's been a while since I read the book but I seem to remember that Aunt Lydia had an affair with their father?!?

Yes, the book is very different to the show, not just in the course it takes but in tone too. Aunt Lydia in the book is a a horrible person who seduced her brother in law, and the book is full of dark sexual undertones of sex clubs and 'machines' in Dr Eliott's office for somem kind of deviant sexual behaviour! Even Jack is a visitor of one of the clubs, it's very.....different. Very very different.

I do wish Molly had stayed longer though, maybe up until they opened the House of Eliott or at least as a guest star now and then. The actress played her pefectly I thought.

I remember being disappointed by the book because I'd seen the series so much and it was so different. Lydia is much more endearing in the series despite being a little devious with the money etc.

I actually like Aunt Lydia *and* Arthur. They are both absolutely products of their time/upbrining and constrainted totally by that but they do try and do their best for the girls and even Arthur has moments of kindness (like giving Evie money for the taxi). Lydia is not a kind person, but she's not an unkind person either if that makes sense.

Very glad they altered the characters for the show, although I suppose having the relatives plotting against them and even Arthur as the *real* half brother would have made for better drama?

I love how Lydia changes from controlling to being completely humiliated by "Arthur's notoriety" leading to her trying to form a new life for herself and ending up being helpful (helping out at the mission and trying to organise a fundraiser) and quite sweet.

Arthur ends up being very creepy with Evie. Burrrrrr. I love how, in the first episode, asks her to make sure there are handles on the inside as well as the outside.

I do wonder what Arthur must have been like before the war and how the war had changed his personality. What is the buttoned up exterior hiding?

Yes, Lydia had her compuance and yet still, never *quite* learned her lesson.

Both Jack and Arthur have this creepy attitude towards Evie in the first episdoe, luckily Jack gets over it soon but Arthur is just :shudder:

I suspect that was just Arthur and the War mostly left him in it's wake, I don't think he has a sensitive soul, he'd be a pragmatist about it I think.

Arthur definitely takes advantage of the changes brought by the war. For example, he doesn't let his mother dictate who he should marry. He wants to marry who he wants, for love.

I actually like Aunt Lydia *and* Arthur. They are both absolutely products of their time/upbrining

Oh, yes, and maybe I am crazy, but I think fic about Arthur and/or Aunt Lydia's adventures in Boston could potentially be v cool. And also very funny.

But then I am probably crazy.

One of the only things I dont like about the show, other than Bea's S3 hair (*g*) is that Lydia, Arthur and Pen are never mentioned again. Well, Pen is once, but the others aren't. They were a big part of S1, huge in fact, and then they're just forgotten!

I mean, Bea and Evie *go* to Boston on their American trip, it should have been mentioned that they saw Lydia and Arthur!

I mean, Bea and Evie *go* to Boston on their American trip, it should have been mentioned that they saw Lydia and Arthur!

And there should be fic about it, yes. ;-D

Oh, I hadn't really picked up on the Benedict bit - that's very true!

Bea's hair looks so frizzy and dull in the first episode. Quite different to the gorgeous vibrant blonde bob she ends up with. I'm not so keen on her hair in series three, too short for me but reflects the hair in the late twenties.

Bea's fashion sense comes across as quite odd at first. She'd been so cooped up looking after the house and Evie that she never got the chance to get into clothes. It's rather like most of us when we are teenagers finding our feet with clothes but it's happening to her in her thirties! Bless her.

I don't know whether they put a colour in her hair but by episode 3 it's much blonder and smoother, the first two episodes it's like a frizz bomb bless her! I think they must have purposfully made it look like that as it never looks that way again.

I suppose her clothes must have been quite daring for 1920 when most women were still corseted and very similar in neutral colours - those silk waistcoats and blouses she got from her father were quite something on her I think, although she did have a few awful numbers too like that black dress sack thing. She definitely found her fashion voice in series 2, but it's all about experimentation early on!

They are definitely both learning in series 1. They are only copying other designs at first, even when they set up their premises. It definitely takes them a while to find their feet. The episode where they are arguing over their first collection seems to be a pivotal point for them. They then go on to design their first collection which is a roaring success (although with its hiccups - Yoland Hermaine!)

You're right about the clothes being daring. I like Daphne's response "What a devy idea, why didn't my dress maker think of that" (I think that's how it goes, not got up to that scene yet!).

Oh, meant to say, yes to S3 hair...AWFUL! Sometimes it looked nice enough, and others it aged her terribly. :/ I suspect when we get to S3 (fingers crossed) we'll have much woe about the hair situation!

They clearly both have talent for dressmaking, but don't yet have any idea about fashion itself. Daphne looks more 'trendy' than either of the Eliott sisters for example.

It's funny what you miss until you re-watch episodes more closely.

I love how in episode 2 Penelope flogged Jack tickets to a charity ball and then disappeared off. Funny how later she describes a charity ball as "grotesque"!

There are lots of little things you pick up on re-watch after having seen the whole series, it's very clever.

Maybe Pen flogged tickets for a ball she wasn't responsible for! LOL!

There's a couple of books I read by Virginia Nicholson that gives a bit more insight about some of the people and situations referred to in the first couple of episodes.

"Among the Bohemians" talks about the lifestyle of artists such as Augustus John and those who frequented the Cafe Royal etc.

I absolutely loved the book "Singled Out" which discusses the lives of the million extra women Molly mentions in episode one. When there was 1080 women for every 1000 men after the war many of them never married. This book shows how some of them had successful and interesting lives.

Oh fab, thanks! Will check those out!

Extra HoE reading for everyone too if anyone's missed it:

http://www.motherservice.org/content/house-eliott

An interesting read, some of it is spot on, other stuff is a bit 'huh?' but well worth a read!

I'll take a look at that when I can, thanks.

Episode Discussion : Series 1, Episode 1

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Drab Bea

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Penelope

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Extra reading material

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