Single Father, ep 2
Oct. 17th, 2010 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caz963Thinky thoughts, in no particular order.
Is it just me who thinks that Dave's being a bit of a selfish prat? He's dropping balls everywhere and has just been lucky (so far) that he's got people round him who are around to help pick them up. He gets so engrossed in Rita's diaries that he forgets to go to work, then forgets to pick the kids up from school - and later, he expects to be able to dump them on someone else with barely a moment's notice when he wants to. Maybe that's where Tanya gets it from... And although she's a bit of an air-head, I did think that he went off at her a bit unfairly about the photos. If he's supposed to be training her, then he needs to be there to actually train her, rather than give her something to do and then bawl her out when she doesn't do it properly. Mind you, I think that telling off was Dave on the defensive; he knew he should have been around so he's feeling guilty and takes that out on her as well.
The developing romance with Sarah still feels a bit uncomfortable - especially when he was making arrangements to get rid of the kids for the night so he could get his end away. And when he said he "hoped" someone had Evie, I wanted to smack him and yell at him to bloody well find out!
(Although of course, David Tennant being all coy and uncertain around a woman is very cute :-) And him grabbing her with intent(*g*) is damn hot!)
I get that he's still dealing with Rita's death and now he's got what he learned from Stuart to process as well - or perhaps I should say that he's NOT dealing with it. My impression is that Dave's going to have to wake up soon and get his priorities straight. What Michelle said when she arrived with a poorly Evie - welcome to life as a single parent (or words to that effect) - was spot on. When there are two of you, parenting kids is a tough thing to do at times - but when you're on your own, it's even harder and there's even less "me" time. Anyone with kids knows that having sex when they're in the house can be a tricky business ;-) And when they're ill, forget it! Dave should have known that when your kids are ill, any plans you may have will go straight out the window.
I'm not saying that he's not allowed to have a life and have a relationship - but he needs to get himself organised and put the kids first for a while instead of just lurching from one crisis to the next. I mean, one of his sons is so desperate for his father's attention that he smashes himself in the ankle with a hammer just so he can be at the centre of things for a while. That doesn't bode well.
That said - as a portrait of a guy who's far from perfect, who's a bit of a mess and who is struggling to cope and adjust to the fact that he's now the sole carer of four kids, it's working brilliantly.
The scene were Dave met Stuart (Rupert Graves - yay!) was the best of the episode. Yes, even better than watching David Tennant taking his shirt off, although that may have melted my brain.
But it was again David's face that did everything in that scene. He said hardly anything - and didn't need to, because it was all there, plain to see. Shock and betrayal and disbelief and about a hundred other emotions playing across that lovely face and providing yet another sucker-punch.
I thought it was beautifully played - absolutely note perfect, both of them.
So... Stuart knows all about Rebecca/Lucy - but had no idea about Dave or the other kids. Rita told Lucy she was the product of a one-night-stand and that she didn't know who Lucy's father was (I think?) - and never told Dave the truth.
The plot thickens.
Anna continues to be rather poisonous, although it's clear that she thinks she's acting for the best. (Mind you, I'd be pretty annoyed if a relative bought my kids a mobile phone each without asking me first, as well.) And it seems as though her suspicious about Dave's ex- aren't without foundation, even if she chose a bad time and place to express them last week. But she also seems to be the one person who had a reasonably un-"romanticised" view of Rita. She's undeniably bitter, which makes perfect sense if, as it seems, Rita got away with a lot without being caught/challenged, but I also got the sense that she's bottled a lot of things up because she loved her sister and didn't want to ruin things for her or the people around her. But that becomes very hard very quickly, hence all the snide comments.
I'm not clear though as to whether both she AND Rita were adopted, or if it was just Rita. Anyone get that?
Much as I'm enjoying seeing David Tennant get to play a romantic role - am I going to be drummed out of the fangirl-brownies for saying at this stage, that I don't think the romantic angle of SF is as interesting or as engaging as the plot about Dave coping with the kids and his extended family and then with Stuart and what he might be about to find out about the latter's relationship with Rita?
Sure, whether it's appropriate to have a relationship with someone so soon after his partner's death is obviously one of the many dilemma's Dave's having to cope with, but it's the least interesting one IMO, and I really never thought I'd say that. I htink it's becase I can't find anything in Sarah as a character to latch on to. She's obviously reached a crossroads in her relationship (as revealed by the discussion about kids with Rita last week), and is avoiding dealing with that, but other than that, she's not a particularly well drawn character. I can understand that she's starting to realise that perhaps Matt isn't the man for her, but if she didn't have the inclination to jump her best friend's fella before, I'm still at a bit of a loss to work out where that's coming from. (Becuase, Duh - he's gorgeous! doesn't really cut it, does it?) I don't dislike her - I'm just indifferent, which isn't good when you're supposed to be invested in two characters as a couple.
But I'm looking forward to next week - sounds like the shit's really going to hit the fan!
Is it just me who thinks that Dave's being a bit of a selfish prat? He's dropping balls everywhere and has just been lucky (so far) that he's got people round him who are around to help pick them up. He gets so engrossed in Rita's diaries that he forgets to go to work, then forgets to pick the kids up from school - and later, he expects to be able to dump them on someone else with barely a moment's notice when he wants to. Maybe that's where Tanya gets it from... And although she's a bit of an air-head, I did think that he went off at her a bit unfairly about the photos. If he's supposed to be training her, then he needs to be there to actually train her, rather than give her something to do and then bawl her out when she doesn't do it properly. Mind you, I think that telling off was Dave on the defensive; he knew he should have been around so he's feeling guilty and takes that out on her as well.
The developing romance with Sarah still feels a bit uncomfortable - especially when he was making arrangements to get rid of the kids for the night so he could get his end away. And when he said he "hoped" someone had Evie, I wanted to smack him and yell at him to bloody well find out!
(Although of course, David Tennant being all coy and uncertain around a woman is very cute :-) And him grabbing her with intent(*g*) is damn hot!)
I get that he's still dealing with Rita's death and now he's got what he learned from Stuart to process as well - or perhaps I should say that he's NOT dealing with it. My impression is that Dave's going to have to wake up soon and get his priorities straight. What Michelle said when she arrived with a poorly Evie - welcome to life as a single parent (or words to that effect) - was spot on. When there are two of you, parenting kids is a tough thing to do at times - but when you're on your own, it's even harder and there's even less "me" time. Anyone with kids knows that having sex when they're in the house can be a tricky business ;-) And when they're ill, forget it! Dave should have known that when your kids are ill, any plans you may have will go straight out the window.
I'm not saying that he's not allowed to have a life and have a relationship - but he needs to get himself organised and put the kids first for a while instead of just lurching from one crisis to the next. I mean, one of his sons is so desperate for his father's attention that he smashes himself in the ankle with a hammer just so he can be at the centre of things for a while. That doesn't bode well.
That said - as a portrait of a guy who's far from perfect, who's a bit of a mess and who is struggling to cope and adjust to the fact that he's now the sole carer of four kids, it's working brilliantly.
The scene were Dave met Stuart (Rupert Graves - yay!) was the best of the episode. Yes, even better than watching David Tennant taking his shirt off, although that may have melted my brain.
But it was again David's face that did everything in that scene. He said hardly anything - and didn't need to, because it was all there, plain to see. Shock and betrayal and disbelief and about a hundred other emotions playing across that lovely face and providing yet another sucker-punch.
I thought it was beautifully played - absolutely note perfect, both of them.
So... Stuart knows all about Rebecca/Lucy - but had no idea about Dave or the other kids. Rita told Lucy she was the product of a one-night-stand and that she didn't know who Lucy's father was (I think?) - and never told Dave the truth.
The plot thickens.
Anna continues to be rather poisonous, although it's clear that she thinks she's acting for the best. (Mind you, I'd be pretty annoyed if a relative bought my kids a mobile phone each without asking me first, as well.) And it seems as though her suspicious about Dave's ex- aren't without foundation, even if she chose a bad time and place to express them last week. But she also seems to be the one person who had a reasonably un-"romanticised" view of Rita. She's undeniably bitter, which makes perfect sense if, as it seems, Rita got away with a lot without being caught/challenged, but I also got the sense that she's bottled a lot of things up because she loved her sister and didn't want to ruin things for her or the people around her. But that becomes very hard very quickly, hence all the snide comments.
I'm not clear though as to whether both she AND Rita were adopted, or if it was just Rita. Anyone get that?
Much as I'm enjoying seeing David Tennant get to play a romantic role - am I going to be drummed out of the fangirl-brownies for saying at this stage, that I don't think the romantic angle of SF is as interesting or as engaging as the plot about Dave coping with the kids and his extended family and then with Stuart and what he might be about to find out about the latter's relationship with Rita?
Sure, whether it's appropriate to have a relationship with someone so soon after his partner's death is obviously one of the many dilemma's Dave's having to cope with, but it's the least interesting one IMO, and I really never thought I'd say that. I htink it's becase I can't find anything in Sarah as a character to latch on to. She's obviously reached a crossroads in her relationship (as revealed by the discussion about kids with Rita last week), and is avoiding dealing with that, but other than that, she's not a particularly well drawn character. I can understand that she's starting to realise that perhaps Matt isn't the man for her, but if she didn't have the inclination to jump her best friend's fella before, I'm still at a bit of a loss to work out where that's coming from. (Becuase, Duh - he's gorgeous! doesn't really cut it, does it?) I don't dislike her - I'm just indifferent, which isn't good when you're supposed to be invested in two characters as a couple.
But I'm looking forward to next week - sounds like the shit's really going to hit the fan!
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-18 08:13 am (UTC)I'd agree with most of what you've said. Yes, the guy's still dealing with his grief, but seriously, there has to be a line drawn somewhere. On several occasions I, too, thought that Dave should pull his bleeping finger out, actually BE a father and assume some responsibility for looking after these kids. Especially when it came to asserting himself with Anna (whom I loathe--she's a control freak as much as her sister was, me thinks :P) over her vastly inappropriate meddling, but of course he needs to keep her onside as the on-call babysitter, so there would be none of that :/
Having worked as a social worker with 'at-risk' families, I'm also finding the family dynamics/crises and drama with Lucy's dad and Rita's hidden past more compelling than the romantic side too. Geez, that scene between Dave and Stuart was an absolute killer! Although re the romance, I don't mind or care for Sarah, but like you said, that's cos we don't know all that much about her. I just think Dave sees Sarah as an oasis of sanity in a desert of madness at this point, and that's why he keeps clinging to her.
Can't wait for next week either. If what's hinted at in the trailer is true...YIKES. D:
no subject
Date: 2010-10-18 10:11 pm (UTC)I thought the way he dealt with Anna was right - he didn't bawl her out in front of the kids and he was very measured in what he said. And I confess I started to warm to her a bit when she confessed how much she missed Rita, and when she spoke about everything still being done Rita's way or for Rita. That's what made me realise that she's not wearing the same rose-tinted specs about her sister that many others seem to be.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 02:21 am (UTC)With Anna and what she said about Rita, I did like that she came out and set Dave straight about Rita's character, but on the other hand it disconcerts me that it took Rita dying for Anna to fess up that way to him. That manner of backbiting really fits in with her continued bitching about Dave's ex-wife, so I just can't find her character particularly endearing, sorry :P I also don't think it's a case of everyone having 'rose-coloured' glasses in how they see Rita, more that everyone else is in the dark about her seemingly well-concealed past just as Dave is/was. If Dave, her partner of 11 years, wasn't aware of her manipulating and controlling ways, who's to say anyone else (sister aside) would know either? *shrugs*
You're right about Dave taking the right course of action in pulling Anna away from the kids to address things privately, and not getting into a tirade. I was more lamenting the fact that he had the opportunity to declare to Anna that the children are his responsibility, not hers, and that what she's doing is clearly overstepping the mark. The fact that he didn't do this makes me question even further whether he really *wants* the responsibility of being a father to these kids. While I realise he loves them, and he's still going through grief, etc., etc., I'm feeling quite iffy about it, and I'm not sure that's me imposing judgement or a reasonable call given what we're being presented with thus far.
Which leads to next week. If what's alluded to in the trailer re the questionable paternity of the other children is true, then Dave will have to confront that dilemma for himself. How much does he really *want* to be a father here and shoulder the responsibility (as opposed to just going through the motions) when he could, legally, have the right to walk away and just go about doing his own thing instead, sans the brood? Makes for VERY intriguing viewing :)
Cripes, after looking at what I've just written, I've realised that I'm thinking about this show WAY TOO MUCH! Really need to revert to default DT perve-mode again :D