Via: Tuned In
Comparisons, as English literature has told us, are odious, so let me say up front: Parade’s End is not in a zero-sum contest with Downton Abbey. Just as TV can hold more than one cop, lawyer or hospital drama, the Edwardian era is big enough for the both of them. Still, that HBO’s adaptation of Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy (airing Feb. 26–28) comes out after Downton’s huge stateside success cannot be lost on either the network or viewers, some of whom may be looking to it as a substitute, to refresh their teacups during the long Downton drought. But the similarity stops at the china patterns. Introspective and gorgeous, opaque and standoffish, Parade’s End is little like the fast-paced, sentimental and aggressively likeable Downton. It’s perfectly possible to like both shows, or neither. But PBS’ hit offers a good frame for the five-hour miniseries, because the shows are similar on the surface and entirely unlike in storytelling and tone. If Downton is a nostalgic champagne toast to the bygone aristocracy, Parade’s End is more of a cold, bitter drink of scotch at its wake. On the eve of World War I, we meet Christopher Tietjens (Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch), a rectitudinous coatrack of a noble gentleman who has the sense that he is living through the end of a thing: the class system, the British Empire, the codes of propriety he lives by. His stiff devotion to propriety gets bent, ever so briefly, in a lusty encounter on a train with socialite Sylvia (Rebecca Hall). She becomes pregnant–maybe the baby is his, maybe not–they get married, and though Christopher’s friends warn him against getting “trapped,” you can see that her wildness has stirred his placid blue blood, however briefly. “I was a mug,” he admits–and Cumberbatch lets his facade break into a lascivious grin–”but there’s something glorious in it.” Sic transit gloria mundi, though. Their marriage sours, and three years later we find her flirting with a procession of men, while he stiffly, dutifully maintains the public pretense of their relationship.
Read full story at: Tuned In
Posted: February 26th, 2013
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