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Upstairs, Downstairs: All the King's Horses (1975)
Devastatingly sad.
James returns from America, having made a fortune on the stock exchange. Alas for him, and so many others, it's temporary. James also invests and loses all of Rose's money, which she'd inherited from her fiancé, Gregory Wilmot. This leads to a huge showdown between James and his father, Richard. Bitter words are exchanged.
James goes to a hotel in Maidenhead and commits suicide.
The episode is beautifully acted with Simon Williams giving an excellent depiction of James's depression and his ongoing trauma from his experiences during the war. Despite all James's faults, it's hard not to pity him as he exits 165 Eaton Place leaving devastation in his wake.
Upstairs, Downstairs: Disillusion (1975)
Hudson falls in love...
...And it divides the entire household as his fancy has landed on the 24-year-old Lily.
Rose is furious with Hudson, Daisy is disgusted with Lily, while Frederick and Georgina are trying to encourage Lily to stand up for herself. Lord Bellamy, meanwhile, is upset at losing a good butler.
This has got to be one of the most uncomfortable episodes to watch. Hudson seems oblivious to the fact he hasn't actually asked Lily if she wants to marry him, and the whole thing comes off as sexual harassment with the power imbalance between a smitten butler and the under-houseparlourmaid.
That's not to say that it isn't well acted. Gordon Jackson and Karen Dotrice are totally convincing in their roles, as are the rest of the cast. It's a shame the storyline lets them down.
Upstairs, Downstairs: An Old Flame (1975)
Diana Newbury and James finally get together...
...Only for it all to go to pot.
Bunny, Diana's husband, is away fishing in Wales, when Diana runs across a sad, maudlin James in a nightclub. She throws herself at him, and is delighted when he finally reciprocates. They go off for an illicit weekend together only for James to find rainy weather and boredom turn the whole thing sour. Diana's just convinced James to take her to sunny Europe, so they can party forever, when Bunny returns home to her note about having left him for James. Bunny offers to stand aside and let them marry, only for James to say he'd rather not, actually.
Lord Bellamy, with his mind on his position and the fear of scandal, talks Bunny into taking Diana back and basically blames her part in it as her needing "looking after". He recommends Bunny buys her a new hat. Bunny and Diana go off on a cruise together, and James is left alone.
No one comes out of this episode looking good. Diana appears as a spoiled child, who's left to twist in the wind when her lover deserts her. James is a selfish cad who stabs his best friend in the back, then declines to take responsibility for helping to destroy what's left of his marriage. Lord Bellamy puts his position before doing the right thing, and Bunny foolishly takes his horrible wife back.
While I don't like Diana, I feel sorry for her once she realises she can't depend on James at all.
One bright spot in the episode is Edward's growing alarm at Diana's flirtatious maid and her attempts to vamp him. Just wait until Daisy finds out!
Upstairs, Downstairs: Wanted - a Good Home (1975)
A little power is a dangerous thing.
William, Lady Bellamy's son, goes off to boarding school, and Lord and Lady Bellamy go on a brief holiday. Alice, Lady Bellamy's daughter, is left in the charge of her governess, Miss Treadwell. Unfortunately for all, Miss Treadwell is also left in charge of the household, and doesn't she make her presence felt!
At first, it's small things like having her coffee in the morning room, which deeply offends Rose. She escalates to banning Thimble, Alice's dog, from the school room during lessons, then bans Alice from the kitchen. Thimble gets his revenge by eating one of her shoes. Miss Treadwell finally declares she's getting the dog put to sleep. At that point, the servants 'lose' the dog and claim he can't be found.
The Bellamys return to a rather overwrought governess who informs them the servants are plotting against her, Hudson is lying about her, Rose was rude to her, Mrs. Bridges tried to poison her, Frederick laughs at her, and Alice needs a good beating. Just then, Hudson brings in coffee and announces the dog has turned up safe and sound.
Miss Treadwell claims that's proof of it all. Unsurprisingly, the Bellamys see it as proof Miss Treadwell needs to go. They pay her off, and she goes, leaving Alice and Rose taking Thimble for a walk as the household returns to normal.
Beverly Hills Christmas (2015)
It's a pretty awful film
The film starts with Angelina (a go-getting business woman) showing how go-getting she is by firing an underling on Christmas Eve. Minutes later, she's killed by a drunk driver.
She wakes in Malibu (according to the Archangel Gabriel, it's Purgatory) and is told she can save herself by saving her daughter, Ravin, who's set upon being a go-getting, heartless businesswoman like her mom. Btw, it's almost a year later and she's got 3 days to complete the task.
Apparently it's true you can't speak ill of the dead, because a number of characters tell Ravin what a kind, loving angel her mom was. Ravin's new stepmom (one of Angelina's best friends!) gets Ravin working at the soup kitchen she helps run, where Ravin learns about true friendship while sweeping the floor and watching a regular at the soup kitchen get brought back to life.
The storyline is shaky and most of the acting is terrible. Lucille (Mara Rydell) was great as the maid who can hear Angelina's voice but never realises her ex-boss has come back to save her own daughter. (They really needed to use Lucille more.)
Lucille and an incredibly cute killer dog called Bunny are the best bits of the film. Dean Cain fans will probably watch this but, otherwise, save your time and watch something better.