South Riding

Masterpiece is back y'all! After what I thought was a rather disappointing showing with Upstairs, Downstairs, viewers have a new three-part series to sink their teeth into. South Riding is like Anne of Green Gables meets Jane Eyre meets the gritty realism of post-WWI and pre-WWII England. Gone is the shiny veneer of the Victorian era; WWI, the war that was supposed to end all wars, took millions of lives, and this loss left all of Europe jaded. The effects of this war's awakening can be seen 15 years later in South Riding, a coastal town in Yorkshire. Being one of a surplus of two million unmarried women (their would-be spouses lost in the war), the protagonist of the series, Sarah Burton, is full of outlandish ideals such a pacifism and women's rights. She comes back to her hometown to be headmistress of a girls' school after teaching all over the world because she wants to make a difference. Her "radical" thinking doesn't immediately win her any fans, but her students adore her, and she slowly wins people over.

The cast is a who's-who of Masterpiece favorites. Anna Maxwell Martin, who was a delight in Bleak House, plays Miss Burton with such aplomb it's hard to imagine another actress taking on the role. Mrs. Beddows, a champion for Miss Burton, is played by Penelope Wilton, who most recently starred in Downton Abbey. Robert Carne, our Edward Rochester, is played by Sense and Sensibility's David Morrissey, who can break your heart with one glance. Everyone has their struggles in South Riding, but I think Mr. Carne might beat them all. He has an estate that is going bankrupt; his prized horse that he was going to sell to make everything better breaks its leg on barbed wire (hello sybolism and WWI allusion), and he has to put it down; his daughter Midge is so shell-shocked and damaged (from what we don't know) that she constantly worries that her father will leave her and never come back; and, finally, Mr. Carne's wife Muriel is insane and residing in an insitution, another obvious reason for the strain on the estate. These awful circumstances leave me full of dread for an unhappy ending. Miss Burton and Mr. Carne have an obvious yet tragic attraction, and this doesn't seem like a story where everyone lives happily ever after. Still, the acting is superb, and the plot is so realistic that I can't help but lose myself in it.

Because I think that there is always room for improvement, I do have one quibble with South Riding. There are three episodes of the series, but they're only 50 minutes each! Just when I felt like I could smell the sea air and feel the craggy cliffs beneath my feet, when I was so abosorbed I felt like I was in South Riding, Laura Linney's voice-over interrupted to tell me that the next episode would be here in a week. I'd rather stay up until 11 p.m. and watch the whole series than have to wait a week to see what happens. It spoils the mood, and the magic that each episode creates doesn't build. It's like getting to a cliffhanger in a book and then having to give it back to the library. It's a small problem, but vexing nonetheless. However, I already love this series, and I will tune in each week. The characters' problems are more complex and more dire than simply who marries who or who's in charge of making the night's menu. In the debate over what is more interesting, life upstairs or downstairs, I'm definitely more of a downstairs girl. And South Riding exemplifies the heart and passion that is seen in people who've struggled. I will definitely be watching next week, even if I don't feel an ocean breeze immediately.

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