Last Tango in Halifax

Love,love love Last Tango!!!! It starts off like a love story that I worried was going to be too saccharine. Boy did that change! I love Nicole Walker! I caught her in Scott and Bailey (is that the title?). And Iove Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid. It is delicious. I think it is only a 2 season show.

Scotland said:

Love it as well. Also - whenever I see Derek Jacobi - Dotty, have you seen Vicious? Also with Derek and Ian Mc Clellan as older gay men....

I'm having a bad time with "Last Tango in Halifax" right now. I happened to start recording it again, and the first couple of episodes deal with Alan's discovery that he has a son from an indiscretion he had when he was with his first wife. In addition, Caroline and Kate are about to get married.

And Celia is being such a PILL. She is totally homophobic and terrible to her daughter, and apparently it's not the first time she's been like this about staying away from important events because of some drama she has manufactured. And she is also being horrible to Alan, magnifying the indiscretion he had decades ago with someone who wasn't her, yet making it all about HER and adding details that don't exist in reality.

But then I realized that Celia's bad behavior reminded me of how my own mother used to behave. She could be truly awful and selfish, creating drama and making everyone miserable. Sometimes it was all about her, even when it totally wasn't.

But Celia's personality is giving me second thoughts about continuing to watch the show.

I enjoyed the series immensely, partly because of things like Celia's reaction to her daughter and so forth -- things can get rocky in families, and this felt true to life to me. I found it a satisfyingly complex tapestry of a phase of a family's life.

iwasmim said:
I enjoyed the series immensely, partly because of things like Celia's reaction to her daughter and so forth -- things can get rocky in families, and this felt true to life to me. I found it a satisfyingly complex tapestry of a phase of a family's life.

I love "Last Tango in Halifax." The "true to life" atmosphere in Last Tango is one reason why I find it so absorbing. The hour seems to fly by in minutes. In the last episode, Celia's anger about being left out of the loop on her new husband's love child is so spot on. Celia then exacerbates the situation by refusing to attend her daughter Caroline's wedding and then, in turn, Caroline bans Celia's husband, Alan from the wedding. (I felt so heartbroken for Alan.) It's just the way $hit snowballs in families.

That's what I don't get... she escalated it out of all proportion to the point where she wouldn't go to her own daughter's wedding, and then the daughter banned the husband... that part made no sense to me, the unnecessary hurtfulness on all sides.

But, like I said, I might be reacting this way because Celia's behavior is something I could have seen my own mother doing, and since we just lost Mom in October, reminders of her worst behaviors leave me a little raw.

I also felt terrible for Alan. I wonder if it would make Celia feel any differently to know that Alan had the short-lived affair with Mary mostly because she reminded him of Celia, whom he had lost because a simple message didn't get through? (That part reminds me of "As Time Goes By," with Judi Dench as the long-lost love.)

This is probably my favorite show of all. I really love the actors and the complexity of their lives. Celia's sense of betrayal from her first husband is just coloring her ability to see or feel straight. To me this seems how people behave in real life. But I like that her character and Alan's is developed into something more complex than the romanticism of the first season. Derek Jacoby and Anne Reid are such terrific actors. I just love their characters.

I didn't quite get why Caroline turned him away at the wedding. It didn't seem to fit. But I am eating up this series once again.

I didn't realise I have this gem to anticipate

We used to have a brilliant short comedy, Mother and Son. The brilliance was not only in the scripts but also in the chemistry of the actors who all acted their parts truthfully. The result was an embarrassingly accurate portrayal of modern daily Australian family life, complete with divorced son living with and caring for ageing Mum, married successful and busy 'golden boy' second son (who claims all the glory but doesn't do a thing), and 'sweet' sometimes-forgetful-on-purpose Mother Bear. Every episode you could guarantee there'd be at least one thing you'd said to your mother, and your siblings had done to you. Squirmingly good.

Celia was pained and hurt by the fact that Allan, who had a single indiscretion which produced a child he never knew about, and learned thateveryone in the family was told about it before she was!

Celia had had an unhappy marriage to a serial philanderer while she raised her daughter Caroline, frustrated and angry probably at men in general! She mentions that she almost died while giving birth -- while her husband was with his tart. She relates Allan's infidelity to what she endured .

Caroline blamed Allan for stirring up her mother! Stupid, but human.

Not a great episode for any of them, but love the series.

JLJohn said:
Not a great episode for any of them, but love the series.

That is probably the best answer for my purposes! I had seen a couple other episodes (have trouble finding it in CT for some reason) and have liked others. This one was a little more raw. I also didn't understand why Caroline turned away Alan, but I think mtierney is correct that she was angry that Alan had gotten Celia so angry that she stayed away... OTOH, Celia was only stirred up because Caroline insisted that Alan tell her without delay, which ended up being the day before the wedding. Perhaps Caroline felt she didn't want any reminders of the rift with her mother, and that's what Alan would have been? Still, he looked so hurt.

It was unfortunate that everyone else knew before Celia, but then, it was kind of inevitable. That also wasn't Alan's fault: He wasn't even the first to know in the family himself! The son reached out to his half-sister, who told her step-sister as well as Alan, and they all then discussed it with each other. That, too, is quite realistic in families. I understand the three of them trying to talk through how to tell Celia to minimize the hurt.

Oh, well. Here's hoping things are better between them all in the next episode.

I think they will get better. We all act out from pain that we carry from our pasts. There is a part of me that wanted Alan to slip into the ceremony anyway. But that wouldn't be true to his character. And why why why didn't Jillian go to the wedding???

gerryl said:
I think they will get better. We all act out from pain that we carry from our pasts. There is a part of me that wanted Alan to slip into the ceremony anyway. But that wouldn't be true to his character. And why why why didn't Jillian go to the wedding???

I think Gillian is uncomfortable with her step-sister marrying another woman, as is Celia. Also, her relationship with Caroline seems to be a little tenuous. She clearly admires her and thinks well of Caroline's judgment in many ways, or she would not have consulted her about telling Celia about Alan's son, but I suspect she is also intimidated by her.

Yeah, character wise, I think you are right Peggy. Just disappointing. Hurry up everybody and do the right thing!!! (not that I always do!)

I am really turned off after watching the latest episode. Everyone is so messed up! Gillian's behavior with Caroline's ex-husband was slutty, considering the entire family was at home!

I'll probably watch anyway, always did love soap operas! But, I hope someone in the farm house turns on the lights! Way too dark in more ways than one

I actually really liked this episode, although I was horribly upset by what happened to Kate. I am glad that Caroline, Celia, and Alan are speaking again. Caroline is going to need a ton of support raising Flora on her own, especially since she will be starting out under a huge cloud of grief.

Regarding Gillian, she seems to be undergoing some interesting character growth... she sees that her behavior is ... odd ... and wants to change. She was horrified at the message she sent Caroline in a drunken haze, and she knows it was not right to sleep with John ... again. But she's upset about it all and seems to want to get her act together.

I like Gillian. She's a hot mess, but her heart is mostly in the right place. I vaguely remember what happened in earlier episodes with her husband Eddie. What I can't remember is what the deal is with her son... who is his father, and when did that happen? I'm also not clear on how her relationship with Robbie began.

Weren't Robbie and her husband friends? And wasn't her husband an alcoholic? She had to stop her education when she got pregnant ...in other words bright, but without the kind of support she needed. I love her character and I love the actress who plays her!

I think Gillian's husband was Robbie's brother. I love Gillian. I love them all, except for Caroline's younger son, who is a twit, and John, Caroline's ex. He creeps me out.

It wasn't clear at the end of the episode but I take it that the wail of horror in the hospital was that of Caroline hearing of Kate's death? Tragic.

Yes, Caroline's wail was in response to the news that Kate was dead. Awful.

OK, so others are as puzzled as I am about Robbie. Although I do seem to recall that her husband Eddie was an alcoholic and beat her up. Swell guy all around.

We're re watching Dr Who...Celia was the guest star nasty-alien in Martha's first episode (season 3 of the modern round)! Fancy that!!