Fallen Angel: Episode 3 (2007)

 

As predicted, PC gets more to do in this episode.  Not as much as I’d like, but I’m a PC fan/big-time Whovian who’s just had her appetite whetted for the Twelfth Doctor and has another month to go before Christmas.  I’m what you might call hard to sate.

 

Anyway, episode 3 moves further back in time to Rosie’s childhood.  Henry’s wife Wendy is the witness to the increasingly suspect events occurring around Rosie, because she’s moved in with Rosie’s family since her separation from Henry.  It’s never really spelled out why they’ve parted, though feelings are pretty heated on Wendy’s side.    It might have just been growing conflicts and frustrations aggravated by their unsuccessful attempts to start a family; they don’t go into detail.

 

The Henry we see here has a good deal more character than the one in episode 2.  He longs to get his wife back, and he can’t help being a little undignified in his sorrow.  Whatever happened between them, they must have really loved each other once, or Henry wouldn’t be so desperate and Wendy so angry now.

 

He also really seems to understand Wendy.  While working as an assistant in the parish library, Wendy happens upon the works of the poet that will later fuel Rosie’s obsessions.  Wendy becomes fascinated with his story, and though Henry doesn’t share her interest, he gladly assists her investigation into the poet’s history.  Sure, a big part of that is because he wants to be around her, but he also realizes that this is important to her and sets out to help.

 

It’s still not a huge role – tertiary character, maybe – but PC works very efficiently.  Despite relatively little screentime and not many details in his characterization, he (and Clare Holman) manage to make you care about Henry and Wendy as a couple.  I know I was hoping for those two crazy kids to work it out.

 

Accent Watch

 

Yep, RP.  Sounded better here than in the previous episode.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – If you’re into dark and cerebral dramas, you might like it.    The Rosie story was unraveled effectively, and I liked delving into the life of the poet.

 

PC-wise – Possibly.  He has a few really nice scenes.    However, he’s definitely used to the best effect in episode 3.

 

Warnings

 

Nothing further.

Fallen Angel: Episode 2 – “The Judgement of Strangers” (2007)

 

This is a bit of an odd duck.  PC appeared in the last two parts of this unsettling, non-chronological miniseries.  So far, I’m finding it to be an interesting story of some very damaged people, but things can get a little Lifetime now and again.

 

The volatile point around which Fallen Angel revolves is Rosie, a young woman with severe mental health issues, a cruel, self-serving streak, and an obsession with an unsavory dead poet.  The three episodes run in reverse order – I already watched the initial installment, so I’ve seen where Rosie ends up and what she does, and I’m now working my way back in time to look for the source of her darkness.  “The Judgement of Strangers” presents a teenage Rosie; allegedly “recovered” from an earlier childhood trauma, she subtly manipulates those around her and fosters a growing talent for the old ultraviolence.

 

PC plays Henry Appleton.  He and his wife Wendy are friends of Rosie’s father, and their son Michael is one of the first to suspect Rosie of untoward action.  It seems that Henry and Wendy are recovering from marital problems – he makes a comment about them being back together, and they embark on a second honeymoon.

 

Henry is, so far, a pretty thin character.    I’m guessing he and Wendy will get a lot more backstory in the final episode, which takes place before this one.  But as things currently stand, he’s just a generic relation to his more narratively-important wife and son – don’t know much about him.

 

Lots of familiar faces in this one.  PC has previously worked with Clare Holman (in Giving Tongue, playing his wife in both projects,) Charles Dance (in What Rats Won’t Do, though he’s known much better as Tywin Lannister,) and Sheila Hancock (in Fortysomething.)  Additionally, we have Austen alumni James D’Arcy (Tom Bertram in the Billie Piper version of Mansfield Park) and Emilia Fox (as Rosie, she’s very unlike her Georgiana Darcy in the Ehle/Firth Pride and Prejudice.)

 

Accent Watch

 

Sounds like RP.  Some questionable vowels, but not too bad.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Possibly, depending on how it ends.  I’ll report more definitively tomorrow.

 

PC-wise – Not so far.  Nothing special.

 

Warnings

 

Dark subject matter and grisly images (although usually, only the aftermath of the violence is shown, not the act itself,) including violence against animals.  Sexual content and drug references.