Other Doctor Lives: Gentleman Jack: Season 2, Episode 7 – “What’s all that go to do with Jesus though” (2022)

*A few spoilers from episode 6.*

Gentleman Jack unfortunately didn’t make it past season 2, and this is Peter Davison’s last episode of the show. It’s a good one, even if we only get a brief appearance from Mr. Priestley.

In addition to her plans for her own land—which are moving full steam ahead—Anne helps Miss Walker address some issues with her property. Miss Walker has long been waiting to divide up her shared inheritance with her sister, but things have become much more complicated since she learned that her sister signed over her half of their estate to her husband. Capt. Sutherland seems hellbent on dragging out the proceedings, especially once he detects Anne’s influence in Miss Walker’s letters.

I feel like it’s not often that we see a controlling, domineering husband in Victorian period pieces who’s abusive without being overt about it. Capt. Sutherland’s abuse is potent but subtle, exerting his will over his wife by manipulating her perspective and presenting a much more mild, innocuous portrait of himself. Miss Walker has quite the time facing up to him, but she’s not about to back down, especially with Anne rallying behind her.

One byproduct of these efforts to divide Miss Walker’s estate is that a Sunday school run out of one of her properties suddenly loses its teacher. This leads into a fun montage of Anne’s steward Mr. Washington, Miss Walker, and Anne all attempting to fill in and teach the Sunday school themselves. After seeing Mr. Washington and Miss Walker both do their utmost to interest the kids in the story of the Good Samaritan, we smash cut to Anne energetically teaching them geometry. Ha!

As far as Anne’s hotel scheme is concerned, this episode finds her meeting with a young but visionary architect, Mr. Harper. I was happy to see he was played by Luke Newberry, who I loved so much as Kieren on In the Flesh. Mr. Harper is an endearing character, who has a passion for the charming details of old houses and is so dedicated to his work he forgets to eat.

Our final scene with Peter Davison comes when Mr. and Mrs. Priestley confront Mr. Washington about recent evictions on Miss Walker’s properties (again, from preparations to divide her estate.) Mrs. Priestley clearly doesn’t have much faith in her husband to be of use in this matter, which gives us this amusing exchange:

Mrs. Priestley: “Don’t.”

Mr. Priestley: “What?”

Mrs. Priestley: “Say anything.”

And to be sure, he’s not especially helpful. He knows nothing about Miss Walker’s plan to divide the estate but badly bluffs that he does. And as usual, Anne is the thorn in his side—as soon as Mr. Washington tells them about Miss Walker’s plans, Mr. Priestley grumbles, “We know who’s behind that one, don’t we?”

That’s it for Peter Davison on Gentleman Jack! Final thoughts:

Accent Watch

A soft Northern—well-to-do while also keeping those Northern vowels in a way that, say, Anne doesn’t.

Recommend?

In General – I would. It can move a bit slowly at times, but I always enjoy getting period pieces about LGBTQ folks, and the fact that these were real people makes it even more interesting.

Peter Davison – A soft maybe. While I’m not sure Davison is really in the series enough to be “worth it” watching just for him, he still brings across a strong sense of this character.

Warnings

Sexual content, scenes of violence (including discussion of sexual assault,) language, drinking/smoking, and strong thematic elements.

Other Doctor Lives: Gentleman Jack: Season 2, Episode 6 – “I can be as a meteor in your life” (2022)

*A few spoilers from earlier in the season.*

We’ve skipped over quite a bit of season 2 here—Peter Davison mostly appears toward the beginning and toward the end. As such, there’s a fair amount to catch up on here. I’ll stick as much as possible to what’s happening in this episode, just touching on the highlights of relevant info from past episodes.

No surprise, Anne is as busy as ever. She’s contemplating new ways to stop scroungers from stealing her coal, she’s looking into building an inn on some of her unused land, and she’s in the thick of some contentious local politics. Amid all this hustle and bustle, Miss Walker is feeling more ignored than ever—a cruel joke about her and Anne was printed in the paper, and Miss Walker is starting to fear she’s upended her entire life for something that Anne isn’t even serious about. She also learns some surprising news about her sister’s inheritance.

Anne’s business dealings are interesting, because she’s obviously ambitious and determined, and she’s always prepared to educate herself on the particulars she needs to know, but that doesn’t necessarily add up to sound decisions. She seems to be perpetually biting off more than she can chew, seeking professional advice while blithely ignoring any words of caution directed her way. She knows how intelligent she is, but that can sometimes put her in a position where 1) she assumes she knows better than her advisors and 2) she thinks she’s too shrewd to be cheated.

The public joke against Anne and Miss Walker occurred in the last episode, but the fallout continues here: someone had a fake marriage announcement printed in the paper, “mistaking” Anne for a man and claiming that “he” just wed Miss Walker. Anne puts on a show of indifference about the mockery in public, although she’s privately incensed. She sees it as someone trying to intimidate her, and she demands, “How dare anyone speak to me about intimidation?” Meanwhile, Miss Walker is deeply humiliated, and she doesn’t feel able to put on a brave face about it like Anne does.

This is further compounded by her creeping doubts about the depth of Anne’s feelings. A quarrel begins between them over what Miss Walker views as a dismissive reference to her in one of Anne’s letters. Miss Walker may think she isn’t strong, but she holds Anne to account here, not letting her off the hook. “‘I’m sorry if you think—’ I hate that, that’s what men say!” she argues. “‘I’m sorry if you’re so stupid that you’ve misunderstood.’” And so, when her family start trying to meddle (what else is new?), Miss Walker is perhaps a little more ready to hear what they have to say.

Mr. Priestley is attached to this plot, although we don’t see him doing this directly. While other members of Miss Walker’s family work their influence on her in person or through letters, Mr. Priestley is only guilty of attempted influence this time around—he comes to Shibden Hall to see Miss Walker, but she’s out and he runs into Anne instead. Anne purrs, “Well then, you’ve missed her, and you’ve caught me. That probably wasn’t the plan at all, was it?”

Davison does a nice job playing this absolute wet noodle of a man. Mr. Priestley is completely cowed in Anne’s presence, barely managing more than a frightened hat-tip.

Other Doctor Lives: Gentleman Jack: Series 2, Episode 2 – “Two jacks don’t suit” (2022)

Pretty good episode here, featuring an interesting main plot for Anne and Miss Walker and a bit more to do for Peter Davison’s Mr. Priestley. Also, nothing like some good old-fashioned Victorian travel porn!

After beginning the committed portion of their relationship out of town, Anne and Miss Walker set off for a long holiday in Europe before returning to Shibden Hall. As they tour Paris and conquer the Alps, Anne rebuffs insinuations from old friends that she’s out of Miss Walker’s league. Back home, the Listers are left to deal with Miss Walker’s angry relatives.

I enjoy the Europe stuff. In addition to the fun of seeing the sights with Anne and Miss Walker on their holiday, some nice tension is injected by the arrival of some of Anne’s friends. Chief among them is Tib, played by Joanna Scanlan (Terri from The Thick of It.) She’s as outspoken as she is shrewd, and you can feel Anne’s discomfort radiating off the screen as Tib sizes Miss Walker up. She’s super judgy over the new missus and is decidedly Team Mrs. Lawton, which makes things even more uncomfortable because Miss Walker doesn’t know about Anne’s history with Mrs. Lawton.

I’m not the main demographic for the representation here, and I’m sure some viewers are annoyed/upset that Anne is emotionally over the honeymoon phase, even while they’re still effectively on their honeymoon, but I find it intriguing. She’s well aware that Miss Walker loves her more than she loves Miss Walker, and she gets edgy when others clock that fact, but she’s decided she’s very much all in this. Anne craves commitment, and in Miss Walker, she’s finally found someone who’s willing to give that to her. This makes her sacrifice some passion for stability, which leaves her in the tricky position of not letting on to Miss Walker that the ardor of her feelings has cooled.

Meanwhile, Miss Walker’s family is up in arms. No one told them beforehand that Miss Walker was going to Europe with Anne, and since they’ve been gone, they’ve only heard about her via Marian, who shares details of Anne’s letters with them. They can feel they’re being “managed” and find that insulting, and they’re angry at Anne for stealing Miss Walker out from under them, even as they worry about Anne’s influence.

In this episode, there’s a full-on conference where the whole extended family comes together to talk in scandalized voices about Miss Walker’s actions, rag on Anne, and plot how they can bring Miss Walker to heel again. There’s a lot of concern-trolling going on, fretting about wanting what’s best for Miss Walker as their homophobia colors the entire conversation.

This is where Mr. Priestley comes in. He’s been on the front lines, so to speak, of all this supposed disrespect, so he’s in the thick of it at the conference, filling his relatives in on all these scandalous occurrences. In contrast to him being a bit feckless in the last episode, he’s very forceful and outraged here, free to unleash the full brunt of his disapproval. When he says, “And she turned up,” meaning Anne, the disgust in his voice is palpable.