Look no further for a fine little glimpse into some amusing lives, earnestly portrayed. Every actor succeeds in injecting just enough sympathy to keep the lot tolerable, so the series movies from zoo of aristocrats to class of people who believe they're trying their best and are only somewhat delusional in that.
The whole plot feels unstudied, amateur -- starting in medias res with a character arbitrarily chosen, rushing an oddly lightweight death at the end, and every spontaneity in between -- but the execution is so fluent it feels good all along. Well, maybe I missed some secret genius of the plot, but I suspect the essence of the show is its feel. Said feel isn't wholly contained in the production value, though the scenery, music, etc help. It's primarily contained in the acting and dialogue. These are sharp and naturalistic.
Two secondary elements I appreciated: the choral hymns that sounded a lot like my poignant alma mater song, and the thoughtful arguing about social issues. The former speaks for itself -- I love that stuff. The latter was satisfying because both the woke and the non-woke perspectives were usually portrayed naturally, convincingly, forgivably. I sympathized even with the apparent villains in those conversations, nor scorned the social crusaders. For instance, the family arguing about colonialism -- it was all very thoughtful in a normal, not-stuffy way. I mean the family is stuffy, but they voiced thoughts that normal people think. It was nice to witness such frank relatability in a world that makes you fear breaching these topics yourself.
Thank goodness it's an anthology series so I don't have to feel too much curiosity about the next seasons. I can't imagine continuing; I just believe most TV is a waste of time even when I kind of enjoy it.
