I found the first episode and most of the first part of episode two to be engaging while the second half of episode two and all of episode three just sank in to soap opera and business drama pablum.
The opening with the old Emma Harte (Deborah Kerr) establishes where the story will land, yet not how we're going to get there. Then it goes back to young Emma's (Jenny Seagrove) start as maid in the stately English country home of the Fairleys, local gentry and industrialist with cloth mills and other operations. From there it's all about Emma's grit and determination to help her family while making something of herself. During this time turns against the Fairley's with their scheming and disregard for the people in their employ. Emma's bitterness and grit reach their zenith when Edwin Fairley (Peter Chelsom), whom she loves, gets her pregnant yet fails to stand by her. That ends episode one.
In episode two, Emma moves to Leeds, has her baby and begins her trajectory of success as a business woman. This is when the story starts to fall to pieces. Everything is rushed, with quick jump shots from one period to another while characters are introduced pell mell, with many not as fully developed as they should be.
Then, the whole series goes off when Emma meets Paul McGill (Barry Bostwick). They have a quick, intense love affair when Paul then reveals to Emma he's married. Yet, she accepts it and they have a child together, with the next 14 years in one big jump then with another big jump to modern day, about 40 years later. That's when I started to just wait for this to be over since it became so bad.
In the end, the series really is about Emma being a hard, calculating woman who was a bad mother, yet we're suppose to sympathize with her since she's sacrificed for them. The series offers this insight to explain and even forgive Emma. Yet, in the end it was all on her for being a neglectful and then spiteful mother.
The opening with the old Emma Harte (Deborah Kerr) establishes where the story will land, yet not how we're going to get there. Then it goes back to young Emma's (Jenny Seagrove) start as maid in the stately English country home of the Fairleys, local gentry and industrialist with cloth mills and other operations. From there it's all about Emma's grit and determination to help her family while making something of herself. During this time turns against the Fairley's with their scheming and disregard for the people in their employ. Emma's bitterness and grit reach their zenith when Edwin Fairley (Peter Chelsom), whom she loves, gets her pregnant yet fails to stand by her. That ends episode one.
In episode two, Emma moves to Leeds, has her baby and begins her trajectory of success as a business woman. This is when the story starts to fall to pieces. Everything is rushed, with quick jump shots from one period to another while characters are introduced pell mell, with many not as fully developed as they should be.
Then, the whole series goes off when Emma meets Paul McGill (Barry Bostwick). They have a quick, intense love affair when Paul then reveals to Emma he's married. Yet, she accepts it and they have a child together, with the next 14 years in one big jump then with another big jump to modern day, about 40 years later. That's when I started to just wait for this to be over since it became so bad.
In the end, the series really is about Emma being a hard, calculating woman who was a bad mother, yet we're suppose to sympathize with her since she's sacrificed for them. The series offers this insight to explain and even forgive Emma. Yet, in the end it was all on her for being a neglectful and then spiteful mother.