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Last night's was the 3rd episode? I thought it was the 5th?
Miss Linda asked me what it was about. I said, "Period family drama, 1943 Ireland. Drama, not a melodrama or soap opera." My view of those two genres, drama vs. melodrama/soap opera, is that in the former, the characters are doing the best that they can to achieve their goals. They are not setting out to be or to do evil (though it might end up that way). In drama, you don't have a standard femme fatale or manipulator character, as you see in melodramas and soap operas.
Which is what we see in My Mother and Other Strangers: Rose and Michael, the lead couple, are drifting apart, though it horrifies Rose that she's attracted to another man; Rose's sister is a horrible flirt and verging on becoming a drunk, but she doesn't want to be either one; etc.
You are correct - last night's broadcast was the fifth and season finale. We, however, are only up to episode three. I want to think more about it as your definition of melodrama versus drama is interesting.
As to Rose's marriage, the catalyst of the drift is the war in two ways. One, no war, no black market which is driving a wedge between them (her husband probably would just have continued being an honest businessman - the assumption is that he was before the war) and, two, no war, no intriguing American officer to interest Rose.
The thing that (through three episodes anyway) isn't clear to me is how dire are the family's finances (they seem to be doing okay, but maybe that's because of his black market activity - which, however, appears modest and passive)? I'm not saying that, if things get tough, you're allowed to cheat, but Rose and her husband never sit down and fully flush through the issues: five mouths to feed / people are paying him in this stuff what does he do? / are they willing to not have money to take their daughter with scarlet fever to the hospital?/ etc. Rose's values are all good and well and she can look down on her husband, but unless we know all the rubber-hits-the-road details, I'm not ready to pass judgement.