Am I supposed to hate Julia? (Motherland)

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

I'm about 4 episodes in (season one), and honestly - I find her and, more specifically, her husband, so fucking annoying that I may just have to throw the towel in.

I get that she is supposed to be a harangued mother, feckless dad, etc, but she is just so incredibly unlikeable.

She berates her mother, so cruelly, for stepping back on childcare (creating a gap the wanker dad should be helping to fill), sometimes in front of her mothers friends.

She only ever does stuff with or for her kids because other people have basically played on her massive insecurities. But it's at caricature point now, where its losing any humour.

I'm just not finding the comedy at all with her. I'm wondering if the fact that there isn't even a drop of niceness written into her character means we are supposed to dislike her?

I'm only still watching for Anne and Liz. Even Kevin - they made him a bit funny at the start but it's going a bit slapstick (the wearing all the coats scene?)

I want to get it, and I want to like it, and there bits I like. But it just feels so over over the top. Like they've ramped up any potential for a bit of comedy to just levels of ridiculousness.

I must be missing something then, I can’t work out what.

I don't like Voldemort, doesn't stop me enjoying Harry Potter! I never really thought If I like the characters as I like watching the interaction. I suppose I enjoy Kevin!

I don't think she's supposed to be likable and I'm southern.

I thought it was exaggerated examples of when as a parent you can lose yourself and get immersed in the stress of life or being 'perfect' but always being one step away from it all unraveling.

Like an advert to not be that person. None of them are rounded characters and they've lost their sense of identity. I don't think I really like any of the characters but enjoyed the series.

She's great. She's just what I imagine every middle class London mum to be!

Agreed: Julia is awful and doesn't get any better as the seasons go on. You do question why anyone puts up with her. All of the others have a good quality or two (or even just more reason to be a bit shit like Amanda) but Julia is just top to bottom a bit crap.

I mainly don't like her but there is a Christmas scene where she's trying to cook dinner and her husband is in tk max phoning her about shit Xma's presents that he's thinking of buying
for her and (I think) her inlaws, which I think is hilarious mainly because it's the sort of thing my DH would do 🤣

I think that’s the point, isn’t it? Julia is utterly vile, but you kind of warm to her because her DH is an absolute waste of space. Everyone sees an element of themselves in her, too - I know I do! They’re all pretty awful TBH, other than Anne and Meg.

Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that in order to like a show, the characters all have to be nice.

With Julie, there isn't even a grain of niceness. At all. That's all I'd want. A smidge of something about her, one little drop that shows she cares even a tad about someone else.

And I am northern yes

Julia is like me when I’m stressed and at my very worst. I like her, Amanda and Anne - find Meg and Liz very grating.

I'm surprised she's so unpopular on here. A lot of the 'nasty' things she does seem to be out of desperation, trying to manage work and motherhood, spinning the plates and dropping them, not helped by the useless DH who's always off doing what he likes.

Maybe if he was around more she'd be nicer as she wouldn't always be chasing her tail?

I don’t hate her, but she’s not meant to be likeable either. And obviously you’re not supposed to like the husband. None of them are meant to be likeable really.

I think it's just really exaggerated humour - showing how exasperating life as a mother is.

I must be Northern in the quiz ''Do you like Julia?''. I'm Irish but I think Julia behaves in a way that is not her best self :-p but perhaps the joke is that we all live down to our worst self when we're under that much pressure. I like the way that Liz comes across, she's a bit sad sometimes but not bad company.

Also having a husband as useless as Julia's is most stressed unhappy women's REAL problem. I'd love if they show Julia telling Paul where to go and then somehow rearranging her life so that it's not as stressful

I agree about her being the worst version of ourselves. Mostly she just cba to make the effort. There is a bit later on where she's trying to juggle work and the demands of the dch and it's quite poignant. I love Motherland. Some of it is a bit daft but mostly I find it really funny and clever. My favourite episode is the one where they go out on the town with Meg. It's brilliant.

I love the programme… hate her. I’m very very southern.

I'm welsh and live in the west country and I think Julia is an amazing character. There's a genuine sadness to her character in season 3. I think she's quite complex actually. She's a mess!

I agree op.
I watched it only for her friends.
Not Northern.

I dislike her too. There have been quite a few threads on here where people cheerily declare themselves to be a 'Julia' when talking about the show and I always wonder what I am missing because even if I did recognise myself in her I wouldn't be admitting to it!

Northern here and I love her. She reminds me of my aunt. No warmth from her at all but I just loved her hyper, whingy, shouty company for some reason.

I quite liked her but in a kind of 'understand where she is coming from' kind of way. I did see her as my (worst) self, or at least recognised myself in a lot of what she was doing.

I definitely recognised the rushing about trying to sort everyone and everything, failing miserably at parenting and at work, and getting incredibly wound up and descending into a pit of stress and disaster. Meanwhile the DH floats around doing his thing. 🙄

My friend said she hated her character and I was taken aback, hadn't realised she was so unlikeable, but this thread shows she is!

I'm Scottish btw so think that counts as Northern 😄

I'm northern and find her character funny in a terrible way. I don't dislike her. But I like people who are a bit mad and crap. I find them more interesting. They'd be really frustrating to have as friends however. Exaggerated for comic effect though surely.

I don’t mind if a programme doesn’t have likeable characters but I do need someone to believe in and root for and I can’t find that in Motherland. For comparison, Catastrophe, which is also co-written by Sharon Horgan, has some truly terrible humans in it but because the writing makes you believe in and root for Sharon and Rob it makes superb TV. It’s one of my favourite series of all time.

She's written well, to be very unpleasant. I dislike her a lot.

I think you're taking it too seriously