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.

Oh I love that. She's cracking as Beelzebub in Good Omens, too. Truly vile. At least Julia is not (quite) as bad.

I think Meg is the most poignant character. On the surface she has it all. Lovely house,high flying job great husband. But she uses alcohol as a crutch and to let off steam.
We also learn later she carries a lot of guilt surrounding how she met her husband. Agree her falling downstairs on the bus was hilarious.

I LOVE her. She's awful, uptight, self-centred, envious, disappointed and at times grotesque but what a character. I don't think we"re all supposed to be sat there thinking 'she's great, just the kind of mother I aspire to being like'. I think we're supposed to occasionally recognise scenarios she's in and how we might secretly like to behave in them. It's like she just can't quite 'pull off' behaving how she imagines she should be behaving - a selfish, snobbery might escape a little - she'll surprise herself by saying out loud what she should have kept quiet. It's that awfulness that makes her watchable (even if you might be watching through your fingers).

I think she's fantastically written and fantastically acted - as are most of the other cast members. I find the soft Dad a bit annoying but he's warmed on me and the downtrodden Irish woman plays a blinder.

I do envy their amazing wealth living in their hugely expensive houses but I can put that aside. As you can probably tell I'm a fan even though as I write this I can barely remember each character's name!

Absolutely love this show but I love an uncomfortable watch (was a big fan of The Office back in the day)

I have come across (admittedly less exaggerated) versions of every single one of the characters. Have even been on a similar night out with a Meg which was unforgettable! Brilliant writing and acting by all of them and very poignant at times

Lucy Punch is so unbelievably versatile she’s an amazing actress and lives in Hollywood when not filming Motherland! I’ve seen her in lots and think she’s brilliant. She has that smug mummy look down to a T even with small facial expressions.

I used to work with actors and met Oliver Chris a few times. He is lovely and one of about three actors who is actually as tall as you think he is (the rest of them are all 5'9" despite claiming to be 6' on their Spotlight CVs).

I don't think the writers had any choice but to make Julia unlikeable. Can you imagine a character in her position but she was just nice and smiley and a great friend who dealt with everything in a well adjusted manner? Nobody wants that.

As an aside the moment that always sticks in my head is when Meg goes to sports day, gets very emotional and proud for 20 seconds, then cuts it off because she's got to go to another meeting. I felt that a bit too much.

I can't stand Julia either.

Anna Maxwell Martin is a good actress, but she's not a comic actress.

Though her reactions when her manchild husband's parents come to "help" is pretty hilarious.

One of the best lines of the series was Meg saying to Liz 'that's what I like about you Liz, you're just the right side of giving a fuck'

@Blueeyedgirl21 Julia getting some shoes at Asda wouldn't be as funny would it?! There's loads of things where I think why doesn't she do so and so but it wouldn't be funny.

Anna Maxwell Martin is a good actress, but she's not a comic actress.

I beg to differ

I think she’s a fabulous comic actress.

I have a crush on her.

She's a brilliant comic actress!

She was fabulous in Bad Teacher. One of my favourite films.
I dislike Julia's mother

That's fine - differ away 😁

We don't all have to have the same opinion!

As an aside, why do women always try and analyse whether they're supposed to like a female character? Have seen it countless time on MN with Carrie's character from Sex and the City. Have never heard of a man asking if it's okay if they like/don't like Tony Soprano or Don Draper.

I analyse wheter or not I'm supposed to like male characters as much as I do it for female characters! Surely that is what everyone does? The clearest example that comes to mind is the lad in Catcher in the Rye. Loads of people say thay hate that book because they find the central character unlikeable and they can't work out what to do with their dislike. What about Hamlet, too - hero or drip? And a million other examples.

Also the notion of likeability in play here isn't the same people-pleasing one that is foisted onto real-life women more than it is onto men. A character in fiction can be likeable for murdering, cheating, etc. In real life, not so much.

A good example of woman hatred is Skyler in Breaking Bad, she got so much more vitriol than Walt, even though Walt was responsible for many direct deaths and hundreds indirectly. I watched it second time around and couldn't believe I'd sympathised with Walt so much first time around and been so hard on Skyler.

Yes, it was strange how everyone hated Skyler. I rooted for Walt all the way, which is nuts. But she was SO unlikeable.

I grew to hate Walt more and more. By the end I found him unbearable, but could still 'travel with him' in a way that I couldn't with Julia.

The worst thing about Julia wasn't the selfishness and manipulativeness that she practised to try and solve her problems. It was the fact that she tolerated the situation she was in, and tried all the time to fix it -- nstead of properly putting her foot down when people (esp her husband) left her in an unreasonable position. I know that, for plot purposes, she has to suffer from other people's monstrosity again and again, but it is still exasperating and alienating.

Yes why does no one care that Paul is lost?!

Well he's never there anyway so they probably didn't notice.

If he did turn up, they'd be all 'who the fuck are you'?

He's one step away from Maris Crane and 'er indoors', characters that featured in a show but were never actually seen.

I’m amazed they know he exists 🤣 also they left a day early!

Interesting to hear from the people that find it stressful and hard to watch as they’re in the thick of that stage right now. Currently in the trenches with teenagers , I watch motherland with a massive sense of nostalgia for the easier days 😁
Be careful what you wish for!!! Parenting teenagers makes the motherland stage look like pure bliss . It only gets harder , sorry!

@CellarBellaatemycoal not to derail but unless there’s disability or health problems involved what on earth are your teens doing that is so difficult? You don’t even need to do the school run !!