Our Girl

[R4roger]

Anyone watching this drivel?
although slightly enjoyed the family dynamics going on last night, unfortunately DD's favourite programme and in fact Guardian seems to recommend it

My husband was talking about the progamme this weekend - lits of little errors he picked up on but he had his head in his hands at the whole "romance" element. Even if nothing actually happened, the officer who gets emotionally involved risks upsetting the balance/cohesion of the platoon/unit. During his last tour he sent a junior officer home for getting involved with someone lower in the chain of command and would not hesitate to do it again.

Even when not on ops, if an officer were dating a junior rank there would have to be an investigation to make sure it didn't compromise unit effectiveness. A CO has a duty of care to all ranks under his command and relationships at different levels in the rank structure can be subject to coercion.

We were talking about whether or not the programme missed a trick in not showing a woman holding her own in a very male environment - if Molly had been serving under him she'd have found herself up on a charge for her recklessness (eg: when she rushes up to Bashira who's wearing a suicide vest) - she does do a lot right but if she behaved like that in a real operation, she'd be in trouble. Instead, they showed via the romantic plot that women could be a disruptive element on the front line. He said he had his head in his hands at the scene where Molly attempts to have a heart to heart while they're walking up to a (possibly) booby-trapped body.

He thought it was a shame because there was quite a but the writers got right - mind you, what drama is ever truly representative of a profession?

Just imagine how much fun the revision for Mastermind would be...

jsscot I'm a bit like that with medical dramas. DH refuses to let us watch Holby, Casualty as more often than not I'll be huffing 'well thats not ever going to happen in RL!'

I watched episode 3 today - I thought after she came back from R&R he was trying to play it very cool, he'd probably had a word with himself to tell himself to forget about her but then he couldn't

Sorry jcscot!!!!

I was also looking up beret colours for different regiments today

Jscot, I'm like that with anything nautical so I can sympathise with your DH. Therefore I am very happy at this moment to know nothing about the military and be able to enjoy drooling over CJ without getting irritated by holes in the plot!

creme egg thanks for the spotify list...will sort that out later! Thats my doing the housework music sorted for the coming weeks.

mastermind would be fab-think of all that fun revision!

DH also said the plot was tosh but thought that the whole thing was done really well. All the uniform and kit pretty much spot on, the FOB was true to life, Bastion was a good representation of the real thing and all the language they use, mannerisms, characters etc were well researched and portrayed really well. And in my view, all those things are the most important. The rest of it is all just the story, which needs to be overdone and unrealistic to make people watch it! Let's face it, if the plot was true to life it wouldn't be a Sunday night drama, it would be a panorama episode which wouldn't have quite the same appeal to so many millions. So in my view they got it exactly right - fairly sensational plot to draw viewers in while maintaining credibility on everything else.

My husband noticed a lot of tiny details that were good - they were wearing the correct flashes/uniform etc, Bastion and the FOB were believable and the language/banter were believable. The romance bugged him perhaps because he had to sack someone in his unit on his last tour for exactly the sort of thing the programme showed - he thought it showed lack of integrity/moral courage in platoon commander, something he has little patience for. Also his cap badge has a lot of women who do very demanding jobs and do them very well so he thought programme did women a dis-service by showing Molly in a relatively poor light - especially as the role of women in the front line is under review.

Should add he agreed that dramas are often OTT to engage the viewer but thought a romantic plot could have been equally well served without the rank issue being part of it (she coukd have been choosing between someone back home and someone in the platoon, for example - a choice between someone who "gets" the military and someone who "gets" her background. I must admit that while I thought that the two leads had chemistry, I could not see it working out.

I think that's why we all loved it so much - it was so hard to imagine it happening or working in real life. These things just don't work in real life but the writers allowed it to happen and therefore it was all the more satisfying. (ahem). A bit like Baby and Johnny in Dirty Dancing. She was a 17 year old family girl and he was a pro dancer in his mid-late 20s. There's no way he would have looked at her twice, but he did and girls and women the world over rejoiced. When the unlikely/impossible happens, it just feels so very good.

PS - my Sunday is even worse now - no Captain James tonight and Thom Evans out of Strictly.

jcscot only from a non-army point of view, but I don't think they did showed Molly in a relatively poor light at all, I think they actually depicted her as brave, willing to roll her sleeves up, muck in, be one of the section, be excellent at her trade and "perform" whenever it was asked of her. As Capt Dawes says in Ep 2, she went above and beyond - recognising intel when she got it, risking her own life for one of her section, treating the injured insurgent. She didn't ask for any special treatment for being a female. She had the intelligence and compassion to get involved, see what was required for the mission. So I don't think her portrayal of the role or the writing did females in the military a dis-service, quite the opposite.

But I understand what you (and your H) mean about some of the "questionable" scenes - the "do you love me?" conversation, the complete disregard for orders in approaching Bashira when she had the vest on, going up to her OC and say she didn't know how she could keep her hands off him, running away from the truck in Ep 4 when she'd identified Badrai. But I think that was the drama, the story, the artistic licence that was required to draw in the middle aged women viewers.

I can't believe this time last week I was watching the clock waiting for Ep 5, and this week in its place, the BBC are offering a documentary onn Tutankhamun ?!

Ooops, who's Capt Dawes?! I meant Capt James!!

Brodies You are really spoiling my Sunday. No Our Girl and now you tell me Dirty Dancing wouldn't have happened in real life no one puts baby in a corner?

mandy - sorry! I'm just a bit down due to no CJ and no more TE on Strictly. Sob. Just trying to explain why we adore it so much. I know much of it is tosh, but who cares? It's just fab, fab, fab to watch.

I know . I am following the writer on twitter and keep dreaming thinking that he's going to wait until around 9pm tonight then announce a 2nd series has been commissioned. No sign so far. I also watched the Points of View clip and was -massively disappointed a bit gutted that they didn't show or mention Capt James at all, Jeremy Vine suggested it wasn't the last we'd seen of Molly Dawes. Even my 9yr old brainwashed by now on all things CJ-- said "what about Capt James?" I knew she was well trained!

I agree with Mandy - it didn't show her in a bad light in my view because actually it was CJ that made all the first moves with the hand holding, the writing on her arm, the duet, the kiss etc etc. Yes the whole "do you love me" thing was silly but she'd been encouraged to ask by his earlier (err, delicious!) actions. The only thing it might throw a negative light on is the question of whether women should be let into the infantry and cavalry and whether by doing so it opens doors to this kind of problem. But because of the nature of the modern "front line" women already serve at the sharp end in all kinds of roles and so it seems have already tested this issue, and so admitting them to the infantry and cavalry is really just a matter of whether those applying are physically strong enough. Simplistic view perhaps.

I agree that there were things Molly did well but if they'd stuck to that and not allowed the dramatic licence to go as far as it did it might have been a better portrayal (not that the actors were bad - I though they were all pretty good with the material they were given, especially Lacey Turner, who I thought was really rather good).

In some ways I found Molly's behaviour to be a little more believable - given her youth and inexperience - than that of Capt James who should have roundly bollocked her for some of her actions. The whole intelligence thing was utter tosh (with a nugget of believability at the centre) - other than the bit about passing on Bashira's warning about the mountains, which she had to be told to do by Smurf. The Badrai storyline was ridiculous, although it served the plot I suppose.

Yes, there were parts that rang true about what she was trying to achieve and the last few minutes of the finale, showing her back in Afghanistan and confident in her role were well-done. I sort of wish they'd ended there rather than the Bath scene.

I agree with BrodiesBabe and Mandy, some parts were just cringeworthy (although I have found the more I watch them the more I'm just drawn into the plot) but it's just a lovely story. From my very limited knowledge of the military way of life, I think it was portrayed well. Molly Dawes has every opportunity to excel in her career if she so wishes, I don't believe that is doing a disservice to women. If I was 19/20 now, I'd be straight over to the recruiting office lol!

I suppose its like anything isn't it - when you watch a drama based on what you know / what you do day in day out, you can't help but view it from a plausibility point of view (and invariably it falls down).

And I know Capt James should have known better / wouldn't have risked his whole career / it simply wouldn't have happened, that's what my head says. I'm ignoring it in favour of my heart and telling myself his feelings were so strong for her that he couldn't stop himself far too Mills & Boon and I know its ridiculous.

I think that Capt James making the first move was about the most ridiculous thing because it set all the other ridiculous - if entertaining and dramatic - events in motion. Given his age/rank/experience and devotion to all things army he should have known and behaved better and it was good to see it acknowledged in the finale when he announces that he intends to PVR.

If it did go to a second series - the relationship, now free of constraints - could be interesting. How he'd cope with being involved with someone whose experience of the Army is going to be outside of the Officers' Mess, how would they reconcile a civvie career for him with an Army career for her, how would the age difference come into play in respect of what each of them expect from the other etc.

Jcscot Do you think there is possibility of him changing his mind? Do you think the writers have any leeway for making his decision (which seems to be quite soon after the injury) look as though it was a knee-jerk reaction, and when he's given it proper thought and he's been through rehab, he could have decided to stay in? Would that make the whole Bath scene (3 months later when he's obviously in civvies) ridiculous? Would he have been back in barracks at that point if he hadn't in fact resigned?

I'm just wondering whether there is any chance of him still being in the army if and when a 2nd series is commissioned?

Of course the writers have leeway but it can be difficult to withdraw PVR once submitted (especially in the current redundancy climate!). They could explain it away by having him still undergoing rehab/being on leave etc but if they kept him in uniform, they would risk the soapier elements of the drama over-riding the rest of it. Also, given that there would have been an investigation into the incident leading to his injury, it is likely that the Army would prefer to let him go of his own accord, with honour intact, rather than have to blot his copybook because he was breaking the rules - but that's in real life!

In truth, given that he and Molly would serve in different capbadges (she in the RAMC and he in some unspecified infantry unit) they would be highly unlikely to be posted anywhere near one another and would proabaly find themselves at opposite ends of the country.

I think it would make for an interesting relationship dynamic if he were to remain a civvie, especially as an ex-officer involved with a junior rank while trying to make a new career on civvie street.

Thank you for that - it will be interesting to see how it pans out if and when they commission a 2nd series!

But that's exactly why I don't need a second series ;-)
There are too many difficulties ahead, let me just dream like a silly teenager :-)))

I think the whole serial is sending confused messages, i wrote it earlier and i keep on thinking it....yes it shows women's achievements in the army, but by mixing love and rank etc it also shows exactly why there are risks associated with it. And probably just confirmd the reasons why there was reluctance for so long.
The scene at the end of ep1 when the guys sing "she's one of the lads"...that rings soo wrong in my mind. I know it was meant well, but why should a woman be a man to be accepted? Come on, it's 2014 not 1914 ;-)

(Btw- when and how did CJ sleep with a few people he regrets?? Besides cold-fish-Rebecca?)

The only way forward for me is to simply ignore the army bit, and focus on the love story, which is beautifully written, acted and photographed. The uniform and heroism and sexy tan etc are only "setting".
:-)

But the setting/ context makes it, otherwise it wouldn't be so interesting, it's about the angst.

Agree that I don't see how a second series could keep the CJ/Molly element alive, watching people settling down is nowhere near so much fun, but I miss them....

I think even if you get married at 21 there is still plenty of time to have slept with people you regret, I certainly managed it.

I think that "One of the lads" is a compliment, Cerin you are totally right that you shouldn't have to be male to be accepted, but possibly such theories are bit beyond the under fives. They know she's a girl, but to them it is a way of expressing she is one of their group.