Our Girl and Captain James Discussion Thread...

[ihearttc]

A new thread for all things Our Girl as we have already filled up another thread discussing everything to do with the show.

Thanks for cleaning up the photo query, icemist. Glad it's not him. Strikes me as a really weird thing for him to do.

All this talk of husbands in mess dress is making me jealous! My father and step-father were both military but I never saw them in uniform due to age and family circumstances. I'm sure there's some complex Freudian issues surrounding my hankering for a man in uniform but there we are. My DH does wear a uniform of sorts for his work and I love seeing him in it - so good across the shoulders - but it's a far, far cry from the military.

Spurs are definitely a bugger with long dresses - particularly when one's DH hoists his spurred boot heel up onto the lap of said dress with a plea to do up the bootstrap because the trousers are, 14 years after they were fitted, a bit - ahem - tight....

Could somebody kindly (and cleverly) post pics of mess dress and the different uniforms (and what occasions they would be worn). I've googled but they all look so different. Is the 'taffeta sleeves' the female evening dress?

I'm loving learning so much about about our forces. I only have one friend whose DH used to be an army captain but has since left the army (their wedding photo is gorgeous with him in uniform). She didn't watch OG (he did) but she did comment how charming all his fellow colleagues (I'm sure that can't be the right word) were and how the women at their wedding swooned!

And I think next series should definitely show CJ in mess kit - oh that would totally make my day...

Oh CremeEggs, I'm getting all light-headed just thinking about it ...

Like this?
www.google.co.uk/search?q=uk+capitan+mess+kit&client=safari&hl=en-gb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=AL9QVISRIoSe7gbKu4DICQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=320&bih=416#facrc=_&imgrc=68gGoTxN-cop7M%253A%3BcnJ-bavT-GJerM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252Fb%252Fb7%252FUSAF_Mess_Dress.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FMess_dress%3B3008%3B1960

(Gee what a crap link...plus the spelling mistakes...sorry! Too many kids around over this half term. I am mixing captain's thoughts with pandas/Lego/guitars etc...)

No that looks American to me. British mess kit is (with a few exceptions) scarlet jacket, dark navy trousers with a red stripe down the side of the trousers, boots and (in the case of more senior officers) spurs. The actual details vary enormously between regiments and corps - some wear bow tie and some don't. The ones that don't look like the pics I've attached.

Looks a bit like what Lord Grantham wears in Downton sometimes!

Exactly Lyndie - it is!

I really wonder how they can do another series without it becoming like Soldier, Soldier (although I did love that programme). Molly can be sent anywhere I presume being part of the medical corps and would probably not be with 2 section again I think. I have a feeling despite the popularity the BBC won't do another series as this one tied up all the stories. I guess it's how well Tony Grounds can do a plot and storyline for them. Would love to know how he'd deal with CJ and Molly now

There was lots of chat yesterday about favourite CJ lines. Just wondered if anyone would like to turn it around and contribute their favourite Molly lines.

One of mine which is a bit weird but always makes me laugh, probably because of the way it is delivered occurs when Smurf and Molly are on the transport plane back to the UK for R&R and she is trying to sleep but he can't help moving a stray strand of hair behind her ear and she utters:

"Touch me again and I'll break your arm!" He looks so sheepish afterwards.

SPOfficer may wish to fall in on this one.

Was thinking to myself before, we never actually see Molly tell CJ that she loves him. She says 'I'm find of you' and when he says I love you on the restaurant she doesn't say it back. It's all implied by the ditto at the compound and the fond remark.

And when she says " Nothing happened with Smurf. But at least now I know.
JAMES
Know what?
MOLLY
Well I never thought that you would look at someone like me. I thought that you were out of my league."

Is she telling him that she knows he has feelings for her? I'm easily confused lol

I think Molly is saying that she realises from his reaction that he is jealous and therefore must have feelings for her.

"Nan, I am a trained killer. Say something stupid and ill render speechless"
That makes me laugh anytime!

A lot of Molly's best lines are away from CJ.

Re the MC on her uniform. It might be wrong uniform but I think it's after she receives it and CJ voice is maybe from the convo in Bath when he's telling her to go to Afghan- we just never saw that part of the convo.
Letting her know he's supporting her.

Hello you lovely lot - glad you're still going strong (great to see a bloke here too).

I've been listening to "Stay" by Lewis Watson loads - and got the soundtrack from Spotify. Thank you Our Girl and MN for introducing me to it!

There are some bits of the MD/CJ chemistry that are so lovely. To name just a few that have struck me in the last couple of days.

'Rosabaya' scene - by then he's totally fallen for her and that's why he hesitates in the tent and half turns away when he sees her drying her hair with her back to him. She looks so desirable it's all he can do not to go to her. So he has to compose himself a second, and put the 'mask' back on. At this point he is still trying to control his feelings and not let her know, but at the same time he already adores her. I think 'Rosabaya' was an excuse to get close to her by holding her hand, the subtext of his 'request' was really so that she think of him while she was away. I think that was his intention, but when he is kneeling there holding her wrist to write, he can't resist caressing her hand. So that's when he says straight out 'Come back to me'. I love that look of longing as he lets his guard down. Also the look on Molly's face is perfect - she's filled with wonder that this is happening, and the way she says "I will, don't worry..." is so gentle and sincere, I find it really well acted and moving. Compared to the Molly Dawes in the pilot where she's 'the class clown' - you really see how much she's grown as a character, as well as it being a very romantic scene of course!

Also another thing is...their body language is SO in sync! Notice when in Ep3 when they find Sohal - when Molly has just said "I'm fond of you sir" etc. and CP has said "Let's continue this conversation back at Brize Norton shall we?" and they set off towards the sheet again...their footsteps are completely sychronised with each other. The same thing happens after the restaurant scene when they walk to his house - footsteps completely in sync with each other there too. It's so sweet!

I wonder if that just came naturally in character or did they have to work it out? Anyway it's a tiny detail that makes their chemistry more real.

I have to say Passthesherry that the Rosabaya scene is probably the sweetest romantic scene I have seen on television for many years probably because of its simplicity and the way the actors convey so much just with a look. The lighting in the scene also contributed much to the atmosphere.

I like the fact that there was an echo to this scene in the message Sam had written on his Dad's arm in the hospital. I suppose Rosabaya is shorthand for "I Love You".

It's the light that's amazing, the fingers together with the light filtering from behind...that's so romantic and sensual, even with such little actual contact ;-)

(He does ask her, a bit earlier, how long she thinks she'll stay in the army...clearly he's trying to find a way around these army regulations!)

Similar light trick was used for the kissing scene in ep4.

There's something incredibly sensual and erotic about writing on somebody. It is an incredibly intimate thing to do, both in its presumption and the enacting of it. If I was Molly at that point it would have been incredibly hard not to jump on him there and then. And he knew it.

Gorgeous.

Mmmhhm, I have got plenty of sharpies at home...not sure DH would oblige, though ;-)

(But I really think Molly was taken by surprise, in the tent...she was clearly falling for him, but never thought HE would be really interested in her. She wasn't that confident in herself. You can see how the realisation shows on her face, moving from chatty to serious...as all the others said earlier!)

It's clearly an Army thing though isn't it? If they've had morphine on the battle field they write how much on the casualty so the field hospital know. His son wrote on his arm when he was in hospital. You're right it was very sensual, and no naked bodies or anything just touching, it was really well done.

I find it amazing that a series which had relatively little physical contact bewtween the lovers and certainly no sex scenes and only one real kiss, could affect so many of us so deeply. It seems to have brought out the innermost romantic in many of us. Perhaps less IS more. Though I don't think I'd have protested at seeing more of the bedroom scene in Bath...