Dr Foster, the final episode, can't wait..

[ellenanora5]

First thread nearly full so starting this one for tomorrow night

I don't think men came out of this well either- apparently they are all like animals, can't control their urges and cheat. I do not think this is a fair or realistic portrayal of men as a whole.

And boys are just mini men. Apparently.

It is clear it was written by a man, because it was so misogynistic and woman hating. The messages it gave are:

• If a woman works full time she is neglecting her children and her Husband and can expect to be cheated on.
• A woman's female friends can't be trusted. They will either sleep with your Husband, or collude in your Husband's affairs.
• Woman go a bit mad when their Husband cheats on them and do things that in real life would mean they would lose their jobs and may be criminally charged over.

Men on the other hand are totally controlled by their dicks and will have sex with another woman when they get the chance.

Cloud cuckoo, here are some of the ways that the writing of Gemma's character and plot was negative about women:

• She was unprofessional in her job
• She was "unhinged"
• She was cold in manner and people disliked her
• She did things that would be bad for her DS (eg sending him to OW's house where OW was with his dad, dangerous driving)
• She pretended to have killed DS to make a point to her H.

None of this was necessary for a good story or drama.

Oh the biology speech

dear sweet jesus

It also implied that it was her fault that her Husband hit her.

And that vile unrealistic woman-hating mouthpiece child thing

Every single boy without exception that I know is extremely proud of their hard-working mother and very loving. They certainly don't prefer their mad non-earning cheating egotistical throwback fathers.

Hmm, see what you mean. And yet it was Simon who was "working" (shagging) until late, not returning home until mid evening, yet Tom perceived him to be the parent who had more time for him.

Mind you, the writer did portray men as rather sad creatures who can't control their biology and just have to chase other women. I'm sure many men would disagree with that!

Ultimately though, he showed Gemma as a strong women who took control of the shit happening in her life and manipulated the outcome to her satisfaction. In contrast, Simon was shown to be totally outwitted and had no choice but to limp feebly off into the sunset (well, drive off in clapped out old banger) with virtually nothing.

Simon on the other hand:

• Cheated on his wife for 2 years
• Got his GF pregnant
• Was totally funded for many years by his wife
• Committed fraud by forging his wife's signature putting the house his wife and son lived in at risk
• Was also being funded by the father of his GF, who had no idea that he was having sex with his young daughter
• Roped friends in to collude in his affair
• Barely spent any time with his son and didn't know where ordinary household things were kept.
• Badly beat up his wife

He was a total shit. And yet in this programme:

• He was the one that people liked the most, with lots of friends
• His son much preferred him to his mother, seeing him as more fun
• Both his wife and GF still wanted to be with him in spite of all of this, and his wife only plotted against him when he chose his GF

The son's speech and character in general was lazy writing . It was as though the writer couldn't be arsed to make the boy a proper character but wanted a plot device where he gets angry with her and vice versa (to set up the "has she killed him" bit) so just shoved in a load of stereotypes about working mothers.

I do think that one of the important messages that came through though was that Gemma could have worked through and forgiven the affair IF ONLY HE HAD TOLD THE TRUTH WHEN SHE GAVE HIM THE CHANCE. It isn't always the actual infidelity that destroys a marriage but the lies and denial. She just wanted Simon to confess to it at first - then they would try to work things out.

She even cancelled the divorce at the end of episode 3 and told the solicitor that they were going to try again.

(Mind you, that was before episode 4 when she found out that it had been going on for 2 years.)

It was rubbish. Wooden characters and over dramatisation. I don't think it's good to focus on whether Gemma was treated fairly - she did some pretty bad things herself. She was unprofessional,manipulative, dangerous, and unstable. This doesn't mean all women in her position behave like that. It's taking it too far to say that the writer hates women. He made Gemma what she was. Affair or not, she was a bitch a lot of the time. She used her son, embarrassed friends, shagged to create blackmail, and yes, possibly neglected her son by spending too much time at work. None of this excuses the man, but she wasn't coming over well either.
And at the end, she called herself Dr Foster, when earlier she'd told a patient's child that she was getting divorced and would not be called Dr F any more. Whoops.

Yes, I spotted that pinkfrocks and have puzzled about whether there was some other message in that........ can't think of one though

The only message surely could be she had 'come through it' and decided to stick with her title and name, but it's a bit silly because she could still keep the title dr but change to her maiden name. I found her an embarrassment to women, having known professional women deal with these matters calmly and professionally. From what I read, the series was a vehicle for SJ to showcase her acting skills which seem to come into the 'in your face' category. I just kept thinking that in RL the son would be scared for life and wondered if the image of the scantily clad woman in his magazine at the end was saying 'boys will be boys', or 'he's growing up' or 'he's fine - normal development'. Bit shallow for me.

I disagree that Simon got nothing. he got the 23 year old daughter of wealthy parents. Yes they're pissed off with her now but when their first grandchild is due they'll mellow as they seemed decent and will start supporting them again and the dad will probably employ Simon somehow, just not leave him to make any business decisions.
If Gemma lives in a small town I'm not sure how she can keep that house if she no longer works in that practice. Many partnerships have a clause that if you leave you can't set up within a 5-10 mile radius, although that's probably not legally enforceable GPs in small towns tend to know and support each other. She'd be better off moving. She's going to need some sort of job. I didn't get the attachment to bricks and mortar. No-one liked her in that town, it was Simon's home town so why stay once divorced?

Agree with a previous post, there is no way Kate's parents will not maintain contact with their only daughter and first grandchild. Their money will go to Kate, and they certainly won't direct any to Gemma,who they probably did not like much anyway. I thought Gemma in that last scene, far from looking happy and sorted, looked withdrawn and sad.

I think the part that got me thinking 'ah yes you bastard you've lost everything' was when he was sobbing in the kitchen before the final scene. He knew then it was all destroyed.

I don't get why Gemma was painted as being so awful. She wasn't especially bad - not much worse than the simpering Ros, or doormat that was Anna. It was almost as though they had to say that to get Simon to be some kind of hero of the piece, who then had justification for screwing Kate. Poor ickle Simon, with his hard, mean wife, she's such a bitch, etc, no wonder he strayed...

Crumbly, I hope so. And I agree she looked lonely at the end. It was a sad watch, actually.

I think it shows that she won. She basically drove him out of his home town to London (which he hated). His reputation was in tatters. She definitely provoked him to hit her (but she must have known he had it in him). He wasn't allowed to see Tom and she kept the house and got her career back on track.

The bit where the son saw Kate and kept on about her being a slag made me wonder if she also played around and that they both got what they deserved.

I think by the end Gemma was ready to move on, she seemed content and also indicated that she wasn't bothered about being practice manager anymore (I think) ie more time for Tom and to focus on being an actual doctor, not as much pressure on money as she blackmailed Kate's dad to pay off the debts.

I think the car was symbolic that Simon had lost because a lot of his motivation seemed to be money.

Am I the only person who didn't notice the car at the end at all?!

I just saw it as them still being able to afford a car, and to be able to move to London of all places. Taking the bus and moving to Middlesbrough would have been more of a sign of skintness.

I'm seriously wondering what kept me watching it now - I thought it was crap! Suranne Jones is a good actress but it was really badly written and badly acted overall. So many holes in the plot I don't know where to start.

I laughed when the old guy (Jack) was walking along the beach shouting for Gemma, clearly thinking she'd drowned herself. Then up she pops right in front of him on the beach! Maybe he'd forgotten his glasses?

And the whole story was so convenient with opportunities/people popping up exactly where the story needed them to - right along to the end where Gemma is sitting in the square with her son and right on cue her ex turns up in a battered old Ford to pick up his PG (bedraggled looking) girlfriend. Just in case we hadn't worked out for ourselves that Gemma is the winner and he's a sad old loser.

Why do so many scriptwriters assume we need to be spoon fed a story?

End of rant!

Why does anyone have to win or lose? Both are purely subjective.

Gemma got her son and presumably her old job and the house, the husband got his girl, baby and a new life. The son ended up worse off because he lost contact with his dad who was driven to the point of a moment of impulsive violence having thought Gemma had killed his son. (as did the viewers though it was clear we were being swept along and that the son was really ok.)

It was despicable the way both adults used the boy to wage a war against each other and somehow their son wasn't left emotionally scarred by their behaviour.