Our Girl and Captain James XLVII

[Ilovelblue]

Not much longer to wait out for the Nigeria episodes! Some of us are still mourning the death of Elvis.

Found this review of the latest episode.

theartsdesk.com/tv/our-girl-series-4-bbc-one-review-2-section-versus-boko-haram

Your thoughts??

Also- “There’s no i in wanker!”

Banking that one

Ilove - generally, Adam Sweeting is a decent arts reviewer / commentator, but I think he's off-beam in some of his comments. 2 Section in its stereotypical line-up is merely the latest manifestation of a long tradition in squaddie drama, which anyone can trace back through, for example, Sharpe, Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, the films Battle of Britain and In Which We Serve, plays like Privates on Parade, Chips With Everything, The Long and the Short and the Tall - even Journey's End! Sorry to bore people with the list.

Hello all! Just popping back in after a bit of an absence. I've been reading the thread but not joined in for a while as I had changed my username and hadn't got round to changing back.

Very excited about the new series but I haven't watched yet. We've got into the habit of collecting up whole series to watch in one go, and it will be hard to explain the urgency on this one when I've already got 3 or 4 dramas recorded that we haven't started yet! That said, my other half spotted it for himself in the TV guide and he mentioned it again last night in a slightly panicked voice at about 9.10 when he thought I'd forgotten to set the recorder! I think he may be harbouring a secret MK crush?!

I'm looking forward to reading all your observations in due course!

Hi everyone,
I also am still here,lurking again, as we have some hospital and health problems. Finding time to catch up with your comments and of course OG but soon run out of time.
Hopefully will be back full time soon!!
Enjoy the new series.

Hi Flowerfan sorry to hear things have not being going well with you and sincerely hope all will soon be in a better place.

As regards OG I am sure you will pick up on it once you are able and enjoy CJ as ever. He did look a bit less frazzled in last night's episode compared to the Nepal Tour but time will tell as to his state of mind I expect.

Hhmm, just watched last night's ep. First thing that struck me was that the actors playing Maisie and Rab got billing after MK and BA, along with the new SF guy, so they are clearly being bigged up ahead of the rest of 2 Section. Talking of the new guy, because we already know who he is, his undercover role last night has already been blown with us! Would have been better if they had kept him a secret beforehand.
Agree with most of what has already been said here. Great that there was more 2 Section banter and more CJ, hope that continues and doesn't get pushed aside again when the action really starts and SF have to swing in and save the day!
Georgie is getting more annoying. You would have thought she had learned by now not to go off on a jolly. It's getting a bit tedious, frankly
CJ also needs to grow some and slap her down a bit more than he does. I know there is the personal relationship outside the army but he is her CO and needs to pull her into line because she seems to have no regard for authority or the safety of her comrades! Maybe this is why he has still not been promoted to Major (and the fact his missions always seem to go tits up with SF having to save fly in!)
At least there was an oblique mention of Sam and yes, that was a tense and not very happy look he made.
Also agree the Brains thing was a bit weird!
Anyway, let's see how it pans out next week.
Hope you are on the mend flower

Just finished it. I know nothing about the army but surely you'd get in mega trouble for just going off somewhere. And in such a dangerous area you wouldn't go without backup. Didn't Georgie learn from Kenya?

Liked series 1, series 2 was ok, this one is crap.
Talk about falling for the 'RTA' in road = really a terrorist ploy.
You couldn't make it up. Oh yes, they did.
I know it's fiction but it has STEREOTYPE right across every scene and anyone in the Army must be spitting blood.

theheartsdesk.com/tv/our-girl-series-4-bbc-one-review-2-section-versus-boko-haram

Spot on, In fact, too kind.

Totally agree Queen an absolute pile of pouting poo. Bring back Lacey Turner’s realism I say and put Ant Middleton in charge instead of Capt Jelly James

I've been absent for a couple of days but I'm just popping in to ask if we are doing the watchalong at 9pm tonight? It's still OK for me.

Hope you'll be feeling better soon flower. Dr Rhubarb prescribes a liberal dose of CJ circa series 1 - ideally two or three times a day .

In answer to your question ilove I've got to admit that I'm a bit 50/50 about this series so far. The reviews are generally not good so far. Perhaps it's the post Elvis blues or maybe the feeling that they are struggling for new stories and stretching the bounds of credibility. I'm trying to tell myself that Georgie's recklessness, bordering on stupidity, is all down to her grief/not caring very much about self-preservation any more. When she gets out of this mess - or as we all know by now SF get them out of this mess again - she deserves a thoroughly good bollocking. I'm also thinking CJ is showing the signs of weariness. The CJ of series 1 wouldn't have stood for her shenanigans - I hope he gives her a really good dresssing down!. As Kazza said it's no surprise he hasn't been promoted yet - apart from the fact that he couldn't be involved with Two Section if he was a Major - he's starting to leave a trail of mistakes behind him. Bring back series 1 CJ and in the style of long lost kelly we really could do with some Molly again

Understand completely your feeling about the start of this series Rhu. Since Tuesday I have felt really deflated about OG. CJ of series one was a completely different character to the CJ we are seeing now. In series two there were still vestiges of what he had been and of course he was mentioning Molly. However even the Nepal Tour was slightly underwhelming although of course poor old Elvis's demise had to be handled with care. I think the writing and directing teams are suffering battle fatigue as they are not coming up with new scenarios and are stretching credibility with what they are allowing Georgie to do and say. Having said all that I expect I'll stick with it in the hope that it will pick up. I guess Series one will always be in a class of its own as far as I am concerned.

Just watched the interview on YouTube with BA and MK for Build (or something like that!). BA said that Molly will be mentioned and they are still together but not sure how much . They were also asked if there would be another series but they were very cagey and didn't answer. Even if there is another one, I can't believe either of them would be in it. Don't think that MK relished being away from home for 8 months. Don't think CJ's character can be usefully taken any further - he'll either leave the army or finally become a Major, which would mean a lesser role at best, no role at worst if he is still alive at the end of thisseries, of course

When we did the watchalong of Series 1 a while ago Magi after not having watched it for a long time, it brought all those feelings back. It will always be special to me.

I read a little bit of another review which commented on the way the producers appeared to have tried lots of different formats for OG and suggested that none of them really worked. I reckon series 1 needed one more episode to fill the gaps between 4 and 5 and satisfy our need for more CJ and Molly post Afghan. I actually think Series 2 worked quite well as a story mainly about Georgie and Elvis but not so well for the rest of Two Section who seemed superfluous. At the moment I'm really not sure how this is going to work if it does turn out to be 3 x 4 episodes. I would quite like to see them all back in blighty for a while provided it's minus terrorists and Ma and Pa Lane.

Please don't even go there Kazza

The thought of CJ not making it back home would finish me off for good!

Oh no Kazza even the thought of anything happening to CJ gives me palpitations👨‍👨‍👦‍👦😱

Series one will always be in a class of its own. Totally agree. Everything worked: the quality of actors, the chemistry between the characters, the direction/filming and even the soundtrack was good. I've got it in my Amazon library. I'd happily watch it again and again but series 2 and 3 not unless I had run out of anything else to watch. Btw I'm a massive BA fan and think he's wasted playing second billing to MK.

I know, I can't bear to think about it either (frankly, CJ /BA is probably the only reason I'm still watching) but I was just covering all bases!! I'm hoping that TG won't go there because I think he knows what it will do to us but it would be the ultimate shock ending

Friend of mine reckons that no series can survive more than three seasons, or it starts repeating itself.
From my point of view, Series 1 was Molly learning to be a soldier and learning about herself. Series 2 was like a medieval romance, combining rescuing a distressed damsel (4 times, as I recall) and a quest (Abu), and Series 3 was Pride and Prejudice (if you think about it, it is, honest), though I had the definite feeling that there was a shark swimming about that old factory when Elvis was blown up.
Series 4 / Nigeria tour ...?
And frankly, if they pair Georgie up with the new SF guy, they have TOTALLY lost all credibility.

It certainly seems now that most of us have mixed feelings about the way things are going, and we're all getting a bit jittery about it! Miss Eliza I like all your descriptive points about series one and agree about the sound track, it was exceptional and slotted in exactly to each episode. Also agree BA is wasted playing second fiddle.

Aside from the fact that Series 1 was the best due to the CJ & Molly chemistry and 2 Section in general just being fab, yes, the soundtrack was brilliant esp London Grammar. Certainly got me onto them and buy their albums.

I'll be here at 9pm Rhu.

OK just made it.

Ready to go?