Mum series 3 - spoiler-ridden thread for the binge-watchers!

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Just finished it. I haven't processed it enough to say anything coherent quite yet but I'm feeling all emotional. Going to miss it immensely.

Now Pauline has her ' huge divorce settlement ' you would think she would be off finding someone more sophisticated / richer than Derek! Or maybe she does love him ( deep down) or can't be bothered with a new relationship. Or just thinks she can change him enough to tolerate it all because he is loyal and won't mess her about too much.

I felt sorry for Pauline too! She is a damaged and unhappy person, but would she really settle for simpleton Derek?

And being over-analytical but why has Cathy raised such a horrible son? She is a good person yet her son is a misogynist, selfish, lazy and shallow.

I am as irritated as I am charmed by this series.

Pauline loves Derek, he is loyal, he wont cheat on her. he loves her.
i read into this that Jason was a long time coming, trouble conceiving, problems, which may explain his stupidity. which is annoying but his whole attitude changes to Michael when mum comes clean. it is hard for him losing his Dad

Cathy turns 60 in series two and Jason is 27 I think? Kelly is 27.
So she was only 33 when she had him. ( Kelly's mum is only 43 I bet!)
I suppose it's late for a 1970s teenager . she was older having him then the normal age of people having children at the time (if that makes sense! )
My brothers were born in the 1950s and their wives had children when they were early 20s and some friends of theirs were only teens themselves.
Plus his an only child which may point towards problems conceiving maybe?
Plus Dave may have spoilt him a lot being an only child.

"why has Cathy raised such a horrible son?"

I suppose it depends what hand his dad also had in it.

Also Reg & Derek.

When they were talking about the waitress-just horrible.

I was partly hoping Michael would put them to shame.

But Jason asking Michael why he was there-presumably because Derek asked him you pompous twat!

Also, I think that Dave, Cathy, Michael & his ex wife were friends for many years, so I can't think why there's a big hoo ha about Cathy & Michael still being friends.

We've been rewatching from series one again and Reg is just horrible. Right from the get go, some of his comments about women, their weight and in particular the comment he made about the mothers of Derek's children "spreading their legs" - he's a horrible man - solicitously tucking a blanket around his wife doesn't make him less so.

Problems conceiving Jason are alluded to - Cathy makes a comment to Michael about being no stranger to hospitals/health stuff - she mentions Dave, her parents, the trouble we had having Jason - something like that.

I guess that Michael feels he has to 'join in the banter' as he doesn't want to rock the boat. It's not good , but he thinks that not saying anything at all would come across as worse than keeping quiet.
We're a bit more complex when we're in a group situation I guess. Have to pretend to share views that we don't in order to fit in maybe? I'm not condoning it by the way! Plus Derek and Jason are very pushy too.

Yes I can see tha he's not wanting to antagonise for Cathy's sake.

I've finally binge watched series 3,so have caught up with you lovely lot.
I thought it was great and didn't want it to end.
It's so gentle on the surface but the dark undercurrents are really thought provoking: they're all flawed but just trying to get on the best they can.
When Jason went to the shop and Pauline asked him to loads of chocolate...did she binge and that's why she was sick in the bed? If so, then it was cleverly done to hint at her inner turmoil over her divorce.
I do want to shake and hug Cathy at the same time...brilliant portrayal by Lesley Manville. Jason is so self absorbed and Kelly seems to be growing up. Brilliant cast and script.
Michael could melt me like butter any time.
Loved it, and missing it already.

"I do want to shake and hug Cathy at the same time"

Yes!

But I think with the jason, Reg & Derek there would seem to be no point in saying anything-they wouldn't get it!

Cathy, Kelly & Jason taking about going out for a walk

And K&J talking about how funny they are & that they'd have to rein it in-just clueless.

Actually-any takers for the baby being called Kayjay?

Yes, the food she asked Jason for was loads so I wondered if Pauline was bulimic too?
She didn't seem to eat as much as the others any other time did she?
She has issues clearly!

My take on Cathy not comforting Jason was that she knew he had to let it all out. If she'd swooped in to cuddle him, he might not have been able to have the big bone-racking cry he needed.

Exactly,if I hugged my son in that situation he'd have tried to 'man up' and not let it all out.

It's easy to see Cathy as a pushover,she's not,she keeps her own counsel and doesn't react to other people's shit. It's an admirable quality imo because I react to everything!

I somehow get the feeling that Cathy was grieving she was also quite pleased to be out of the shadow of her husband ....

Lesley Manville used to be married to Gary Oldman!

Loved reading all your insights into the relationships. Loved Mum since it first aired. So delicate and British in the way people hardly say what they actually feel so you have to read it into the way they say things and behave. Kelly stepped up this series, I loved how she was eating in every scene, she must have been sick of biscuits by the end of filming! She was Cathy's biggest support in the end. There were such subtle moments like Michael helping Maureen put her cardigan on. I think Jason was just protecting his mum in an ultra-simplistic way, he wanted things to stay the way they were but he was going to be a father, so he had no way to see how this would impact him being there for his mum. Had he moved out? I can't remember. Gorgeous series. Have they said for definite it will be the last? It felt like it didn't it?

Yes definitely the last series.

Jason and Kelly have a flat they live in.

I'm just re watching the first series again, not sure if it's down to viewing 3 episodes at once, but I'm feeling a bit shell shocked. Cathy has so many people in her life who say horrible things to her and each other, in this episode there's Kelly, Kelly's mum, Kelly's friend/cousin, Reg, Maureen and Pauline.

Even if they've all got heart's of gold underneath, I'm finding it a bit much second time around.

perhaps it doesnt stand up to the binge watching.
i have too been rewatching. big tears with kelly's mum trying hard not to be mean to kelly

I've just watched the forst series again & loved it even more!

All the little looks that Michael gives Cathy!

Does anyone know a Kelly in real life?

I thought Kelly telling Jason not to do impressions of Michael was great “you were a bit of a bellend, babe” “All right”

That was one of the best bits, wasn't it?

Of course his dad had always done it.

Dave sounds awful-wonder what Cathy ever saw in him?

I liked Kelly telling off Jason, but she is still an inherently awful person.

Yes, Cathy's dead husband sounds as terrible as Jason - limited and one-dimensional. She's such a surrendered character until the very end and even then, it was a tiny revolt.

I don’t see Kelly as inherently awful- I think she’s a classic heart in the right place but brain not engaged type.