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

280 replies

spiderlight · 16/05/2019 15:13

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.

OP posts:
EdWinchester · 27/05/2019 14:16

I disagree - she's really unkind. Not just simple.

I think as a mother of sons, I imagine how I would be if one of them ended up with her. I would be a nightmare! But my sons wouldn't, in a million years (crosses fingers).

BertrandRussell · 27/05/2019 14:24

Isn’t it strange how differently people come across. I think that Jason is nasty and mean spirited and I really hope she leaves him very soon.

diddl · 27/05/2019 14:30

I'm not sure about Kelly as she'll say something & then "oh no, I didn't mean it/you." Cue I'm so ditzy laugh.

So just don't bloody well say it then!

Maybe she doesn't know any better due to her mum/Jason/friends?

" I imagine how I would be if one of them ended up with her. "

Yup-but can Jason do any better?

BertrandRussell · 27/05/2019 14:33

I’d rather see my son with Kelly than my daughter with Jason.

Landfilly · 27/05/2019 14:47

Adored it, especially eps 3-5 (Weds-Fri)

So many subtleties and proper three dimensional characterisation. The attention to detail was standout.

Kelly's character - dumb, yet exceptional emotional intelligence. Each character beautifully drawn.

I heard the actress that plays Kelly was actually pregnant when it was filmed.

Will miss it immensely.

AppleKatie · 27/05/2019 14:48

Yes I agree Bertrand. Kelly is badly brought up and chronically immature as well as thick. As she matures she’s getting better and she is learning from Cathy.

I don’t think she’s inherently bad and I think her baby will be the making of her.

StopItandGoToBed · 27/05/2019 15:09

I need to watch it again from the beginning, but my impression was that when we first meet Kelly she puts her foot in it without realising what she has said. By series 3 she still says the wrong thing, but quickly realises what's she's done and is mortified. I think that's the result of Cathy's influence. Maybe the next stage will be to stop herself from saying them?

SchadenfreudePersonified · 27/05/2019 16:06

Pauline went out to the car then returned for the champagne. To me she seemed excited. When she came back in she was fuming and I thought the champagne was unopened. My take on it was that she was trying to rekindle things with her ex husband but he put her straight.

That's what I thought, too - I think that her entire raison d'être has been to get back with him, and that Derek is just kept hanging round as an attempt to make her ex jealous.

This final series is really the first time I've been able to have any pity for her though. It's been obvious all the way through that she's a lost, lonely soul - but she's been so bloody horrible to everyone I couldn't warm to her. But I felt for her this time round.

diddl · 27/05/2019 16:31

I did warm (slightly) to Pauline when she was well not kind, but not unkind to Derek's daughter.

Maybe she recognised a fellow troubled soul who also felt rejected?

I wonder if she particularly wanted her husband or the lifestyle & friends?

If you wanted to make someone jealous thouh you'd hardly choose Derek!

SchadenfreudePersonified · 27/05/2019 17:42

I wonder if she particularly wanted her husband or the lifestyle & friends?

I think this is what it is - she has a terrible inferiority complex - wonder what her background is ? - all she's had is her looks, and then "Jeff" (her ex) shags her chiropodist and dumps her! All she has ever had is "things"that she achieved by being beautiful enough to catch a rich husband (or perhaps he wasn't when she married him - maybe she's helped to make him his millions and now she's been tossed away the he doesn't want or need her any more).

Derek never meets Jeff does he? She can spin any sort of line about him - own business, worships the ground she walks on etc - in an attempt to bolster her status in her ex's eyes. Or maybe she really does love him (Jeff) and is desperate for him back. Or maybe she wants him back so she can dump HIM.

Derek is safe - she will never have to worry that he will leave her no matter how she abuses him (and this in itself often starts a cycle of ever-increasing abuse - I don't envy Derek's life with her).

Kelly, I think, has been led to believe that she is thick and ugly - her ghastly mother (who also has huge emotional problems I suspect, which she hides behind her armour of "funny girl") has led her to feel like this (we never hear about Kelly's dad - I wonder what he did to the family). As she gains confidence and matures, Kelly becomes much more self-aware, and I think she will one day find that she isn't stupid at all - intellectually she is far above Jason, and in ten years time may find she can't live with him - or she could become another Cathy - sublimating her own needs and desires because she feels responsible for her family.

Jason, alas, is as thick as pigshit but I think he will become an emotionally more mature person and learn to consider other people's feelings - I really think he'll do his best to be a good dad, and that because his own dad isn't there to interfere might make a good job of it.

BertrandRussell · 27/05/2019 17:48

Derek is the character I feel sorriest for- he is so depressed, isn’t he?

diddl · 27/05/2019 17:53

" I think that Jason is nasty and mean spirited "

I think you might be right.

Just watched series 2 again & there's one where Michael is taking round some stuff of his late mum's for K&J to have in their flat & J says to not let him stay for lunch as I think he says he's not family.(the ghastly FIL is there)

And perhaps Cathy should be saying that it's her house, she's cooking & she'll bloody well have who she wants for lunch.

He just assumes far too much, doesn't he-all of it what he wants & not a thought for others.

At the end of series 2 he sees them holding hands, so throughout series 3 he must know how much his nastiness towards Michael hurts his mum.

grupple · 27/05/2019 19:08

In series two it's mentioned that Dave used to mimic Michael's Scottish accent, which is obviously why Jason does it.

I just don't understand how all these people could be so self unaware and selfish, Cathy has to shoulder the blame for some of it, it goes way beyond what is acceptable in an average household. Maureen is a particularly vile old woman, with no redeeming qualities at all.

I think that Cathy and Michael should bugger off to Spain and live in the apartment he owns.

BertrandRussell · 27/05/2019 19:14

“Maureen is a particularly vile old woman, with no redeeming qualities at all.”

Any reason you’re picking on her in particular?

grupple · 27/05/2019 19:19

Because most people have a nice side somewhere, even Reg, she doesn't. It's not because she's old, I'm old.

Huntlybyelection · 27/05/2019 19:40

Derek definitely meets Jeff - in series 2 he and Pauline come back from a meeting with him and the lawyers. Derek wears glasses and a 3 piece suit to show off!

diddl · 27/05/2019 19:48

Maureen & Reg are awful-although we never meet them before they lost Dave.

Just watched one think it was series 2 ep6.

Reg alone dancing to "girls just want to have fun" & he looks across at Maureen & it's so, so poignant.

HelmutFrontbut · 27/05/2019 21:08

It broke my heart in Series 1/2 when Kelly said she laughs whenever her mum was cruel to her.

SAHMlikeitHOT · 27/05/2019 21:34

It's great to read all the comments here as I have enjoyed so much of the series, but odd bits have got me raging! Why do they all eat all the time? And such terrible food! And although the ending was romantic, I think it was 'wrong' - the characters would both have felt obliged to help out at the party. I know the idea was to demonstrate Cathy's change of heart but .... Also the two bottles of champagne? Cathy would never have done that! And that shirt was dreadful - it made her eyes look red too. Derek asking Pauline for a present seemed odd too

diddl · 27/05/2019 21:40

I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't like the shirt.

Would have loved to have seen her in a nice dress.

grupple · 28/05/2019 08:43

I liked the shirt, I would wear it.

If I had Cathy's figure, never in a million years.

The80sweregreat · 28/05/2019 09:16

I wished that Michael would wear something else instead of shorts sandals and t shirts!
The top was bold for Cathy as she usually wears less colour.
Dresses would look nice on her too as she is slim.

BertrandRussell · 28/05/2019 09:21

But their clothes were as much “characters” as the people were! That’s why Kathy wore red and more obvious make up in the last scenes.

BertrandRussell · 28/05/2019 09:23

Michael’s clothes showed his constancy and fundamental self confidence- Derek and Pauline’s showed how they were driven and changed by their circumstances.

The80sweregreat · 28/05/2019 09:28

Derek asking for a present was just to show that his never really grown up.
' I just wanted something to open' he said to her , even though his had a whole week in a beautiful house ( paid for by her) and 20 guests coming and a trip to Canterbury ( and a rib and burger meal all paid for too!)
He has to put up with her though so it's not all rosy.

He met Gregg the ex in series two at the solicitors and he was in a posh suit.
We have never met him though.