MARRIAGE - sun and mon bbc 1 9pm - TV PACE NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

New drama starts sun and mon for 1&2

then 3&4 following week on Sunday and Monday

the lovely Nicola Walker and Sean Bean

The acclaimed British actors play Ian and Emma, who are a couple navigating the ups and downs of their 30-year partnership.

They are parents to Jessica (Chantelle Alle) and are dealing with their fears and insecurities as the drama explores the risks and gifts of a long-term relationship.

Marriage on BBC1 sees married couple Ian (Sean Bean) and Emma (Nicola Walker) negotiate the ups and downs of their 27-year marriage. They've dealt with all the insecurities, the ambiguities, the hopes and the fears that are part of all marriages. The drama explores the risks and the gifts of a long-term intimate relationship.

When we first meet married couple Ian and Emma they’re in a Spanish airport returning from a lovely holiday — and bickering over a baked potato! By the time they’re on the plane it’s a full blown argument, setting the scene for what’s to come in this four-part series.

looks good

What’s the apple thing @ancientgran

ues the cemetery very sad. Both sob alone and neither comfort each other

wonder if we find out what happened to their son

Such a miserable marriage, they really need to split. It’s painful.

Just finishing episode 2. Is Ian controlling? I like the way that the characters are slowly been unravelled, seeing them from a different perspective.
Might explain why Emma’s dad doesn’t like Ian. Or maybe her dad is controlling.

I thought it was on again at 9 tonight and must admit I'm a tad relieved to have a break until Sunday.

I think all the men are controlling, and it's being passed down the generations.

I read this thread last night and just started to watch episode 1.

I couldn’t get beyond him being a completely belligerent, obsessive, selfish, petty, spiteful, dysfunctional arsehole about the jacket potato. I got as far as them sitting down on the plane and couldn’t watch any more.

Might go to the spoiler thread to find out if he magically improves his personality or dies a miserable lonely death.

I also can’t see Sean Bean as anything other than an abusive arsehole now. He is not Sharpe.

I don't know if Ian is controlling or just ready to lose it. The first scenes at the airport/plane when he kept going on about the bloody baked potato I was ready for some kind of abuse/control angle to the relationship, but then it fell away, but it's wavering. I just can't decide yet. I think because I don't want him to be. I want it to be a marriage under strain, but not controlling/abusive. I don't see either Emma/Ian or Jessica as controlling/abusive (yet) but each of them definitely have things going on that are causing problems for themselves and each other.

I think a lot of the other characters have darker personalities... Emma's dad/boss and Jessica's boyfriend

I'm surprised she didn't tell him to go up and see if he could get his own jacket potatoes. Rather than sitting there moaning that they ended up with chips and ketchup you had to pay for ( 25 p each)
I'd have said this is Dh , it probably would have made him stop moaning if nothing else !

The theme music/words are like the dialogue in my head when I'm trying to get through a hard time and having difficulty getting my bum in gear. Concentrate on the most basic stuff. Right foot, left foot, step around the box and then all the other thoughts start joining in potentially leading to overwhelm.

This @the80sweregreat

tho I think theee wasn’t any but he wanted her to ask for one

Yes, he asked her to go back and ask again
I would have suggested that he got up and went over the counter himself

Re the jacket potato, I felt maybe it was just that ‘she’ could deal with it for him (I want this, I want that) or maybe he had no Spanish at all. (I think she mentioned that the vendor had no English)

I’ve experienced the “I want” treatment from a son-in-law when visiting and treating them. They don’t want to queue, they just want to be served when that’s not how the restaurant works. So, to be nice you offer to do the ordering (and the paying of course) and then, when you’ve had to decide on an alternative choice for them it’s always the wrong thing. “I can’t eat that”, flounce, flounce, etc. Big fuss, sulk for two hours. Very unattractive in a man…

I think what annoyed me about the baked potato was that he kept saying something like "I would have asked about the baked potato". I am an overthinker so this got to to me. He was annoyed he didn't get a baked potato but he was also annoyed that he was denied the opportunity to get it for himself (financial limitations in getting it after?), and furthermore there's the suggestion that he felt she didn't care enough to ask. It's just the sort of little thing that gets to you in the moment but you don't know why (for Emma I mean) Emma just ended up simply saying "I didn't do anything wrong" as she had already explained why she didn't ask and got nowhere. I would have said something similar because I would have been confused by where the argument could end up!

I think he was focusing on the baked potato because he was scared of flying though?

I've had arguments with my dh of 33 years that have dragged on for a while ( brought up a long time afterwards , if you get my drift!)
So I'm hardly a good role model with sorting out disagreements, but I would have definitely told my dh to go up and try and get one himself if he didn't like the look of the chips and remarks over paying for the sauce. I would have had the hump about it because he was critical of my attempt to get him what he really wants to eat for lunch.! Things like this hit a nerve.

Not sure whether he's been controlling or just grumpy due to not liking flying and bored as he has no job. No doubt we'll find out !

When she was making the sandwich for her father I wasn't liking the fact that she didn't take off her anorak. I would hate to prepare food with anorak sleeves all ready to get greasy.😃

Yes she didn't even wash her hands. Yuck

Those of you who are saying it's crap just don't get it. It's excellent. Superb acting with just the pauses in the dialogue and the looks given which convey so much emotion and meaning.

I think he was focusing on the baked potato because he was scared of flying though?

That’s what it was. Emma even hints strongly at this. Shows she knows him. It was a deflection.

What annoyed me re the broken oven - she turned it on and off using various switches for the hob.
Then she went to the main switch on the wall. Switched it on but didn't bother trying the knobs again and then switched the wall switch off 🙄

It feels to me as if the troubles in the marriage are all about their unresolved grief. We see snippets about Nicholas, but they focus on everything but Nicholas - ketchup and jacket potatoes and the idiot from the office - because they can’t speak about what really matters and are terrified about what will happen if they do. They’ve adopted a lovely daughter and busied themselves with bringing her up, but she’s an adult now and they have an empty nest and just can’t find any safe territory to communicate. They are terrified about the “what now” because their future together looms large and what’s going to change? Ian’s loss of his job means he has acres of empty time and he seems simply desperate to find someone - anyone - to talk to, so as to still the noisy, jarring internal dialogue he can’t escape from.

I also thought Emma would look for the fuse box, so I was quite confused when she started rooting around in the fridge. What exactly was stopping her Dad from making himself his own sandwich?

She didn't want to make sandwiches or pour out the beer, it was what was expected of her
Females make dads dinner.
It was quite a sad little scene really.

Where was the other man/brother who lives with him?

Very odd