Motherland Xmas Special!

[SpongepantsSquareBob]

So excited for this!! They need to make another series!

I enjoyed it. Some of the slapstick was a bit cringy I agree but it had some good motherlandisms.

Liked the contrast of the 2 mothers - nice one (who died) and who's legacy was a daughter with a good heart, and then the cruel mother who got told to fuck off by mistreated insecure daughter.

Julia, having a good heart? You must be joking! She's been awful to her mother, punishing her for not providing childcare on tap. Part of the whole premise of the show is that Julia supposedly has a decent career but won't organise herself to pay for proper childcare and resents her mother for not being at her beck and call.

I do think some of the poignancy is that right at the end, it's perhaps dawning on Julia that she's treated her mother like shit and that now she's actually gone and she can't make amends.

@Inkanta thats the funny thing about Julia. She’s Awful in so many ways but when it came down to it she looked after her mum

There’s also Anne’s mother - who appeared to be a model for Anne’s positivity and optimism and general enjoyment of life.

I’ve only recently realised that despite Anne being essentially dismissed as a dim, people pleasing baby machine she’s actually the only one who seems truly happy. She’s winning at life.

It’s a complicated thing to get my head around …

Under duress, though. She was very unhappy when it transpired that her mum wouldn’t be moving out. She resented having to give up her spare room.

She wasn’t a loving daughter.

I see it that Julia is being her authentic self and loves her mum despite behaving badly and she knows she's loved. Julia is always being herself and doesn't have the same hang ups as Amanda.

Amanda, the product of cruel (narcissistic) mum, has picked up mum's flees therefore is fake and concerned with appearances and can be cruel. There's hope for her now she's told her mum to fuck off. Hopefully she will find herself. Nice pantomine ending.

We did see a lot more depth to the characters this Christmas.... especially Amanda and Meg. I really hope there's another series.

I don’t think there will be. Wasn’t the special called “The Last Christmas”? I took that to mean it’s be the last one. I hope I’m wrong.

I think it was interesting that we only see mothers in the previous generations- Anne’s, Julia’s, Amanda’s. I get the show is “mother” land but it’s interesting how it removes father figures.

With the exception of Kevin, obviously, but he’s definitely more on the maternal side.

I thought last Christmas might have been referring to Marion's last Christmas?

I thought the Meg/Bill storyline was either totally pointless or setting the scene for the future? I also wondered if they are setting Meg up to be an alcoholic. She had the cargo bike full of booze, drunk a whole bottle of Bailey's and fell over. She seemed unhappy. I feel like there's more to come...at least I hope so!

I think last Christmas actually referred to it being Marion's last Christmas. Although when I first saw that title I thought it might be the last ever episode.
There is still stuff to tie up, what will happen with Kevin's divorce? Will Julia ever tell her husband he's useless? What will Amanda do now?
I'd like to find out.

I hated the last series. Too saccharine, too stereotyped. Too OTT.

I loved the Christmas special. Everyone was more normal and believable. Tragedy does happen at Christmas. Relationships are strained. Presents are hated. Friends can count for so much more than family. The only thing I found unrealistic was that no one went away out of town and that Anne's house could sleep 32 people or however many it was!

Anne deserves her own spin off series.

All of this! I love Motherland but Julia is a dick and a user.

Loved Amanda being happy at the end. And I loved her getting her mam telt.

I do hope they do one more series and that Kevin and Amanda find love (not with each other). I know not everyone needs an OH to validate them but these two are so co-dependent they’re rubbish in their own. Id love Amanda to find a sexy investment banker! Lucy Punch is genuinely stunning if find it hard to believe ITL she wouldn’t have men (other than Kevin 🤣) queueing round the block

@LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet An investment banker is exactly what Amanda goes not need. She needs someone grounded and less concerned with appearances. Investment bankers of my acquaintance are almost always the opposite !

I agree that the scene was being set for Meg to develop a drink problem. She was always a party girl but this episode was different

I loved it. I think Julia is quite childlike and represents the childlike part of ourselves who wants to be rescued or wants our parents or husband or Gary the builder to sort things out for us. In some ways Marion dying was the natural conclusion to the arc that began with her not being able to cope with doing childcare anymore (parents deteriorate and die and it’s a painful surprise because somewhere inside the child in us sees them as invulnerable) and Julia’s arc into actual adulthood - realising that she is responsible for her life -no one else - but that her friends will help her and be there for her.

would say Meg already has the drink problem.

Amanda needs her own Sam the Shepherd. A bit of rough to bring her back down to earth a bit.

I don't get why people are so harsh with Julia, she us just a very stressed, put upon woman (to be fair, she allows it) and she took her mum in and cared for her on top of everything she was doing already. I find it sad people don't recognise this. No wonder we have so many stressed, insecure mums who think think they are never enough. They aren't allowed to even get stressed or ask for help anymore, but it's OK to throw a princess strop if your partner buys you a £400 hat you don't like.

Julia doesn't just want a bit of help- she expects to offload her kids onto her mother at every opportunity and is horrible to (and about) her when she isn't at her beck and call. She isn't portrayed as some reasonable, hard working woman who's trying to do too much and is stressed and put-upon. Quite the opposite - she's portrayed as quite selfish and fundamentally quite lazy. She's the one who's supposed to have a career (unlike Liz, or Kevin the house husband or Anne who's busy breeding) yet she's constantly turning up in the coffee shop after the school drop off and doesn't have any childcare in place.

I don't think Julia is intended to be a likeable character at all, she's deeply flawed and I think the ending of the Christmas episode was touching on how she probably realises too late that she's been totally self absorbed.

There's a scene in a previous series, I think its where she visits the caretaker in hospital (turns out to be the wrong man), and she's talking to him saying she's just been rushing for so long and starts to get upset. Its clear she's not coping, and obvious to us as viewers that its her husband that's not pulling his weight.

Oh yes her husband is portrayed as utterly useless but that doesn't mean Julia is a saint. Both characters are flawed. The husband is just a caricature, there's no depth to him whereas we see more facets to Julia but there's no denying she's pretty unlikeable. It's not just the way she uses her mother; she also says some nasty things to her friends

I absolutely agree. I think she’s so stressed and so lacking support that she’s lost all empathy and ability to care about how she comes across.

I really hope they do something with the Meg character and the complete lack of chemistry between her and her husband. Drug-taking drunk is becoming really boring.

YY to showing more of Ann - there’s a lot there we haven’t seen.

I watched it yesterday, thought it was great.

A real disaster. No one needs such a depressing storyline at Xmas. The episode was very short too.

Brilliant post