So disappointed with Motherland **Thread contains spoilers**

[Fenty1]

I'm the biggest fan of Motherland normally but I feel so let down by the Xmas special! Have been looking forward to it all day but didn't laugh once. Yes it was very sad etc but not what I wanted from a Xmas special at all.

Title edited by MNHQ to add a spoiler alert

I liked it, sad as it was! Wish it was on for longer though!

Have watched it twice now. It's brilliant and better on second viewing

@strawberriesplease that’s what I said

I absolutely loved it
i love that series and I think the writers are fantastic.

Absolutely loved it.
Particularly enjoyed Amanda standing up to her hideous mother.

I love all of the cast but the actress who plays Amanda and Joanna Lumley playing her awful mum did their roles absolutely perfectly in the Xmas special. The joy of Joanna Lumley playing a proper villain! Loved it.

The continuity was terrible. Every time they changed the camera angle on a scene, the actors were in different positions. Really sloppy and annoying.

I think it's lost its spark. It's all just a bit fake.

I felt sorry for Meg and that horrible hat.
I liked Marion , so that was awful too. People do die at Christmas time though , it was odd to see this in a Christmas special though. Kevin didn't seem that upset considering he seemed to like her more than Julia did sometimes!
I'm glad Amanda stood up to her mum
Liz has a wonderful figure. I am so envious of her
It wasn't as good as the actual episodes, but I like the characters so they are forgiven for it being a bit shit/ sad

^^
”it’s all just a bit fake”

I think we’ve reached peak mumsnet 😂

@Netaporter I didn’t want to be the tit pointing out ‘it’s not real you know??’, but aye, where do you go from that?

@midsomermurderess i’ll take one for the team. I am large of nork 😂

There’s comedy gold just on this thread!
I’ve always thought the writers drew really heavily on MN.

I watched it last night and really liked it but then I had read the spoilers. Thought it captured the essence of Christmas ; massive efforts needed that sometimes work brilliantly (Anne’s excellent party) or somewhat ( Meg) or not (pretty much everyone else).
Loved Amanda’s storyline and thought Kevin’s cooking highlighted what decades of mothers have had to put into the day with little genuine appreciation.
I also thought that the Venice trip was a perfect touch.

I've just managed to watch it and thought it was brilliant.

I have lost a family member on Christmas day in a similar way - they had a heart attack and died in the living room floor on the afternoon of Christmas Day. The episode captured the shock and grief but also the 'trying to keep things jolly for the kids' and all the food that still needed eaten, etc.

I have just watched it and loved it.
Literally LOL in the scene
Kev - we'd better take the kids across thr road ( pointing at the in-laws) - what about them
Liz - they're still alive!

However - How come Anne has now got 3 babies in a buggy - did I miss her having twins or something?

I agree with this.

Totally misjudged for a Christmas special.
You can do a bit of poignancy, some bad news, but not all this rolled into one . People are looking for comfort not challenge from Christmas specials. This could have been done as part of a series at another time of year (obviously slight change of storyline) but with a lot more of the relatable comedy bits wrapped around it.

I feel it was misjudged.

I've only just watched it but I've now read the thread too. I also have mixed feelings, but on balance, there was some great character development and a lot of brilliant one liners: Stilton wheel, lobster tea pot, they're still alive and best of all, I will certainly be using 'there's a queue Philip Schofield' in future.

On Amanda's mum and the clothes for Amanda's kids alongside the comment about dressing for the role you want there was a comment about calling herself/ wanting to call herself (sorry I can't recall exactly) 'Gan Gan' which is what the Prince George + siblings called the late Queen. Tells us a lot about the Joanna Lumley character's aspirations.

I loved it but I'm a big fan of Afterlife and the like and I enjoy when a comedy deals with darker issues.
Felt so much for Amanda when she was visiting her ex husband's house and the pregnancy was announced. Loved it when she told her mum to get lost.
The actress who plays Julia was wonderful. I cried when she discovered the present.
Kevin and Liz were spot on and great friends helping her out.
Would have liked to have seen more Anne, and Megs storyline was a bit shit (but I love Anthony Head as her husband).
Overall, fantastic episode and very clever writing.

PleaseDontEatThat

My only complaint is that I have the trumpet theme tune in my head.

I hate that trumpety, parpy theme tune.

Just watched it finally. I absolutely loved it. Genius writing all round. So many great lines - " That one's been in a shoe" was a particular highlight.
Lucy Punch was incredible. Wish there had been more Anne, was so pleased to see Amanda dancing away with her family at the end.
Will watch it again in a couple of days I'm sure.

I really wanted her ex's new partner to tell her mum to get lost too! But, I liked the fact you could see she was appalled by the mum's behaviour and was being very lovely to Amanda. It was a really nice way of depicting a horrible situation, to show women having each other's backs.

Overall I really enjoyed it. It's such a fabulous series and is so en pointe with the shit us mums have to deal with.

I made an account on here just to rant about the special! I love this show so damn much, it has such great jokes, points out so much stuff regarding the current world we live in etc etc. I could go on about how great Motherland is but I am seething with too much anger right now.

First of all, it's worth stating that this episode has a different director than the actual directors. Secondly, I'm shocked anyone even likes this special at all unless they've got a pea for a brain. A quintessential character to the show just flipping dies and that's that??? They make a bloody joke out of it??? And Meg gets pissed about a freaking HAT? WTF? That's how shallow they end up showing Meg, who's literally the opposite of shallow and fake?
It was so unfunny, and I think there's serious politics behind this episode. They've made it literally to take the piss out of the whole show in general. The acting felt so forced. They've changed the color pattern of the show as well! GRRRRR this makes me so angry. I feel like they just told Julia for this episode, "Hey, just uhh, be like loud and busy like any other episode."
This episode had NO message (unlike all the other episodes of Motherland that ALWAYS have a message about the society or about the characters).

Completely agree.