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

Each to their own but yes that was the line I thought was offensive.

I don't think it was meant to be funny at all. Tamara clearly felt very awkward about the pregnancy reveal and was trying to say something to make Amanda feel better so she said something clumsy and awkward while trying to be reassuring (in a way that she didn't need to be, but that's often how women do talk). I thought it was a good way of showing how uncomfortable and caught off guard she felt and her instinct to be kind to Amanda. I definitely didn't think any of that scene was played for comedy, including Amanda hitting her teeth on the glass, it was excruciating.

I think a lot of the dislike for the special is that the show's always been a comedy with moments of drama and they flipped that round for this. Some liked it, some didn't, which is fair enough.

I'm not sure deciding something that women often say in early pregnancy is offensive is healthy for you. It's true- many early pregnancies don't continue. Pregnant women being realistic about that isn't offensive, imo it's sensible. Otherwise, depending on how early you test, you could be setting yourself up for a lot of upset and grief, when statistically, it's a normal thing.

I think the thing with Liz and Lee was quite realistic to be honest. The sense of responsibility women can feel towards men even where they are useless idiots and former partners. He is her kids dad and she feels a responsibility, rightly or wrongly. He maybe has a bit of a hold over her still.

I think it was an insight into how even though she appears quite tough she possibly suffers some of the same... emotional vulnerabilities (maybe not the right word) as other women do.

I didn’t find the miscarriage line offensive at all and I’ve had a miscarriage. Like the poster above I thought it was an attempt to be a bit kinder to Amanda and play it down.
Maybe in a clumsy way but it was realistic.

I think you can see that Lee still gets to Liz despite her tough image. I rewatched the sports day episode where he leaves her with the baby and disappears off for ages. And yes he’d broken up with the mother of the baby by then.

I'd like to join The Pea Brain Club. Will we have badges? <hopeful>

Wrong thread?

Nope, everyone is referring to the post by zummyizhere last night where she/he said anyone that enjoyed the episode was a pea brain.

All of this. It wasn't meant to be funny at all. The whole scene was heartbreaking (and very well acted).

I can't see that at all. It must be hidden by an advertisement.

It's on page 13 and is hilarious.

zummyizhere is absolutely livid that people thought it was a good episode.

Its a bit like the final scene in Blackadder Goes Forth. It had always been a comedy but the last scene was of WW1 soldiers running to their almost certain death into No Man's Land. It was heartbreaking but some people managed to misinterpret it as disrespectful.

@roastonions

Secondly, I'm shocked anyone even likes this special at all unless they've got a pea for a brain

Delicious quote from @zummyizhere in their rant upthread

@Southeastdweller Clearly it wasn’t supposed to be funny. Poor Tamara was in an impossible situation thanks to Tanya’s mother. The humour was the utter bitchiness of the mothers character combined with the disaster of having a “blended family Christmas” that has gone about as wrong as it could.

I can't imagine we were supposed to find that line 'funny.' What a bizarre take.

I didn’t find it offensive at all.
I’ve suffered a pretty horrendous (and dangerous) mc and wasn’t at all triggered.
Seemed like a throwaway comment to try (but fail) to make Amanda feel better. Statistically a huge number of pregnancies are not viable.
But each to their own - you were offended and we don’t all have to agree.

I loved that Anne was just shining, having shaken off her devotion to Amanda. I thought that was best done with little glimpses (show, don't tell!). In the end the mums and Kevin were all there for each other, Anne let Amanda join the party despite everything and we're left to imagine Amanda ends up enjoying her evening with her old pal, and hopefully more respect for her old pal.

As PP said, you meet these people at the school gates, there are ups and downs and gossip and all, but sometimes they end up being the ones you can count on when life turns upside down.

I’m with you @BIWI

And✊

Just on the 'it might not stick' line there's a MN thread trending right now in which at least three posters have used the same expression in response to an OP about becoming pregnant at an older age...

@NashvilleQueen ???

NashvilleQueen ???

There are a number of comments on this thread about Tamara's line that her pregnancy might not stick and whether it was crass/unrealistic for a woman to say. It's not an expression I have heard before and so it was interesting to see this morning that there were at least three comments using those words directed to a MNer announcing a pregnancy at an older age. Apparently it is something women say in real life.

My issue with these scenes is just that Motherland is often laugh out loud funny. I know that it also has some sad plots too. But on Boxing Day, I really wasn't expecting such hard-hitting stuff from what was a Christmas comedy special.