SPOILERS: Small Prophets.

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This is a thread for those who have watched the series and are desperate to post and discuss. It seems that the no spoilers free thread is being inundated with those who understably love it. Post away! I love it.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt38504111/

I don’t think Michael would make a good dad really. He seems too impatient and likes how it was with just the two of them. Clea had her business and living in her brother’s house sort of indictates that they didn’t have a lot of money or didn’t want to buy anything, but they were both working. Maybe they hadn’t been together that long or had previous marriages and costly divorces ? So much we don’t know ( unless I missed something )

The implication was that he didn’t try very hard to track her down. MC writes ordinarily flawed men very well!

It was Clea’s house, wasn’t it @the80sweregreat ? It only became Roy’s because it was 7 years ago that she went missing and Roy had either managed to have her officially declared dead, or knew he could do so, making the house his, as next of kin.

I can see Lance's ex telling him to stay away and him respecting that and staying away but regretting it. I don't think he would pursue it but not because he didn't want to, because he didn't want to upset anyone. Too kind really, he let the gift shop woman take him for a ride.

Goodness! It’s not the real world, it’s a story told through a telly programme. Through reading the comments, I do wonder if some of you are showing rather too much of your own prejudices regarding interpersonal relationships.

Yes this is a fantasy tale within a suburban setting and a work place we all have been to. Care homes and weird neighbours - the first thing I think about is s Mumsnet.

There's always the strange happenings post as well.

I've just binged the whole series today. Loved it more than anything I've seen recently.

Will read rest of this thread for spoilers/theories now.

I think it’s a credit to MCs writing that we like these characters that really are losers by society values.

Michael has done nothing with his life, he has a crappy job, no money, he’s not a looker (well he might be I suppose under his beard) and he’s generally quite short tempered. In his favour he is a good son and has a good sense of humour.

The long lost daughter storyline in Detectorists with Lance annoyed me tbh, it’s such a cop out to say his ex didn’t want his involvement. If he’d had anything about him he would have gone to court for contact 🤷‍♀️

Michael. He’d been working at Tool Station for a number of years but not made any attachments to anybody until now. We’re seeing him as somebody whose life paused after his girlfriend left him. He couldn’t come to terms with it, didn’t understand it and it is the ultimate ghosting experience for him. He stopped shaving, let his hair grow, didn’t tend the garden or take care of his car which is filthy and needs extra care being if that vintage. He probably did take care of it once upon a time. He slumped into a depression in which Clea is the focus of obsession. The items that he searches for online in order to continue creating the Christmas photograph must take a lot of his free time to find. He isn’t even bothered to cook meals for himself. Seven years have passed and he could declare that she is dead and give himself permission to let her go, but he can’t. He has recurring dreams about being on the island with the gulls, holding an egg which has hatched and Clea calling to him.
I don’t think he is a “loser”, he’s just been grieving the loss of his partner.

@HatStickBoots I agree. Think it's really awful that Michael has been described as a "loser" because he has a low-paid job.
I love Michael - he clearly adored his partner and did some beautifully thoughtful things to make her happy. He is a brilliant son who is always there for his Dad and cares about him and prioritises him. He feels and loves deeply.
But then again, this is MN.

Just want to agree with the Lance/Kate storyline being a bit crap. He doesn’t come off well leaving it that long and just buying the presents. I don’t know if that’s the point. Complex character?
I thought for ages that Kate would later be revealed to be an identity scammer because of his lottery win. I also didn’t particularly ‘believe’ in the Toni relationship. It didn’t feel like a very deep love. So if that’s the case some more insight into the Kate’s mum thing or Mags would make sense. The sea sickness was hilarious though.

I like Michael as a character and I love the ordinariness and even disappointments of life juxtaposition with the magic and the important relationships that people make

I certainly don’t think of anyone who works in retail or hospitality as losers. Quite the opposite in fact. Having done both types of jobs , I found it really hard dealing with the public looking down at you most of the time !
I was just wondering why they hadn’t bought their own place together , or if there was another back story to this.
May have been easier to just rent from family , although it seems Roy was surprised there was so many things in the house, so obviously he wasn’t visiting them much! I’m probably over thinking it , but it’s obviously plot driven having him owning the property now.

Plus, if he was an underwater welder previously he was clearly clever as well as brave ! Those people earn a lot for a reason !

I think he'd made up being an underwater welder.

He wasn't an underwater welder. He admitted to Kacey that it had been a lie.

@the80sweregreat Perhaps they were not in a position to afford it, especially as I think he referred at one point to Clea being unwell?
I agree with you - I am a huge Michael fan! He is quirky, clever, courageous. He is funny and caring and clearly he loved Clea deeply.
Perhaps he took his current job in order to prioritise his poorly partner/aging Dad.
That's a great guy in my book right there.
Kacie sees all of this good in him.
Genuinely, I think I have a crush! ❤️

I don't agree that Michael has done nothing with his life. He's clearly intelligent and has a wonderful way with words. Not everybody is driven and ambitious. Having a lot of money is not a sign of being a good or interesting person. It's not necessarily a sign of being a bad or dull person either. As I thought we'd all seen during the pandemic, a lot of the really vital jobs that kept society ticking over were being done by people on very low wages. It's a great pity we haven't learned enough from that to really do something to address the ridiculously large gap between the haves and havenots.

Oh! 😂
I clearly need to watch this all again ..
I missed that.
I admit that I looked it up as Job and it does exist .. never given it all thought before then

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Agreed! As I said in a previous post I genuinely have a character crush! I would sooooooooo date him (if I wasn't married!)
But this is MN remember - so a "good" man is probably a wealthy one.

I don’t think of wealthy men as being particularly ‘’ good myself. Usually anyone with pots of money tend to be arrogant and too keen to let people know what they earn. Not a character trait that I like in people.

I agree as well. I love hardware stores and would happily work there, part-time, in retirement. (And to get the chance to say we don't sell buckets, but we do have a lovely range of fork handles 😂)

@the80sweregreat Do you know my ex-husband?!!!! 😆

Familynotmaiden
Ive just met a few arrogant ones in the past with dh’s job ( he was a lowly one in the pecking order)
One delighted in telling me how thick I was once! He loved himself a bit too much.

The house was Clea's though? They weren't renting from relatives. Michael said at one point that they never married, which was probably put in to make clear that Clea's next-of-kin was her brother, who sure enough popped up at the seven years missing mark with the intention of claiming the property as his now Clea could legally be declared dead.

Or was it their parent's house? I don't even know myself now 😂.

Edit: Must've been, with Michael doing the whole recreating the Christmas living room scene.
I'll see myself out.

Ah, so because they didn’t get married, her brother can now claim the house as his. Although none of the actual set up around her affairs and so on was clarified tbf.