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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 348133" data-attributes="member: 23">Series Four A Patriotic Offering / News From The Front / The Beastly Hun / Women Shall Not WeepThe Great War has brought with it a change of tone. Most notably - for this viewer, at least - we’re turning our view outwards: Eaton Place feels significantly less insular than it has in previous series.Right from the start, this series has brought the consequences of the war to Eaton Place. First comes the arrival of the asylum seeking immigrants, fleeing the Rape Of Belgium, giving a human face to what up to this point has been viewed by almost all characters as a war that is geographically so far away that it has no bearing at all on their lives. This is followed by the civil war being fought in the streets of Belgravia, on the doorstep of 165 itself, as friendly neighbourhood bakers the Schoenfelds - suppliers to the household and good friends with Rose and Daisy - seek refuge after anti-German sentiment stirred up by propaganda and press hyperbole sees them driven out of their home which is set alight. Interestingly, it’s the latter example which really shines a light on Hudson’s characteristic xenophobia. Naturally, he’s not thrilled about the Belgians invading his territory in A Patriotic Offering, but this is greatly diffused by other characters such as Richard and Mrs Bridges who are far more outraged by it than him. If anything, Hudson is the voice of reason here and quick to break bread and offer his compassion to the visitors. But cut to The Beastly Hun, and he is so disgusted by Mr Schoenfeld setting foot in the house that he does the unthinkable and wordlessly departs. Neither feels out of character, thanks to good writing and the information in The Beastly Hun that he’s been consuming - and believing - propaganda magazines filled with conspiracy theories (many of which, I imagine, weren’t untrue given what we now know). What does seem almost contradictory is Hazel’s response to Hudson’s black and white attitude. Not so much her distaste at his lack of empathy, but her loud protestations to both Hudson and Richard that the Germans are no more capable of such atrocities “than we are”. Given heard first hand accounts of death, rape and horror directly from the Belgians, it seems rather blinkered of her, though I can easily put this down to Hazel desperately wanting to believe the best of people. Throughout this episode Hazel’s response was so strong (at one point she raised her voice in anger while delivering an angry diatribe at her father-in-law for his own attitudes - a concept which would have been almost unthinkable beforehand) that I was awaiting the revelation that her family came from German stock. It was almost a surprise when it never came. We’ve taken excursions, of course, with previous stop-offs at the Somerby estate and Elizabeth’s marital home, but 165 has generally been a relative haven for its occupants where the routines and the intricate hierarchy within have provided a stability that’s almost timeless. It was established in the very first episode where Rose told Sarah of the safety she feels there. But as more than one character has said, times are changing and things are very different. War has a way of levelling more than just buildings, and that’s beginning to happen here. Now that we’ve passed the dismissals and denials (one episode saw Hudson sneering at the very idea that London could ever be bombed; in the next episode, shelling could be heard from within the house), we’re beginning - through the characters themselves - to look outwards as never before. We’ve spent time with James on the front line (albeit from the relative safely of his officers’ quarters), and now seem set to do the same with Georgina who has signed up to become a nurse. To date, Georgina’s nursing has been off-screen and - to her - disappointingly mundane (she’s tended old women and cleaned wards), but this could change. continued...</blockquote>

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