I might have called it Sam and Milner's War, but it's still good.

[mrissa]

I am pretty tired, and it suddenly occurred to me last night, with a ping that was nearly audible, that porphyrin had said that I would be back to eighty to ninety percent awhile back, as the pneumonia went away. And I was, and it was such a relief that I was thinking of it as, "Well, I've been tired today," for a great many days in a row, and it is now dawning on me that this is why she said 80-90% then and not 100%.

So I've gotten into that mode where I think I should post about things and then I think I should do it all at once and make a five-or-more things post, and then I am too tired for that and don't do it.

So this is not necessarily the most important thing, but here, have a thing:

elisem talked about the British TV show Foyle's War, and our library has it, so I got the first episode. I have now watched the second episode. The library is completely psychotic about which TV shows it checks out as single episodes and which as entire seasons, but the Foyle's War episodes are about 100 minutes each, just about right for my workouts, so it's not too frustrating to have to get them one at a time.

The premise of the show is that DCS Foyle is a British policeman in Hastings during WWII, going around having to solve crimes that are caused or complicated or otherwise affected by the war and its environs. It's got a Sergeant who was wounded in early action in Norway, and it's got a driver who is taking advantage of the war to take a job her family would have objected to were it not that We All Must Pitch In. And I am really enjoying it.

I think some of the buttons it presses are more or less factory-standard for people in our culture, since WWII is The Designated Good War, but it's not as simplistic as that. And also some of the buttons it presses are mine more particularly because I grew up with a mother who was reading Liddell-Hart on tank battles and various other things like that for my early childhood. (Liddell-Hart: useful for Girl Scout leaders. They should put that on his books as a blurb.) In fact I was in junior high before I read the spine and realized that Liddell-Hart was the guy's name. I sort of processed it as a statement of priorities: Daddy and I and the grands and the dog and sometimes the godfathers when we could get them, we were Mom's Great Heart, but history was her Little Heart, WWII history in particular at the time. For me getting interested in the Great War was in some ways the category of gentle rebellion that's like staying out half an hour late with a boy your parents know and like.

They are not making a fuss over the historical tidbits, is the thing. They can have food without having obligatory conversations like, "You used your ration coupons to get this for us, didn't you?" "Why yes. Yes I did. Because there is a war on, you know." "Yes, and we must use ration coupons because of this war that is on." The food is done right without being done ostentatiously, and so on with the rest. This time out, Foyle and Sam and Milner got to stop Mosleyites, and it was lovely.

I recommend Foyle's War pretty heartily. I don't know if it's on Netflix, since we don't do Netflix, but it's worth checking your local library if it isn't and if your local library carries DVDs.

Comments

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I caught some episodes of Foyle's War when it first aired, included the final ones (you will enjoy the way it goes, I think). I especially liked the driver and her relationship with him.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It is no longer final! They are airing new ones this year!

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay!! I'll look for it! I agree. It's really well done, and the historical detail is perfect without being obtrusive. As is the Good War, etc.

I'm old enough to remember the US aspects of that war, but just barely. I lived in Charleston SC then, where some German POW's were kept, and I remember being very confused about the difference between Germans and germs--just knew both were supposed to be bad.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We were once at a Hungarian restaurant in San Francisco (gone now, alas) where the extravagantly mustached husband of the cook leaned in as he was placing a plate before timprov and murmured, "Must be spicy for killing [something]." We have been arguing since about whether it was germs or Germans.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear someone else shares my confusion (though I married into a German family and discovered that they are actually not disease-causing at all!)

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Or do you mean these episodes (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/foyleswar/) that aired last summer? I'm pretty sure I saw these, by lucky accident.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No, there are at least three more after that, according to Wikipedia, which has specific titles and such. It seems to believe that Foyle's adventures are extending into peacetime, in case that helps.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Well, double yay! I guess that is Series Seven. It will be interesting to see where that goes, after what happened in Six...

[jenett]

It is indeed on Netflix, and I have added it to my queue there, because all of that sounds very enjoyable in the way of 'stuff set during wars'.

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

My parents both considered 'Foyle's War' pretty accurate, which is a high compliment, since both were in their 20s in Britain during the War.

As a Brit, rationing has a peculiar resonance for me, since I was named 'Margaret' because margarine came off the ration in July 1954 when I was born!

It's a wonderful series! I'm glad you like it. And I also hope you get to be 100% soon. The end of any serious illness, when it drags on and on and on, is so frustrating.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I loved Foyle's War primarily because its attention to detail is precise as are the unexpected ramifications of the war at home. I think you'll enjoy how it plays out.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

In an instance of bizarre synchronicity, I also recently started watching this and recently finished the second episode. By far my favorite character is the driver, who (aside from being gorgeous) is so cheerily stubborn about everything that it's impossible not to like her.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, I am not wired such that her gorgeousness really does anything for me, but the cheerily stubborn part I just plain love. Sam is my favorite as well, although I have hopes of the Sgt. (I am partial to Sgts.)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Mmm, Foyle's War. You say two names - Anthony Horowitz, and Michael Kitchen - and that is such a strong foundation to build a series on. I rate it very highly.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

It really is a wonderful series - how lovely to know that there are more coming! :)

[saoba.livejournal.com]

Oh very yes the long downhill coast back to wellness after pneumonia. Where you aren't sick but you still just aren't right either.

I love Foyle's War and will stay up way too late to catch it on PBS every time. Even the episodes I have already seen because the details! So good. 'I've seen this one, I'll just- wait, that coat! The drape of that fabric is perfect!' and suddenly it's so late it's early.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes. Foyle's War is quite, quite fine all the way through. Certainly one of the things the series does particularly well is weave in the details of wartime experience without painting bright, helpful outlines around them in dayglo paint. It's about as good an example of incluing as I can think of, in television. In fact, in that sense, it's worth studying just for its world-building finesse.