In October 2017, ITV series Victoria finished its second season.
First off, I think I really had mixed opinions of this series. It certainly had its highs and lows which is perfectly fine but I think I lost my respect for both the series writes and Daisy Goodwin herself when they introduced the clumsy parentage plot. There’s meddling with history and meddling with history. Having seen that particular aspect I came to realize that the Victoria drama this series is by no means subtle with its aims. With that particular u turn I really think the story sacrificed it’s historical integrity.
There is plenty of drama which at least tries to stick to a semblance of historical fact – Ernest’s syphilis for example – but ultimately this series left me feeling ever so indifferent. I can’t quite pinpoint what it was exactly but evidently the series isn’t exciting enough without a stray bullet or two. It’s so funny how convenient assassination attempts can help to curtail clumsy romance arcs. Even when the series moved action away from the royal palaces it still continued to be done clumsily. Yes of course the duo got to escape the hurly burly of court life but it was so on the nose the whole time.
Of course as the drama evolves there will always be a challenge to keep the story dynamic going. Sometimes it’s best to look at things like this as interpretations rather than actual narratives. This series doesn’t want to be history, it wants to be a proto-feminist text where a woman CAN be both a queen and a mother AT THE SAME TIME. That’s all well and good but please don’t take the opportunity to bash the audience round the head with it whenever possible.
Unfortunately I found series 2 rather underwhelming. This review is written without the context of the Christmas special. As to the joys of that mastery, I suppose we can only wait and see.
MY RATING: ** / *****
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