This three-part series covers quite a lot of ground and spans eighteen years before the first accidental meeting of Parliament member of the Liberal Party, Jeremy Thorpe (Hugh Grant) and stable boy Norman Scott (a brilliant Ben Whishaw).
They begin a brief but passionate albeit illegal homosexual relationship and consummate it at all places in his mother's house. Jeremy's mother's house to be specific. But then things fall apart, to no one's surprise and Jeremy doesn't help Norman get back his National Insurance card which he left behind in haste to join Jeremy. This card is necessary so he can gets the benefits he is entitled to as a citizen. In the long run, it would have been far easier to get him a replacement card than to go through all the hassle of paying to keep him silent. But that isn't enough as Norman will not be silenced so Jeremy even wants to have him killed.
This gets blown out of porporation and he even hires people so this can be done, but that plan goes arye when the dog, poor Trinka is killed instead.
Finally, the scandal is forced into the spotlight and Jeremy and the others do stand trial for conspiracy to commit murder. Though Jeremy's career is ruined, he is found not guilty without ever even taking the stand while Norman does and comes off looking like a rose while Jeremy is a coward for keeping his mouth shut.
The series is certainly an interesting one. I do wonder whether the two men were truly in love or not as both eventually married women and each had a son. In fact, Norman wore a wedding ring during his brief marriage while Jeremy never did and his second lasted decades. His second wife was a saint, sticking with him though his trial and then later as he battled Parkinson's disease for the finale two decades of his life.
Norman, unlike Jeremy, is still alive to see his story be told and has all the animals he could ever want as ultimately, he liked animals far more people, which is understandable most days. Also, Norman is a far more interesting character than Jeremy though he has plenty of struggles with drugs and alcohol.
It is undoubtedly an interesting story and is anchored by the tight script which has colorful characters to spare, including a fascinating performance by Alex Jennings from The Crown, great as one of Jeremy's closest friends though in order to save his own skin, he testifies against him at the trial.
There is a very English feel to this whole series but that is what makes easily one of the most well-done series of the year, fully deserving of all the nominations it has received thus far and Emmys, please remember this one next year. There are many twists and turns and I certainly wasn't expecting that ending, which you cannot describe as happy for anyone involved. Next time, just help someone replace their National Insurance card, it will save plenty of sweat, stress, blood and tears later on. Grade: A-
No comments:
Post a Comment