Speaking of grand tours, let’s look at Jo Forsyte’s situation; while he still wants to maintain his marriage with Frances(and not pursue an intimate relationship with Louisa), he does want contact with his kids and even tells June of his plans to financially provide for them.
While trusting his stepdaughter is one thing, dealing with her mother is quite another and Frances goes so far as to having Jo followed by a servant(who I hope is getting paid extra for this!) and arranging for Louisa to be evicted from her shop.
This leads to a separation and eventually to a more permanent break from the family altogether; Jo has no desire to take over the family firm and Frances ‘unending distrust is difficult to live with.
Don’t get me wrong, I get why Frances is so upset but to be fair, Jo was with Louisa long before he got married (Louisa broke it off,btw, without telling him she was pregnant) and while he should’ve been more upfront with Frances, her tactics are rather off putting to say the least.
Frankly, I don’t know why Frances doesn’t hook up with Jolyon Sr. , as the two of them see more eye to eye on things and have way better chemistry together! Nevertheless, she’s going to be persistent about keeping her foot on the Forsyte social ladder there for now, despite the lack of a husband by her side:
His insistence upon controlling her every move leads to him going to June’s fiancé Phillip to hire his services as an architect. Soames wants a country home built as a “surprise “ for his new wife, keeping her further isolated from the rest of society.
While Phillip is eager to get that first commission in order to marry June, he soon learns of the real nature of Irene and Soames’ marriage and would rather contrive an inflated budget as a reason for being fired than go through with contributing to the domestic disharmony here.
That doesn’t work for long as Soames is determined to have his way and little does he realize that bringing Irene and Phillip together like this won’t end well for all involved:
As I said earlier, making this epic novel into a possibly long running series (season three has also been confirmed) is an excellent idea and one that should pay off nicely for readers and viewers alike.
Out of all of the players in this cast, the MVP of The Forsytes is grand matriarch Ann(Francesca Annis), who plays her cards as smoothly as any seasoned gambler.
From her sly observations to the subtle advice given when deemed necessary to her family and friends alike, Ann is no one to be trifled with, something that those who attempt to do so instantly regret.
Plus, her narrator role during each episode is a delightful emotional soundtrack for the show and she even drops a bit of a bombshell to one of her sons during the finale! Yes, Ann is quite the formidable ally as well as opponent who ought to make the next few seasons all the more engaging to watch:
So, this concludes our Autumn in August season and I will see you all in September (when I shall be wrapping up my High Summer readathon results, amongst other topics!).
Perhaps this time next year, we can catch up on season two and see what follies the Forsytes get themselves up to. Until then, have a great rest of the summer and enjoy yourselves as much as possible with good books and good book based TV:
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