Time to meet The Forsytes this Autumn in August

Welcome one and all to LRG’s annual late summer soirée, Autumn in August , where we highlight movies and TV shows that give us that special fall feeling even during these overheated days.

Speaking of overheated, PBS Masterpiece gave us earlier this year a new period drama, The Forsytes , based on the  Nobel Prize winning set of novels and short stories known as The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. Since being fashionably late seemed appropriate. I chose to watch it for the first time this season.

Instead of a recap of each episode, I’m watching them two at a time and just highlighting certain plot points, characters, etc.

In the first two episodes, we are introduced to the rather formidable Forsyte family via a new member, June(Justine Moore), the stepdaughter of family favorite son Young Joltob aka Jo(Jack Davenport), set to inherit the commerce empire run by his father Jolyon Sr.(Stephen Moyer, nice to see him in a non vampire role!).

By the time the story gets underway, June has been a Forsyte for several years and now old enough for her ambitious mother Frances(Tuppence Middleton) to start the matchmaking process, something her daughter is not in a rush to get into:

Jo is a touch sympathetic to June’s wish to see more of the world before getting married off; in his past days, he had artistic ambitions, which he had to give up upon returning home from what was called The Grand Tour(a trip through Europe for young men of means). Nowadays, he’s the reluctant  yet moral heir to the family throne, competing with his less scrupulous cousin Soames(more than him later on in this series).

However, as we quickly find out, Jo wasn’t always a good boy as an unexpected person from his time in Italy appears in their midst.

Turns out that the popular dressmaker who has been putting together June’s society wardrobe is a “widow” named Louisa (Elinor Tomlinson, who Poldark fans fondly remember as Demelza) with two young children to support.

I have to say spoiler alert at this point but by the end of episode two, just about everyone important to the plot knows the big secret to be revealed; Louisa was once a ladies maid in Italy and fell in love with Jo around his time there and yes, he’s the father of her fraternal twins.

To be fair, she didn’t tell him about the kids, knowing that his family would never allow them to be a couple and passing herself off as a widow was a pragmatic decision, especially given the time period.

Through a series of unintentional events, Jo and Louisa run into each other and he goes looking for her shop which leads to him meeting his kids for the first time. Naturally, he wants to openly acknowledge them but Frances(who figured it way before he did) wants this whole thing under wraps.

Of course, June finds out and is very disappointed as she looks up to Jo and his father agrees with Frances in not letting this secret surface as he’s ready to hand over the company reins to Jo. It’s all a glorious mess but more is yet to come indeed:

My initial thoughts here are first; it’s great to see distinguished actors like Francesca Annis as the Forsyte matriarch who does a bit of narration every now and then.

Second, most of the cast seems rather younger than expected; I have seen an earlier adaptation of The Forsyte Saga and those performers were definitely more mature in appearance. I suppose it’s to interest a younger demographic (fans of The Gilded Age and/or Bridgerton) and while I’m happy to see Elinor Tomlinson again, it’s not so bad but it does take a little getting use to.

Nevertheless, this is a good time to be had here and next week, we’ll look at episodes three and four with more of a focus on Soames, who is not what he seems to everyone indeed!: