[Review] Borgen: 2.05 - 2.06 - Plant A Tree & Them And Us
Comments attached to the Review 'Borgen: 2.05 - 2.06 - Plant A Tree & Them And Us' on Television @ The Digital Fix
With this third week, we flew past the halfway mark on series two of Borgen, and if it feels like it hasn't been that long, that'll be the double-bills again. Seriously, reviewing two hours of dense television in a single blog post without bloating to an unreadable length is difficult. But it...
I think the Laura strand is supposed to resonate on the children not getting to enjoy their childhood, and having to take on responsibilities young. Just it wasn't very interesting!
I think they are using the Laura storyline in a number of ways.
It tied in with the loss of childhood argument being played out in parliament. It demonstrates the oft used plot device of something being sacrificed for a woman in a position of power or authority; the more Birgitte is wrapped up in political machinations, the less she notices her ever disintegrating family, to the point that her ex's new partner becomes the emergency point of contact. The reflection of her political life in her home life - her coalition government becoming a minority government as she finds herself a minority in a parenting triangle, with Phillip backing up Cecillie and Birgitte having to accept her daughter being prescribed anti-depressants.
Yeah, the Laura storyline is obviously the latest and worst result of Birgitte's continual neglect of her family since she took office. And we could be headed for the ultimate resolution of newspaper headlines by Laugeson and chums along the lines of "NYBORG'S DAUGHTER GOES MENTAL", which will either make her finally realise she should pay more attention to her family, or throw herself into retribution against them, until Phillip and Cecillie finally get custody of the kids.
All of which sounds like good drama. It just seemed a slightly awkward fit at times this week.
But then the destruction of childhood was the dominant theme. The political argument over the age of criminal responsibility, the angst of Laura over her families breakdown and the lack of time her mother has for her and the massive effect on Kasper of his childhood abuse.
Yeah. I just found the other two more interesting iterations of it. Possibly other shows have just jaded me about domestic strife storylines. (See also many of the Brody kids scenes on Homeland.)
It does seem to be the cliched story arc. The successful woman can't have it all - a career and a stable family life. I think they are using it to create tension between her, her ex and the new girlfirend more than to highlight the pressures on the children of a career mother and a broken home.
Linear Mode
