Anyone else dislike Rose?

Okay I've gone and looked at the episode concerned 'All the King's Horses' (second last episode season five). Here is what happened:


1. James returned from America. Edward put the idea into Rose's head by talking about how everyone was getting rich over there. As for James he wouldn't shut up about Wall Street and how it was a new age of prosperity for all.

2. Daisy asked Hudson about the Stock Exchange and he told her how it worked. But he cautioned that people could lose money as well as make it. Rose listened in and commented that you needed to have people advise you. Hudson said that people also advised on horse races. He went on to point out that speculating was another word for gambling. He finished by saying that the Stock Exchange was "not for the likes of us".

3. Rose had different ideas and deliberately sought out James. At first Rose said she would invest a little of her money. She mentioned Hudson's gambling comment. James said it was speculating and there was a world of difference. James asked her how much she wanted to invest and that it must be her decision. Rose said she would leave it up to him. So in the event James was all for it and invested the lot and Rose was swept along.

4. When James told Rose they had both been wiped out in the Stock Market crash Rose went down to the servants quarters and wailed to Mrs Bridges that she had lost her money and it was all James fault because she had only wanted to invest a little of her money but he invested the lot.

5. Hudson tried to calm Rose but she was in no mood. He forbade her to speak to Richard or Virginia about it but she stormed off and blabbed to Virginia (off camera). Virginia told Richard, Richard was aghast and sent Hudson to fetch James and then got stuck into him.

Also when Rose was wailing to Mrs Hudson she said "What would Gregory think of me? I was keeping the money for him!" But this is a nonsensical thing to say. Gregory was dead so how could she possibly be keeping the money for him? What she was really doing was putting a respectable face on her distress at having lost her money by making out as though she was upset for Gregory's sake and not her own.

And when Hudson tried to comfort her by kindly saying that they would always look after her she snarled at him "I want to look after myself, and now I can't!" This is what she was really upset about. She hated being in service and wanted to make enough money to fulfill her dream of being able to live independently one day.

Interestingly Gregory the sheep farmer had offered her a kind of independence but she had turned it down. Apparently the terms weren't favourable enough for her. Too much hard work perhaps. Not that I blame her, it would have been tough!

So I suppose in calling Rose contemptible I was going too far but I still think she comes out of it looking very badly. I understand why she did what she did but she acted out of greed and selfishness. As for James I suppose he wasn't much better than Rose when all is said and done so perhaps it was fitting that they brought about each others downfall. Although his downfall was much worse than hers. After all the only thing that happened to Rose was that she lost a windfall. Easy come, easy go. Otherwise for her everything was still the same. But James had really made a mess of it and dragging a servant in with him was the final nail in the coffin apparently.







The Players of The Game are the scum of the earth.