Good, but should have toned-down the feminism

I liked this television series overall, especially the fine period costumes, romance, and interesting storyline, but they really should have toned-down the feminism. I know this series was made for a women's television network and therefore I guess the producers felt obligated to include "politically correct" messages of female empowerment, but some of it bordered on misandry and all of it was disingenuine. Especially as Coco got older, the older version seemed to be an ungrateful man-hater who forgot that it was men who helped her throughout her life and made possible most of her success. Perhaps though, this was the bitterness of a woman left with a broken heart.

Nonetheless, it was men who rescued Coco several times throughout the story when she was nearly destitute. First, it was Etienne, later it was Boy, and finally it was Marc. Coco initially had no business-sense or financial resources; without Boy's help she would have been thrown into a debtor's prison or starved to death on the street. There certainly would have been no hat shop. But instead, on the verge of bankruptcy, it was always men who came to her aid. Thus, it is somewhat offensive when later she seems to think that she was soley responsible for her success and arrogantly mouths feminist comments. Even her line that "Women don't dress for men" is false. In truth, most women do in fact dress to impress men and capture their attention. If it wasn't for Coco's beauty and attractiveness, she wouldn't have captured the attention of so many powerful men and benefitted from their favors. Instead of living in a mansion and enjoying the finest that life had to offer, she would have been scraping by in a slum somewhere. They taught her how to ride a horse, how to drive a car, inspired her to find her own passion in life, funded her business ambitions, etc. So although the story was interesting and showed her rise, I think they could have done it without the male-bashing comments and been more truthful in acknowledging the profound importance that men played in her life and helping to nurture her success.

I did enjoy the romantic themes, the costumes, and the beautiful settings. These type of romantic, period-piece settings are needed and its unfortunate that we don't see many of them on TV anymore. The long love affair with Boy and the self-denial of true happiness made for a compelling theme. Barbora Bobulova was beautiful and a good actress, and I think she deserved more recognition than she got. Overall, the series was enjoyable and an interesting and heart-wrenching story.