Did anybody else want to see a bit more of Chrissy and Valentine getting it on? Not just sex, but also living happily ever after? It would've been nice to see them together in a few years married and happy. I really wanted to see more of Christopher finally smiling.
shareI came here to post basically the same question, but not the way you express it. I was tremendously disappointed by the last episode. The series started off so impressively. I would have liked to see them married and happy, yes.
shareI was disappointed actually. There were all of these messages about "No More Parades" and how he was changing. Yet, it was as though the three of them became the people all of society had been accusing them of being during the past five years. The wife, who had been secretly chaste, finally gave back in to her former lover, for seemingly no apparent reason, as she and he had almost appeared to reconcile at the end of the previous episode.
Valentine became "the whore" that all of society believed her to be. She seemed to give up on her feminism, as she sat and pined away during his service time away; not even letting up to show much concern at all that her brother writes her on her birthday to say he's alive and well. Saying only it wasn't not good enough unless Christopher wrote as well; and of course, she relinquished her previous convictions on why she used to think he was a good man for being faithful to his wife. She barrated her friend for cheating on her insane husband with MacMasters; but now, because it's her, it's all fine.
For Christopher, it was as though he gave up entirely. "If this is who everyone thinks I am, it must be true; so I'll be that." What I don't understand is why in the world if he was willing to merely surrender and embrace some sort of defeatist attitude in his relationship, why not at least give Valentine a little dignity (according to the time) and marry her.
It seemed like slap to both women in the end, really.
What I don't understand is why in the world if he was willing to merely surrender and embrace some sort of defeatist attitude in his relationship, why not at least give Valentine a little dignity (according to the time) and marry her.
Whatever Christopher thought of Sylvia he would not subject her to the ignominy of divorcing her. She would have been shunned by society and it would have reflected on the son he loved.
Sylvia did eventually divorce Christopher and married Campion.
Christopher and Valentine did marry in the book.
They marry in the books (so I read) after Valentine becomes pregnant. What I and the other poster have discussed is the lack of principles in Tietjen's precious principles.
shareWell it was his strong principles that prevented him from divorcing Sylvia, plus he also realised how those rigidly strong principles had impacted on his life in such a negative way.
He gave in to a certain extent and with Valentine's willing participation took her as his mistress to try and make his life happier. They held out acting on their desires for a very long time.
Sylvia had treated him abominably, lied, cuckolded him, pretended to be dying, cut down the Groby tree, and whilst she seemed to be still attracted to him I think it was simply because he had gone beyond her reach.
In my opinion Christopher was always an honourable and upright man and he did stick by his principles.
Thank God for the mini-series To the Ends of the Earth. Otherwise, I'd wonder if Benedict Cumberbatch chooses only roles that have him either hurting, mocking, or otherwise demeaning women. All I know is that before I watch another film with him starring in it, I will read a detailed synopsis WITH spoilers, because it's all growing a bit old. And I paid for Parade's End, paid handsomely.
What I don't understand is why in the world if he was willing to merely surrender and embrace some sort of defeatist attitude in his relationship, why not at least give Valentine a little dignity (according to the time) and marry her.
I did, too! I was hoping that, as he was letting go of the past, of the house, what everyone thought of him - he'd let his marriage go too and get a divorce so he could marry cutie pie! LOL In my mind he did!
shareThis is why episode five was a bucket of cold water. This guy whom his mother-in-law makes fun of as "Jesus" (at least I think it's Sylvia's mother who calls him that) goes from the finest hero I've ever seen on screen to just another Victorian lecher.
Thank God for the mini-series To the Ends of the Earth. Otherwise, I'd wonder if Benedict Cumberbatch chooses only roles that have him either hurting, mocking, or otherwise demeaning women. All I know is that before I watch another film with him starring in it, I will read a detailed synopsis WITH spoilers, because it's all growing a bit old. And I paid for Parade's End, paid handsomely.
(ah.. don't be disappointed !
if you read Ford Madox Ford's novel's end (the tetrology is now published as a single volume).. you'll realize the movie has a positively fairy tale, happily ever after ending compared to the original !)
Remember when this story took place. . . during WWI. Things were a lot different then, especially in British high society. Yes, it was seriously flawed, but those were the times. I haven't read the novel, but I was happy with the end of the mini-series. Christopher and Valentine apparently had something to look forward to, and they were both smiling!
I'd also like to add that he loved his son. And at the time, divorcing Sylvia could very easily have meant she could have taken his son away from him completely. Or that divorcing her would have possibly bastardized his son, which would have been a huge slap in the face to an innocent child. He may have wanted to avoid doing that. (He actually does state his motive: that he won't divorce the mother of his child.I don't know. I found the ending a bit brief, and wanted more, but overall, I liked it.
shareI am not so aware of the British situation of that time, but I know that in Germany a divorce meant the wife lost all rights to the child and the father completely withdrew the child (The German classic "Effie Briest" wich is a 19?th century tale deals with that in later chapters).
I also think the reason many Suffragettes where rather sattisfied with remaining unmarried despite being in loving relations was that getting married meant loosing rights and freedom they had faught for. A Married woman lost controll of any money she might have had and was generally not accepted as having a job.
While such a woman obviously would find a man that shared her ideals and the practical impact on their life in case they got married where minimal it must have been a tough decision to accept giving away so much "just" to be married. So they did not.
Now I'm more than a bit confused - I MUST read the tetralogy, and I'll tell you why... I'd become more and more suspicious that the "Wannop" children, BOTH Valentine and her brother Edward, were actually the children of Christopher's father. Many MANY points 'hinted' at it. I'm not seeing evidence of a 'reveal' yet, but that would make Christopher and Valentine siblings! I'll suspect it until the book tells me otherwise.
This post is 2 years late, so you might've already read the book.
It's been a while since I've read it, but this question of Christopher's father as Valentine's did come up. I think it was Mark who brought it up. Tietjens the elder was out of the country well over nine months during Mrs. Wonnop's pregnancy with Valentine, so he couldn't have been her father. Don't know about Edward though.
Valentine's dad and Christopher's dad were best friends. When Mrs. Wonnop found out (at the Duchemin's breakfast), that Christopher was Tietjen's the elder's son, she took to him right away and Christopher would frequent their house helping her with her articles.