Like many British period pieces, the acting here is really, really good. I also give max points on the stunning look and feel of the piece---but it still isn't enough to elevate this above its status as a weak, clichéd soap opera with largely cardboard characters. Or the fact that the epic love story is a complete Wuthering Heights rip off (with a fair amount of Dickens thrown in for good measure).
And much like Wuthering Heights, I'm never sure WHY I'm so meant to root for such an unlikable, entitled pair (okay, Cathy is fairly sympathetic, Eamon's a full on sociopath. Or why a sad childhood, meagerly sharing sparklers while their evil parents mistreat them translates to The Great Love as adults (a psychiatrist would see more arrested development than anything else).
While I get a drag club isn't the most family friendly arena in which to grow up, Desrae is truly the loving, caring mother Cathy never had. Yet I get the impression we're supposed to feel she's evil for keeping the glorious lovers apart, even after Eamon brutally assaulted Desrae just "cause". Cathy even turns against Desrae when she finds out.
In other words, it's an entertaining. glitzy (though not especially gritty) soap opera, with some stylized, somewhat gratuitous violence thrown in for good measure.
And much like Wuthering Heights, I'm never sure WHY I'm so meant to root for such an unlikable, entitled pair (okay, Cathy is fairly sympathetic, Eamon's a full on sociopath. Or why a sad childhood, meagerly sharing sparklers while their evil parents mistreat them translates to The Great Love as adults (a psychiatrist would see more arrested development than anything else).
While I get a drag club isn't the most family friendly arena in which to grow up, Desrae is truly the loving, caring mother Cathy never had. Yet I get the impression we're supposed to feel she's evil for keeping the glorious lovers apart, even after Eamon brutally assaulted Desrae just "cause". Cathy even turns against Desrae when she finds out.
In other words, it's an entertaining. glitzy (though not especially gritty) soap opera, with some stylized, somewhat gratuitous violence thrown in for good measure.