TELEVISION: A Small Light - episode 5
Oct. 6th, 2024 02:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllA Small Light - 1.5 Scheißfeld
They threw in a (contested) flashback in this episode, in addition to the strains of Jan’s desire to do more for the Resistance, including his lack of communication with Miep, her self-imposed distancing from her family, and the seven stuck in the cramped flat having to contend with air raids too. Anne was especially vibrant, charismatic and young as she fell for Peter (their interactions were never shown, instead they were usually related by Anne to Miep. The young actress playing her is fabulous, and doing the part justice.)
I was a bit narked with Jan, because while I could understand his desire to do all that he could, enhanced by seeing some very young Nazi soldiers humiliating two older Jewish men he held in high respect, it came from a very masculine drive that I couldn’t empathise with. I thought that the Resistance leader was making an excellent strategic point. Jan had already done enough by gathering the intel required on their target, taking part in the explosion would probably mean death or capture (and quite likely then death.) He had a wife (and a wife who was responsible for keeping seven souls alive!)
That wife was feeling increasingly distanced from him, as he wasn’t with her on the night of their anniversary! Their Jewish landlady had been persuaded it was time for her to leave Amsterdam and try to hide somewhere in the country had given the couple the hope of having the flat to themselves. But it was ruined because her host had a son who’d got into trouble with the local Nazis and might do better in Amsterdam… All the while, Miep was involved in Anne’s teen love story, as Anne’s mother wanted her to dampen Anne’s ardour (difficult.)
The flashback was of Miep and Jan’s wedding day – a civil ceremony held at the place that would be the Resistance’s target, because it held records of where the Netherlands’ Jews lived. Anne remembered it as extremely romantic. When she was very angry with Jan, Miep revealed that it hadn’t been all that romantic for her. She’d had to force Jan to marry her (he was planning to propose, but saving up for a ring and trying to think where), because the Nazis had invaded and decided to send her back to Austria. Mr Frank had been the one to point out that if she married Jan, she could stay, but there was an issue with her passport. Miep painted the wedding in the most unromantic light, and Mrs Frank had to take her in hand for being quite so brutal to the girl, when it was clear it was a marriage of loving convenience, whatever the strains.
Kaz finally realised that Jan was working with the Resistance (and the ease by which he figured this out and knew more than Miep was a bit terrifying. It would just take one person blabbing to the Nazis…) She demanded that if Jan loved her, he wouldn’t go on this mission. But he left the house, and she flew to the hideout, until they all heard the explosion. She rather stupidly went to the site of the explosion (emotionally it made sense, but so stupid) and saw some of the Resistance being rounded up. Then nothing.
Miep had to go on with her life, pretending everything was fine (nobody was buying it) until Kaz dragged her back to the gay/Resistance bar. Nobody would talk, until one woman came in to let everyone there know the who had been arrested. It seemed as if the leader would be condemned to death, but his message was that this showed that homosexuals weren’t cowards (making clear why he’d sympathised with Jan wanting to be in on the job.) Jan’s name had not been mentioned, and Miep was still miserably in limbo, except when she returned to the office there was a note on her desk and one word – the German for the field covered in manure where she’d proposed to Jan. There she found him, learned he hadn’t gone on the mission, and maybe didn’t hold it against her (but had very complicated feelings about having listened to her) but thought it too dangerous for him to be in the city.
Miep came back to apologise to Anne, give her one of her dresses and a pair of shoes that had caught her eye, in acknowledgement that the girl was growing up, and deserved hope. (Of course, the viewers know that truth will never be realised.) Well plotted, but I was urging all the adults to stop being so emotional and do the smart things to survive and keep the fight going. Easy enough to do from a sofa!
They threw in a (contested) flashback in this episode, in addition to the strains of Jan’s desire to do more for the Resistance, including his lack of communication with Miep, her self-imposed distancing from her family, and the seven stuck in the cramped flat having to contend with air raids too. Anne was especially vibrant, charismatic and young as she fell for Peter (their interactions were never shown, instead they were usually related by Anne to Miep. The young actress playing her is fabulous, and doing the part justice.)
I was a bit narked with Jan, because while I could understand his desire to do all that he could, enhanced by seeing some very young Nazi soldiers humiliating two older Jewish men he held in high respect, it came from a very masculine drive that I couldn’t empathise with. I thought that the Resistance leader was making an excellent strategic point. Jan had already done enough by gathering the intel required on their target, taking part in the explosion would probably mean death or capture (and quite likely then death.) He had a wife (and a wife who was responsible for keeping seven souls alive!)
That wife was feeling increasingly distanced from him, as he wasn’t with her on the night of their anniversary! Their Jewish landlady had been persuaded it was time for her to leave Amsterdam and try to hide somewhere in the country had given the couple the hope of having the flat to themselves. But it was ruined because her host had a son who’d got into trouble with the local Nazis and might do better in Amsterdam… All the while, Miep was involved in Anne’s teen love story, as Anne’s mother wanted her to dampen Anne’s ardour (difficult.)
The flashback was of Miep and Jan’s wedding day – a civil ceremony held at the place that would be the Resistance’s target, because it held records of where the Netherlands’ Jews lived. Anne remembered it as extremely romantic. When she was very angry with Jan, Miep revealed that it hadn’t been all that romantic for her. She’d had to force Jan to marry her (he was planning to propose, but saving up for a ring and trying to think where), because the Nazis had invaded and decided to send her back to Austria. Mr Frank had been the one to point out that if she married Jan, she could stay, but there was an issue with her passport. Miep painted the wedding in the most unromantic light, and Mrs Frank had to take her in hand for being quite so brutal to the girl, when it was clear it was a marriage of loving convenience, whatever the strains.
Kaz finally realised that Jan was working with the Resistance (and the ease by which he figured this out and knew more than Miep was a bit terrifying. It would just take one person blabbing to the Nazis…) She demanded that if Jan loved her, he wouldn’t go on this mission. But he left the house, and she flew to the hideout, until they all heard the explosion. She rather stupidly went to the site of the explosion (emotionally it made sense, but so stupid) and saw some of the Resistance being rounded up. Then nothing.
Miep had to go on with her life, pretending everything was fine (nobody was buying it) until Kaz dragged her back to the gay/Resistance bar. Nobody would talk, until one woman came in to let everyone there know the who had been arrested. It seemed as if the leader would be condemned to death, but his message was that this showed that homosexuals weren’t cowards (making clear why he’d sympathised with Jan wanting to be in on the job.) Jan’s name had not been mentioned, and Miep was still miserably in limbo, except when she returned to the office there was a note on her desk and one word – the German for the field covered in manure where she’d proposed to Jan. There she found him, learned he hadn’t gone on the mission, and maybe didn’t hold it against her (but had very complicated feelings about having listened to her) but thought it too dangerous for him to be in the city.
Miep came back to apologise to Anne, give her one of her dresses and a pair of shoes that had caught her eye, in acknowledgement that the girl was growing up, and deserved hope. (Of course, the viewers know that truth will never be realised.) Well plotted, but I was urging all the adults to stop being so emotional and do the smart things to survive and keep the fight going. Easy enough to do from a sofa!
