** spoiler alert **
One of the series' very best episodes, tragic news arrives at Eaton Place for Rose. Sgt. Wilmont has been killed, Rose is inconsolable, and the entire downstairs is rocked. Hazel does her best to comfort Rose but is dealing with her grief with the news of Lt. Jack Dyson's death, which is front page news. In an incandescent scene, one grief- stricken woman does her best to calm another with the advice to seek comfort in prayer. In the meantime, a broken James returns home and does his best to explain to his wife what's happened and why he no longer believes in the unimaginable horror of this conflict. It's here that we begin to see the unhinging of James Bellamy. "The Glorious Dead" are not only the heroes who have sacrificed their lives - they are used and, even manipulated, by the living for the purpose of psychological survival. The episode is a tour de force, thematically, dramatically and, without revealing the denouement, fiercely and intensely moving. It is a bravura 50 minutes of riveting television viewing and, a searing meditation on the abject waste and nightmare of violent conflict.
One of the series' very best episodes, tragic news arrives at Eaton Place for Rose. Sgt. Wilmont has been killed, Rose is inconsolable, and the entire downstairs is rocked. Hazel does her best to comfort Rose but is dealing with her grief with the news of Lt. Jack Dyson's death, which is front page news. In an incandescent scene, one grief- stricken woman does her best to calm another with the advice to seek comfort in prayer. In the meantime, a broken James returns home and does his best to explain to his wife what's happened and why he no longer believes in the unimaginable horror of this conflict. It's here that we begin to see the unhinging of James Bellamy. "The Glorious Dead" are not only the heroes who have sacrificed their lives - they are used and, even manipulated, by the living for the purpose of psychological survival. The episode is a tour de force, thematically, dramatically and, without revealing the denouement, fiercely and intensely moving. It is a bravura 50 minutes of riveting television viewing and, a searing meditation on the abject waste and nightmare of violent conflict.
