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Apart from the rush-to-save-the-baby scene at the airfield, the second series of Land Girls ended in a much more low-key and engaging manner than the first. While this was no real improvement on the problems I had with the first outing for the show, by about the middle of the second episode, I’d learnt to forget what I’d hoped this programme would be and embrace what it does well: sweet, soapy moments in period clothing.
That’s not to say that Land Girls always hit exactly what it was targeting every single time. There still was no real sense that that the war was actually going on, and the fact that Billy couldn’t tell Bea that he had been called up robbed the show of scenes that could have explored this event properly. While Sophie Ward is fabulous, the idea that Lady Hoxley would be attracted to someone as horrible and brash as Jack just didn’t ring true at all. Instead of giving a real insight into her suffering following the events of the first series, she was reduced to a foolish wreck at the first sign of interest from a man. I also found the way that Tucker was shoe-horned back into life in the village completely ridiculous, although Danny Webb’s performance as Tucker tried to comfort Joyce just about made up for that.
For all my gripes, though, there was much to enjoy about this second series. Finch was used much more effectively here as a sort of surrogate father to Martin, and all of the scenes involving him, Esther and Vernon worked well. The waning of Joyce’s patriotism, particularly after people universally commended her for shooting the German, and then her quiet rediscovery of it following her showdown with Tucker, was beautifully played by Becci Gemmell, who once again quietly stole many scenes from those acting around her.
In fact, I can pinpoint the exact scene that I really started to enjoy Land Girls: the scene which first placed Connie and Henry together in the second episode, because that was the part of Land Girls that completely won me over. Seline Hizli and the rather handsome Liam Garrigan positively shone in their roles: they may have been slightly clichéd, but I thoroughly believed that a young, idealistic vicar would be attracted to a young woman who, despite being a bit brash, clearly displayed values and heart that he could identify with. I’ve watched the scene in which she finds out that he’s a vicar over and over again: the horror on her face, the look of quiet amusement on his, the crumbs down his lovely shirt; it was all truly marvellous. I’d love Land Girls to get a third series that focused just on them: her with her beautiful voice and brilliant red lipstick; him with his nifty piano skills and slightly naff knitwear.
Land Girls may still be a bit of a missed opportunity: there were so few scenes in this series of them doing any real work on the land that it became almost laughable. But, if you embrace it for what it is, essentially a period daytime soap, then it offers a great deal for viewers to relish. Especially when it focused on the adorable Henry and Connie.
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