I tried to watch this series straight through but the first season was a chore. Characters were taken to comedic extremes to where you think they are "doing a turn" and there is some comedic scenes from that. Peter Davison's Stephen Decker makes me think of Sam Lowry in Brazil, a sane man in an insane world. The first series was mostly subtle trying to bring this across, then the second season was like a sledgehammer.
Second season is when extreme Lindsay Anderson levels of surrealism start creeping in far beyond just the two nuns acting like reprobates. They added ridiculous American characters ( I hope Davies doesn't think we are all like that. Its no living Americans fault FDR did absolutely nothing to stop the Nazis for over two years after the blitz started. Though those today who idolize FDR definitely deserve to be ridiculed on this level.) to head the university. The campus becomes a gigantic metaphor for nearly every liberal cliché interpretation of 1980s Western civilization. Greed, Machiavellian jingoism and on and on. I imagine if the series were made in the early 80s during the peak of nuclear war paranoia, they'd either have a bomb go off or a reactor meltdown on campus. American universities are in the other idealogical extreme these days and students are ironically as unprepared to face life when they graduate as the students in the last episode (except they also owe over a quarter of a million in federal student loans if they were dumb enough to live on campus and try grad school after) of this series, hence the mental health crisis. It gets funnier with how hamfisted the messaging gets.
Recommended series for the comedy. It borrows A LOT (some might say too much) from Lindsay Anderson. There are plenty of 'did I just see that?' moments. Having Graham Crowdon in it was inspired casting. Both he and Barbara Flynn had roles in Britannia Hospitial. Can't be a coincidence.
Second season is when extreme Lindsay Anderson levels of surrealism start creeping in far beyond just the two nuns acting like reprobates. They added ridiculous American characters ( I hope Davies doesn't think we are all like that. Its no living Americans fault FDR did absolutely nothing to stop the Nazis for over two years after the blitz started. Though those today who idolize FDR definitely deserve to be ridiculed on this level.) to head the university. The campus becomes a gigantic metaphor for nearly every liberal cliché interpretation of 1980s Western civilization. Greed, Machiavellian jingoism and on and on. I imagine if the series were made in the early 80s during the peak of nuclear war paranoia, they'd either have a bomb go off or a reactor meltdown on campus. American universities are in the other idealogical extreme these days and students are ironically as unprepared to face life when they graduate as the students in the last episode (except they also owe over a quarter of a million in federal student loans if they were dumb enough to live on campus and try grad school after) of this series, hence the mental health crisis. It gets funnier with how hamfisted the messaging gets.
Recommended series for the comedy. It borrows A LOT (some might say too much) from Lindsay Anderson. There are plenty of 'did I just see that?' moments. Having Graham Crowdon in it was inspired casting. Both he and Barbara Flynn had roles in Britannia Hospitial. Can't be a coincidence.