The Hour: "Episode Four"

Love the one you’re with while you're with them

“You know, I do like your program.

But it does make the world seem unbearably real.”

-Mrs. Kish

I guess it was inevitable that we would come to this point: the sexy, sexy episode. Though The Hour is clearly indebted to, and in some cases is clearly copying, Mad Men we can all agree at this point that The Hour is not that show. It is not a show of subtly. While Mad Men interests itself in being character study and piece of historical commentary, The Hour is far more interested in the more superficial love triangles and conspiracy plots.  I don’t mean this as an insult; when done right these things can be very, very good, and The Hour has proven itself good at them. What it isn’t so good at are the things that are right in Mad Men’s wheelhouse. When this show tries to focus on characters or historical embarrassments, it’s never as good as it thinks it is. As it stands, The Hour is surprisingly better when it grabs hold of more standard story elements and uses them for all they’re worth.

And what says that better than an episode in which everybody starts having sex with everybody else (or at least trying to)? Yes, having a period drama in which everybody hooks up – and where it is implied that “the past wasn’t as sexually repressed as you think!” – is a bit of a clichéd move, and one that tends to bring down critical ire when it’s clear that shows are adding ahistorical sex scenes just to titillate, it somehow works here. Of course part of the reason it works in because it is believe that people in the 1950s would have that much sex, but it’s also because the sex – which is not done for titillation, means something here. In a show that’s about shifting, unstable alliances, in helps to have that reflected in the actions of the characters that we spend the most time with.

But let’s back up, as that was not the main drive of tonight’s episode. No, the major portion of the narrative concerned Freddie’s continued investigation into The Conspiracy, which even though it’s never gone away, certainly feels like it returned in full force tonight. We follow Ben around as he visits Kish’s home and meets with his widow, then goes on to question Lady Elms, all in the name of finding our more about that mysterious film strip he received. Yet his investigation hits a few roadblocks, as he meets up with unacceptable answers, and begins to notice that he is being followed.

It’s here where Freddie’s actions meet up once again with the production of “The Hour”, and it helps to cement all of the disparate plot point together. While the big connection here is that Freddie’s stalkers are in fact investigating the whole department to find a Soviet spy, which tells us that a.) Clarence knows far more than he lets on and b.) that someone on the news team will be revealed to be a spy before the series is out, it’s the smaller connections that I’m interested.

All of this drama that going on with Freddie allows the other stuff – the historical connection to the events at the Suez Canal and Budapest, Bel and Hector’s ongoing affair, the power plays – to play out in the background, where they can make the most impact through brevity. What’s more, Freddie’s virtual absence in the office also keeps him connected, as we see both how much “The Hour” needs Freddie and how much in over his head that he is that he is willing to abandon the work that he supposedly loves.

And of course this all swings around to Freddie once more when the crew goes out to celebrate his birthday at the end of the episode, which leads to the sexy times mentioned above, and even more shifting alliances. Bel, who’s apparently turned on by drunken men, starts making goo-goo eyes at Freddie, but quickly stops when Hector walks in. Isaac is unable to close the deal with Sissy, while Freddie settles for sex with Lix. Everything ends this next morning with everyone about where they were the night before in the professional lives, but questioning just what the hell had happened to the personal ones.

Quotes and Other Thoughts:

A mixture of good and bad news tonight. The good: The Hour has been renewed for a second season. The bad: tonight’s BBC America airing of the episode was shortened from 75 minutes to the traditional hour. Sure, there were less and shorter commercial breaks, and a few briefs sections were speeded up, but that still means that parts were cut out. I assume this means that The Hour doesn’t get great number for BBC-A, and we might not see that second season air stateside.

Poor Isaac. Not only is he stuck doing a pathetic story on the start up of a new nuclear power plant, but he is also unable to get Sissy to dance with him, and he has started smoking to fit in, and he’s not very good at it. Just say no, Isaac.

So we all agree that Sissy in the double agent, right? That’s what I thought.

The one development I didn’t agree with tonight was the depiction of Hector’s home life as dull and repressed. While I can see how this can be a way to legitimize an affair, doing so narratively after the affair has already happened seems as if the show is trying to let Hector off the hook for something that up until this point has seemed reprehensible.

“I’m not here to hurt you. I’m from the BBC.”

“Well, who needs a bumper anyway?”

“No, that’s not possible. Government regulations say you should stay up all night.”