#TheNerdyUnhealthyBrit talks Titanic

[thenerdyunhealthybrit]

So......I saw a bunch of reblogs of Jenna Coleman in period clothing on my dash & immediately thought @fictionxlover is at it again but then I looked properly at the post & was shocked it’s you lmao

Lol. I feel like I should explain.

So I recently got a month’s free trial of Britbox over here, and while the catalogue is lacking the stuff I wanted to watch (that’s on US Britbox), I got it regardless to watch some stuff on it and it recommended me ITV’s 2012 miniseries of Titanic, which I haven’t watched since it originally aired back in 2012.

Now all I ever really remembered from the series apart from the Titanic sinking becuase its the Titanic, was that the miniseries had a high budget, high production, Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame and high expectations which it didn’t live up to ratings and critically wise. But also all I ever remembered all these years was Jenna and Glen’s storyline as Annie and Paolo.

Like this was back when Jenna was Jenna-Louise Coleman and the only thing I had seen her in was her short stint as a student in Waterloo Road, I think that was in 2009? 2010?

So anyway, for the nostalgia for Annie and Paolo and how much I loved them in a short time, and also cause I watched a Laurence Fishburne documentary about the behind the scenes of the Titanic (which made me mad at people).

And I decided that when I was gonna watch this I wasn’t gonna get attached because I know what happens to Annie and Paolo (especially Paolo) and I’m like, I’m older now. I’m not gonna cry.

Wrong!

So 14 year old me only cried once, and that was when Spoiler! A lifeboat picks up Paolo and by the time it goes back to the other lifeboats where Annie is, she realises he’s dead and is like “We we’re gonna get married. I hope he knew that. I hope he knew I loved him”.

2021 me was getting chills in episodes 1 and 2, emotional in episode 3, which had most of the Annie/Paolo scenes so it was just the knowledge. And episode 4, I was a wreck. And this time I was crying over different storylines.

So three times I broke down in the episode.

1) When The Irish dad from Steerage manages to find his little girl (she jumped off a lifeboat onto the ship and left her mother and siblings because she’s afraid of the water and the lifeboat splitting) and he tries to open the gate to go up the stairs because he found her by a stairwell, but he can’t. So he’s like here’s what we are going to do. We are gonna sit here and hug and she’s like what about the water, and he’s like don’t worry about the water.

It was just that moment he realised that he can’t get his daughter out. Cause with him being a man, he probably thought there was a good chance he wouldn’t make it but wanted to make sure his fam did. But the realisation his daughter can’t be saved...I mean I don’t know why he couldn’t get out the way he came from but it was still sad.

2) Barnes/Watson. So they are the servants of a first class family. And Barnes has this affection for Watson, it’s like a playground pull her pigtails kind of affection. And it’s how made sure to find her and save her then gave her and letter of his appreciation. And we don’t see his body, the last we see of him is when the Titanic starts sinking and a lot we’re trying to hold on the collapsible that they wasn’t about to turn in time. But we never see him again but we get Watson reading his letter on the lifeboat where it’s revealed to contain his Will which had been witnessed by two passengers and he’s pretty much given everything to her (not much) and that there’s a small cottage for her father to live in and all he asks is that she thinks of him sometimes.

3) Then as you can guess, anytime Paolo appears and then when Annie finds Paolo and it’s too late. Also his brother Mario survives and I loved the brief relationship we see of the Sandrini brothers but Mario didn’t have a subplot, not like Paolo.

I would watch a spin-off around Annie and Paolo where a Londoner and Italian immigrate to America in the early 20th century, trying to make it big and start a new life. They were both such innocent characters, Paolo with his big dreams, wanting a better life while Annie doesn’t have dreams and is content with what she has and makes the best of a situation.

The miniseries as a whole, isn’t the best telling of the Titanic. There are too many characters and subplots going on and it’s all brief. Plus because it’s a Fellowes piece you have Class issue. Like the problem was the First Class stuff was the weakest stuff and that opened the series. The lowest class stuff (The workers, officers, the Irish family and servants of first class) was more interesting.

Also it was how Fellowes decided to tell the story. So the first three episodes tell the same days (From boarding the ship to hitting the iceberg) but from different perspectives, so the first episode focuses on the First class, the second episode is more Second Class (and a bit of steerage) then the third episode is more Steerage.

So because of this method of storytelling to try and be fresh, it kind of doesn’t work because everything is rushed. Because everyone only gets one episode with significant develop and it takes across 4-5 days and it just feels rushed whereas it could have been paced more across the 4 episodes. Like I would have liked more Annie/Paolo. And they don’t feel rushed even though they meet and Paolo proposes cause you feel like he’s an innocent, naive character, like he feels like he knows she is right for him and doesn’t want to waste time. Then Barnes/Watson they have that backstory and is more what’s between the lines with them. But then you have this romance storyline between the fictional Georgiana and the real life Harry Widener and it falls flat and feels rushed as they are sharing love declarations so quickly. While the subplot with the Steerage Irish wife being so cold to this man in Steerage then later on it’s revealed that it’s because she and him have an attraction and feelings and kiss, it feels very left field and I felt zero chemistry. Plus he turns out to be a cop killer on Wanted posters.

Like for that kind of storytelling with only 4 episodes, there are too many characters to follow. Like it would have probably been better to tell the story with every episode covering a day on the Titanic.

I will say this it did feel a bit more real rewatching that I do watching the James Cameron film in recent times. Cause the 1997 film is kinda lost in the epic romance of Jack and Kate and a lot of fictional characters. But the miniseries, I think the romance and drama is more subdued, the only one that felt a bit off for me was the serial killer and wife of an Irish fam falling in love/being attracted to each other. Like the scenes were they try to get passengers off the titanic and the political power plays, the mistakes made by the Titanic crew in dealing with the disaster as well as preparing for its maiden voyage, and the moment the ship starts to go down the water starts hitting the deck, it felt a bit more realistic and less spectacle than the Cameron film.

And I haven’t rewatched Titanic the film recently but I liked how they addressed the actions of some of the real life people like Ismay jumping on a lifeboat last minute to save himself. Molly Brown and the women taking charge of a lifeboat and turning back for more survivors, Lightoller getting passengers on the boat and trying to get women and children first, and also the mistakes made with the first boat not being full. Him being afraid boats might split. Then when the ship sank the men holding on and climbing on top the overturned collapsible. Jack Thayer and this other guy agreeing to jump and swim to a boat as soon as it starts to sink. And then the Duff-Gordon’s (I believe that’s there name) deciding not to go back to look for more survivors and bribing the sailor and all the people on their half-empty lifeboat with £5 each if they don’t go back. The only one I wasn’t big on was Harry Widener’s rushed romance with a fictional character.

Anyway I’ve gone off. I mentioned to Autymn that I started rewatching it and I think she’s never seen it or heard of it despite claiming to be a period hoe and a Jenna stan. I think after episode 2 I was telling her a bit more about my nostalgia for Annie and Paolo or Desdrini as I’m coining it now (It’s either that or Pannie or Sandmond), and how I know it’s not gonna end well. Then by episode 3 I was recapping why was going on cause she lost it at the serial killer cop killer reveal with one of the characters, and then I was wondering if their was gifs, clips or pics on Tumblr because I wanted to explain how cute they were and how pure Paolo was and how he was too innocent to die. And off I went into the rabbit hole sending them to her and also reblogging it.

Now I’ve gone down that rabbit hole, while it’s great to see Jenna thriving in British TV dramas in more leading roles now and not supporting. I can’t watch anything of Glen’s cause most of his stuff is Italian and not on Netflix etc and a lot of his TV roles are more recurring or guest roles. Not much leading etc. Who knows, maybe if the show was a bigger success, more opportunities might have come out of it.

#TheNerdyUnhealthyBrit answers #TheNerdyUnhealthyBrit talks Titanic #ITV Titanic #Titanic 2012 #Annie Desmond #Paolo Sandrini #Annie x Paolo #Desdrini #gemleilou