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<p><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Episode No. 42, "The Fundamental Things Apply"<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"><img width="371" height="281" style="width:3.8645in;height:2.927in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D4BD2C.191B0980"></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">This episode centres entirely around the first and only wedding ceremony to be seen in the series, as Ian Mackenzie and Freda Ashton become husband and wife. (You may recall
that the wedding of Margaret and John was not shown on camera in “Lines of Battle,” and, of course, Frankie did not survive to marry his fiancée, Chrissy, in “The Lucky Ones.”) Literally every one of the fifteen scenes in “The Fundamental Things Apply” deals
with the wedding of Freda and Ian, never departing Liverpool for a look at military concerns. The two servicemen of the Ashton clan, David and Philip, are far removed from the story line, never appearing and receiving only brief mention. This approach, I think,
makes for a nicely focused script, staying on topic from beginning to end and yet with just enough tension and changes of setting to hold our interest.</span></strong><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Some random comments about “The Fundamental Things Apply”…</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The author of this episode, John Ellison, is series creator and principal writer John Finch, writing under a pseudonym.</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">An intriguing sub-plot explores the relationship between Freda and Tony Briggs. Personally, I think they would have made a smashing couple, but then there is that matter of family ties to consider. They
happen to be first cousins: Tony’s father (Sefton) and Freda’s late mother (Jean) were siblings. Would such a relationship have been construed as acceptable or scandalously improper? There is a romantic attraction from both parties, though Freda’s schoolgirl
infatuation has, over the passage of time, gradually become more repressed.</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">As this episode makes clear, Doris seems to have a fascination for American men: all of her wartime boyfriends come from across the Atlantic, as do every one of her conversational heartthrobs—Bing Crosby,
Frank Sinatra, Clark Gable, Robert Taylor. She is not a deep thinker, so it may be that she fantasises an idyllic image of America, where even nylon stockings are plentiful.</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">This is the final appearance in the series of the wonderful Joyce Heron. Mrs. Mackenzie will move away to Bournemouth, leaving the home to her son and daughter-in-law.</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Judging from a perpetual calendar that is visible in the registrar’s office, the wedding day of Ian and Freda appears to be 30 September 1944.</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Two actors with speaking lines did not receive screen credits: that good-natured man in the pub (Peter Kerrigan) who teases Freda at the bar and again as he is leaving, and then that bailiff in the registrar’s
office who announces which couple will be next in line for marriage proceedings.</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">There is a moving scene, quite honestly played by both involved, when Edwin has a fatherly talk with Freda prior to the wedding. Another very natural moment is when Freda misstates her response (“unlawful
impediment”) in the wedding vows. This could well happen in actual life, and I think it is a fine touch that adds a sense of realism to the stage action.</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Both just before and just after the wedding, the slightly tipsy John Porter is disrespectful to Sefton Briggs—and justifiably so, considering the haughty disdain with which Sefton treated John during "This
Year, Next Year," in their capacities as prospective employer and job applicant. Such continuity of character development from one episode to the next contributes much to the consistent quality of the series.</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">While humour may not be the first attribute that leaps to mind when one contemplates the wonderful drama “A Family at War,” a goodly amount of it is laced through the series, and perhaps nowhere more so
than in this particular episode:</span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">- Colin Douglas is very funny during Edwin’s speech preparations.</span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">- Freda begins to tell Ian that finally they can catch up on their sleep, only to stop in mid-sentence when she realises the wedding-night implication of such a statement.</span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">- John comes into his bedroom and glances at Doris in her slip, momentarily confusing her scantily clad figure for Margaret's.</span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">- Doris’s current American serviceman, Ricky, flees for cover past the door marked “Toilets” upon spotting two military policemen. Was he AWOL?</span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">- Those MPs, on intimate terms with the superintendent, interrupt the marriage of an American private and his expectant bride-to-be. (“Eugene!”)</span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">- At the reception, Ricky slaps Sefton on the back and declares, “Well, the weather sure turned out lousy, didn’t it, Bud?”</span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">- Shortly thereafter, Edwin asks for help with a safety pin, referring to Sefton as “Bud.”</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">We see actress Elizabeth Kelly for a second time, here portraying the superintendent in the registrar’s office. She appeared in an entirely different role, as a woman speaking with Owen and Freda in an
air-raid shelter, in “If It’s Got Your Number on It.”</span></strong><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">I continue to enjoy watching the unpredictable Paul Brett as John George Porter. He is at it again in this episode. Notice him chewing his gum in mischievous innocence as he sits upon the lap of his mother,
Margaret, at the wedding. Then watch him having fun throwing confetti at the newlyweds. I find him to be quite amusing and always in character, though I do suspect that he may have given director Baz Taylor some headaches on the set.</span></strong></span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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