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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Episode No. 51, “The Old Order Changeth”…
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black">As the title suggests, change is in the air. Perhaps Edwin puts it best when he explains to Freda, “We had to readjust to the war. Now we’re having to readjust to the peace.”<br>
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Edwin himself, grieving from the loss of his middle son, seems intent upon tying up the loose ends in his life. Dismissive of the past, he burns the letters that he and Jean wrote to one another. At the printing works, he struggles to adapt to his new boss,
disposing of outdated papers while handing over to Tony prospects for the future. He informs Sefton, quite bluntly, that he wishes to pay off the mortgage of the house, so he will no longer be obligated to his brother-in-law.<br>
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Meanwhile, Margaret and John are struggling to cope with serious changes in their troubled marriage. According to her, John never did return from the war, at least not the same husband she remembered from the days before he put on a uniform. For his part, John
selfishly looks elsewhere for affection, though the affair with Marjorie appears to have run its course. Suddenly confrontational, Margaret insists that she and John must have a house of their own, in order to be truly independent, for otherwise the marriage
is doomed to failure. She informs him that she alone will make a decision on the house, adding an ultimatum that he must decide about the teachers’ course by Christmas.<br>
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Freda and Ian, too, are passing through a “bad patch.” Their inability to conceive a child has strained the relationship, and well-meaning comments by others (Margaret to Freda, Edwin to Ian) only serve to make matters worse. Moreover, in an ironic twist of
fate, Doris Jackson has been admitted to Staff Nurse Ashton's hospital to give birth to a child that she does not even want.<br>
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Sefton’s world is crumbling around him, a casualty of unwise investments in the shady dealings of Trevor Howells. Exacerbating this downward spiral of his life is the fact that Helen plans to depart the household and return to Australia. Another impending change,
as yet unknown to him, is that son Tony is seeking a flat of his own.<br>
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Some random comments about “The Old Order Changeth”…<br>
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Lesley Nunnerley (Margaret) is wonderful, as always, in this episode. Of course, it certainly helps to have the brilliant dialogue of John Finch at her service! I enjoy her funny sarcasm when she tells Ian, “Just like old times” after she has discussed that
very same phrase with Freda just moments earlier in a different context.<br>
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Among the fine character actors in “A Family at War,” John Savident ranks high among my favourites. He is very natural on camera, and his subtle stage actions (clearing his throat, scratching his ear, rolling his eyes) make George Askew seem to be a real person.
Be sure to see the bittersweet, heart-breaking film <i>A Summer Story</i>, in which he plays the role of a bank clerk to unforgettable effect.<br>
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I confess to feeling a sense of gratification that the despicable Trevor Howells is said to be going bankrupt, except, of course, that he is taking Sefton down with him. In view of the crass way Howells terminated David Ashton from his employ, not to mention
his suggestive behaviour toward Sheila and his defrauding of Sefton Briggs, it seems fitting that this thoroughly unlikable swindler should suffer a bitter reversal of fortune.<br>
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How poignant is the scene when a returning soldier arrives home from overseas, and his large family of loved ones are there to greet him. This nostalgic vignette is nicely staged by director Richard Doubleday, capturing a sense of optimism that better days
lie ahead. The disillusioned John Porter, who witnesses the welcome, no doubt can see only emptiness in such a hope.<br>
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Young Paul Brett (John George) is at it again, seemingly very much in character as a mischievous lad playing with his mother’s rolling pin.<br>
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I love Marjorie's cynical remark to John: “That’s how it is for unmarried ladies of my age. We’re landing fields for unhappily married men with engine trouble.” What a great line!</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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