It's A Dog's Life

Season 1, Episode 5
Nov. 4, 1984

Lynn Redgrave and horses and a beagle. Oh my!

Mmm Hmm

Jessica continues her tour of wealthy America c. 1984. What is it about horse racing that screams rich 80s? They go on a fox hunt.

In Virginia.

In 1984.

We are briefly introduced to a bunch of obnoxious rich people who I don't care about. One is named Trisha and another is called Echo. That about sums it up.

So horses. I feel that in the 80s it was shorthand to show people engaging in horse-related events. It meant they were very well off. It still might. They've done it on Mad Men.

Maybe, due to the cost, and the sort of incredibly drinks and polo aspects of it the whole world of horses just feels rich? I'm sure Mitt Romney sending his horse to the Olympics will not help change that.

Huzzah!

So then the patriarch of all those boring rich people dies in the most ridiculous way. His horse decides to jump a river or a bush or a cliff and Denton screams Tally-ho! and dies. It looks like this as it happens.

For several reasons the phrasing is odd. First...come on writers, way to make a death absolutely silly. I know this show tends to take the bite out of the violence by making with the funny but this is reaching.

Secondly, 'tally-ho' is what you yell when you see a fox or quarry. I'm assuming Denton did not see one. So is it a sly reference to HIM being the quarry? I doubt it. That is putting a lot of credit int he laps of the writers.

This is the first death that really looks like an accident. The man died because he fell from a horse. Everyone saw it. Case shut. Except not. Saving time. The horse was doped up and went crazy. Yawn.

Cut to the reading of the will. Which, because of the 80s is a video will. Denton reads his children FOR FILTH and proceeds to tell them they are terrible and get nothing. His art goes to the Smithsonian. His money...to his dog Teddy. Which delights Lynn Redgrave to no end since she hates the kids.

Lynn Redgrave is...

The only one we get to really meet is Morgana, who is psychic. Or sees ghosts. She reads tea leaves too. The only other kid we remember is Trisha, mainly because she dies next and also gets to say this line, which is the best thing on television ever:

"Electronic music. You know, tweeters, woofers, heavy metal."

Heavy metal? This is why I don't think the writers know a thing about what they are doing.

...deeply concerned. Also...holding a dog.

Lynn brings a sense of grace and calm to the proceedings. She clearly thought this was a real acting gig. Though she is pretty much only holding a dog and looking pensive the whole time.

A series of setting up the dog. He is drugged. Jailed. Sued to be declared mentally unsound. I wish I could make this up. I would guess that it's meant to be a comment of some kind about ungrateful rich kids and the whims of the very rich.

Of course people have done it in real life.

Trisha, the drunk daughter who hates music, dies in an unfortunate gate closing accident. IT WAS THE DOG! But Marcus Boswell, the family's lawyer, trained the dog to do it. He was milking the estate for money and he and Trisha drugged the horse to kill Denton. His stocks were going bad. He owed a lot to some stock broker. It is all poorly defined.

This is how I looked after this episode.

Jessica figures all of this out because of a split seam on a coat...and then uses an intercom to reveal the whole thing in a courtroom. For some reason. Again, ill-defined. Lynn is in jail, with the dog, but is freed. Which is good. And everyone goes back to their house to ride horses. The very rich dog gets to retire to a stud farm and make diddle with lots of dogs...because being rich is somehow genetic?

I just don't get any of it. Sloppy episode all around. But oddly high on the gravitas scale. Lynn's presence made Angela up her game. We get some serious FACE in the courtroom reveal.

And what can only be described as a short, half-assed Singing In The Rain homage. The episode is mainly worth watching because it makes no sense and is actually well acted. The script is probably the worst so far. Or the one that makes the least sense. But is does give us Jessica's second relative. Lynn plays a cousin of J. B. A trope that would eventually bring us dueling Lansburys.