[7.0/10] I really like what All Creatures is trying to do here. For one thing, engaging with Seigfried’s regrets and trauma from his time as a soldier in The Great War is real, meaty stuff -- a far cry from the generally cozy vibe the show typically aims for. Director Brian Percival and the whole production team does a great job at making those flashbacks to 1918 Belgium look and feel different. They’re a grim contrast from the warmth of Darby, and the starkness of the place and the experiences there make Siegfried’s disturbance and remembrances in the present stronger. (It doesn’t hurt that the actor they get to play young Siegfried does a stellar job at capturing Samuel West’s energy in the role.)
I like what they’re trying to do in the present too. The notion that Siegfried is trying to save this unruly but itself traumatized horse now, because he wasn’t able to save his brother in arms from wartime who just committed suicide is a poignant storyline. The added baggage of him trying to do so for the commanding officer who ordered him to leave hundreds of horses behind because it wasn’t worth the money to ship them back, and Siegfried’s lingering resentments and blame over that, makes it that much heavier and more meaningful. Hell, I even like the idea that the now aged commanding officer isn’t some monster, but rather someone who’s grown cynical about the value of life and being humane after what he witnessed in combat. There’s layers of complexity and an exploration of real issues in that.
What frustrates me, then, are the things that generally tend to frustrate me about this show. For one, it plays all this material like a Hallmark movie (or, more accurately, an ABC Family Original Horse Girl Movie), rather than leaning into the grounded complexity of it. Everything involving Siegfried is full of writerly dialogue and exchanges that write the otherwise subtle themes on the screen. The whole thing is clouded with a layer of artificiality and melodrama that the truth at the bottom of the narrative doesn’t shine through.
More to the point, this is another instances of All Creatures taking a complicated issue with real challenges, and then boom they’re basically just solved in the last five minutes or so. Happy endings are fine. (Sad endings are fine too -- and Siegfried having to put another horse down would have a power and boldness this show doesn’t seem to possess.) But you have to earn them, rather than just have Siegfried nigh-magically his client to spare the horse a little longer with a big speech and nigh-literally ride it off into the sunset without issue.
I do appreciate some of the more complex psychology here, where Siegfried is upset about his friend’s suicide, but doesn’t have a safe outlet to express that, and so channels it into being angry at everyone from Tristan to James to even Helen. I also like that he opens up to Mrs. Hall, another sign that, despite the presence of Diana and Gerald, I feel like them as a couple is where the show is ultimately heading. That kind of openness and vulnerability and support is not natural for Siegfried with anyone else, so it’s nice to see it here. Plus, Mrs. Hall has more patience with Siegfried than anyone else, understanding better than most what it’s like to deal with this brand of anger after what we heard about her husband coming back from the war.
Despite my misgivings about the execution of the Siegfried storyline, I actually loved the James/Helen storyline in this one. There’s a strong central theme here -- as much as each member of the couple knows their own area, be it farming or veterinary medicine, and presumes to know what’s best in the other’s space, things aren’t quite as simple or straightforward as they think on either end.
For James, it means that even if testing for TB is lucrative for the vet practice and the right thing to do, he doesn’t appreciate the risk of how it will affect the farmers’ livelihoods, or the awkward position his request puts Helen’s father in. Likewise, as much as Helen rightfully points out that Tristan should carry his weight on house calls and old widows should pay their bill, the realities of the veterinary practice make that more delicate and challenging than she might think.
They both make good points, and have good opportunities to be humbled. There’s no easy answers here, and the ability to recognize what’s right and what’s practical are two different things, for both of them. There’s nice moments for everyone, from James staying steadfast and refusing to lie just because a farmer wants an insurance payment, to Helen withstanding Siegfried’s verbal attack with a stiff upper lip and an unflappable air, to Mr. Alderson giving his daughter and son in law the public boost they need when it’s a tough thing for him, to Helen warning Siegfried that he’s putting a lot on the line for this community with his TB plan.
Honestly, I like Helen so much more now that she gets to be a full-fledged character and not just a love interest. There’s a self-possessed confidence and wit about her that we didn’t get to see nearly enough of when she was mostly there to make googly eyes at or flirt with.
The only real stinker here is the Tristan storyline. What the point of him buying useless snakeoil and then realizing it’s useless is, I couldn't tell you. And the tonal whiplash of the show trying to do a devastating storyline about having lost friends of both the human and equine variety in war only to then do a wacky bit of physical comedy where Tristan is scratched up by an unruly cat is insane.
Overall, the James/Helen material shines through in this one, and the showpiece Siegfried storyline ought to do the same, but is bogged down by the show’s overly sunny, middlebrow, quick fix approach to the worthy ideas it puts into play.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-06-08T04:06:04Z
[7.0/10] I really like what All Creatures is trying to do here. For one thing, engaging with Seigfried’s regrets and trauma from his time as a soldier in The Great War is real, meaty stuff -- a far cry from the generally cozy vibe the show typically aims for. Director Brian Percival and the whole production team does a great job at making those flashbacks to 1918 Belgium look and feel different. They’re a grim contrast from the warmth of Darby, and the starkness of the place and the experiences there make Siegfried’s disturbance and remembrances in the present stronger. (It doesn’t hurt that the actor they get to play young Siegfried does a stellar job at capturing Samuel West’s energy in the role.)
I like what they’re trying to do in the present too. The notion that Siegfried is trying to save this unruly but itself traumatized horse now, because he wasn’t able to save his brother in arms from wartime who just committed suicide is a poignant storyline. The added baggage of him trying to do so for the commanding officer who ordered him to leave hundreds of horses behind because it wasn’t worth the money to ship them back, and Siegfried’s lingering resentments and blame over that, makes it that much heavier and more meaningful. Hell, I even like the idea that the now aged commanding officer isn’t some monster, but rather someone who’s grown cynical about the value of life and being humane after what he witnessed in combat. There’s layers of complexity and an exploration of real issues in that.
What frustrates me, then, are the things that generally tend to frustrate me about this show. For one, it plays all this material like a Hallmark movie (or, more accurately, an ABC Family Original Horse Girl Movie), rather than leaning into the grounded complexity of it. Everything involving Siegfried is full of writerly dialogue and exchanges that write the otherwise subtle themes on the screen. The whole thing is clouded with a layer of artificiality and melodrama that the truth at the bottom of the narrative doesn’t shine through.
More to the point, this is another instances of All Creatures taking a complicated issue with real challenges, and then boom they’re basically just solved in the last five minutes or so. Happy endings are fine. (Sad endings are fine too -- and Siegfried having to put another horse down would have a power and boldness this show doesn’t seem to possess.) But you have to earn them, rather than just have Siegfried nigh-magically his client to spare the horse a little longer with a big speech and nigh-literally ride it off into the sunset without issue.
I do appreciate some of the more complex psychology here, where Siegfried is upset about his friend’s suicide, but doesn’t have a safe outlet to express that, and so channels it into being angry at everyone from Tristan to James to even Helen. I also like that he opens up to Mrs. Hall, another sign that, despite the presence of Diana and Gerald, I feel like them as a couple is where the show is ultimately heading. That kind of openness and vulnerability and support is not natural for Siegfried with anyone else, so it’s nice to see it here. Plus, Mrs. Hall has more patience with Siegfried than anyone else, understanding better than most what it’s like to deal with this brand of anger after what we heard about her husband coming back from the war.
Despite my misgivings about the execution of the Siegfried storyline, I actually loved the James/Helen storyline in this one. There’s a strong central theme here -- as much as each member of the couple knows their own area, be it farming or veterinary medicine, and presumes to know what’s best in the other’s space, things aren’t quite as simple or straightforward as they think on either end.
For James, it means that even if testing for TB is lucrative for the vet practice and the right thing to do, he doesn’t appreciate the risk of how it will affect the farmers’ livelihoods, or the awkward position his request puts Helen’s father in. Likewise, as much as Helen rightfully points out that Tristan should carry his weight on house calls and old widows should pay their bill, the realities of the veterinary practice make that more delicate and challenging than she might think.
They both make good points, and have good opportunities to be humbled. There’s no easy answers here, and the ability to recognize what’s right and what’s practical are two different things, for both of them. There’s nice moments for everyone, from James staying steadfast and refusing to lie just because a farmer wants an insurance payment, to Helen withstanding Siegfried’s verbal attack with a stiff upper lip and an unflappable air, to Mr. Alderson giving his daughter and son in law the public boost they need when it’s a tough thing for him, to Helen warning Siegfried that he’s putting a lot on the line for this community with his TB plan.
Honestly, I like Helen so much more now that she gets to be a full-fledged character and not just a love interest. There’s a self-possessed confidence and wit about her that we didn’t get to see nearly enough of when she was mostly there to make googly eyes at or flirt with.
The only real stinker here is the Tristan storyline. What the point of him buying useless snakeoil and then realizing it’s useless is, I couldn't tell you. And the tonal whiplash of the show trying to do a devastating storyline about having lost friends of both the human and equine variety in war only to then do a wacky bit of physical comedy where Tristan is scratched up by an unruly cat is insane.
Overall, the James/Helen material shines through in this one, and the showpiece Siegfried storyline ought to do the same, but is bogged down by the show’s overly sunny, middlebrow, quick fix approach to the worthy ideas it puts into play.