"Oh, how lovely, your coming back to spawn at the place of your birth. Just like a salmon." - Susan Hampshire as Molly MacDonald to her extremely pregnant daughter
Monarch of the Glen: Series Two DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
When Series Two of BBC Scotland's Monarch of the Glen opens, finances are still dire at sprawling Glenbogle. Former London restaurateur Archie MacDonald (Alastair Mackenzie), who returned home to Scotland at his mother's behest in series one, still struggles to save his ancestral home from its creditors. It is not an easy job. The massive estate, while stunning, is falling apart, and the family has barely enough money to keep it open, much less to stop its deterioration. And then there's his family. His mother, Molly (Susan Hampshire), is perky and sweet, but she has a tendency to place too many high stakes bets with her bookie. Even worse, she has a tendency to place too many LOSING high stakes bets with her bookie. Hector, Archie's father (Richard Briers), wants to keep the estate running, but he disagrees with his son's more commercial methods of raising funds (like opening the place to the teeming masses).
In some ways, Hector is right to doubt Archie's vision. Despite the help of his maddeningly efficient girlfriend Justine (Anna Wilson-Jones), prankish cook Lexie (Dawn Steele), stolid gamesman Golly (Alexander Morton), oddball assistant gamesman Duncan (Hamish Clark), neighbor (and sometimes MacDonald rival) Lord Kilwillie (Julian Fellowes), and childhood friend Katrina (Lorraine Pilkinton), Archie's plans have a tendency to fail. He begins renting out the estate for weddings, opens a wax museum-like tableau of early Scottish life and creates the "Glenbogle Retail Experience" (complete with Nessie Whoopie Cushions), but noting seems to pan out. Archie even hires hunky Fergal (Jason O'Mara) as the estate's new Head Ranger, a position that entails leading guests on guided hikes. Fergal - who has a tendency to skinny dip in order to become one with nature - also initiates a plan to turn part of the grounds into an aviary and preservation.
Poor Archie never seems able to follow through on these ideas because his love life always seems to get in the way. The series is not content with merely having a love triangle. Archie has no less than three women vying for his attention, and that is just the beginning of the show's romantic complications. Brittle Justine is officially Archie's girlfriend, but he pines for Katrina and is also attracted to Lexie. Katrina loves Archie, but since he is so non-committal, she begins a not-so-secret affair with Fergal. Lexie yearns for Archie, but is also attracted to Fergal (thus losing both of her crushes to Katrina). Duncan pursues Lexie in his incompetent way, but she is never willing to commit for fear that Archie could eventually be swayed.
Keep in mind that what amounts to a love hexagon plays out over only eight episodes. The series is extremely soapy - load the disc into a player and it is liable to froth over. Unfortunately, this time around the show's whimsical humor is sometimes jettisoned in favor of more soap, but the characters are so damn lovable that viewers are unlikely to mind. This is thanks in no small part to the sparkling cast. From Hampshire's radiant Molly to Briers' prickly curmudgeon Hector, Mackenzie's sympathetic Archie to Pilkington's romantic yet steely Katrina, the cast consistently imbues their characters with more verve and spirit than their writers have provided.
With its breathtaking Scottish locations and its entertaining performances, watching Series Two is like catching up with an old friend. Sure, the friend has a few more romantic problems than when you last met - problems that are much more interesting to the friend than to you - but you still cannot wait to hear the stories they tell.
The eight episodes that make up Series Two are divided onto two discs. Viewers can choose to play all episodes, or individual ones. The individual episodes menus allow access to the twelve chapters that make up that episode. The opening and closing credits are given their own chapters, allowing viewers to skip over them if they so choose.
