The Grand

I must confess I shop at bargain outlets and the best kept secrets are the DVD sections. Once you weed past the hundreds over produced fitness disks, you may just come upon a little gem marked $3.99. Such was the case with The Grand, Series Two. We were disappointed not to be able to find Series One in the stack, but have made it a quest. The costumes are beautiful and the characters little vignettes of humanity both good and bad. You endear the sweet characters and loathe the ones twisting a black mustache and plotting their next evil move. The Series does not pretend to paint a pretty picture. It promises "Secrets, Betrayal, Romance, Revenge and Danger." It delivers on each of these promises! The twenties were often seen as a wild and fun time, but they were a precursor for political disaster on a worldwide scale and I believe the series captured this well.

I thoroughly enjoyed season one. I became so engrossed I actually imagined they were real people. I felt for them. I was there. The scenes were amazing: 1) the son kissing/sobbing his love who admitted her true nature; 2) the wife and the brother looking at each other while the symphony played in the last episode of season one. It was spellbinding, another world, a dream. I was jolted, rather violently out of this dream during season two. The people were replaced with characters of themselves, who talked differently, interacted differently, and in some cases looked different. Actors/Actresses who were amazing were switched for horrible versions the second season. It would have been better to have gotten rid of them in this case. The script seemed forced and the characters who you grew to know and understand were acting grossly unlike themselves. I honestly could only get through two episodes of the second season. So sad. I will tell anyone, watch the 1st Season of the Grand...and that's it.

There are two DVD box sets to the collection -- the first features eight episodes that introduce you to THE GRAND, the hotel and the owners, brothers John and Marcus Bannerman, and the hard-working staff. The second series features 10 episodes on three DVDs.

This is engaging and entertaining fare, and some of the storyline is repetitive and derivative, but the acting is very good and the sets and costumes are wonderful and convincing. There are some notable episodes that really stand out. One is on the second series and centers on Clive and his experience as deputy.

For the second series, the characters of Ruth and Stephen have been replaced with different actors who give slightly different edges to the characters (Ruth is more unstable rather than cold and stoic, and Stephen is more immature, albeit just as emotional).

There seems to be a consistent message present and that is that sheer luck can take you out of your social stratsophere, and no matter how well meaning or how hard you work, it's not bloody likely that you'll be able to successfully live in the world of another class.

This series had me hooked from the first episode. The period stuff was done well, in the English tradition, and the acting and writing were first-rate. Yes, the majority of the characters are reprehensible, but they are human, and yes, justice does prevail for them. All of the actors are good, with the magnificent Susan Hampshire a stand-out in a well-modulated performance as a Madam with a heart-of-gold. The characters change from season one to season two, but the interest never wanes. I do not understand the negative reviews that I have seen for this series, but I really enjoyed it. Further, this series had a most satisfactory conclusion which really left me feeling uplifted.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed The Grand. The other review on this page is accurate in all of it's particulars but does not capture the feeling of opulence and grandeur that the series brings to the small screen. Contrary to the other comments, one does care about the characters from the original Bannerman's to the quintessential bad guy, Marcus. The writing, though smattered with some convenient dramatic plot devices, is terrific. The single best episode, when Clive goes home to see his father, is a masterpiece of writing, with compassion for someone "different", the ultimate outsider among so many others in this cast of characters. The unexpected turn at the end is marvelous. We are watching "Duchess of Duke Street" concomitantly with "TG" and the acting is so much better and deeper, the characters so much more filled out and the story lines so much better, that there is no comparison. We highly recommend that you stick with it. You will be rewarded. Incidentally, we got this out of our public library on VHS, so look for it there.