“The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard” Ending Revealed
Sorry about posting so late! That’s what you get when you go on vacation and your mind turns to mush.
So after diving into the “Masterpiece Theatre” miniseries “The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard,” about the middle-class mum who becomes Prime Minister, I think we all agree that it ended too abruptly.
Ros Pritchard won the election through charm and honesty, and very little political knowledge. Her downfall wasn’t anything she did, but her husband’s pilfering of company funds after getting blackmailed. Ros was blissfully unaware of her husband’s deceit, and when it came to light, she was forced into a moral dilemma.
Although writer wanted to end the series with that little “what do you think she did?” note, viewers wanted closure.
So, when it aired in Canada, a text epilogue was added. It’s also on the DVD, which was recently released. PBS, however, chose not to include the epilogue. So here it is:
Ros Pritchard moved back to Eatanswill with her family. She felt she’d made her point. And history.
Ian Pritchard’s indiscretion fifteen years ago never became public knowledge.
Catherine Walker took over as leader of the Purple Alliance and Prime Minister of Great Britain. She never married.
jane wilson said,
November 19, 2007 at 7:04 pm
I watched the ending a second time on our alternate PBS station and still hadn’t a clue. Ian was such a pathetic excuse for a husband, she should have divorced him, but she’d still be faced with corruption in the IT contract.
Gunther Steinberg said,
November 19, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Writing as “The capricious Commuter”, you were musing about the proposal by Ros Pritchard for and its applications to us here. She had it right.
I suppose you are not old enough to remember the Red Car line in Los Angeles in the 1940s.
It was demolished under the very active influence of General Motors. They felt that all those people should really buy cars instead of takingthe train to the beach on the Santa Monica line. It was the era of Charlie Wilson, later a Secretary of defense, who said:” what is good for General Motors is good for the country”.
We have the auto companies to thank for the mess we are in today, because they managed to influence Washington to do everything that would further the auto business. Why do you think Eisenhower started the Interstate Highway program? – The US companies fought smaller cars in the 1974 oil crunch and started loosing out to the Japanese companies starting then, never to regain their lead. Never thinking ahead is the way they pplanned for the future.
You have read why GM pulled back and demolished all the Electric Cars they leased to many users in recent years. It was endangering their investment in building engines. “60 Minutes” had a good report on that.
The corporate- lobbying – Business Roundtable influence has brought this country to a pretty sad status. Bush and his extension of the wealth concentration at the top is only the latest version, along with Cheney and his energy policy and the Iraq war (for oil, after being welcomed with flowers as the liberators of the poor Iraqis).
Mrs. Pritchard had it right. She was a leader who would demand some sacrifice from everyone.
Unlike Bush/Cheney who never demanded anything from the people of the US during this six year war. – Just compare what the folks at home did in WW II vs. the current self-indulgence all around, with SUVs being the vehicle of choice. Then there was rationing, there was a $25,000 limit on salaries to corporate types and everyone else. And we had $1 a year men serving in the government. – We need $4.00 gas and a hefty tax to get us there.
Use the tax to run a nearly free public transport system.
Horse N. Buggy said,
November 20, 2007 at 5:33 am
I can’t believe they ending it that way. I was totally into this series. I didn’t expect her to continue as PM, but I didn’t want to see her fall in shame, either. I don’t blame Catherine for not kissing Ben in such a public venue – even if she was head over heels in love, that is just not behavior she would engage in. If she did become PM, it makes sense that she didn’t marry Ben. I mostly wanted to see Kitty fall.
The only thing that struck me as odd through the whole movie was that the party and cabinet were made up exclusively of women. As a woman, I think we are perfectly capable of doing any job. But I don’t think that either sex should dominate a particular field – you need balance.
Norman Weingart said,
November 20, 2007 at 8:08 pm
The ending was the best. It left my wife and myself wondering and discussing. American made series never end like this. We Americans like our stories to wrap up into neat little bundles. I believe the show business rule is :always leave them wanting more.
This series certainly obeyed the rule….
critterdoc said,
November 24, 2007 at 7:41 pm
American made series never end like this? Really? You obviously never watched The Sopranos, which had a similarly crap ending.
It seems to me that it takes no writing ability whatsoever to end a series like this. It does not leave most people “wanting more.” It simply makes us wonder why we invested the time in watching it in the first place.
Not a single plot was seen to conclusion. That’s not imaginative, it’s simply poor storytelling!
Sandra Jones Ireland said,
December 2, 2007 at 3:42 pm
This was the most amazing series I’ve seen in some time, and Masterpiece Theatre/PBS will have to work very hard to top it. Congrats to the BBC for producing it, and PBS for showing in on their affiliates.
The abrupt ending was not handled adeptly. It was enough to start discussions, but not enough for discussions to continue for very long. Of course it would be difficult to wade through the bureaucratic mess, but talented writers know how to edit themselves and story lines. It woiuld have been possible to have a decent, respectable ending. Are we surprised that Katherine aspired to PM? No. Are the scandals new and different? NO. Our society is riddled with scandulous behaviour and actions and decisions.. But this series was mesmerizing, until the end. And as it ended, I felt as though I had been shut out of the Board room decisions. I “voted” (figuratively speaking of course) for Mrs. PRitchard, and that meant that I had to accept her “baggage” and all. Her husband’s downfall was not hers. I think some of her colleagues were almost as, ah, shall I say unscrupulous or even sleezy in their behaviour and ethics. Loved the show. It was truly Amazing. Congrats to all the performers, all others who worked on it. Fabulous.