Review of William and Mary

The series William and Mary starts out quite promising. An undertaker and mid-wife find love and merge their families, in a pleasing and interesting combination, which crosses socioeconomic and racial borders. Both individually and as a couple, our two main characters are thrown into a variety of situations that highlight these differences while showing the connections between them. Julie Graham and Martin Clunes are both wonderful actors and a pleasure to watch and the writing is often touching. However, right from the start of the second season, things go terribly awry in the writing and without giving anything away, I can say that the series becomes more of a soap opera than a modern, smart drama. By the end of the series, one of our two protagonists has become such a loathsome character, that one is left with a sense of dismay at the consistency of the unkindness, which is heaped on the other character. The only rational reason in the real word for such behavior is mental illness, yet in this artificial world, nearly all is forgiven because of love. This is only cursorily referenced in two or three truncated conversations, each one cut off before friends and family are able to say to the offending character "you are acting like a jerk, wake up or you will lose the love of your life!" This viewer enjoyed Martin Clunes far more in the Reggie Perren and Doc Martin. At least in Doc Martin there is a sense from the other characters in the series that Martin's behavior is irrational and perhaps borderline Asperger's. However, I'm afraid this viewer found most of the last two seasons of William and Mary infuriatingly busy, overwrought and frustrating.