if you have (seen) Ghosts

[kindkit]

I've started trying to watch the BBC comedy Ghosts. (Which, yes, just ended, and it was people talking about how good the finale was that got me interested. OFMD S2 has reaffirmed my sense that I'm better off fannishly with closed canons.)

Anyway, I'm most of the way through S1, but I'm finding the repeated instances of "the ghosts cause Alison to make a fool of herself in public" pretty hard to take. Does this become less of a thing as the show goes on? I really like all the characters and I want to see what happens, but my secondhand embarrassment is literally painful. (Plus, there's so much potential in the show's premise and I'm already bored of seeing it wasted on the same joke again and again.)

Please advise!

Comments

[fleetsparrow]

Not an answer, but I think that's why I've never gone back to finish it (I stopped, uh, much sooner, though not strictly speaking because of this reason).

[kindkit]

It sounds like the humiliation "humor" becomes a lot less prominent after S1, so I'm going to keep on watching for a while.

[lilacsigil]

I got through season 1 but I couldn't get past that embarrassment squick either, so I have no further data. It does continue to the end of S1 at least. Which is a pity, because I enjoyed so much about it!

[kindkit]

The replies from people who've watched the whole thing are that the squicky stuff becomes a lot less prominent after S1, though it never goes away entirely. I'll keep watching for a while and see if it declines to a level I can tolerate. (I'd rather there was none, but I'll settle for once or twice a series rather than every episode.)

[flo_nelja]

It becomes far less common, but it keeps happening from time to time. So your choice.

[kindkit]

Helpful to know, thanks!

[shewhostaples]

I'd say it peaks in the middle of season 1 and decreases steadily thereafter, though does still pop up occasionally. I have a pretty active embarrassment squick and have watched the whole thing and enjoyed most of it.

[lilysea]

I have a pretty active embarrassment squick and have watched the whole thing and enjoyed most of it

Ditto!

[kindkit]

Thanks! It's very useful to know how others have reacted.

[kindkit]

Thanks! I'm glad to know they back away from it a bit--besides my own reaction, I found the decision to go with "social embarrassment" as the main joke to be pretty weird. It does bad things to Alison's characterization, I think, and to the storytelling.

[vilakins]

I'm glad you asked as I feel the same way, still partway through S1. I shall keep going, then. Really though, she should evolve a method of dealing with the ghosts, like just not speaking to them when others are around.

[kindkit]

Not answering them, and asking them to please not interrupt her when she's talking to people who can't see/hear them? If nothing else, it's basic manners. (I'm currently in the middle of episode 5, in which the Victorian lady ghost keeps interrupting Alison--who has guests over--in order to scold her about her manners. It's not that funny and it's just kind of implausible and out of character.)

[vilakins]

Exactly! And they're all from eras in which interrupting was even ruder than today. They should use the Georgian, Victorian, or whatever manners they learned in life. Well, except for Robin (who possibly didn't have any), and the captain and Julian (who never needed any being military and arrogant respectively.

We have to use a VPN to watch and it's a pain so I haven't bothered for a while. Embarrassment humour is not for me. I've been watching a series about a man and his much better (perfect?) clone, and it was embarrassing when the original is so incompetent trying to stand in for the clone, but as neither of them is very likeable I didn't mind as much. I like Alison though.