Spoilers! Watch it before reading on!
Land Girls starts off with strong characters, a beautiful but homely setting, and a welcome taste of history. 2 new girls arrive at the farm and meet the two sisters who have already been staying there. We see planes shooting and mentions of partners who are off fighting that remind us this time they're living in is not all happy and cheerful, and everyone is struggling in their own way. Lots of potential for a good show.
My initial complaint about this show was going to be how few episodes there were (5 a season?!) and not getting enough of it. I don't tend to like shows with too few episodes, but usually it's because they get cancelled before they've run all the way through and there's no closure. This show on the other hand, I'm not sure if it was cancelled after the 3 seasons, but the lack of episodes was already a problem because with 5 a season there's not enough time to get invested. Only one of the land girls from season 1 was in season 3. In season 1 there were 4 land girls, and they leave the show right when you start to get drawn into their stories.
Bea and her sister had lots of potential, both with each other and their relationships, so leaving the show left a hole in it that never was filled. We did get to see Bea and Billy at the farm raising their child for a little while, but with all the fighting there wasn't a chance to see them just be a normal married couple.
Nancy's love story came to an end with the death of Lawrence, but it would have been nice if she stuck around so we could see the after affects of the relationship. She was with a married man who was above her station and she held him while he died. Then just like that, they're both out of the show and she's never mentioned again, though he is brought up a few times because of his wife.
Joyce is the land girl who stays for all 3 seasons so we actually get to see her character grow. Later we get to see her struggles with a husband who came back from war and not only didn't remember her, but had been with another woman. In the end they put their pasts behind them and decide they still want to be together. This is what I like, seeing the characters overcome their struggles and find a somewhat happy ending. We had 3 seasons to see Joyce, the good and the bad, and that's why even though she started as a less prominent character, there was consistency and at the end you can't help but love her.
Connie comes into the show in the second season and causes some problems by flirting with Billie and exposing Joyce's secret, but at the end of season 3 she marries a vicar, Henry, who sees the good in her and helps the viewers see it too. She doesn't feel good enough for him, and we see her past boyfriend come back and try to manipulate her into doing some criminal things. Connie is done with that life and tries to protect the people in her life now, even sacrificing her relationship with Henry to keep him safe. She also gets the happy ending she deserved, and even though she was still causing problems for people, her heart was in the right place.
Iris was only in the show for the last season, and her role was mainly to support Frank's character who is presumed to be a bad person. She has a struggle of her own, not being able to read, but then the guy who was picking on her at a dance and stole and killed her lamb did so because of Frank. She was more of an innocent bystander. But there was one badass moment and that's when she freed Frank by going to Vernon's house and getting a confession from him. Go Iris.
Another few things cut short in the show were Bea trying to stop segregation, which ends with her inviting black soldiers to a party, but they get kicked out and it's never mentioned again. Also Bea's sister Annie cheating on her husband but then leaving to take care of her husband right after. I don't know if I missed something in her story line but it never made much sense to me.
Some good things about the show were when Mr. Finch offered to raise Esther's child with her and say it was his, or when he sold his pet pig to pay for Martin's surgery. I also liked his and Martin's schemes. Billy was a really sweet character, he had a crush on Bea from the start, wanted to defend her against the guy she was with who tricked and used her, and then asked to marry her when she was pregnant. There were problems later, for both of them, and they second guessed their decision to marry but at the end of the day they are there for each other, and have real love based on commitment.
I would have liked to see Lady Hoxley have a redemption scene, but the closest we got was two men liking her and her continuing to be cold. At the very least I wish she mourned Lawrence's death, I do think she loved him even if they had their differences.
Regardless of all these things I did enjoy the show, mainly because I'm big on historical drama and this was the first time getting to see land girls during ww2. There were lots of areas they could have improved, but the story is still good, the characters likable, and they wear overalls.
feel free to discuss with me below!