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Eldorado (1992-1993)

DRW50

By DRW50
in DTS: Foreign Soaps

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Vee Grand Master

Vee

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You know we're in year 3 of a pandemic when I'm watching the first few episodes of this on a bored lark. It's definitely bizarre, but the location and several of the central characters could've worked. I know non-actors were apparently Julia Smith's idea which I understand as a concept (and it often works out for some films), but it obviously didn't play. I wonder how much was changed from Tony Holland/Jordan/etc.'s original ideas, because the structural bones of the British family, the villain and the lounge singer seems sound. The whole thing with Bunny and the young girl is grotesque.

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DRW50 Grand Master

DRW50

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Oh I need to get back in (I think I only got up to episode 3). I'd love to hear your thoughts as this goes on. Or your thoughts on the  Families episode I posted. I forgot to mention that Russell Davies was a script editor on that show (he uses a lot of the concepts he'd use on his other soaps a few years later, like Revelations and Springhill).

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dc11786 Experienced

dc11786

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The early episodes are not memorable. I watched the show last winter and can barely tell you what happened in the first three months. The plots are mostly light or lightly dramatic. With thin characterization, everything lacks the sort of gravitas needed to make anything worth engaging with long term. Bunny and Fizz seemed like they were suppose to be a more complicated relationship that neither the acting nor the writing lived up to. Fizz was a grifter whose motives we are suppose to question because she is clearly using Bunny, but she may truly have developed feelings for. Similarly, Bunny seems to have married Fizz on the brink of an emotional break of his own with his sister's death making him vulnerable, but Bunny wasn't really looking for a sexless marriage either so Bunny's own motives weren't pure. The nicest moment in the story was the start of the friendship between Fizz and Joy when they leave Los Barcos to go out on a shopping trip. Kathy Pitkin's Fizz is dumped by Julia Smith in Smith's final episodes. 

When Corinne Hollingsworth arrives in episode 42, it is an immediate turnaround. Characters start gaining more depth. Story threads start to develop over multiple episodes. Characters start interacting outside their narrow circles. Once Olive King hosts her safari night party, the show is enjoyable. Upon Hollingsworth arrival, the show starts to tell stories about characters being forced to face the past they are trying to escape. Marcus and Pilar's romance is given a bit more weight when Pilar has to deal with both a letter from Tracey talking about Marcus' baby and then later being kidnapped by the Singh brothers who are looking to avenge their father's suicide. Rosemary Webb's life in England arrives in a very real form of her son by her first husband, Stephen Law, who is determined to prove that Stanley Webb is a liar. The arrival of Natalie Jackson in Los Barcos and the impact she has on Freddie Martin's life is wonderful. Joy Slater's ex Terry Raymond coming to Los Barcos to rekindle their relationship leads to a role reversal in the relationship between Joy and Trish, which is very well done. 

The character who benefits the most from Hollingsworth arrival is Faith Kent's Olive King who goes from a one-note busybody to a more complex lonely spinister who acts as the defacto matriarch of Las Terrazas. Similarly, the mixed marrieds story with the Svendsens and the Leducs goes from paper thin to much more interesting with the development of Phillipe and Lene as individuals and the decision that Phillipe and Lene were going to get back at their spouses. 

I stopped around episode 100 and the show was still pretty strong. Alex Morris had just been introduced who seemed set to give not just Marcus and Pilar story but Trish Valentine some as well. Rosario Fernandez, who was exploring the newfound freedom that women are experiencing in Spain, has started to take college courses and found a life outside of being a wife and mother when she discovers that she is pregnant. Her pregnancy threatens her future happiness, which requires her to reflect on her own reaction to Ingrid Olson's pregnancy earlier in the year when Ingrid considered an abortion. 

If I were to restart the show, I'd probably suggest around episode 35 or so to see the final episodes of Fizz and see the dramatic change in those early Corinne Hollingsworth episodes. The Freddie/Natalie story is worth the viewing alone. 

 

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BetterForgotten Veteran

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And Hollingsworth was later brought over to EastEnders to tidy things up as well not long after Eldorado, so the BBC must have been impressed despite the poor ratings. 

ITV wasn't even trying to hide how much they wanted to kill this show from the beginning by scheduling the first hour-long Coronation Street episode directly against the premiere Eldorado episode, lol. 

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