'The Forsytes' Women Are Trapped By Their Name
Irene is the latest Forsyte woman who deserves better.
One of the questions posed by almost every teaser and trailer promoting The Forsytes' return to PBS after two decades is, in some variation, "What is a Forsyte"? If the penultimate episode of the series' first season is anything to go by, the answer is "generally miserable," at least and especially if you're a woman.
Although the women of the Forstye family all seem to be worth about ten of the men they're married or related to, none of them feels especially in charge of their own destiny at the moment. There's Irene, lured back to London under false pretenses and lied to by the man she just married. There's Frances, also getting lied to regularly by a husband who can't bring himself to close the door on his ex or kids, no matter how many times he promises to do so.
Even June, bursting with joy at the prospect of marrying a man of her choosing, seems as though she may have let her own doom in by the front door. (If that loaded, lingering pause on the moment of Irene and Phil's introduction is anything to go by.)
