Is anyone watching Indian Summers on PBS?

Watched it last night. Looks as if it might prove very interesting, but I had the hardest time understanding what was being said - is it me? my TV? Some of the characters were easily understood, but others I had no idea what they were saying. I tried googling "Indian Summers hard to understand dialogue" and there are lots of hits on it - even the BBC itself says that if the regional dialects are difficult, non-UK viewers should just watch it with close-captioning turned on.

Other Masterpiece Theater programs aren't quite this difficult (although Downton Abbey's jail scenes with Bates weren't easily understood, either).

Just curious as to how others found it.

I watched it and yes, I had to rewind a few times to hear what they were saying.

Definitely sucked me in and I will stick with it for the duration.

Not watching, but my mom's trick for BBC dramas with regional accents is to turn on the closed captioning. Have you tried that?

taping it tonight

Some of the dialog was difficult to understand. Was I the only one that thought Ralph Whelan and his sister greeted each other like ex-lovers vs. brother and sister when she first arrived?

I wasn't sure what their relationship was to one another at first and then when I realized they were brother and sister I was shocked at how they greeted each other.

There was also a scene where Ralph was ogling her I appropriately.

And, Cynthia had to basically force Madeline on him to keep him fr appearing "unsteady" (which I took to mean that she thought he was gay.)

Interesting character development, nonetheless. (I'm thinking about the movie House of Yes.)

I know nothing about this show being discussed, but in general I love closed captioning. Maybe I'm getting old, but I seem to have issues with balancing the volume so it is loud enough that I can hear all the dialog clearly yet not so loud as to be overwhelmed with explosions or loud action scenes.

spontaneous said:
I know nothing about this show being discussed, but in general I love closed captioning. Maybe I'm getting old, but I seem to have issues with balancing the volume so it is loud enough that I can hear all the dialog clearly yet not so loud as to be overwhelmed with explosions or loud action scenes.

Yes! I also have trouble hearing shows that have music in the background that overwhelms dialog.

These days, I always have the closed captioning on.

The loud background music is really hard for me, too, PeggyC.

Basically, my ears are bad enough now that I have great difficulty differentiating between two different sounds. If I'm at a party or in a restaurant, I can't hear what anyone is saying because I can't separate out one set of sounds from another. Really hard to take. And it's odd, because my good ear is nearly perfect still; the other one is almost dead. Maybe it's time for a new audiology visit. *sigh*

PeggyC said:
Basically, my ears are bad enough now that I have great difficulty differentiating between two different sounds. If I'm at a party or in a restaurant, I can't hear what anyone is saying because I can't separate out one set of sounds from another. Really hard to take. And it's odd, because my good ear is nearly perfect still; the other one is almost dead. Maybe it's time for a new audiology visit. *sigh*

My situation exactly. I was at a bar mitzvah with coworkers on Friday night, and really couldn't talk to anyone except for the person sitting directly to my left. My husband was on my right, my bad ear side... he knows that if he has anything important to say to me, he has to ask me to turn my head. I kept pestering him to "interpret" what other people were saying; sometimes he would oblige and sometimes he would just wave me away... Both of us try to use subtitles and closed captioning whenever we can.

I have hearing aids that use Bluetooth technology to transfer sound from the bad side to the ear that works. I use them for social situations and choir rehearsals and performances. They are not perfect, but they make a big big difference.

I watched the first episode of Indian Summers and liked it very much. Ralph Whelan seems to specialize in slightly inappropriate relations... A little too close to his sister, under the thumb of Cynthia, and sexually involved with a woman he seems to detest, which he was manipulated into by Cynthia. Odd boy. Very interesting relationships all over the place!

I wasn't as shocked by the brother-sister thing as some have mentioned, though. They were close as children, have lost their parents, and have not seen each other in about 20 years? It seems they are each somewhat alone in the world except for each other. Apparently her marriage is a disaster. And it's not like they French kissed each other...

Watched the second episode and am totally clueless as to the two secrets...Ralph Whelan's and his sister's. Madeline and her brother are creepy. And it seems like Cynthia, the club owner, is in charge of everything ! Very strange happenings.

I haven't watched the second episode yet, but now I know what to be on the lookout for.

Very difficult to follow.

Putting the closed-captions on helped quite a lot. One thing I would never have picked up on my own is that, when characters are speaking other languages, the captions identify them. I would not have recognized either Hindi or Urdu, and would certainly not have recognized that they were two different languages being spoken. I'm sure this ties in the the political happenings in India at this time in history and I'll be looking into the history to see what the underlying significance is. So, I'm happy with the captions being on. And I still don't know anyone's secrets, but they'll come out, I would guess.

I'm guessing the secrets are meant to stay secret for now. We know Alice's husband had an affair, and she ran away with the baby. I also wonder why Cynthia has such a strong interest in setting Ralph up with Madeline , who she says "will do." Will do for what?

PeggyC said:
I'm guessing the secrets are meant to stay secret for now. We know Alice's husband had an affair, and she ran away with the baby. I also wonder why Cynthia has such a strong interest in setting Ralph up with Madeline , who she says "will do." Will do for what?

It seems that Ralph and Madeline have had (and still have) a relationship, judging from the scene in the last episode where Madeline gets into the bathtub with Ralph.

Didn't Cynthia arrange for Madeline to be waiting in a room that she then lured Ralph to and locked them in together, where they subsequently had, um, relations?? It seems Madeline is trying very hard to get Ralph to marry her, with lots of help from Cynthia. But WHY is still a question I have no answer to. And Ralph seems quite uninterested in Madeline, except for occasional sex.

Probably all this will be explained down the road. But I'm still having difficulty remembering who is who and what their relationships are with each other. Very befuddling stuff.

Who is the hateful woman who wants SO badly to know where Alice's husband is? And why can't she just STFU?

PeggyC said:
Didn't Cynthia arrange for Madeline to be waiting in a room that she then lured Ralph to and locked them in together, where they subsequently had, um, relations?? It seems Madeline is trying very hard to get Ralph to marry her, with lots of help from Cynthia. But WHY is still a question I have no answer to. And Ralph seems quite uninterested in Madeline, except for occasional sex.
Probably all this will be explained down the road. But I'm still having difficulty remembering who is who and what their relationships are with each other. Very befuddling stuff.
Who is the hateful woman who wants SO badly to know where Alice's husband is? And why can't she just STFU?

While Cynthia and her late husband owned and ran the Shimla
club she is still always looking for ways to increase her sphere of influence.
Having Ralph hookup with Madeline and possibly marry her would be great for her, especially when
she mentions to him that she has heard rumors that Ralph is next in line for
the Viceroy position. But the only thing holding him back is his bachelorhood.
Madeline would make a good match, since she also comes from money, Cynthia
mentions that her brother and her are heirs to a steel fortune. Cynthia has
also known Ralph and his sister when they were kids and mentions that his family
has held positions in India since the Mughals.

She mentions the rumors when Ralph confronts Cynthia about the hookup. He has his doubts cause he isn't sure how long the British Raj will stay in power for.

Tried it. The dialogue was not the problem, it just seemed boring.

I've been enjoying it- definitely slow but I love the scenery and the atmosphere. And it's a period of history I sadly know very little about. It makes me want to reread Passage to India!

@peggyC- the annoying women who keeps bothering Alice is Sarah, the minister's wife. She is kind of a sad character. She is absolutely annoying, but seems alone and friendless in a place she doesn't want to be, with a husband who is clearly in love with someone else.

Agree that the relationships are interesting. Cynthia seems like a mother-figure to Ralph, but then he also seems to kind of hate her a lot of the time. I think Ralph knew the man who shot him. He seems to be covering up something by making everyone investigating think there was political motivation, but I think it's personal. Also not sure how he feels about Madeline, who seems to just be draped over furniture and lazing about all the time.

"Draped over the furniture" is the perfect description for Madeline! Of course, I can't see her as anything other than the witch Geilis From "Outlander," so that's a problem.

Ralph absolutely knew the man who tried to kill him... And rather intimately, I think. I'm surprised that both Alice and Aafrin went against their consciences and lied to support Ralph's bogus claim that there was a political motivation. I get why Aafrin did... He wants the career trajectory to keep going and needed to get his sister out of jail. But why Alice? Is she afraid to find out what's really going on with her brother?

I feel sorry for Sarah at the same time I want to kick her and tell her to get a life. She could be much happier if she didn't alienate people so completely with her bitchy gossipy tendencies and shallow selfishness.

What is the deal with Adam, BTW? Ralph recognized the bangle he was wearing... Something else from the past he is trying to hide?

This show reminds me very much of both "Passage to India" and "jewel in the Crown." I guess England feels the need to rehash how badly they treated India every decade or so?

Oh, and obviously Mr. Soon is going to be tried for the murder of the drunk moron who was choking him until he had a heart attack or something. Actually, some of the bits in this show are beginning to seem a bit cliche to me. How many Indians can they falsely accuse of crimes in one week

I am guessing that Adam is Ralph's illegitimate son and the shooter was Adam's grandfather trying to take revenge

Maybe Indians being falsely accused was a way of life then. There is the belief in some psychology circles that a nation needs to work through it's guilt. I think it is a good thing that the Brits go back and look at the story over and over. It's probably the only way I learn about that time and place in history.

PetuniaBird said:
I am guessing that Adam is Ralph's illegitimate son and the shooter was Adam's grandfather trying to take revenge

Wow !

Olivia Grant, who plays Madeline, is an unreal, almost, looking woman. Those eyes. Aside from Outlander, she was Lady Adelaide in Lark Rise to Candleford.

Agree with PetuniaBird:

PetuniaBird said:
I am guessing that Adam is Ralph's illegitimate son and the shooter was Adam's grandfather trying to take revenge

The Doug/Sarah/Leena story is very depressing but I am enjoying the acting tremendously.

Why was Alice so wary of Cynthia when she was approached at the picnic?

Totally hooked.

I finally realized that Olivia Grant (Madeline) reminds me so much of Nicola Pagett, who played Elizabeth Bellamy in the original "Upstairs,Downstairs" series. They don't like similar if you look at current pictures, but if you find one of Nicola as Elizabeth, I think the eyes and forehead are very similar.

Does anyone get a gay vibe from Ralph? That's the first thing I thought of when Cynthia was pushing Madeline on him..to quench any rumors. Maybe tryst with his son is what caused him to shoot Ralph?