How dare he care about his children, and be reasonable? It’s intolerable! How can he be properly vilified if he will go being like that?
I suppose now everyone can leap to Clarrie’s defence and say he has been horrible to her by arranging not to spend Christmas in a house he has only lived in for about three months of the past twenty years and in which he will almost certainly be expected to share space with people he doesn’t actually care for very much. Oh, and for not making sure Poppy approved before accepting Andrew’s invitation. That’s ok; evil Will can go on being vilified as before.
I bet you that Clarrie does go all hurt and manipulative at him. Eowh, Wiwwyum, what would your Grandad have wanted? (Unlimited booze and baccy, Mum, like always)
Meanwhile, how come Andrew, who could neither be bothered to pay maintenance reliably not have contact with his brats for most of their on-air existence, is suddenly Mr Emotionally Literate? (yeah, because plot - I do know that really)
Also, yay! for Counselling Fun-days and emotional incontinence.
I wondered about that. And how come he was taking part in these therapy-type groups himself, as opposed to just taking Mia, never mind finding them helpful. Does he consider himself bereaved too? All seemed most odd to me.
Of course Will can be declared cured of his grief now, since he’s doing the Right Thing And Talking About It.
The storywriters have so thoroughly forgotten about George that I did too. George lived with Nic, his step-mother, for many years, since he was … I dunno, about three? He is bereaved too! Doesn’t he get his Day Out?
Technically, although since he has been most of the time with his actual mother, he might not be particularly affected. Just as I doubt he particularly gives a toss one way or the other about a much younger half-sister.
To conclude- are we pro or anti Will after this episode? I liked that he got involved and even participated in the group sessions rather than calling them “namby” (strikes me as the sort of word he would use), but also agree they seem to have forgotten a child- and school hours…
I have long reckoned that Will is disliked and constantly spoken ill of simply because people don’t like his voice. He is no worse than most of the characters in Ambridge, and a great deal better than some of them – like his grandfather, father and brother, all of whom have been given an easier ride through life but have no particular merit, and all of whom can be held directly responsible for Will being suspicious of the motives of everyone around him.
I like him the less for being badgered into participating in the group sessions and ‘namby’ is precisely what that sort of steaming horsefeathers is. I don’t greatly care for Will, to put it mildly, but those around him are, as Fanta points out below, A Lot Worse. And yes, the voice. And I think some commentary over the years has been unsympathetic simply because people don’t like the idea of gamekeeping (although they seem relatively fine with the other Grundyscum game-poaching)…