Hold the Dream

Contrary to the feelings of some others, I wasn't taken back much by the fact that Jenny Seagrove plays the part of Paula Fairley here as well as of that of young Emma Hart in the first series; she acts both women evenly convincing. Seagrove as Emma Hart/Paula Fairley is the embodiment of a strong, willful and independent woman, smarter than all the men she works and competes with. And she adds to that an aura, as someone else here mentioned, of strange beauty. Liam Neeson as Blackie is remarkable. He can act an old man, although his young, large stature gives him away.

The beginning of hold the dream was quite confusing, nearly all the characters were introduced at once, so keeping track was rather hard. It must have been over a year or so that i have seen A Woman of Substance, which could partly explain my confusion. Still, i think a cheap 'what happened previously' block at the beginning would've hurt no one. As the film progresses, the puzzlement is lessened, although there are too many sub stories and insufficient character development. Fewer characters would've helped...