It’s difficult to care enough about Paula
If a programme doesn’t do enough to connect with you; should you bother making the effort? RTE’s Paula fails to connect.
The one strength of soap operas is, over time, they build character association. Well, so a fairly in depth TV review on prime time radio surmised. At the core of the discussion? Fair City. What else? And the relentless testing of its audiences patience with the Kidnapped Katy storyline.
But the argument was, a soap opera’s audience can relate to characters and connect with them. Because time has allowed such a relationship to be built. If only those responsible for Paula had such a solid base to build from. Maybe, just maybe, we’d care a little of what becomes of them.
Conor McPherson, the Irish playwright, has created a claustrophobic story with brooding characters and dark avenues we haven’t quite explored yet. It’s limited accessibility is, it appears, to keep us guessing. The only guessing in episode one however, is when is this going to begin to grip?
The ingredients are there, but the result is a grim, sombre narrative that is difficult to engage with. Paula (Denise Gough) is a secondary-school chemistry teacher, who is loosening herself from an affair with a married colleague, when a rogue rodent in her cellar brings James (Tom Hughes) into her house, bed and life.
James, a polygamist, who’s partners live in muted, tense, co-existence along with his children and financial burdens, is shrouded in his own darkness. The visions he sees in the back of his cluttered work van of a young girl with her mouth sewn shut, is to add to the intrigue. Is McPherson bringing a touch of the paranormal that’s not shy to his work, or is this a dark expanse of James’ mind?
But ultimately, it’s hard to care. Sean McGinley, as Paula’s father, Terry, and Aoibhinn McGinnity as one part of the triumvirate of cheerless lovers, excite by their presence and then underwhelm by the lack of scope given.
If the grim opening episode is in place to create tension and lay the foundation for a dramatic narrative that is apparently picking up pace towards the end when a murder investigation is initiated, then it has failed.
Because it’s hard to connect.
Hard to follow, not overtly. Aimless? Well it certainly has that feel. But when there’s some type of attachment in place, you can forgive that. When there’s that element of trust, that promise that hanging around might well pay off, well why not persist.
But there’s nothing there. So absorbed in an effort to create atmosphere, Paula forgets that there is more than the feeling of a programme that’s relevant. What’s important is basic. It’s interest. It’s some type of connection.
If you don’t care about a character, what happens to them, regardless of its dramatic structure, is secondary. And its pretty hard to care about anyone in Paula. Well so far at least. Maybe if you hang around, the connection will develop. But what loyalty is needed to keep hanging on in the first place?
