So, there we are, first episode of the 2014 series (series 11.) While perhaps it wasn't the ground-breaking episode a season opener deserves, it was still a fairly interesting episode. It started off kind of slowly, with tales of Irish agricultural workers (not that there's anything wrong with that but I think perhaps a touch too much time was devoted to it,) and then picked up when Julie learned of her ancestors' association with the Land League.
The Land League, seen in their day as radicals, was an association of tenant farmers who wanted fairer rents and better tenancy agreements from the landowners, particularly at a time when they barely had enough money to feed their children. So radical was this seen to be (it is, after all, a very early form of socialism when you think about it,) that Julie's ancestor, Anthony Clarke, had to flee the country to avoid arrest. When Anthony returned to Ireland, he was arrested for another reason - seemingly unjustly.
Another side of Julie's family, the O'Brien's, were also involved in the Land League; Maria O'Brien was part of the Women's Land League - supposedly a charitable organisation, this was a cover that allowed them to take part in politics and continue the work that the men's part of the Land League could not then continue. Maria's maiden name was Buchanan, and it turned out that her father was on a very different side of the debate - that which took over the land of evicted tenants. It was really interesting to see Julie try to work out in her head whether Cummins Buchanan was justified in his actions or not. Overall, a slow and steady start to the series - and hopefully with more enjoyable episodes to follow.
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