Post by snacky on Apr 15, 2014 8:54:48 GMT
I'm pretty sure they did in Season 2 and 3.
However, I've puzzled over how diffident William seemed about spending the night with Julia in Season 6 (Murdoch Au Naturel). After all, he wasn't taken back by Julia bringing up prophylactics in The Green Muse, and it's not like Julia is an innocent virgin after an abortion and a year of marriage. There was a suggestion that both William and Julia were worried about reputation - but their reputation would already be damaged once they both signed the ledger at the hotel: why not get the benefit as well?
The first time I watched the Queens Hotel scene, I thought the writers might be trying to recapture the spirit of the Jennings books, where William was a virgin who (though he eventually got lucky with Enid) thought he was going to wait for marriage. No one could actually prove William and Julia got it on when they began courting (though it would be really sad if both of them threw away their entire youths waiting). And William certainly looked nervous enough outside the hotel.
But this didn't seem right either: there was an implied relationship with Eddy(sp?), the Madame of the Music Academy, and when William was bereft of his personality trappings in The Murdoch Identity, it looked like he intended to go all the way with Anna (and even made a joke about vows of celibacy). There was a suggestion he slept with Anna again in A Walk on the Wild Side. There's definitely another William when he takes off his hat. He waits for women to make the first move, but he's pretty uninhibited after that.
Tonight I finally figured it out. And sadly, William and Julia probably did play dominoes all night at the Queens Hotel (no, I don't mean strip dominoes).
If William slept with Julia while she was still married it would be adultery. If he gets all queasy over the thought of marrying a divorced woman, he's not about to break one of the Ten Commandments or incite Julia to do so. Earlier in the episode William points out that they had not committed adultery yet, so he was thinking in those terms.
This also means he couldn't consider sleeping with Julia until after Darcy was dead. In Murdoch Ahoy we find that William hasn't even seen Julia for a couple months after that. Who knows how soon they got their groove back after that, but I'm pretty sure William wasn't stopping at the door when he escorted Julia home after the Sherlock episode.
I'm wondering if the writers thought that the adultery issue would be obvious to everyone. I appreciate how MM doesn't shove William's religion down everyone's throats. Scenes that deal with religion often seem artificial to me. For people who were raised in a secular environment, it's hard to imagine a person of true faith. William's quibbles about marrying a divorced woman - the woman he's loved for years and already lost once(!) - just seemed fake. But then I can't even remember the Ten Commandments: I had to look them up to verify adultery was there (Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery is number 7).
When it comes to William's religious qualms, I think the writers do need to drop a few more hints. Adultery was a great obstacle!!! But I, for one, didn't get it.
I'm glad I finally figured it out, though. The adultery issue sheds a bit more light on the whole season's arguments and tensions.
However, I've puzzled over how diffident William seemed about spending the night with Julia in Season 6 (Murdoch Au Naturel). After all, he wasn't taken back by Julia bringing up prophylactics in The Green Muse, and it's not like Julia is an innocent virgin after an abortion and a year of marriage. There was a suggestion that both William and Julia were worried about reputation - but their reputation would already be damaged once they both signed the ledger at the hotel: why not get the benefit as well?
The first time I watched the Queens Hotel scene, I thought the writers might be trying to recapture the spirit of the Jennings books, where William was a virgin who (though he eventually got lucky with Enid) thought he was going to wait for marriage. No one could actually prove William and Julia got it on when they began courting (though it would be really sad if both of them threw away their entire youths waiting). And William certainly looked nervous enough outside the hotel.
But this didn't seem right either: there was an implied relationship with Eddy(sp?), the Madame of the Music Academy, and when William was bereft of his personality trappings in The Murdoch Identity, it looked like he intended to go all the way with Anna (and even made a joke about vows of celibacy). There was a suggestion he slept with Anna again in A Walk on the Wild Side. There's definitely another William when he takes off his hat. He waits for women to make the first move, but he's pretty uninhibited after that.
Tonight I finally figured it out. And sadly, William and Julia probably did play dominoes all night at the Queens Hotel (no, I don't mean strip dominoes).
If William slept with Julia while she was still married it would be adultery. If he gets all queasy over the thought of marrying a divorced woman, he's not about to break one of the Ten Commandments or incite Julia to do so. Earlier in the episode William points out that they had not committed adultery yet, so he was thinking in those terms.
This also means he couldn't consider sleeping with Julia until after Darcy was dead. In Murdoch Ahoy we find that William hasn't even seen Julia for a couple months after that. Who knows how soon they got their groove back after that, but I'm pretty sure William wasn't stopping at the door when he escorted Julia home after the Sherlock episode.
I'm wondering if the writers thought that the adultery issue would be obvious to everyone. I appreciate how MM doesn't shove William's religion down everyone's throats. Scenes that deal with religion often seem artificial to me. For people who were raised in a secular environment, it's hard to imagine a person of true faith. William's quibbles about marrying a divorced woman - the woman he's loved for years and already lost once(!) - just seemed fake. But then I can't even remember the Ten Commandments: I had to look them up to verify adultery was there (Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery is number 7).
When it comes to William's religious qualms, I think the writers do need to drop a few more hints. Adultery was a great obstacle!!! But I, for one, didn't get it.
I'm glad I finally figured it out, though. The adultery issue sheds a bit more light on the whole season's arguments and tensions.
