The Pursuit of Love, episode 2 review: a huge improvement, but Andrew Scott still steals the show
4/5
Lily James's pursuit took in two marriages and a rapid swing from capitalism to communism – but very little happiness
16 May 2021 • 10:00pm
In the club: Lily James's performance came into its own in the second episode of The Pursuit of Love
Credit: BBC
The second episode of
The Pursuit of Love (BBC One) was a big improvement on the first, mostly because Lily James is much better at being sad than being funny. As Linda Radlett – the mesmeric, exasperating star of Nancy Mitford’s tragi-comic satire of interwar English aristocracy – she displays a passionate artistic commitment to breathless, unvarying chirpiness, which deflated the otherwise excellent first hour of Emily Mortimer’s new adaptation. But her obvious fakeness became instantly less irritating when obviously fake, which it was throughout this middle episode, in which Linda wafted her way miserably through two disappointing marriages, “fritter[ing] away years of her youth with nothing whatsoever to show for them”.