7. Listen to Your Mother - Or Not
The bond between mother and child is primal. I vividly recall the moment I realized my own mothers mortality. I shuddered a physical shifting as if my cells were hollowed, my DNA unwound. Mark Gatiss has truly taken us to a dark place with the mother-daughter dynamic in Crimson Horror. Mrs. Gillyflower is an unrepentant shrew, remorselessly sacrificing her child for her own selfish ends. She is reminiscent of an addict loving the parasite more than the daughter. Ada is merely a tool, property to be used and abused, then discarded. Adas journey from victim to survivor is perhaps the most important part of the story. As so often happens, the Doctor is the catalyst for change. It is Adas first act of rebellion, her saving of the Doctor from the reject pile, that sets her on a path to salvation. It is the Doctor who arranges the way in which Ada is finally able to hear her mothers truth. The Doctor is not the decision maker however. He peels back the curtain then stands aside. Ada chooses to fight back on her own. As Mrs. Gillyflower lies dying, she asks her child for forgiveness. Adas reply is never. Theres a popular and rubbish theory that people who were abused must forgive their abusers in order to move on with their own lives. Thats ridiculous. Forgiveness is not required. Acceptance that the abuse happened, acknowledgement that the person who was abused is not responsible for the actions of the perpetrator, and understanding that the abused person is no longer helpless within that situation is most important.