I've sat on it for long enough, it's time for me to sit and HISS about Netflix's The Irregulars and the absolute weirdness of the LACK of Victorian Mourning Customs. Is this not the content you follow me for? Rife with Spoilers, let's GO.

So there's. A whole lot. Going on with the Irregulars in general. The writing.... the dubious time period, the absolute wtfery of the Sherlock Holmes connection? (This is fine but Herlock Scholmes was too much??? Doyle Estate, I'm begging.

So, I am a sucker for any period film/show and paranormal connection and while this was shaky-looking at best, I thought I'd give it a go. What I ended up with was watching the entire thing because I was angry. For lots of reasons-- burying gays, clothing not even attempting...

But what got me??? Was that the entire premise of this show was about delayed grief-- the inability to properly mourn, the solitude of grief and being unable to say goodbye and move on. And yet? They didn't touch Victorian mourning customs. Not once. THE VICTORIANS. THESE GUYS.

If there was ever a culture that was ready to theatrically tackle death, it'd be these guys? And SOME research was done because spirit boards/spiritualism factored in as a huge part of the plot, albeit a very modern take on them as an ooky-spooky thing. (As well as Tarot???)

The two "Scare Zones" that our characters encounter are a plague pit and a massive execution site. The "monsters of the week" in the early episodes are, all to a one, people who have lost someone and are desperately trying to reach out for connection.

Which I could go into how that's the antithesis of their whole "grieving is good and necessary" bit. But I'm trying to focus here. There is a tenuous link to Sherlock Holmes/Watson here, though honestly, it's... loose at best and weirdly cruel at worst.

The point I want to make is that it's odd to insist on a show specifically about the denial of grief to be set in the Victorian era, which had many, many avenues for those who lost loved ones, at all walks of life.

It could be argued the main characters (all but one) are street kids who couldn't afford proper mourning "gear" but there would have been traditions in place, even for those who could not afford it. Collecting tears, for example. Gathering flowers-- lighting candles.

The deceased mother had a nice, well-tended grave-- though the headstone looked a bit like a concrete garden angel. We have one scene that serves as a funeral, with someone well-off, and there are no mourning nor even black armbands? For someone he loved?

Any cursory look at the Victorians even on google will bring up a TON about death culture. Heck, there are BUZZFEED articles with more awareness of how death was handled in the time period. Typically it's addressed with shock value: "Look what these creepy Victorians did!!"

But memento mori had a place and a REASON. It may feel like overkill today, but then it was a recognized step in acknowledging the dead. And comforting/being aware of the grieving. (I think that part gets forgotten about-- it was a signal to be gentle to the bereaved.)

At this point it's WILLFUL stepping over a whole aspect of grief in the time period it's set in. The people going through extreme lengths in this time period would have had outlets to express their grief very publicly and in a socially accepted way. Mourning was encouraged!

I found myself wishing this was set in a different time period where I wouldn't be so completely turned around by the lack of death culture. It would've been neat to see transposed to like, 1950s London, recovering from war and abound with toxic positivity/covering of death.

I'm so used to Victorian mourning customs being interpreted as creepy/scary that I braced myself for that, and found myself even angrier at its complete absence when it could have been used as a plot point/an assist?

The show made no qualms about showing death as scary/ugly (a lot of really gory/violent deaths in this one, a lot of bodies in horrible condition) but in talking about grief being something to accept, made absolutely no move to make death itself something not to fear?

I'm just!!! Y'all had such an opportunity!!! Now I'm really curious if any movie or show has actually addressed Victorian mourning customs without either going the The Others "how macabre!" route, or using it for spook factor.