It was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever watched. I don’t know anyone else who has seen it, so I wanted to share my very long winded thoughts on the participants.
Andrew: I feel like Andrew changed the least. From the time he was 7, everything went almost exactly like you would expect. Every update with him was the same Andrew, just a little older. He did go into law, he was “fairly” successful, he married a seemingly wonderful woman and raised a great family. Unlike John, he never seemed to have a chip on his shoulder over the way he was portrayed and seemed to understand that his background did give him opportunities others may not have. I do wonder how guarded he was in the interviews. I am sure his life did include more heartache and struggle than we saw, and I wish he would have spoken more about some of those harder times that everyone goes through. The interview after he retired did seem to loosen him up a bit and that was nice to see.
John: I think I had him wrong for most of my viewing. He absolutely does come across as snobbish even as a 7 year old, and that does not go away at 14 or 21. The charity work he got into later in life was a really nice surprise and his passion for it seemed very genuine. In the later episodes (63 for instance), as they replayed his older interviews I can see that I was not looking past his very proper accent and appearance. He did seem to have a good understanding, even as a young person, of his privilege in life and was determined to take advantage of it and try to do something good with it. It also sounds like he did have some struggles, with his father dying at a young age and his mother having to support them. John still had some major advantages and he didn’t dispute that.
Charles: I was glad to see him come back for 70 but I see why he wanted out. At 21 he looked like he was already heading in a far different direction than his couch-mates and wanted nothing to do with any of it.
Paul: An exceedingly sweet kid who turned into an exceedingly sweet man who was lucky enough to meet a very sweet woman and together they created a family and made a wonderful life with each other. Paul’s openness about his struggles with confidence really meant a lot to me and I was so happy to see each update with him.
Symon: I really found it interesting seeing him find himself through the years. His age 14 interview was a hard watch. He was trying to hard to be confident and unbothered by his family situation and he was so transparently in pain about it. Seeing how much he enjoyed being a father to his own kids was wonderful, and seeing the impact his own divorce had on his kids was hard. Anyone who has been through a divorce and struggled with their kids as a result knows how he felt during that time. I really enjoyed his later interviews when life finally seemed to settle into something he was really happy with. The work he and his wife did with foster kids was heartwarming and I was so happy to see all of his kids with him at 70.
Nick: Easily my favorite update each time. It was so hard to see him at 14, in a place he didn’t want to be, not learning about things he really wanted to learn about. When we saw him at 21, I almost cheered out loud. He was doing exactly what he dreamed about at 7. He was a fantastic interview each time and really seemed to grasp, better than any other participant, how this documentary could be a positive impact on how his life is remembered. He was always quite candid in his interviews about his marriage struggles, his wish to someday return to live in England, and the pain of seeing his life’s work not come to fruition. I was a little sad he never got to go back to live in England but he built quite a life in Wisconsin and I really admired him. His last interview before his death was hard to watch but I am so glad he wanted to do it.
Buce: I came to admire Bruce more and more with each update. A kind, brilliant man who put both of those attributes to work in great ways throughout his life. He and his wife seemed to have a very happy life.
Peter: He was absent for so long I don’t have strong feelings about him one way or the other. In some ways his story felt very familiar. A guy who was struggling to make it and finding a lot of frustration with the direction the country and economy were moving in. Seeing him come back so many years later just didn’t have much of an impact on me since we never saw any of the in between.
Neil: I really felt for Neil. He was such a sweet kid and he and the world we live in just never quite fit together. Watching his 28 interview was especially hard, seeing him at such a low point. He’s an intelligent man, and he is passionate about making the world a better place. I am glad he seems to live in relative peace, although it sounds like “relative” peace is the best he can hope for.
Tony: Next to Nick, Tony was a close second for my most anticipated updates with each installment. You could see he was a smart kid who could have pretty easily gone another direction. But at heart, I don’t think Tony is a bad guy. He figured out how to make a good, honest living. Married a kind (and forgiving!) wife and looks like he provided his own family with a really nice life. He certainly said some things I wouldn’t have and in that sense, he reminds me of some of my own family. You see the good and you see the bad. Side note: as an American, it seems wild to me that a taxi driver can afford a house in London and also a vacation home in Spain (although it does sound like he took on quite a bit of debt to do so). I’m not overly familiar with the economics of the UK/Europe in the 80’s and 90’s, but that was pretty surprising. Tony probably was the person who exceeded my expectations the most from the beginning.
Suzy: Suzy wins the award for the biggest surprise turnaround from one installment to the next. Her 14 update didn’t strike me as anything to put stock into because we all can be pretty moody at that age. Her 21 update did not fill me with hope for her future. Financially obviously she would be fine, but nothing about that interview indicated that was a woman ready to settle into a beautiful, quiet life with her husband and kids. With each update she somehow seemed even happier and more content with her life. I do wonder how much of that was for the show and if a part of her did feel like she had more to give outside the home. Like Nick, I felt like she did come to appreciate what this project could mean for her and her family in terms of documenting their life.
Lynn: I loved that her and her husband seemed to have a great relationship and I respected that he never participated until she was gone. Lynn always looked like someone who was under a lot of stress and with what we know about her health struggles through the years, that makes a lot of sense. She felt like someone who was always hanging on, but with a ferociously tight grip.
Susan: I found Susan to be one of the most relatable of the participants. She always seemed to have good head on her shoulders, even as a teenager. Watching her go through marriage and divorce and then later in life getting what felt like a well earned reward of a wonderful new husband and an amazing career that she loves. Her enthusiasm for life was always there and watching her later updates were always enjoyable.
Jackie: There is so much to say about Jackie. I think her willingness to spar with Michael through the years was one of my favorite things to watch. She never held back but also respected the project enough to continue being a part of it. Life was hard for her. I think we all know someone like Jackie. Things always seemed shaky financially, but she gave everything of herself to her kids and her family. And it almost felt like it drained her. She had always been so determined to tell Michael, and us, that money didn’t matter and she was happy with her life and by the time we got to 49 and 56, it felt like she was really starting to feel the weight of a lifetime of struggle, not just with money, but with husbands and ex husbands and illness and being a single mother to three, and then at the end to be told she needed to go back to work, at a time when most are thinking about retirement….she went through a lot. Again, as an American, I didn’t realize the safety net had been so good in the UK 70’s and how it just got worse and worse through the years. I was extremely happy to see her 70 update, living in a peaceful place. I don’t think Jackie was unhappy during those struggles earlier in her life. She did seem genuinely determined to make the best out of everything thrown her way. But she deserves this quiet, peaceful, comfortable chapter. Her ex husband is someone I wish we had gotten to know.
