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Okay. So I have just watched through all seven episodes of the miniseries version of "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell". I haven't read the book yet, though it's planned for when next I head to the library. Have some confused and somewhat spoilery reactions under the cut?
Firstly, I liked it. I liked it rather a lot. I think I'll have to watch it again to get everything settled, but I definitely enjoyed that experience.
Some more random and specific thoughts:
- I have confused feelings about Norrell, in that I spent most of episodes two through six rather despising him (good gods man, could you be any more petty), but then episode seven happened and I felt a certain amount of fellow-feeling with him once Strange knocked him upside the head a bit. Particularly when he realises he'll have to sacrifice his books, and keeps trying to negotiate the point even though they're dying. Lets say I understand that impulse, shall we? Heh. Also he's adorable that episode, with the rain and the hugging and stuff, and I'm also aware that a lot of what he before was influenced by Lascelles. It's just confusing, because most of the time up to then he was an absolute dick, and after everything he did to Lady Pole and Strange and the knock-on effects to people around them, I don't know how to feel about it.
- On the subject of Lady Pole, her situation is an absolute nightmare to me and to be perfectly honest I was right behind her in shooting Norrell, except for the small fact that she shot Childermass instead. That was pretty much an accident, though, and he seems to have forgiven her quick enough as well, if perhaps mostly out of curiosity. She got a little ... I think maybe she could have cut Steven a little more slack towards the end as well, but given how justifiably angry she was at that point I don't blame her there either. And I love her looking after Arabella in Lost Hope, even though arguably Arabella had failed her in London. She also knew right where to verbally stab the Gentleman where it hurt, and did so even though she'd probably die for it, while refusing to stand behind anyone, and I really love that. I hope she and Arabella (and Flora) do awesome things together now.
- Segundus and Honeyfoot are adorable. Absolutely adorable. I love that Honeyfoot's the one to figure out Emma's curse, that he did it because he's a scholar and gentleman and has loved folktales since he was a child. I like them, those two. They're all brave and hopeless and surprisingly effective and adorable.
- I have a surprising amount of feelings about Steven and Vinculus in the last episodes. That was not something I expected early on, that it would go there. Steven breaks my heart in general, and has since episode three and his face when the Gentleman showed him what happened to his mother, and then when he's forced to be complicit in Vinculus death, after Vinculus being pretty much the first person since the Gentleman to offer him anything approaching real sympathy and reassurance (his relationship with Emma being complicated by a lot of anger) ... I have a truly surprising amount of feelings about it. Seeing him huddled in the cell afterwards, when everybody's turned on him, and then his expressions when Strange and Norrell pull him away from having to murder anyone else and he's just ... resigned and weary and 'what next?' and then Lascelles fucking shoots him, and good gods, can you not give the man a fucking break? Leave Steven alone for a while, alright? Just leave the man alone.
- I also have something of a suspicion that when Norrell calls out "Let us help you!" to him at the end, while a good portion of the reason he says no is to ensure that no-one else is hurt, I also get the impression a lot of it was that, so far, the 'help' of magicians in his life has gotten him enslaved, emotionally tortured and shot, and fuck that, thank you, piss off so I can murder someone by my own choice for once. I mean, no offence Norrell, but your help does have this tendency of backfiring spectacularly on people. So.
- Childermass is awesome. I mean, sneaky, trickster servant with more power than most suspect and motives that very few people have a clue about, he's kind of my type, so there's that. He's also ... I get the impression that he somewhat set everything in motion, persuading Norrell to go to London in the first place, so he's a little more complicit in horrible things than even he realises after a while. And, in a sense, he kind of karmically earned getting shot a little bit by cutting Emma's tapestry, even though he was only trying to stop the magic and he didn't know what it was. That was still one of the worst moments in the series for me, though. Don't shoot Childermass! I like Childermass! Also Steven. Stop shooting people I like!
- I liked his flashes of conscience at Norrell reading Arabella's letters, and the sense of magic around Emma Pole, and wanting to send help to Strange after Arabella's 'death', and just his flashes of common sense and decency in general. I also really, really wanted him to punch Lascelles repeatedly in the face, but I suspect everyone wanted that. Also, his comments and expressions when his 'betters' are being dipshits are always golden.
- Strange and Arabella are also adorable. Episode five is genuinely, horribly affecting, especially when Henry finally puts his foot down and kind of wakes Jonathan up to the reality of it (poor Henry). Watching Jonathan finally crumble is heartbreaking. The whole swerve in episode five sort of stunned me. Up to then it's sort of all war and politics and creeping background menace around Lady Pole and Steven, and then whoops! The Gentleman steals/'kills' Arabella, Jonathan goes spectacularly and deliberately off the deep end, and open magical war is declared in all corners. And it only sort of gets fixed, god, poor Arabella at the end of it, but I think she can and will figure out a way to pull him out if she has to. I think she's had enough to being helpless while those around her are hurt. I really do hope she and Emma and Flora decide to get shit done from here on out. Heh.
- Slightly more random, I really like Major Grant. And Wellington, oddly. He's very straight-forward, that man, and not as insensible as he sometimes looks. I like that. Major Grant though, I liked his tacit sympathy when Jonathan lost Jeremy, and his loyalty later on, and he was hilarious in London when he has to stand around awkwardly while Jonathan and Arabella basically have a domestic in front of him, and as soon as the coast is clear he goes "Thank you for a pleasant evening" and promptly legs it in as dignified as fashion as remains to him. Hee! I like him.
- Also random, the bit with the birds and mice when Jonathan was trying to go mad was absolutely gross. "At least take the fur off!" was probably not what I was supposed to be thinking, but seriously. That cannot be hygienic! You're not going to be much good to Arabella if you die of Weil's disease or the plague or some such!
- Flora, darling, you could probably use better taste in men. Following Byron up with Strange? Not the best of plans. Though all credit to you for being willing to run into a pillar of darkness just to see if you can help. Now that's steel, Greysteel. I like you. (And, also, credit to your father for also being willing to run into darkness and rescue you, pistol first if need be. And to come get you no matter who you fall in love with or what happens to you because of it, and apparently loving you no matter what. Good guy, your father).
- The magic in this show is very pretty, but I think I like the little subtle bits as much as Strange's (and Norrell's) big spectacular pieces. Childermass and Segundus, I rather like that subtle, sensing magic more, I think. I could just be biased, though, and the Rain Ships and Horse Sands were impressive.
All told, I think I need to rewatch this, and also to read the book, and I probably need to let things settle for a while. However, I definitely enjoyed it, and I think Flora, Childermass and Steven are probably my favourites, though Jonathan, Arabella, Emma, Grant, Segundus and Honeyfoot are also terribly adorable, and I've developed a surprising attachment to both Vinculus and possibly Norrell at the end there.
And that was a lot of random rambling. My apologies. Heh.
Some more random and specific thoughts:
- I have confused feelings about Norrell, in that I spent most of episodes two through six rather despising him (good gods man, could you be any more petty), but then episode seven happened and I felt a certain amount of fellow-feeling with him once Strange knocked him upside the head a bit. Particularly when he realises he'll have to sacrifice his books, and keeps trying to negotiate the point even though they're dying. Lets say I understand that impulse, shall we? Heh. Also he's adorable that episode, with the rain and the hugging and stuff, and I'm also aware that a lot of what he before was influenced by Lascelles. It's just confusing, because most of the time up to then he was an absolute dick, and after everything he did to Lady Pole and Strange and the knock-on effects to people around them, I don't know how to feel about it.
- On the subject of Lady Pole, her situation is an absolute nightmare to me and to be perfectly honest I was right behind her in shooting Norrell, except for the small fact that she shot Childermass instead. That was pretty much an accident, though, and he seems to have forgiven her quick enough as well, if perhaps mostly out of curiosity. She got a little ... I think maybe she could have cut Steven a little more slack towards the end as well, but given how justifiably angry she was at that point I don't blame her there either. And I love her looking after Arabella in Lost Hope, even though arguably Arabella had failed her in London. She also knew right where to verbally stab the Gentleman where it hurt, and did so even though she'd probably die for it, while refusing to stand behind anyone, and I really love that. I hope she and Arabella (and Flora) do awesome things together now.
- Segundus and Honeyfoot are adorable. Absolutely adorable. I love that Honeyfoot's the one to figure out Emma's curse, that he did it because he's a scholar and gentleman and has loved folktales since he was a child. I like them, those two. They're all brave and hopeless and surprisingly effective and adorable.
- I have a surprising amount of feelings about Steven and Vinculus in the last episodes. That was not something I expected early on, that it would go there. Steven breaks my heart in general, and has since episode three and his face when the Gentleman showed him what happened to his mother, and then when he's forced to be complicit in Vinculus death, after Vinculus being pretty much the first person since the Gentleman to offer him anything approaching real sympathy and reassurance (his relationship with Emma being complicated by a lot of anger) ... I have a truly surprising amount of feelings about it. Seeing him huddled in the cell afterwards, when everybody's turned on him, and then his expressions when Strange and Norrell pull him away from having to murder anyone else and he's just ... resigned and weary and 'what next?' and then Lascelles fucking shoots him, and good gods, can you not give the man a fucking break? Leave Steven alone for a while, alright? Just leave the man alone.
- I also have something of a suspicion that when Norrell calls out "Let us help you!" to him at the end, while a good portion of the reason he says no is to ensure that no-one else is hurt, I also get the impression a lot of it was that, so far, the 'help' of magicians in his life has gotten him enslaved, emotionally tortured and shot, and fuck that, thank you, piss off so I can murder someone by my own choice for once. I mean, no offence Norrell, but your help does have this tendency of backfiring spectacularly on people. So.
- Childermass is awesome. I mean, sneaky, trickster servant with more power than most suspect and motives that very few people have a clue about, he's kind of my type, so there's that. He's also ... I get the impression that he somewhat set everything in motion, persuading Norrell to go to London in the first place, so he's a little more complicit in horrible things than even he realises after a while. And, in a sense, he kind of karmically earned getting shot a little bit by cutting Emma's tapestry, even though he was only trying to stop the magic and he didn't know what it was. That was still one of the worst moments in the series for me, though. Don't shoot Childermass! I like Childermass! Also Steven. Stop shooting people I like!
- I liked his flashes of conscience at Norrell reading Arabella's letters, and the sense of magic around Emma Pole, and wanting to send help to Strange after Arabella's 'death', and just his flashes of common sense and decency in general. I also really, really wanted him to punch Lascelles repeatedly in the face, but I suspect everyone wanted that. Also, his comments and expressions when his 'betters' are being dipshits are always golden.
- Strange and Arabella are also adorable. Episode five is genuinely, horribly affecting, especially when Henry finally puts his foot down and kind of wakes Jonathan up to the reality of it (poor Henry). Watching Jonathan finally crumble is heartbreaking. The whole swerve in episode five sort of stunned me. Up to then it's sort of all war and politics and creeping background menace around Lady Pole and Steven, and then whoops! The Gentleman steals/'kills' Arabella, Jonathan goes spectacularly and deliberately off the deep end, and open magical war is declared in all corners. And it only sort of gets fixed, god, poor Arabella at the end of it, but I think she can and will figure out a way to pull him out if she has to. I think she's had enough to being helpless while those around her are hurt. I really do hope she and Emma and Flora decide to get shit done from here on out. Heh.
- Slightly more random, I really like Major Grant. And Wellington, oddly. He's very straight-forward, that man, and not as insensible as he sometimes looks. I like that. Major Grant though, I liked his tacit sympathy when Jonathan lost Jeremy, and his loyalty later on, and he was hilarious in London when he has to stand around awkwardly while Jonathan and Arabella basically have a domestic in front of him, and as soon as the coast is clear he goes "Thank you for a pleasant evening" and promptly legs it in as dignified as fashion as remains to him. Hee! I like him.
- Also random, the bit with the birds and mice when Jonathan was trying to go mad was absolutely gross. "At least take the fur off!" was probably not what I was supposed to be thinking, but seriously. That cannot be hygienic! You're not going to be much good to Arabella if you die of Weil's disease or the plague or some such!
- Flora, darling, you could probably use better taste in men. Following Byron up with Strange? Not the best of plans. Though all credit to you for being willing to run into a pillar of darkness just to see if you can help. Now that's steel, Greysteel. I like you. (And, also, credit to your father for also being willing to run into darkness and rescue you, pistol first if need be. And to come get you no matter who you fall in love with or what happens to you because of it, and apparently loving you no matter what. Good guy, your father).
- The magic in this show is very pretty, but I think I like the little subtle bits as much as Strange's (and Norrell's) big spectacular pieces. Childermass and Segundus, I rather like that subtle, sensing magic more, I think. I could just be biased, though, and the Rain Ships and Horse Sands were impressive.
All told, I think I need to rewatch this, and also to read the book, and I probably need to let things settle for a while. However, I definitely enjoyed it, and I think Flora, Childermass and Steven are probably my favourites, though Jonathan, Arabella, Emma, Grant, Segundus and Honeyfoot are also terribly adorable, and I've developed a surprising attachment to both Vinculus and possibly Norrell at the end there.
And that was a lot of random rambling. My apologies. Heh.
