Lost in Austen: Episode 2ITV
10 September 2008
Fantasy, Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B-
This episode introduces Tom Riley as Mr. Wickham and Guy Henry (who was John Knightley in the 1996 Emma TV-movie) as Mr. Collins. Both men produce complications for the Bennets and "Miss Price," but not the ones of the original novel. Amanda dislikes both men the moment she meets them, and not just because she's read the book. However, they're both drawn to her, Collins proposing and Wickham propositioning. She reluctantly accepts Mr. Collins, hoping to get out of it somehow and trying to prevent Jane marrying Mr. C out of duty. However, after she rejects Wickham, he spreads a rumor that she's the daughter of a fishmonger. Collins breaks the engagement, which is good, but then he proposes to Jane, who accepts, which is very bad. Amanda is very angry at Mr. Darcy, who has discouraged Bingley from pursuing Jane, but mostly Amanda is mad at herself for the mess she's made. (Charlotte despairs of ever marrying and so decides to become a missionary in Africa.) I went with a slightly lower grade this time, since it felt odd for Amanda to pretty much confess to an indifferent Darcy that she's been a fan of his love story with Elizabeth for the past fourteen years. Still, I am curious to see how all this is going to be untangled, since the episode ends soon after Collins and Jane's wedding.
I watched this six years ago, and I'd give it a B--. I liked the premise, but at this point I was finding Amanda rather annoying, and deeply regretting that I couldn't see more of Gemma Arterton (whom I love) as Elizabeth. I think it would have been possible to have cast a comic actress as Amanda who could have created the same mess and yet remained funny and sympathetic, but Rooper irked me and made it implausible to me that every man in her vicinity was falling in love with her.
ReplyDeleteYes, it ended up averaging out to a B- for me. I agree that the premise was promising but it didn't live up to it. And, yes, it was very Mary Sue that everyone (even Caroline Bingley!) fell for Amanda.
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