Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: The Education of a Magician Show Only
June 1, 2015 12:15 PM - Season 1, Episode 3 - Subscribe
Jonathan Strange accesses ancient and troubling magic as he fights the Napoleonic armies, while Mr Norrell battles to keep his secrets hidden, and the mysterious Gentleman enrols Sir Walter's servant Stephen to help him enchant the beguiling Arabella.
This writer can understand if one has not yet read the book; why, all of society knows of Mr Norrell's fondness for the printed word—and of his enthusiasm in acquiring and keeping safe books of, for, and about magic.
This writer can understand if one has not yet read the book; why, all of society knows of Mr Norrell's fondness for the printed word—and of his enthusiasm in acquiring and keeping safe books of, for, and about magic.
I read the book years ago, but I've forgotten a lot of it so the series feels pretty new to me. I wasn't getting what magic Childermass was perceiving either, but my girlfriend (who has read the book much more recently) said that Childermass was picking up on the magic of the Gentleman with Thistledown Hair. (That's what they call the sinister fairy guy in the book.) TGWTH freed Lady Pole from the chair she was chained to and in the book he enchants her and gives her great strength so as various people are trying to protect Norrell from being shot she's tossing them aside like rag dolls.
For some reason the makers of the show apparently decided to not make her super strong in this version, so the only hint we got of TGWTH's magic was that moment of her getting free of the chair. (It's a puzzling choice. Even if they didn't want to make her strong for some reason, they could have shown us a glimpse of TGWTH standing beside her on the street or something.)
I have been really enjoying the adaptation so far, but the ending for this episode was puzzling in a number of ways. Maybe things will be clarified a bit at the start of the next episode.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 12:54 AM on June 28, 2015
For some reason the makers of the show apparently decided to not make her super strong in this version, so the only hint we got of TGWTH's magic was that moment of her getting free of the chair. (It's a puzzling choice. Even if they didn't want to make her strong for some reason, they could have shown us a glimpse of TGWTH standing beside her on the street or something.)
I have been really enjoying the adaptation so far, but the ending for this episode was puzzling in a number of ways. Maybe things will be clarified a bit at the start of the next episode.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 12:54 AM on June 28, 2015
I'm not getting the hard-to-follow, interconnected-vignettes thing. To me the events seem to flow pretty ordinarily between cause and effect, and the different storylines going on, like is pretty typical for this kind of show. I'm not finding it hard to follow at all. It's okay if fiction doesn't tell you everything right away, you have to trust it and pay attention. If people prefer a dry recounting of facts you can read the recaps on Wikipedia instead.
Anyway my sense from watching the tv show was that Space Hair Guy wanted Norrell dead so he unloosed Lady Pole's restraints. It seemed pretty obvious to me and I never read the book. Space Hair Guy told Stephen he wanted Norrell dead but it wasn't going to be easy; his magical servant is magically freed; Childress perceives that magic is going on; and voila an unsuccessful attack on Norrell's life, because killing a magician isn't easy.
I really loved when Mrs. Strange gave Space Hair Guy the brush-off. It's like that moment in a horror movie when you're like "NOOOOO DON'T DO IT!!!!" and this time they didn't do it. I also loved Lady Pole's creative attempts to be understood. I love the sensible ladies on this show. Now we just need a scene of them having a convo that doesn't involve a man to pass the Bechdel test.
posted by bleep at 9:52 PM on June 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Anyway my sense from watching the tv show was that Space Hair Guy wanted Norrell dead so he unloosed Lady Pole's restraints. It seemed pretty obvious to me and I never read the book. Space Hair Guy told Stephen he wanted Norrell dead but it wasn't going to be easy; his magical servant is magically freed; Childress perceives that magic is going on; and voila an unsuccessful attack on Norrell's life, because killing a magician isn't easy.
I really loved when Mrs. Strange gave Space Hair Guy the brush-off. It's like that moment in a horror movie when you're like "NOOOOO DON'T DO IT!!!!" and this time they didn't do it. I also loved Lady Pole's creative attempts to be understood. I love the sensible ladies on this show. Now we just need a scene of them having a convo that doesn't involve a man to pass the Bechdel test.
posted by bleep at 9:52 PM on June 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Although it did seem like there was some ambiguity about which one he wanted dead, or maybe it was both? I don't know. I could understand if he was using magic to get her to kill Strange and instead she was intent on killing Norrell, but I guess we'll find out.
posted by bleep at 10:06 PM on June 28, 2015
posted by bleep at 10:06 PM on June 28, 2015
"I'm not getting the hard-to-follow, interconnected-vignettes thing. To me the events seem to flow pretty ordinarily between cause and effect, and the different storylines going on, like is pretty typical for this kind of show. I'm not finding it hard to follow at all. It's okay if fiction doesn't tell you everything right away, you have to trust it and pay attention. If people prefer a dry recounting of facts you can read the recaps on Wikipedia instead."
At no point and in no way did I ever say that the show was hard-to-follow or that I needed explanations "right away". My criticism is that the narrative is disjointed because it is basically a "dry recounting of facts" -- they've excised all the interconnecting stuff and left only the essential, bare-bones stuff. It's not that it's hard to understand, it's that it's like watching a Reader's Digest version of a large novel.
With regard to Childermass and Lady Pole, I understood that The Gentleman freed her, what I didn't understand was what magic Childermass had detected downstairs. Childermass has been there on numerous occasions with Norrell, and both Lady Pole and Stephen Black have often been there or through there. Childermass was detecting a specific and recently cast bit of magic, and the show never showed us anything like this or afterward explained it. If the Gentleman magically loosened Lady Pole's restraints, that occurred upstairs and far from where Childermass was. Without the book information, that scene doesn't make sense -- either Childermass wouldn't have noticed magic, or Childermass would have always noticed magic, given that Lady Pole and Stephen Black have long been enchanted. With the book information, it does make sense because Lady Pole had been magically made extremely strong, she was under a specific and powerful spell as she'd come downstairs and left the house.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:57 PM on June 28, 2015
At no point and in no way did I ever say that the show was hard-to-follow or that I needed explanations "right away". My criticism is that the narrative is disjointed because it is basically a "dry recounting of facts" -- they've excised all the interconnecting stuff and left only the essential, bare-bones stuff. It's not that it's hard to understand, it's that it's like watching a Reader's Digest version of a large novel.
With regard to Childermass and Lady Pole, I understood that The Gentleman freed her, what I didn't understand was what magic Childermass had detected downstairs. Childermass has been there on numerous occasions with Norrell, and both Lady Pole and Stephen Black have often been there or through there. Childermass was detecting a specific and recently cast bit of magic, and the show never showed us anything like this or afterward explained it. If the Gentleman magically loosened Lady Pole's restraints, that occurred upstairs and far from where Childermass was. Without the book information, that scene doesn't make sense -- either Childermass wouldn't have noticed magic, or Childermass would have always noticed magic, given that Lady Pole and Stephen Black have long been enchanted. With the book information, it does make sense because Lady Pole had been magically made extremely strong, she was under a specific and powerful spell as she'd come downstairs and left the house.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:57 PM on June 28, 2015
I think Lady Pole is inherently magic.
One thing that really strikes me is that this shows the devastating implications of women being so powerless. The two lady characters (Lady Pole and Mrs. Strange) have neither the knowledge or power to solve their own problems, and so they are dependent on the men in the story. But the men are focused on their own problems, and don't even see that there are problems to be solved; it's like having a pet who is sick, but nobody notices until the symptoms are devastating.
posted by amtho at 11:41 AM on June 29, 2015
One thing that really strikes me is that this shows the devastating implications of women being so powerless. The two lady characters (Lady Pole and Mrs. Strange) have neither the knowledge or power to solve their own problems, and so they are dependent on the men in the story. But the men are focused on their own problems, and don't even see that there are problems to be solved; it's like having a pet who is sick, but nobody notices until the symptoms are devastating.
posted by amtho at 11:41 AM on June 29, 2015
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As a non-book reader, I feel like the narrative is still too choppy, too disconnected -- that they're moving through stuff so quickly that the connecting tissue is missing. There was a lot of time that passed over the course of this episode, and the whole war (or that part of it) was contained in it. And I think this problem with the adaptation is exacerbated by the fact that, as far as I can tell, the source material is somewhat murky and very atmospheric. Which means that it's not going to be very clear, anyway. Which is fine, if it's all still there one way or another. But this still feels to me like a lot of somewhat connected vignettes.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:47 AM on June 4, 2015 [1 favorite]