Tag: Lizzie Bennet Diaries

6. Saturday · Lizzie Bennett Diaries Watch-a-long · So it's Saturday

Lizzie Bennet Diaries Episodes 57-60

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Things are certainly heating up and we know what comes next…the proposal!  It will be interesting to see how they play this out as obviously the social class issues are different now for most people, even the Royals are relaxing the etiquette about who they can marry so on we go…

I had forgotten about the meeting between Elizabeth (Lizzie) and Darcy prior to the proposal, and that the next thing is should be the part where Fitz drops Darcy in it over splitting Bing and Jane up.  Sure enough Fitz turns up to help Lizzie create and awesome ‘care package’ (I have to say I love the idea of those I do something similar with one of my friends in the States if only customs were not so strict and postage was not so expensive I would send loads.) The talk turns to love and true to form he digs a hole drops Darcy straight into it and throws a few shovels of dirt into the hole on top of him.  The portrayal of the anger Lizzie feels on Jane’s behalf is well acted and the look on her face when she turns to see it is him who has knocked at the door was a classic.

I LOVED the way the proposal was dealt with the facial expressions on Lizzie as Darcy speaks and the ending, I just love it roll on the next batch of episodes!

Lizzie Bennett Diaries Watch-a-long · So it's Saturday

Lizzie Bennet Diaries Episodes 53-56

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It seems like an age since I last watched any of these but it seems incredibly unfair to have broken off half way through so if you want to back track to where we were you can find the previous review here.

Now onwards once more…

First I have to say I did miss the chance to actually see the dinner with Miss DeBurgh and Darcy, it is one of the few issues that occasionally crop up watching this, that there are some scenes you would really like to see more of than a recreation or just hearing about it.  I liked that they made Anne DeBurgh character into a lapdog it is actually probably more in keeping than for Lady Catherine to have a daughter.

I like that they bring Darcy into the work environment which is a good analogy to the social battleground which dating in the original Pride & Prejudice, they made Fitzwilliam into his friend and gay which actually would explain why in the original he never actually made any attempt to secure Elizabeth’s affections despite obviously holding her in high esteem.  ‘Fitz’ is played brilliantly and you really get the feeling that is a perfect characterisation of the character in the novel, loyal while accepting his friends faults and failings.

Why did I leave it so long to come back to this I had forgotten how much I loved this series!

 

 

6. Saturday · Lizzie Bennett Diaries Watch-a-long

Lizzie Bennet Diaries Episodes 49-52

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We left Jane preparing to go after Bing to demand an explanation and Lizzie heartbroken for her sister, lets get straight on…

Lizzie is of course right about Darcy as we all know, we now have the departure of more characters as Wickham and Jane both leave town, we really do need more characters.

Wickham shows his true colours on Twitter within hours of leaving letting Lizzie reflect on emotions and the difference between her relationships and Janes.  Charlotte calls with a well timed invitation and we know that there is the possibility we will get to meet Darcy soon, if the time line parallels the novel at this point.  I have to confess that it took only a very short time for Wickham to descend from eye candy to annoying so I am looking forward to seeing how Darcy is played.

We travel to visit Charlotte and get to see her office and also we are re-acquainted with Mr Collins who becomes increasingly smarmy with every appearance.

I love they got a name check in for Doctor Gardiner, I know they are keeping the cast down to a minimum so it is great when minor characters at least get mentioned even if they don’t appear.

We have crossed the half way point now and still no Darcy but he has to show soon, doesn’t he?

One of the things I love about this and the original novel is it makes you question the nature of relationships, with Jane and Bing they almost miss out because they fail to outwardly show their feelings, Lizzie and Darcy show feelings but they are interpreted wrongly and Wickham deliberately sets out to deceive, the thing is growing up we experience all of the emotions and actions to some extent or another, it is only with age we learn to recognise them if we are lucky.

6. Saturday · Lizzie Bennett Diaries Watch-a-long

Lizzie Bennet Diaries Episodes 45-48

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Am so excited I just lined up the episodes to view today and guess what we meet Wickham! I am so excited I can’t wait so see you on the other side….

So we finally met Wickham not this is a tough one to talk about without sounding like a cougar about to stalk prey but given the ages of the intended audience which is probably teens to mid twenties he is perfect.  Good looking, fantastic body, and those eyes! The casting is perfect for the guy who looks like an angel but we can be pretty sure will turn out to be anything but.  The given excuse for the fallout between him and Darcy however lacks credibility, in the novel there is a reason that Darcy’s father takes an interest in young Wickham but the explanation given here does not include why his father would feel the need to promise to fund education which I did feel could have done with being explained.

I am a little lost with the time-line now as Bing is back and throwing another party I assume this is actually the one from the novel where Mrs Bennet will be an embarrassment, Wickham of course stands Lizzie up rather than face Darcy.  Love that Lizzie gets relationship advice from Lydia.

We then discover Bing has done a flit and Jane learnt via a tweet he was going back to Los Angeles without saying anything.  Poor Jane is stunned but off she goes in pursuit of an answer after letting off steam and making her feelings known.  Jane does demonstrate the complex flights of emotions from denial, justification, pain, and indignation which anyone who has ever had a broken heart can recognise.

On to next week I really want to see Darcy now and we are reaching the half way point surely we have to see him soon.

 

6. Saturday · Lizzie Bennett Diaries Watch-a-long

Lizzie Bennet Diaries Episodes 41-44

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Saturday again and that can only mean one thing, Lizzie Bennet time, I really hope we meet one of the other male characters this week I know that the whole story really centres n the female characters but I am reaching a point where I want to be able to put faces to the names, the longer I wait the more I think of the TV/Film versions and am more likely to be disappointed. So see you at the other side and fingers crossed for at least one new character….

It is interesting to see how Charlotte’s character has been transformed, in the novel her character was far more pragmatic accepting Collin’s from a purely practical stand point and because of lack of options, in this she is much more of a go getting career woman and one can imagine that had Austen’s Charlotte had the option of earning an independent living Mr Collins would have remained single. Her reasons for accepting the job are still the same but she does seem to have a lot more of a choice than she would have previously.

The argument between the two over Charlotte leaving strike me as really realistic you know they will make up eventually because that’s what friends do but they are also the people who can hurt you most because they know you inside and out all your failings as well as your successes, they are also the only people who ever are willing to tell you the truth even when it hurts.

Still no sign of meeting new character although Wickham is back in time so hopefully we will see him soon, the issues between Darcy and Wickham are as yet unknown but the tension has been recreated without meeting either which demonstrates the quality of the vlogs.  Bing’s absence came as a surprise to me as I still find myself trying to impose the novel timeline onto this but we shall see how things develop next week.

6. Saturday · Lizzie Bennett Diaries Watch-a-long

Lizzie Bennet Diaries Episodes 37-40

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Another week has passed and we are back here waiting to see if Darcy puts in his first appearance except now I am nervous about whether I want him to or not.  After last week when I was convinced we would seen him and was disappointed he was a no show I started wondering what he will be like and realised something this is MY Darcy…

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I know Lizzie Bennet’s Darcy is going to be younger, and I have a horrible feeling he will look like an All-American College Golden Boy, I know I may be totally wrong but what if I’m not? Will I be able to bring myself to keep watching?  Only one way to tell on with the next four episodes and I will see you at the end….

I love the argument about the car as big sister I cannot count the rows I have had over the ‘borrowing’ of things, but I ave to say in real life I would have done physical harm to Mr Collins by this point, infuriating does not even begin to describe him  I would never condone physical violence but I am pretty sure I would have thrown something at him as he stuck it round the door.

We have the return of Wickham even if at the minute it is by text, as someone who is recently single after seventeen years I know I have a whole new dating etiquette to look forward to dealing with when I am ready to go down that road, mobile phones required a suitcase the last time I was properly single and thought doctors might carry a pager (or drug dealers) for most people the phone was the only method of contacting people, now we have texts, emails, skype, tweets and a thousand other ways of making contact but I am not sure that is always a good thing as it relies on the other people knowing you well enough to know how to read your messages.

I love the twist though that rather than a marriage proposal it is a business partnership Collins in proposing,  it would have been unrealistic in many ways to suggest he would demand marriage in a modern context without some for of relationship first though of course he could hark back to the childish proposal.

Still no Darcy and we have not yet seem Wickham am wondering if I should check out the Lydia Bennet Vlogs to see if he has appeared there but I shall behave and watch all these first. Roll on next week!

6. Saturday · Lizzie Bennett Diaries Watch-a-long

Lizzie Bennet Diaries Episodes 33-36

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I missed last week due to a combination of illness and general chaos in my life which sometimes takes over but we are back and I am hoping we might finally get to see Darcy…lets see if we do, meet you on the other side….

Poor Bing how could Jane not thank him properly for the flowers then they just up and leave without a minutes warning, its like kicking a puppy.  Lizzie is starting to see the cracks in Caroline’s behaviour and it was interesting to see Jane defending Darcy a little more vigorously than in the original, it is also fascinating to consider how the modern Lizzie reacts to Darcy’s character, although we do expect her to be eating humble pie at a later date.

We see Mr Collins put in a repeat appearance, and I think I can safely say I have met quite a few Mr Collins’s down the years.  The modern day Lizzie Bennet has far more freedom to get away from him than Elizabeth did, and this is one of the moments in this series that has really made me think about how lucky we are today that we have the freedoms we do.  We are able to have a career, support ourselves and remain independent rather than marrying for money, position or security.  Part of me thinks had I lived two hundred years ago I would have ended up either burnt at the stake or in an asylum but the chances are I would have accepted my fate having been brought up to expect nothing more from life than a dozen kids and bread on the table if you were lucky, not a pleasant thought.

Gutted we still have not met Darcy maybe next week, I keep trying to work out how the story lines tie in to one another and where he may make his first appearance the return home must surely delay it but hopefully not for long.

Fact Vs Fiction

Lizzie Bennet Diaries Episodes 29-32

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Another Saturday is here and more Lizzie Bennet awaits, I wonder if we will meet Darcy yet?  Lets see…

The whole issue of morals of discussing other people online is raised, but it is not really questioned with any real depth or insight but may possibly be an interesting blog topic at some point.  I have decided that Caroline reminds me of Cordelia from Buffy, we get to learn more about both her and her brother, he is so sweet, a little too saccharine for my taste but the perfect Bingley replacement. Lizzie and Caroline are doing well at pretending they like each other and possibly in this Lizzie is taking longer than her Classic counterpart to realise that Caroline is in love with Darcy and sees her as a rival.  The idea of the two young ladies still taking a ‘turn around the room’ didn’t quite fit, yes it allowed them to use the line from the original novel but I think I would have preferred a change there.

I am wondering when we will meet more characters, yet another week has passed without us getting to meet the man himself maybe next week?

6. Saturday · Lizzie Bennett Diaries Watch-a-long

Lizzie Bennet Diaries Episodes 25-28

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Its Saturday and time for the next instalments of Lizzie’s diaries, we are a quarter of the was through and I am enjoying it although I would like to start seeing more of the other characters.  See you on the other side…

We get to join Lizzie at Vidcon and also to meet Mr Collins who we have heard of briefly in an earlier episode.  I was curious how they would arrange for Jane to stay at Netherfield given modern transport would easily allow someone ill to be transported, the remodelling excuse is perfect and the fact that in a modern setting sleeping over is perfectly acceptable this ruse allows for the mother to still appear manipulative. I like that Mary gets a name check even if she has been demoted from sister to cousin.

The stay at Netherfield is fascinating, we get to meet Bing and his sister Caroline though Darcy remains elusive.  Caroline is well played and this modern version perfectly reflects the two-faced sister that Elizabeth sees but fools Jane in the original novel.  I think she had been on screen around ten seconds before I hated her lol.

6. Saturday · Lizzie Bennett Diaries Watch-a-long

Lizzie Bennet Diaries Episodes 17-20

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Its Saturday and time to once more delve into the world of the modern Lizzie Bennet, I have to say this is becoming a high light of my week in terms of pleasure see you at the other side…

I had wondered how they were going to replace the army and the swim meet fits the criteria perfectly, although here in the UK am not sure it would equate quite as well maybe a music festival would be closer, but a swim team works for me as anyone who was following this blog during the Olympics may remember *sighs.

Any way before I start daydreaming and get distracted we should move on but staying with the swim team discuss Mr George Wickham hmmm the bounder has been introduced though only by name at this point.  I will be interested to see how they introduce these other characters because although so far this format has worked you would think at some point the other characters would need to appear in person.  Before we move on I should just mention I have the introduction of Kitty as Lydia’s cat it is a witty way of adding in another character from Austen’s novel without it being a person as Kitty certainly fits the kitten analogy.

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Both look smug and arrogant you would spot their character flaws a mile off

Back to Wickham and an issue I have with him as seen on TV or film, I always got the feeling from reading Pride & Prejudice that Wickham is drop dead gorgeous, looking angelic though of course we discover he is far from it, but I have noticed often the casting of the character reflects elements of his true character rather than the one Austen suggests which fools every one,pride_wickham

Time will tell how they cast the male characters, they have certainly done well with the female ones so fingers crossed.