[7.3/10] I gotta be honest, I like this adaptation, but I can’t help but measure it against the things it leaves out from the novel, or changes for the screen, or even just how the performers and focus cast things in different life.
For instance, when reading the novel, I found the Dorothea/Ladislaw attraction pretty uninteresting, I found the slow deterioration of Lydgate and Rosamund’s relationship intriguing (and preferred him as a match for Dorothea), and I didn’t necessarily want Fred Vincy and Mary Garth to end up together, but I thought they’re dynamic was a compelling one.
In the adaptation however, I find the Dorothea/Casaubon/Ladislaw business far and away the most interesting part. Some of that is because it’s the best-acted portion of the mini-series. Ladislaw was always kind of a drip in my view, but Rufus Sewell brings an intensity and a conviction to the role that won me over in the same way his literary counterpart never quite did.
At the same time, I love the glimpse we get to see of Dorothea and Casaubon’s rocky life together there. The mini-series preserves the grim downs but also the brief encouraging ups of their relationship, where Casaubon excitedly starts including Dorothea in actually moving his work forward, and the two have a moment of intimacy and understanding when they’re otherwise at their lowest, only for it to come crashing down later when he wants her to make a promise without knowing its contents. I’ll admit, I miss the interiority of their thoughts that the novel provides in these scenes, but it’s still a superb glimpse into an unhappy but complicated marriage.
I can’t say I care in the slightest about what’s going on with Lydgate and Rosamund at this point, though. The show’s hinted at the doctoring life Lydgate wants and how it doesn't align with the baroness life Rosamund envisioned, but for now they’re just kind of a drippy generic couple. Lydgate himself is kind of dull and flat. There’s some spark when he intervenes to prevent unnecessary surgery on a poor young woman, but otherwise he’s just not a very engaging presence here.
Fred and Mary, by extension, get the short shrift, even with an episode that contains Featherstone’s death. I do like Fred’s look when he learns that his hopes have been dashed, and the scene with the Garths when we’ve learned that they’re soon to come into some work and with it, some much needed funds. But man, I could use about 80% less of Mr. Brooke’s annoying rambling and about 80% more of the more interesting goings on of the Garth family.
Overall, I’m compelled by the A-story here involving Dorothea, Casaubon, and Ladislaw; I find myself much less interested and even disappointed in the progression of the other two major stories, and yet I’m low key fascinated by how the adaptation chooses to mold (or, if I’m being frank), neglect the source material as it tells its version of the story.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-03-29T19:25:10Z
[7.3/10] I gotta be honest, I like this adaptation, but I can’t help but measure it against the things it leaves out from the novel, or changes for the screen, or even just how the performers and focus cast things in different life.
For instance, when reading the novel, I found the Dorothea/Ladislaw attraction pretty uninteresting, I found the slow deterioration of Lydgate and Rosamund’s relationship intriguing (and preferred him as a match for Dorothea), and I didn’t necessarily want Fred Vincy and Mary Garth to end up together, but I thought they’re dynamic was a compelling one.
In the adaptation however, I find the Dorothea/Casaubon/Ladislaw business far and away the most interesting part. Some of that is because it’s the best-acted portion of the mini-series. Ladislaw was always kind of a drip in my view, but Rufus Sewell brings an intensity and a conviction to the role that won me over in the same way his literary counterpart never quite did.
At the same time, I love the glimpse we get to see of Dorothea and Casaubon’s rocky life together there. The mini-series preserves the grim downs but also the brief encouraging ups of their relationship, where Casaubon excitedly starts including Dorothea in actually moving his work forward, and the two have a moment of intimacy and understanding when they’re otherwise at their lowest, only for it to come crashing down later when he wants her to make a promise without knowing its contents. I’ll admit, I miss the interiority of their thoughts that the novel provides in these scenes, but it’s still a superb glimpse into an unhappy but complicated marriage.
I can’t say I care in the slightest about what’s going on with Lydgate and Rosamund at this point, though. The show’s hinted at the doctoring life Lydgate wants and how it doesn't align with the baroness life Rosamund envisioned, but for now they’re just kind of a drippy generic couple. Lydgate himself is kind of dull and flat. There’s some spark when he intervenes to prevent unnecessary surgery on a poor young woman, but otherwise he’s just not a very engaging presence here.
Fred and Mary, by extension, get the short shrift, even with an episode that contains Featherstone’s death. I do like Fred’s look when he learns that his hopes have been dashed, and the scene with the Garths when we’ve learned that they’re soon to come into some work and with it, some much needed funds. But man, I could use about 80% less of Mr. Brooke’s annoying rambling and about 80% more of the more interesting goings on of the Garth family.
Overall, I’m compelled by the A-story here involving Dorothea, Casaubon, and Ladislaw; I find myself much less interested and even disappointed in the progression of the other two major stories, and yet I’m low key fascinated by how the adaptation chooses to mold (or, if I’m being frank), neglect the source material as it tells its version of the story.