#Beeble Recaps

[pilferingapples]

Beeble Mis 5b : Who Gave You A Gun?!?

PREVIOUSLY on BBC Les Mis: it was Barricade Time, babey!

 I’m trusting people better with geographical/layout descriptions than me will take this one. But other points:

- I give Wardrobe hell in this show and I do not take it back, but also let me say they’re doing a solid job on lower-class clothing. I especially like the poor woman in the march whose outfit is almost complete but her overblouse is too small and shows the lacing of her corset at her waist-- not sexy at all, it looks exactly like what it is, not being able to make/afford a top that really fits.

- ... A Riot Occurs! And okay yeah, listen, I’ve been trying really hard to evaluate this show as This Show, just an adaptation of the book, as Davies emphasized it was. But this is a very 2012 way to film the chaos as the riot erupts. I’m not saying it’s bad! I actually think it works! I just also think it’s Very Samey, and there are other ways to film chaotic sequences.

- The worker from The Something Cafe earlier (who I think may have been the one Enjolras saved earlier too?) comes up as they’re starting to build the barricade and is all WELCOME COMRADE and they are obviously really solid with each other and why Why WHY isn’t this worker just Feuilly?!? Enjolras has a canonical Worker Activist Bestie! It would have been a fine thing to go with! 

...Were they afraid of mispronouncing “Feuilly”? because. I could understand that.  

- “There’s only one line of attack!” says Enjolras and okay this is the kind of thing that people in genre shows say before being attacked from behind but it’s also like the whole deal with the Corinthe barricade so

- there’s a flag that I *think* has the date of the July Revolution on it?  Not sure? Can anyone confirm? 

- Grantaire grabs HALF A STOOL yes very good Grantaire 

- Matelote is here! With a cockade in her hair! Slapping Grantaire in the face AS HE RICHLY DESERVES 

- I am loving this HISTORICALLY ACCURATE multiracial and multigender crowd! Thank you!

- And now it’s time for COMEDY JAVERT!!!  He is going to the barricades in his STEALTH CAP because he cannot  TRUST anyone else to apprehend Jean Valjean! Who will definitely be IN THE VERY CENTER of the rioting! At...a  small barricade..on an obscure street... with only 40-50 defenders...

you know if the IRL Official Intel had been this Hot and Happenin’, Charles Jeanne and Co. might have won:P

-BACK TO THE BARRICADE BUILDING, Gavroche steals the Mean Barber’s Plaster Head and Wig for and brings it along? for reasons?? , and then encounters Mabeuf 

--okay Mabeuf being here is a Great Example of the way this series so often brings in canon details but gutted of the context that really makes them matter. We’ve seen nothing of his slide into poverty, his struggle, his desperation; there’s no reason to think there’s anything to him showing up (with tricolor sash!) except a genuine determination to Do His Part. I’m not sorry he’s here; I’m sorry it doesn’t tie in with anything else more. 

- ...if Feuilly were here they’d be building a better barricade 

- JAVERT IS HERE! ON THE CASE! TRACKING DOWN THE NOTORIOUS REBEL JEAN VALJEAN I’m sorry this is forever hilarious ACTUAL DIALOGUE:

Javert, Super Casual: Is a man named Jean Valjean with us?  Quinnjolras, who very realistically has no idea who tf JVJ is:  Not that I know of  Javert, Super Smoothlike And Very Casual: He’ll be in the thick of it,MARK MY WORDS

Sadly then we of course cut to : Jean Valjean! or rather Cosette, trying to sneak out past Jean Valjean. And Marius! Sneaking into the Garden House! 

And it’s all very nicely paralleled with them both being quiet and Marius is looking in a window and Cosette has her hands on the doorknob to step outside 

and VALJEAN ATTACKS HER FROM BEHIND LIKE A HORROR MOVIE MONSTER 

HOLY SHIT 

she screams and begs to be let go, and he just! won’t ! he keeps Ever So Calm as he physically restrains her, calmly telling her that oh, it’s dangerous Out There, as opposed to in HERE, with a frigging superhuman keeping her restrained 

he finally lets her escape back up the stairs and she yells I HATE YOU which is honestly seeming less Spunky Teen and more TOTALLY JUSTIFIED ACT OF BRAVE DEFIANCE  holy shit 

holy shit 

I hate this Valjean so much y’all, this is so bad  

the camera pulls away and shows us he is A Sad but !! I don’t care! Don’t PHYSICALLY RESTRAIN YOUR TEENAGER AND LOCK HER IN THE HOUSE 

at this point in the recap I actually had to take a break and get some tea because holy shit  

but okay. Okay. I’m back. 

--and the scene is MERCIFULLY back to the House With Gardens In, where Marius is having an Existential Crisis and Eponine...is trying to convince him to live? and hook up with her?  But she Name Drops the Chanvrerie Barricade apparently by mistake, here because this is the Les Mis where Women Aren’t Given Much to Thinking, and so Marius goes off to Die , as Marii do

then it’s back to the barricade! Where Courfeyrac , Mabeuf and Gavroche arrive at the head of a bunch of new recruits! Through the alley....into the barricade with only One Line of Attack...hhhhyeahhh. I . I get where like you couldn’t do a MASSED charge from that alley but it would be REAL easy to do a smaller distraction sortie? I think? 

eh, I’m not Battle Tactics Blogger , back to the plot. 

Gavroche spots Javert and immediately rumbles him; Enjolras and Courfeyrac and Not!Feuilly etc seize him and take him hostage. Go Team! 

And then it’s evening,and all across Paris the lights are...doing things and people are singing!

But There is No Joy in Corinth, Except For Me! because Javert is tied to a post! and HILARIOUSLY YELLING ABOUT JEAN VALJEAN.

Actual Dialogue: WHERE IS HE! YOUR LEADER! JEAN VALJEAN!

I’m glad Quinnjolras thinks this is as funny as I do 

Javert, to a group of armed revolutionaries: You’re mistaken, my friend! You’ve ALL BEEN LED ASTRAY. 

Javert, my guy, I hate this Valjean too, but I don’t think he’s behind POLITICAL ISSUES IN PARIS. 

Quinnjolras gets a We’re Not Assassins line when Gav makes to shoot Javert; I am pleased!

Meanwhile Not!Feuilly and Friends are outside watching the barricade; they call that the first charge is coming. 

The first charge goes pretty well, Dramatic Fight Scene wise! Quinnjolras gets the barricade to use Good Bullet Economy, and is convincing as a combat leader, at least in this moment. Courfeyrac...gives the impression of being someone totally new to this, but getting the hang of it. Gavroche is Super Pumped and kills someone with Javert’s musket I think? (WHO GAVE HIM A GUN). (Bossuet I am pretty sure is killed.) And Grantaire, who has a gun somehow (WHO GAVE YOU A GUN)...gets an actual look at violence and shuts down. For any of the others,I’d be deeply annoyed by this, but it’s a good way of showing the basic Issue here: Grantaire has no real violence in him. He can be a jerk , but he doesn’t have the conviction to carry himself over the horrors of dealing real harm or real death--or seeing it come to others. War is genuinely awful! and he’s really not capable of this.  It’s a good moment, and fits with the new way they’re doing his arc so far. 

...and then as I’m appreciating this, and as the barricade is celebrating, it’s time to Raise the Flag! And Mabeuf volunteers! And Quinnjolras is like”hahah no grampa it’s fine” and Mabeuf says “I said I’ll do it”, and climbs up the barricade all awkward. And Not!Feuilly looks over at Enjolras like ??? and Enjolras does that shrug that means ‘Hey I Tried But Grampa Won’t Stop’ and Mabeuf puts up the flag and everyone goes YAAAAAY and Marius sneaks onto the barricade and Mabeuf gets shot. 

And I just...it’s Shocking and it’s Sad  in a Hey An Old Man Died sort of way, but it’s All Wrong for tone and context. The raising of the flag is supposed to be an obviously dangerous, essentially suicidal  act of courage, that requires stepping into the line of open fire ; something even Enjolras hesitates to do.  Mabeuf’s courage terrifies  everyone , terrifies Enjolras ; Mabeuf inspires them all by his willing sacrifice, and becomes to the barricade a reminder of the courage of the Grand Revolution. 

Here, putting up the flag is A Bit of A Chore; no one seems very tense about it; everyone’s watching calmly and laughing and cheering as it goes. Mabeuf’s death is Shocking, a Reminder that There Is Danger , not a foregone conclusion (and of course  there’s no mention of the original Revolution as a positive inspiration). We, the viewer, don’t know about Mabeuf’s downward spiral in life, so we can’t link it to this decision, can’t see this as an act of protest and despair.  Courfeyrac doesn’t know Mabeuf, so he doesn’t correct Enjolras on Mabeuf’s politics; he just seems shaken and lost by this Unexpected Death.

Mabeuf’s death is, essentially, reframed, from being a conscious, heroic , inspiring sacrifice to group of fighters who felt their courage wavering, to a Sad Loss That Awakens Everyone to The Horror Of Battle. Someone might like this choice of approach more; but it IS a choice, and a heavy one in terms of symbolism (even as it loses the commentary on symbolism!).

Anyway. Next wave of combat happens, Grantaire Nopes Out into the Corinthe (WHO GAVE YOU A BOOZE), Gavroche heads back into combat with a pistol (WHO GAVE YOU YET ANOTHER GUN)  Marius RAUUUUGHS up and into Battle with the Gunpowder. It’s good! Kind of hilarious but good! The Barricade Is Saved and also happy about it  instead of scolding him! GOOD ! 

and then Marius has a whole “it’s EASY when you DON’T VALUE YOUR LIFE” bit and Quinnjolras is like “Ungroovy , Comrade Buddy” and Marius walks down to the street level and a guard is Still Alive!1!1, and shoots at him! and hogad, Eponine sort of . Hurls herself across screen and falls in a heap RIGHT AT THE FOOT OF THE MAIN PASSAGE ON THE BARRICADE and Enjolras shoots the guard and is like “see some of us still value your life you drama llama” and i just 

are they gonna move her or 

--anyway , her Death Scene is very good until the odd change in final line; the shift from “I believe I was a little bit in love with you” to “I really did love you” is actually! a pretty major shift! but whatever  ; Erin Kellyman did a wonderful job with the whole scene and for once I believe this Marius is truly sad at the passing of a life

The next bit with the letter is really cool! Let me give credit for that!  Marius reads the letter Eponine gave him, while Valjean discovers Cosette’s blotter and reads it in a reflective plate-- a nice bit of symmetry and a cool way to use a book detail to unite the branches of the story! Valjean realizes Cosette is already lost to him-- “in her heart she’s gone” -- and I could not care less for the grief of Shouty Dragsalot, but it’s well acted for the person this Valjean is. 

...and then Gavroche shows up with Cosette’s letter, and we get THIS 

as Valjean JUMPS AT AND GRABS A CHILD and rips the note from his hand, and then growls at him to “hop it” until Gavroche does, in what is a really nasty echo of the Petit Gervais scene 

and of course he reads Cosette’s letter and grabs a knife (WHO GAVE YOU A KNIFE), and heads to the barricade, where Javert lifts his head, alert, as his Valjean sense activates again.

...y’all I’m making as many jokes as I can but I am grieving for how horrible this Valjean is and how much more Cosette has to endure because of it?? this is grim.  And while I know of course this series will stick to the plot of the book, it really would feel the most consistent for this Valjean to just flat out commit some good ol’ muderin’. 

Well maybe JAVERT, SUPER POLICE PRESENCE will stop him!   And save the poor barricade fighters from his malign influence! and then everyone can go get some cake with Cosette and Eponine and Mabeuf will make a Miraculous Recovery!  That’s probably how it will go. No need to worry! 

[gramireus]

im so fucking glad im not terminally online anymore

[fuck-customers]

🍩 so to recap: had an interview with fartducks, was told id get a call back, didnt get a call, waited a week, called them and was told id get a call that afternoon, and lo and behold i got nothing. so while theyre leading me on im still at beeble bonuts

this lady comes into the drive-thru like half an hour before close. shes like "do u guys have any vegan donuts?" internally im like "babygirl this is a fast food chain what the fuck do u think" but out loud i say "no, i really dont think so"

SHE FUCKING GOES "can u just like check the manual?" BITCH WHAT MANUAL?? 😭 theres no booklet or piece of paper thats gonna make any of our donuts vegan, no matter how disappointed u are to hear that. so im like "u know what yeah, let me check the manual 🙄" and just turn my mic off and stand there with my arms crossed for a minute

i turn my mic back on and am like "so i checked and i was right, we dont have vegan donuts" (i lied but its so fucking easy to just google and see that our vegan options include exactly zero donuts) AND SHE STILL ARGUES WITH ME LIKE "well what about the munchkins" THEYRE THE SAME THING!!!! SAME EXACT INGREDIENTS!!! and she goes "well if its like dairy-free, my son cant have dairy, even if its just like a regular glazed"

she ended up getting 5 glazed munchkins (not a glazed donut because apparently she thinks the munchkins are gonna be vegan), if we get a complaint that her kid got sick then ill say she refused to listen to me 🤷🏼 like honestly how stupid and up ur own ass do u have to be to think u just Know Better than the person taking ur order!!! they work there, they know what the fuck theyre selling!!!

[pilferingapples]

Episode 5a: Green Finch and Cosette Bird

Not gonna try to Chronology this bc despite my best efforts I have NO idea what time span this is all supposed to be covering, like if it’s weeks or months or, as it appears to be, all happening in one Really Busy Week 

Before I get into it: As always , major props for the Props people, and the set design team on this show. Whatever my other issues about the series, I’ve loved the look of the places, and there’s some real nice touches in every scene. They make rewatching it all worth it just for the visuals. 

...More mixed feelings under the cut, but I did enjoy some things besides the setting!:

HELLO HELLFONT MY OLD FRIEND , what can I say,  it’s becoming a familiar (type)face , any friend in a storm

-I really enjoy this opening-- setting up that the people in Paris really ARE at about ready to riot and everyone really is angry, it’s not just Those Kids in A Bar Somewhere. It feels very A Few Pages of History, (4.1 , for those wondering!) and I’m glad it’s being given some time. 

-I am ALSO Highly Entertained that all this deep rooted and widespread social unrest is juxtaposed with flyers of THAT DASTARDLY VALJEAN. I’m sure to this Javert they’re exactly the same thing-- and I mean I am SURE because Javert tells us so directly: 

Rivet or Rivette or whatever: Uh boss we have intel on an attempt at overthrowing the government and I mean Parisians actually do that not infrequently of late so IDK  but I think we have bigger issues than your Nemeship 

Javert, Verbatim:  THERE IS NO. LARGER. ISSUE. MAN, Mark My Words, Where Ever You Find Unrest, HE Will Be At The Very Heart Of It 

THIS IS THE BEST THING THIS JAVERT HAS EVER SAID but it’s just gonna get better and I am SO here for Hilariously Overinvested In One Rando Thief Javert, he’s got basically nothing to do with Javerts Past and I do not CARE, this is hilarious

- Cutting over to Valjean and Cosette, with Cosette nursing his really oozy arm wound! I am NOT satisfied with Valjean’s “well I had to go back to the Thenardiers for  Reasons” line at ALL, especially not when Cosette was so clearly retraumatized.  I would accept a Scheme on his end, a moral argument, ANYTHING, but she’s just like “so this is awful” and he’s all “but Cosette, REASONS” . Also not satisfied with Cosette denouncing people as Evil! or Valjean signing off on it! I understand why she’s saying it from a Watsonian perspective but the show has chosen to set this up, to have the characters most associated  with redemption and recovery ready to directly condemn. This Cosette is infinitely more judgemental, and I can see why, because holy smokes this Valjean. And this is a fairly brief moment in the show but it’s just off for what this story and these characters represent.

- Meanwhile, in Some Cafe I Guess, Enjolras has some terrible lines about the upcoming revolution that make it seem like this has been a pickup game planned since all of last week and I have horrible foreshadowing of Fandom Arguments to Come. 

Also: this is not the fandom I think we are if we can’t just Nominate some Remaining Amis out of this mess of extras! I’ll go first; I nominate the bearded guy in the corner during Enjolras’ speech about Lamarque (at ~~4:43) for Bahorel, and the dark-haired guy in front of him for Joly.

-I love how grim the women’s prison is; also, Mme T trying to be as good a mother as she knows how to be even here.  (Also I know they probably should NOT be in the same prison together, but this is one of those condensations that I Get)

- I’m sure a lot of people are gonna hate it, but I actually really appreciate that this Marius is rather cold and unpleasant to Eponine post-Gorbeau, when she’s taking him to see Cosette. That is  canon!  He’s quite rude and even physically rough with her when he sees her again!  It’s an important aspect of his character; he gets caught up with his current Only Thing In The World and treats other people around him badly, it’s a running thing! Heck, this Marius is still  kinder to Eponine post-Gorbeau than his book counterpart.  I feel awful for Eponine, of course, but then I absolutely should. This is a Good Bit.  

-Thenardier escapes from prison by pretending to have Died of Dysentery--er, cholera! If they’re not gonna have Gav and the whole Escape By Night scene, this is actually a pretty clever, quick way to get Thenardier out, and build in the info about the cholera epidemic. I can never be exactly glad to lose Gavroche Scenes, but this was a pretty good way to abridge that! 

- Valjean’s arm  is better! So it’s been Some Vague Time! So he’s leaving for Mysterious Valjean Purposes (money), with a blithe “Cosette stay here, it’s safe but also don’t leave the house until I get back, also you can’t come with me because it’s dangerous, but don’t worry it’s TOTALLY safe.” If this Valjean were more the warm, loving character he should be, this might just seem awkward and badly phrased; with all that’s happened between them already and all that comes next, this just seems manipulative and cruel.

-Vajlean goes out into the streets and sees ...a drawing that doesn’t really look like him! On a wanted poster! So he tears it down. Javert’s Valjeany Sense Activates and his eyes open in his office when Valjean tears down the poster Who Knows Where. This delights me. DELIGHTS. This Javert is a hilarious parody of all Javerts and I officially love it.

-I also like Thenardier and...Montparnasse?-- and someone else..?why is this scene so dark --  in the sewers, and the cut from that to Cosette. Nice way to stress the actual real danger that Valjean’s left her in, also: good Cat Scare before Marius happens. (yeah and also Thenardier seems to be Leader of the Patron Minette, which is never my Fave Choice for an adaptation to make, but it makes sense, especially as breakneck as things are moving 

-Toussaint’s Cheerful Doomy Dooms of Doom while Valjean leaves her and Cosette to do his Secret Valjean Thing; since Enjolras has banned romantics from the barricade, guess we gotta take our cheerful death talk where we can! (also, totally canon!)

-okay, you know what, I really like Cosette’s scenes in the garden. This Cosette is doing a great job of selling me on her Extremely Young-ness. She seems young enough and unworldly enough that a Magic Boyfriend sneaking in without her noticing is Cool and Exciting and Magical instead of super unnerving.  She’s adorable. And there is really excellent framing here with the flowers and the lighting and all. It does  feel like a fairy tale, which, it really should; this is Cosette’s fairy tale romance and I’m happy for her.

...Unfortunately this Valjean is rather too much the part of the Ogre Parent and I wish Marius would just take her away.  Uhg. (also I haaaate this bgm. HAAAATE. I am not talking about it much and I know it’s probably just me but it is so obtrusive to me!) 

- Gavroche shows up, robbin’ all the randos and giving bread to a couple of genuinely unrelated street kids! I...am having such mixed feelings! I love this actor; this actor has Gavroche absolutely DOWN and I am accepting him into my heart entirely but...like...why is  this  part of the story  here,  why is there so much emphasis on him being a thief, why does he just leave the momes instead of trying to take them in, why is this show trying to make it visually clear that these aren’t his brothers? this is just..it’s the thing that keeps happening where there are a bunch of changes for no apparent reason and they don’t add up to anything new but they also aren’t the Original Thing and I can’t figure out what the point of those alterations really are (though this scene, with the extra thieving and reduced generosity, grand-total steals some of Gavroche’s heroism).  The actor is amazing but GIVE HIM HIS FULL BIT. 

- back to Definitely Some Cafe (it’s really well done, I just have no idea what cafe it is ? It’s full of workers, maybe this is supposed to be the Corinth?)  and a brief, foolish moment on my part of hoping there’ll be more discussion of why the rebellion is happening is Destroyed and turned to  “you rich students can go back to your families in the country but--”  THIS IS THE GHOST OF MY ASKBOX FUTURE AND I HATE IT , OH SPIRITS;  WHAT MAY I DO TO TURN THIS NIGHTMARE ASIDE

-...why isn’t this worker just...Feuilly...why are none of the workers Feuilly...

-P.sure my Joly HC is here 

either that or he’s BBC’s Merlin which might explain some things

- Awkwardness of Lost Historical Context aside, this Enjolras is growing on me (like a scruffy beard!) . He’s intense and physically affectionate and I like that in an Enjolras; I just think it’s weird that he’s hanging out with what are apparently random students who haven’t committed to the revolution frigging yet , but you know! Whatever!  

- ...I am currently kind of on the fence about this but...if they’re not gonna give the whole arc with Grantaire As Symbol of the Apathetic Bourgeois being Converted the time it needs, I ...think?  ..what they’re doing here might be a serviceable substitute?  He’s very obviously Not Got The Revolution Fever and is Doing It For His Friends, and he’s obviously super uncomfortable about it.  I like this take on that so far better than some versions I’ve seen. 

ATM, gotta say, the Amis Scene is bugging me the least. If it weren’t for the absolutely bizarre nonsense last week, I would be Pretty Okay with the Amis stuff?? WEIRD BUT TRUE.  Or maybe just a sign of how some adaptations have totally destroyed my expectations here to the point where “Enjolras isn’t actually Dracula” is Okay With Me. ANYWAY I’LL TAKE IT, A MOMENT OF LIKABLE CHARACTERIZATION. 

-The Revolutionary conversation segues with a cut to the Royalist Salon and Gillenormand, who  is NOT likeable and I’m not sure why we get this scene Here In Particular?  A contrast to the revolutionaries, I guess? But this Gillenormand continues to be very very  accurate. 

- At The House In The Garden, Valjean is back! Cosette comes to hug him! He apparently WAS worried that she wouldn’t be safe so what was with the reassurances earlier like she was being a stupid child! And most important

WHY DOES VALJEAN HAVE A BACK LACING WAISTCOAT  WHY DID HE WEAR THAT ON HIS TRIP AWAY  WHO LACED HIM UP WHILE HE WAS GONE  AAAAAAAAH 

okay I’m okay

- wait NO I’m NOT because now it’s time for the Patron Minette to come in and not-rob this place and the show completely destroys Eponine’s moment as the guardian of Marius and Cosette’s happiness!  Instead of her getting to intimidate a bunch of grown armed men into retreat, she’s attacked, threatened, and ultimately rendered  passive, her moment of heroism rendered null when no one comes to her scream, and her role in saving the Valjean house and all in the garden replaced by an actual dog.  I am really pretty furious about this! But the Character Destruction Of Eponine deserves its own post so Moving On FOR NOW...

- ...also are you telling me THIS hyper paranoid, aggressive JVJ doesn’t notice or react to screams and barking dogs 

- holy moly even kneeling Marius is almost as tall as Cosette, that’s not relevant to anything but it’s entertaining to me; it’s also Very Cute to have him comforting her by making himself smaller than her, when they’re both freaking out about her imminent maybe-move. 

- Valjean having a conversation with Eponine instead of just getting her note to move is not inherently The Worst! But the way he treats her just reinforces how cold and uncaring he is. There’s no compassion in him for a poor abused girl who could almost have been his daughter, no concern for how she might be faring, not even an awkward “hey be careful”.  Is it understandable? Yeah, sure. A lot of selfish focus is Understandable and human. But it’s not admirable, it’s not kind, it’s not the actions or attitude of a man who’s learned kindness towards the world through love, or who tries to put others first to the point that it would kill him. It makes sense, for some characters-- but it’s just not Valjean. 

-NICOLETTE IS THE HERO THIS ADAPTATION NEEDS and she’s SO happy to announce that Marius is back to talk to his awful awful Grandpa!

- The whole scene with Marius asking Gillenormand  for permission to marry is very satisfyingly awful and I have no complaints. It’s a bit abbreviated, and I wonder if people who don’t know the era will totally get that this is a question of needing adult legal approval?  but it’s not shortened beyond the amount that Adaptational Space might suggest. I’d take this little scene as a good illustration of the Gillenormand/Marius dynamic for anyone. Also: is that the Yellow Prisoner-Crafted Wallpaper???  BBC Set Design People, you’re the BEST

- I know I’ve already given kudos to the props and set people but I LOVE this little bachelor apartment that Marius and Courfeyrac are sharing, this is so great?? I’ve seen sketches from the era that look so much like this!  Give me a  moment to squeak happily about this place-- the low roof! The clothesline! The clutter! I love it! (@ about 30:00) 

- I HATE EVERYTHING ENJOLRAS  SAYS HERE THOUGH, even if I intend to meme out No Romantic Daydreamers to the FULLEST 

-Cutting back to Valjean and Cosette’s house, I also hate that Cosette defense-flinches when she wakes up! It’s been eight years! That should not still be her auto-reflex if she’s come to feel safe and loved!  My heart! 

Valjean tells her they have to move today. Valjean does NOT tell her where they’re going. Valjean gives her an hour to pack--and Cosette has to run out and ask Toussaint what the address will be and has to LIE TO TOUSSAINT about why she needs it. Valjean, there are secrets you might feel a need to keep from your daughter. WHERE SHE LIVES should not be one of them. “I’m taking you to an address no one knows and also you can’t have it ahead of time” is what kidnappers do! Watching Cosette write her note and move (terrible bgm and all) is breaking my heart--she is so alone in this house--no one is on her side, no one is there to listen to her, no one is really considering her feelings or giving her any explanations, she’s being moved around like a pet. The abuse is less florid than with the Thenardiers, but it’s still there, and I want to cry. 

The scene goes from soldiers marching outside the window of the new apartment to the funeral. Aaaand that seems like a good place to break this giant review in two. 

Randoming Fandoming:

-I’m pretty sure that at around 6:14 a woman and kid in modern clothes just wander in the background behind Marius! This is not a Complaint, these things happen to any production, but it’s fun to have spotted? 

[pilferingapples]

I am not watching the les mis bbc mess but y'all big mad for something, so what happened exactly??? Just interested in the drama 😂

Well good thing I just made three gigantic posts to offer about it!:D

Part one Part two Part three

[pilferingapples]

Beeble Mis Episode 4 Part 2a: Marius and Some Guys

Part One, focusing on Cosette’s side of the story, Here 

  Again, this is not gonna be a Happy or especially Orderly Recap; I’ve seen this once and this is as much for my own processing/sorting as anything. Episode Four starts with Cosette as a teenager in the convent, and ends pretty much right after the Gorbeau raid. So that’s our …framing set of events, here, because I have no idea what year it is or how much time any of this is supposed to be taking?  

This section covers the Marius-focused path of events.

ANYWAY HERE WE GO, under the cut for abuse, domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, weird incest vibes, discussions of lots of things and me probably cursing a lot!  There is a LOT going on in this one!  So much that I’m actually gonna try cutting it into two parts, a Cosette Recap/Reaction post and a Marius Recap/Reaction post! here’s ...well, here’s some things that sure did happen with Marius.  A warning: at times, this show has caused me to resort to ...sarcasm. 

...remember when the Pontmercy parts of this series were really good? We’ll take a brief scene in remembrance of that, as Marius prays at church, and then stops and helps an old church warden to stand up from where he’d kneeled to pray.  Mabeuf-- FOR INDEED IT IS HE-- then proceeds to tell Marius about a poor man who’d sit behind that pillar riiiight over there, and watch his child who he was never allowed to see because of family arrangements. Marius in a gloriously Pontmercy moment, fails to see how this is relevant to himself and tries to go Cool Story Bro and zoom on out. BUT WAIT! That Poor Man was...COLONEL PONTMERCY! Yes, Marius, he was your father! 

...and then, okay, then I really have to protest. Because what follows isn’t about Mabeuf telling Marius how much Georges loved him; it’s about how BRAVE Georges was , and what a great fighter he was. And then there’s sort of a montage scene of Marius finding more evidence of Georges’  bravery, and this is why he comes to admire his father, because his father was Super Brave and Tough, and then he just charges all in and yells at Gillenormand for keeping him from knowing his father and slandering Georges’ name--all of which Gillenormand absolutely did!- and then there’s the WELL THEN LEAVE THIS HOUSE WELL FINE I WILL conflict, which feels less dramatic when Marius looks like he’s 30 (update, I checked, this actor is 28) than if he’s a teenager, and I don’t know how old anyone is because what is pacing or a timeline, Beeble Mis doesn’t know. Nicolette, who’s the current Best Person in the Gillenormand House and Maybe In This Episode, chides her boss (!!!) for his behavior, and Gillenormand is like “eeeeh he’ll get over it” , because Marius is a hot blooded teenager, or else he’s fifty, WE DON’T KNOW. WHAT YEAR IS IT. 

A Digression:  

Georges is Very Brave, but what MATTERS to Marius, what really melts his heart about his dad, and gives Marius the determination to turn against Gillenormand, is that Georges loved him , loved Marius, deeply, when Marius feels that he has never been loved. That’s  what matters to him; if Georges had been a Bonapartist gardener, Marius would have been obsessed with gardening. He falls for the military glory because that’s what brings him closer to the one person who loved him.  It’s not the other way around! 

 And I think that speaks to a real flaw at the center of this series; it doesn’t  believe love can change people,it doesn’t think love is really important at all. It believes in anger, and in obsession, and in Fighting, and in pride and hate and guilt. But the idea of love--actual love--as something that people live and die for, it’s not on with that. And that is genuinely the whole soul of the story; that love is what we need to change the world, love on a personal and societal level, that it rescues and heals and is worth  agony and even death.  Anyone who doesn’t get that just can’t get this story-- and I really think this series does not  get that. It makes love the also-ran in so many ways, and that guts every character but the very worst, and it guts the story. 

End Digression. 

Anyway, Marius stomps out of the house, and Why Not, he’s like 30 , he can live on his own, and he goes to find lodgings with Courfeyrac in tow. (Also, apparently Marius knows Courfeyrac already, and very well.) They’re heading to the Gorbeau house , and they pass Eponine and Azelma on the way; Courfeyrac sees them and calls them “home comforts” and Marius, unfortunately correctly, tells him he’s disgusting, to which Courfeyrac laughs and says he knows. 

(A Parenthesis: Courfeyrac is, to be sure, a sexually active young man who is unabashed about his own and others’ sexuality. He sees women as potential lovers and comments on their looks. Yes, Courfeyrac Fucks. Yes, he is a horny college kid.  This is true; and a modern or more mature reader might wish that, ideally, he was a bit less objectifying about it. BUT : Courfeyrac, in the novel, is expressly disinterested in underage, badly-dressed Cosette. He has some standards , and “starving ragged barely-teens” don’t meet them.  This is, sadly, relevant to future developments. End Parenthesis.)

Marius takes the Gorbeau apartment and then goes with Courfeyrac to meet up with the other Amis, all three and a half of them!-- Enjolras The Badly Goatee’d,  Grantaire, and also theoretically Bossuet is there! It’s okay, we can all forget about that, he’s barely on camera and has no important lines!  Apparently they all know each other already! Marius announces his change of political allegiance to Bonapartist Democrat and everyone kind of rolls their eyes AS THEY SHOULD , but Enjolras(?!?) interjects to say that BONAPARTE FOUGHT FOR THE REPUBLIC, BEFORE HE BETRAYED IT, and then speaks on a bit and god y’all, this is how badly this show is written: I don’t give a damn, I can’t be bothered to remember what else the BBCAmis said. ME. I DON’T CARE  ABOUT THE POLITICAL DISCUSSION.  It’s all buried under in the rampant sexism and disastrous pacing and characterization choices. Beardjolras gets Combeferre’s To Be Free line. I cannot overstress how little I Care. #Not My Amis, #Not My Historical Political Discussions.  

...Annnnd I’m cutting this in two parts here, because it’s gonna be at least a couple thousand words altogether and this is not even close to the worst part. 

[pilferingapples]

Beeble Mis 4.2b: At Least Enjolras Doesn’t Go To A Brothel

Part One, focusing on Cosette’s side of the story, Here

Part Two(a) , focusing on the first bit of the Marius line in this story, Here

Again, this is not gonna be a Happy or especially Orderly Recap; I’ve seen this once and this is as much for my own processing/sorting as anything. Episode Four starts with Cosette as a teenager in the convent, and ends pretty much right after the Gorbeau raid. So that’s our …framing set of events, here, because I have no idea what year it is or how much time any of this is supposed to be taking?  

This section covers the Marius-focused path of events.

ANYWAY HERE WE GO, under the cut for abuse, domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, weird incest vibes, discussions of lots of things and me probably cursing a lot!  There is a LOT going on in this one!  So much that I’m actually gonna try cutting it into two parts, a Cosette Recap/Reaction post and a Marius Recap/Reaction post! here’s …well, here’s some things that sure did happen with Marius.  

Back at the Gorbeau house, Eponine calls Marius over to the peephole between their apartments and does a Sexy Keyhole Striptease for him. Marius licks his lips. That part is not, as far as I can tell, any sort of dream. That happened. Even if I could believe it was meant to be a dream, it happened in the show.  The show just made a starving desperate abused teenager ~~sexy for the presumed enjoyment of the viewer, and made sure we knew Marius was enjoying it. sarcasm/ How Modern and Universal. What a way to fix that flimsy character, you show ‘em, Davies./sarcasm (It’s been hours and I’m still horrified.)

Over the course of the next few-- days? weeks? anyway those two times we see Cosette in the park-- Marius falls in love with Cosette--as “detailed” in the Cosette half of this recap (hahah it’s funny because it’s not detailed, not to compare adaptations but it’s about as fast as the damn musical and if nothing else this show had more time, wtf).   

Marius loses track of Cosette after Valjean drags her out of the Luxembourg, mopes, and takes his lonely soul to the Not!Amis, where Not!Grantaire makes an appalling comment about how after the Revolution they can find this Nice Girl and all have a go at her, Marius rightly tries to kill him a bit, and then Courfeyrac and Grantaire (as far as I could tell, Bossuet was gone for this scene)  insist on going to Sceaux.  Enjolras, keeping at least this much of his characterization and a little bit of narrative awareness, says he has better things to do, and warns Marius that Marius should find better things too.

And then they take Marius whoring!

Seriously, they take him to a brothel. A pretty tacky brothel at that, with people just gettin’ it onwards in a single room. Eponine is there!  The camera work is wonky! Maybe Marius has been roofied! GRANTAIRE AND COURFEYRAC TAKE MARIUS TO A BROTHEL.

This scene? in the book?  They take him to “the ball at Sceaux” , which was a nice outdoor party where debutantes went to socialize and maybe meet with potential suitors. So you know, the kind of women Cosette might be expected to hang out with, instead of barely-dressed aggressive prostitutes, what the hell , show.

And then it’s time for the Pontmercy Wet Dream! He imagines Cosette slowly undressing, then Eponine comes and grabs him and shoves his head into her cleavage and tells him to “kiss it” , over and over. It just. Goes on. Then he wakes up horrified.

Gosh I’m SO glad we got all this instead of , say, Bossuet saving Marius from expulsion, or Marius living with Courfeyrac, or Marius fighting to get through college poverty and learn new languages, or any more time with Mabeuf, or more focus on Gavroche, or THE ACTUAL BALL AT SCEAUX! sarcasm/What a GREAT use of time! What MARVELOUS pacing! What a Modern and Universal take on this story, that is definitely not wildly alienating at all! /sarcasm

Marius and Eponine meet (the next day? A week later?? I have no idea! Time is so wacky and whimsical in this!)  and she gives him the letter from her dad; he asks if she’s really starving, which is a hell of a thing to ask a woman who is blatantly really poor. She says they don’t eat much. He gives her money. She talks about her crappy life some , makes it very clear that she is indeed a cheap (as in, available low-cost)  prostitute, calls him a gent, then FORCIBLY KISSES HIM, because we can’t have even one Nice Thing anymore.   Then she takes his stale bread and leaves. (Importantly, she never talks about  knowing how to read, and does NOT leave her note about the cops coming.)

Through The Peephole of Providence and Girls Gone Wild, Marius watches Eponine return to her family. Let me say the exchanges and dynamics here are good; as I said before, this show believes in hate and anger and pain, and that’s what the Thenardiers are. Mme T has wonderfully captured the level of beaten-down resignation she has in the book, where she still manages to actually care about her daughters in a threadbare way but doesn’t have the energy or richness of feeling left to either care about or argue with her husband.

The next bit--gad it comes SO CLOSE to being book accurate and thus MAKING A LICK OF SENSE. Eponine gives JVJ the note, JVJ ....knowingly brings Cosette to the home of her abusers.... but then Thenardier immediately  recognizes Valjean and pretty well tell him so ....

and then the Thenardiers just...let him go. And Cosette. And make the arrangements to meet later. Why?? Why give Valjean that clue? Why...any of this? (Also, it’s unclear if Eponine recognizes Cosette  in any of this, but boy howdy it’s very clear that Cosette recognizes Eponine and is horribly triggered by it , not that anyone, including Valjean, gives a damn about Cosette’s mental or emotional health. s/She’s so flimsy and stupid, she probably has it coming, right, Davies? /s)

And then...

okay listen. I wish I cared more about this Gorbeau Raid. I wish it had held my attention. This is, in the novel, one of the most tense, dramatic gatherings of characters, with so much thematic and narrative drama all OVER. I love the Gorbeau raid! ...in the book.  And in a lot of adaptations!

But this...this was just Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing. Marius and Javert at the police station are almost  great! But they take away all the little touches of characterization and flourishes of dialogue that make the scene so fun (if there’s one theme besides Degrading Sex in this series, it’s that there is NO FUN ALLOWED), and further ruin Marius’ character by having him tell Javert he’s scared (Marius is an Awkward Very Young Adult, all spilling over with touchy pride and desperation to be a hero to the woman he’s smitten over! He would NEVER. Especially since this police station is full of witnesses!) Javert doesn’t burn his coattails, he doesn’t have his little musings on “the artists” , he doesn’t have his deep authoritarian reverence of Order to talk about in the first place this time, he’s just got his Valjean sense tingling. 

The actual kidnapping and raid are a confused jumble; the jumbly jumpcuts, presumably meant to give a sense of Chaos, are in overdrive, here, and Chaos they sure do deliver. Some isolated images that still stood out: Montparnasse, here instead of with Eponine, HORRENDOUSLY dressed,and threatening to kill Valjean and his little dog too; the burning brand happening in like five seconds; Thenardier announcing his whole backstory;  Marius ACTUALLY FIRING THE GUNS, because Eponine can’t matter any at all, even as a note; Eponine and Azelma rushing back in to the room because Azelma wants to protect her mother, even though Eponine tries to stop her and protect Azelma( the first Real Feeling I got off this episode, honestly. That was Good.)  There’s no Hat Moment with Javert; he just charges in with everyone else (absolutely ALL the building menace and dramatic reversals that SHOULD be in this scene are gone, cut or emotionally destroyed by pacing). Valjean scarpers out the window and then like...just hangs out on a ledge for a while...while Javert looks for him ominously..and then gets called back into the room JUST BEFORE SEEING VALJEAN, LE GASP. It’s ...busy, and sadly, not much else.

After everything is over, Marius goes into the Thenardier’s  room for...some reason, and we get to see Gavroche (who’s been at the corner of view in a few other scenes). Who proudly introduces himself as A THIEF, AND THENARDIER’S SON AND HEIR, and just like that, my last hope for a solidly represented character is gone. He banters with Marius a bit, and then we cut back to Valjean falling across the floor at his house and into Cosette’s arms. Aaand that’s it!

So that all sure happened. Why? When? I don’t know. But I’ll still be watching it next week, because I WILL SEE IT DONE, it will not defeat me!  But gad...if this were anything BUT Les Mis, I’d have walltossed it two episodes ago, and doubly so now. 

[pilferingapples]

amarguerite replied to your post “Beeble Mis 5b : Who Gave You A Gun?!?”

I am living for your recaps

I’m so glad that people are enjoying them!  Writing them out really helps me process them , too:D