#I'm not mad. I swear. (narrator: she was in fact mad)

[twilit-tragedy]

I wish I could find a nice way of saying "I'm not passing on these genes" as well as "advanced parental age is a risk factor for XYZ in the next generation" to people who 1) share said genes, and 2) are having kids in their late 30s. Every time my family asks for my thoughts on having children and demography / natality in general, it feels like a minefield.

[thatscarletflycatcher]

North and South, 2022, Episode 2 thoughts

So... overall, a step down from last episode, and a significant one.

There's still the same problems with the runtime not allowing the story to breath, most noticeable on this episode during the proposal scene, in which the speeches of the characters are cut awkwardly, or the conversations between Margaret and Mrs Hale and Margaret and Frederick. They chose to keep "ask Mr Lennox for his opinion on the mutiny case", but in such a reduced way that it is a mere comment Frederick makes to Margaret on the train station. At that point... why not cut it all off completely?

In continuity with the characterization of the first episode, Mr Hale is still a wise man and has the opportunity to offer wise speeches twice. We get his conversation with Mr Higgins here, but I think it loses much of its emotional impact by having it happen about two months after Bessy's death and after the end of the strike. We also get his delusional talking to a dead Mrs Hale, but in this case it's not seen as pitiful because Margaret means to do the same and Dixon enables her, so what gives.

Speaking of the strike, its chapters are probably the best prose and mood setting of the whole book, and it's something very difficult to recreate, but I feel this adaptation doesn't even try. It even cuts the tension by transitioning from the rioters heading towards Marlborough Mills, with Margaret paying her visit and... exchanging childhood anecdotes with Mr Thornton. I kid you not. There's also Margaret Making a PointTM of saying "perhaps that's why they should allow the women to make the decisions, they might employ some common sense" which is... okay, I get what they are trying to do there, but as is, it's saying that there's class struggle only because women aren't in charge (?) It's not well thought out at all.

In general, the important scenes all get their impact reduced one way or another. The proposal does begin with Thornton's thankfulness, but it's ruined by both John and Margaret being worried about her reputation I kid you not we get: MR THORNTON: {her] losing her dignity in my defense" MRS THORNTON: "You have no obligation towards that girl"... what even) something that doesn't happen in the novel and which consequently GOES NOWHERE in this series so why add it at all. We get the riot scene but the tension was destroyed by the desperate attempt at making John and Margaret have a cute conversation; we get Thornton talking to an unconscious Margaret, but as there is no Fanny there's no Margaret hearing her comments and getting mad about them. The fruit scene is there! But they have Thornton acknowledge Margaret's presence. We get Dixon to mention her affection for Mrs Hale! But we hear her say that she doesn't love her as much as Margaret does. Boulcher's death is completely undermined by the fact that in this adaptation he's a very vocal, self assured man, nothing in his tone and speeches shows despair, and then when his body is brought home we don't even get the moment where no one wants to go tell the widow and Margaret has to do it herself, it's just... done by someone in the background without a fuss.

There are two things in this episode that made me think even more that this adaptation should have had a narrator: one, that Margaret tells Dixon everything (the riot, Thornton's proposal) and then Mr Thornton being with Henderson as he sees Margaret and Frederick at the train station. It's just so awkward and changes things JUST because we cannot possibly have any narration and I'm here asking WHY??? The Henderson thing is particularly grating because not only does he comment on what he's seeing but the conversation begins with his saying he's requiring of his workers the swearing that they won't pay union fees, and Thornton doesn't make any contradicting observation, he says something like "I have always known you to be a strong man" or somesuch nonsense.

Another thing that was... contradictory in a way was Margaret misconceiving Thornton's character twice (once she tells Higgins "Thornton thinks discussion is a sign of weakness" and then she says that not prosecuting the rioters "doesn't sound like him") which is wrong not only because those aren't things Margaret is mistaken about in the novel (she's intelligent enough to know, as is shown, that Thornton will engage people, her, her father, in discussion freely, and then is not at all surprised that he's not prosecuting the rioters) but because the adaptation itself went the lengths of adding two amicable, personal conversations between the two before that! This Margaret has MORE personal interactions with Thornton and yet knows him LESS. I'm also disappointed in the fact that the series is omitting aspects of Thornton's thought that the novel considers are at least somewhat legitimate (i.e. his claim that he has no right to meddle with his workers' life outside of work or how they spend their money) AND adding things like the compliment to Henderson and the child work line.

Another dumb bit of nonsense is that they don't send "Helen" (there's no Mary in this adaptation) away during Frederick's visit, she's even the one to answer the door and get him inside! So it's particularly stupid when 5 minutes later Margaret tells him "Frederick, close the door, we must be careful". Seriously. There's also his saying "if I could find a way to stay..." instead of asking Margaret and Mr Hale to join him on Cadiz (I suppose this is again about propping up Mr Hale --I swear I don't get why the script writer for this series is so dead set on this-- because his refusal to go in the novel, based on his "I brought my wife here and it killed her so now I have to stay here to punish myself and bury Margaret in that grave with me as well because my grief and self loathing is more important than her future" were obviously a bad look.

This is all the "bad stuff" in the episode. The rest is all right, competently done, the voice work is good (the doctor sounds awfully young, but I don't mind) but overall it doesn't compensate at all. Right now I'm not sure this is better than 1997. I think I will listen to that one once episode 3 of this one airs, and then I will be able to tell for certain.

Right now the one thing I'm looking forward to is how they manage the last part of the novel and the ending in particular, see if they will resist the train station ending, if they will change the book scene much, how much of post Milton Margaret we'll get, etc.