'Great Expectations,' part 2

(Part 1 is here.)

My word, London looks clean. This is a well-done bit with Mr. Jaggers and Pip, with the head looming in the background, though they could have done without Mr. Wemmick's "memento mori." Talk about driving a point home with a sledgehammer. Ah, here we are in the dirty part of London -- that's more what I expected. (Mr. Pirrip Pip? I know Pip's name situation is a little unconventional, but that's just plain backwards!)

Douglas Booth is doing a nice job as Pip -- and Harry Lloyd, descendant of Dickens, is positively charming as Herbert. I'm so very glad they gave up the character assassination in his case -- but ack, I hate that they've shifted it to his father! I've always been fond of poor helpless Matthew Pocket, and I don't like this cutting off his son business at all. I don't care if it streamlined the story -- that's taking the streamlining way too far.

We get the quickest ever bumpkin-turns-high-class montage. Somewhere, Henry Higgins is turning green with envy. Hmm, more butterflies in a case -- interesting callback to Satis House.

I don't care for having Joe storm the club and get all upset with Pip. Nor do I care for the way Pip is acting toward him, but that, at least, is par for the course. Joe of course has every reason to get upset . . . but the whole point of Joe, or at least a major part of the point, is that he doesn't. At least they end it well with that kiss on the forehead. That's the Joe I know and love.

Chess night with Herbert, Clara, and Mr. Wemmick sounds like great fun -- I wish we could get a glimpse of it -- but it can't make up for no Aged, no castle, and no Miss Skiffins. Especially no Aged. *sigh*

Drummle has the look more or less right, but he talks more like a villain out of P. G. Wodehouse than a villain out of Dickens, I think.

We're back with Miss Havisham, in a dress that's been very convincingly aged, and I must say the dynamic among her, Pip, and Estella is very well done. Estella, both here and in the subsequent scene, is particularly good -- giving nothing away, but being just encouraging enough. Herbert also continues to be spot on, bless his good-natured heart.

It's kind of sad, Pip and Wemmick's relationship being off to such a rocky start. At least they seem to become friendlier after a bit, but it doesn't feel right for Pip to talk of Walworth without having seen it.

I still say they should do a better job making up Vanessa Kirby, but I am liking her dresses and hairstyles. We have an interesting juxtaposition here between one "market" (the society gathering) and another "market" (the brothel). At least they use the latter to draw some distinctions between Drummle and Pip . . . and they don't have Pip plunge into debauchery. That really would have made me sick.

I like Estella's shoes, but I don't know how in-character this little dip in the lake is. All part of her wiles, I suppose.

And now we get a knock-down-drag-out between Estella and Miss Havisham. Remember how last time I said that Dickens was subtler than this screenwriter? This time, I'll say he also showed a lot more restraint. I think Sarah Phelps wants to show Estella struggling behind the facade, but it results in a less effective Estella, in my view. Case in point: When Miss Havisham complains that Estella is "so cold," Estella's response, while very similar to the book's version, sounds far more heated. It takes a lot of the chill out of the coldness, if you take my meaning. Well, thank God that at least we got out of that scene without a closeup of those hands.

Again, as at the Christmas dinner, I hate that Pumblechook seems to be the only villager around (or at least the only one with a voice). For instance, if they'd just included Biddy, then poor Joe wouldn't have had to take care of his wife all by himself! 

Now, Estella at the ball is just right -- the look she gives Pip before going to dance with Drummle, for instance. Just the right blend of ice and allure. I'm getting extremely tired of Drummle nicknaming Pip -- it's not funny, it's just stupid. Then again, Drummle isn't exactly supposed to be a scintillating wit.

Oh, now, this isn't right at all! Old Bill Barley being a "dear papa" while poor Matthew Pocket is still slandered? I call shenanigans!

And here at last is Magwitch . . . and he's pouring money out on the floor. I had no idea he had such a melodramatic streak in him. The way he's mooning over it, I half expect him to start rolling in it like Scrooge McDuck.

And here out of the blue is Herbert again, making me laugh out loud with his unfailing politeness even at knifepoint. I confess I'm pleased to hear his story (poor dear) -- the Bill Barley he's describing now sounds so much more like the original Bill Barley.

Back at Satis House, Estella is in fine form indeed. I don't know who makes me shiver more, her with her "I told you I could make you cry," or Miss Havisham, now looking like a walking skeleton, with her gloating. Unlike in the book, she seems to be relishing her moment of triumph. Her voice, which keeps getting thinner and eerier, is reminding me of something -- I'm not sure what. Gollum, maybe? Some foul critter, at any rate. Pip, too, is really good here. I have to give him credit for not stuffing Drummle's cravat down his throat after more of those nauseating nicknames -- I'd be sorely tempted, myself.

So Compeyson has moved up in the world -- maybe I should have recognized him earlier, but being very bad with faces, I didn't. Herbert does a good job taking charge, in his Herbert-like way, but Pip and Magwitch fighting seems jarring. Pip in the book, arrogant as he was, had a little more consideration.

For once Estella is unquestionably genuine in her moment of terror before the wedding, and given that she's marrying Bentley Drummle, I think it works. Mrs. Brandley in her way is as remorseless as Miss Havisham in hers.

I like that we get a glimpse, even just a small one, of Estella's married life.

It's rather interesting that they've made an ethical dilemma out of Magwitch's money, when Pip in the book had no chance of taking it at all.

Compeyson promises Orlick a different whore every night. I feel sorry for the whores.

Here's Miss Havisham again. Gillian Anderson is acting the living daylights out of this scene -- it really is an impressive performance -- but I don't care for the way they've changed her character development. She does get in a "forgive me" or two at the very end of the scene, but there doesn't seem to be much of a rationale for it, or for Pip's response. As for this deliberate suicide, I'm not sure what to make of it.

Magwitch binding up Pip's hand, and their reconciliation in general, is sweet. There's quite a few changes in Magwitch's story -- streamlining again . . . and WHOA, Molly as Jaggers's mistress? Sorry, I'm not buying that. Not at all. Again, this argument between Pip and Jaggers needs a touch of the old Dickensian restraint. And ick, there goes Jaggers making his fingernail bleed! Either the director or the screenwriter has a really unpleasant hand fetish!

Orlick is rather summarily dealt with. Good thing Pip's got a good strong right arm.

Apparently Estella has a thing for eating her meals in ball gowns, the off-the-shoulder kind that show all her bruises to the servants. Um, okay. . . . Anyway, kissing the horse is a nice (if macabre) touch!

Just as in the first installment, I don't like Magwitch's murderous attack on Compeyson. Knifing him is very different from going after him with his bare hands, it seems to me.

This is a truly lovely prodigal son scene with Joe and Pip. We never did get a "wot larks," but we do get a "best of friends." I can live with that!

For all the talk of a new ending, it doesn't seem terribly different from the old one. The published one, I mean. I like the way they do it, though.

And that's a wrap! For all my nitpicking, there were a lot of good things about this adaptation -- especially the acting and a lot of the character relationships -- and I can honestly say that I enjoyed it. Share your thoughts below!

Comments

[Selenia]

Harry Lloyd was just brilliant!!!

[Gina]

He was, wasn't he? :-)

[Carmen]

I really wish they had done a more thorough dramatization, like Bleak House and Little Dorritt. I think the visits to Walworth, the relationship with Wemmick and the Aged P., and Trabb's boy making fun of Pip really give more insight into Pip's development. No Biddy, and no nursing from Joe also detract from the story. I think the ending is too "happily-ever-after", not as ambiguous as the book. This seemed more like a "Cliff's Notes" version, and the first Masterpiece Dickens that disappointed me.

[Charity]

I love it. So much that I may watch it again this week. =)

[Christy]

I finally got to watch this episode. I loved the way Gillian Anderson played Miss Havisham. A nice change from the freaky-old-crone versions. I liked how she was pathetically creepy rather than scary beyond all reason. And the self-immolation was beautifully done, even if it wasn't quite accurate.
Harry Lloyd as Herbert Pocket was too, too delicious and adorable, and in no way did Pip deserve a friend like him.
I loved the way Estella was portrayed. They made her look very much like a victim of Miss Havisham. I thought the actress did a magnificent job of looking so very, very hard, and underneath it so very very desperate and sad, all on her face without ever saying anything. She reminded me very greatly of Edith Dombey, too.

[Glenna Matthews]

I just finished re-reading GREAT EXPECTATIONS, probably the third time though. I was fascinated by how much I loved it this time. I love any and all Dickens, but GE was never one of my faves. This time I read it as a critique of capitalism as well as a statement about the British class system, and I appreciated that. Also, I loved the way Pip goes back and forth between self-centeredness and consideration for others, and the way he comes around to being able to love his grimy benefactor.