JS&MN ep 1, "The Friends of English Magic"

[kate_nepveu]

Super-quick reactions before one kid or another wakes up, without doing a lot of book-checking or sleeping on it (a refined, overall version will come to Tor.com at the end of the story). Basically I liked it.

I watched the first 20 min. or so of the version aired in Britain and there is at least one small cut in the BBC America version (walking to Norrell's library). I'll have to watch to see if there's more. (But I'm not sorry to watch for the first time on TV, because big screen, though commercials are terrible. Well, rewatch for details will be the British versions.)

Mr Segundus buys a spell to join things together from Vinculus! Talk about your long-game setup.

Not as blue as I feared from the trailer.

Childermass is amazing. "Well done" indeed.

Before I really got into it, I noticed a lot of kind of peering/from-the-edges camera shots: keyhole into Segundus' rooms, what looked like a spyhole or fuzzy-edged window into the Society's meeting, the edge of the room across Miss Wintertowne's body.

A bit of fatphobia? I don't remember if Dr Foxcastle is described in the book, but Drawlight is supposed to be small and rather feminine.

Making the news of Miss Wintertowne's death be the thing that makes Norrell fall in with Drawlight is maybe even more convincing than the book.

The Fearfulness/Arrogance is from a fairy woman late in the book.

Overall: this draws from all of Vol. I by advancing Jonathan doing that spell this far up—which makes perfect sense, I'm fine with that. But I think, scanning down chapter titles, the main thing left in Vol. I is the bad effect of the gentleman's spell and presence (eta: by which I mean his glomming onto Stephen as well as the half-life of Arabella), and Norrell doing a little bit for the war effort: otherwise, resurrection, check; prophecy, check; card reading, check; Jonathan taking up magic, check. I honestly felt a little breathless about it, though I've seen people say the first episode was slow.

I liked the magic! I might've been predisposed, but I didn't find it wizard-fu-ish or corny. Mr Segundus is a dear, he's my favorite minor character, and he was great. I thought Norrell and Strange both had a good start, character-wise, and Arabella is good too. Again, not having slept on it, I'm pretty excited.

Comments

[sovay]

Mr Segundus is a dear, he's my favorite minor character, and he was great.

I am four episodes in and continue to love Mr. Segundus.

Eddie Marsan is walking off with the show as far as I'm concerned. He's an actor I already liked, it's a fantastic part for him, and so far I'm just really impressed.

[kate_nepveu]

One nice thing I anticipate about the compressed nature of the adaptation is a more steady stream of Mr Segundus.

It's possible, so far, that Marsan/the show is making Norrell too nice. We'll see how his low point comes across.

[sovay]

It's possible, so far, that Marsan/the show is making Norrell too nice.

I haven't found that a problem in the episodes I've seen, which is one of the reasons I think he's walking off with the show, but I also don't want to be the person who discusses TV spoilers in vague and significant ways, so I should probably hold off on this discussion until the show's done.

[kate_nepveu]

And that's a pretty idiosyncratic reaction, too, so spoilers might not even be useful!

[qian]

Segundus is such a cinnamon roll!!

I'm glad you liked the first episode. I think it's a really interesting adaptation -- obviously don't agree with everything, but you can tell it was made by people who love the book.

[kate_nepveu]

I braced myself going in for it needing to be a very different thing from the book, just by its nature, so my expectations might be too low, but this morning I still enjoy it. => I'll see what I think about the pacing on rewatch.

(I finally looked up the cinnammon roll thing! I am surprised it was The Onion.)

[jorriespencer]

Why doesn't Canada have a site that will play the first episode?!

Ah, well, I look forward to seeing it in its entirely sometime in August.

[kate_nepveu]

Aww, is the YouTube version region-locked? You might be able to use a proxy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMfWTECN-0E

But yeah, might as well wait and binge!

[jorriespencer]

Yes, region locked by BBC and BBC America. So I'll just obey and wait. It will be fun to see it all at once.

[lannamichaels]

I agree with you about the pacing. I wonder if it feels differently to those who haven't read the book?


Mr Segundus buys a spell to join things together from Vinculus! Talk about your long-game setup.

Oooh, I didn't notice that bit.

[kate_nepveu]

I have definitely seen people say it was slow, which boggles me--I suspect on rewatch some connective tissue will appear thin or missing.

Yes, yes, and in the book it's just Vinculus telling him the prophecy, so buying _that_ spell, wow, great.

[(Anonymous)]

We have not read the book (although I *thought* I had - it must have just been on my to-read list for years). We didn't think it was dragging at all. We'll continue recording it and fast-forwarding through the ads.
Laura Dickerson

[kate_nepveu]

Good to know, thanks!

[damerell]

It is a bit teal and orange, though (although, granted, one of the few situations in which RL can be a bit teal and orange is dark rooms lit by orange lamps). But generally I was quite impressed.