Bonnets and a London ball
Apr. 12th, 2026 03:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe Other Bennet Girl
1.4/Chapter 4
Mary’s voiceover was still quite chirpy about London as she walked around a park. But she returned to the house to overhear the adult Gardeners talking candidly about her and her unnaturalness. Thrown and hurt, she walked back outside into Mr Heyward. She was a bit down on poetry to him and a bit too frank about her feelings for her family, and he decided that she was ‘out of sorts’.
So, he decided to do the grand gesture of inviting the Gardeners and her (Miss Baxter had wriggled out of it, which suggested they might not be the best match) to a special poetry reading by him in a nice garden. Okay, poetry stan.
HOW the music swelled to let us know how to feel/they didn’t trust the actor.
Mary was moved, though, and found enough words to express that she didn’t have enough words. After being a bit Marianne Dashwood about the importance of strong feelings and poetry, Tom did the whole leaning in thing to push off a bit of petal from her glasses. Mary, quite rightly, reacted like it was a bit of a liberty. Yes, what are you playing at, sir?
Mrs B invited/ordered Mary to come join her at Pemberley for the summer (I bet Lizzy would second it for maximum buffering between her and her mother) as her companion, but mainly her dog walker. Despite the adult Gardeners pressing her to stay, Mary was determined to go. Well, determinedish. But she decided to give poetry another chance and connected a bit more with the children. Sort of.
Mrs Gardener had got an inkling of what motivated Mary’s desire to leave London so soon, and tried to use a metaphor (bonnets = men) that Mary hilariously failed to understand. And so the Gardeners tried a games night, only it would be word games. Mary came across a Mr Ryder, who had a touch of the young Mathew Rhys about him, and rather impressed him, especially because she was good at riddles (I was not. I wanted a feature where someone explained them to me.)
Tom and Miss Baxter turned up, and there were undercurrents. Tom and ‘Will’, i.e. Mr Ryder, had both been lawyers, and Tom had bested him. (Miss Baxter seemed grumbly that her fiancée spent too much time at work. I wondered what Mr Ryder was living off if he’d given up lawyering.) Good-natured Tom did not like how well Mr Ryder and Mary were getting on, though he didn’t react to his intended seeming to quite like the chap too. Hmm, northern Edward Ferrars much?
After a mostly fun night for her, Mary, who’d been putting off sending her reply in the affirmative to her mother, asked Mrs Gardener if she could stay. Should note that the gown she wore for games night was even more lurid than the one in the previous episode.
1.5/Chapter 5
The Gardener children’s governess had returned, which Mary had a twinge about, but accepted that that meant she’d be able to be even more sociable.
There was to be a ball, and Miss Baxter – not sure if she’s an Anne or an Ann – took Mary under her wing, giving her beauty advice (put a stew on your face) and tips about handling men: essentially, chart a middle ground between playing it cool and being responsive. She also dropped a big hint that she was no longer feeling the spark with Tom, if she ever had. Of course, before the ball, Mrs Gardener advised Mary to be herself.
Which is probably why she had a garish belt on over the nice white muslin. And I noted she was red-faced, which turned out to be rouge. Oh dear. But Miss Baxter (dressed in black, which suited her, but made me raise my eyebrows because surely not for an unmarried lady who was intending to dance at a ball, it’s the colour of mourning) forced Tom to dance with Mary.
Weird one that, because there might have been tripping for comic effect, or that might have been the dance step, but I will say that the move where one partner was going around behind the standing partner was a bit sexy if there was some intense staring from at least one of them going on.
Mary then saw Mr Ryder, refused to dance for a bit, but intrigued him in conversation, then they did a dance that was mostly ridiculous, and she turned out to have spirits as high as Lydia. Guess who was there to notice? Caroline Bingley. She was a bit of a bitch, especially because Ryder was inviting Mary over to his for a dinner.
Tom Heyward also noticed, and didn’t like it.
The thing was that Mary had admitted to Miss Baxter that she was fairly sure that Ryder didn’t like her like that (which might not be accurate, she is absolutely intriguing him because he hasn’t met anyone like her, and even accepted a rebuke about his chauvinism from her) which was why she felt comfortable around him and why she thought they were getting on.
Ryder had sent Mary pamphlets about grisly crimes, because she’d admitted they were her guilty pleasure for reading.
Mrs Gardner had a word that you could tell was lifted from the book, and very sincerely meant, about not letting the insecure Caroline Bingleys of this world get ‘us’ down. (Janie Hadlow, you’re no Jane Austen. But then, who is? I spent most ‘Sanditon’ whining about the writing.) It did feel that Caroline was reliving a nightmare, seeing a Bennet girl nab her potential match (even if he’d never seen it like that.) Mrs G was all for Mary wearing her crimson gown (umm, Caroline wasn’t wrong when she put down Mary’s fashion choices, Caroline’s dress looked far better.)
Mary was having a good chat with Ryder that promised a fun night, when Caroline swept in, pointing out a portrait of Lady Catherine de Bourgh (ER, WHAT?) She also steamrollered Ryder into letting her look over the dinner arrangements, which seemed odd, as he was anti-marriage at the ball. We’d see the results of that at dinner, where Caroline was sat next to Ryder, Miss Baxter to Tom, and Mary was seated next to a coughing Mr Hurst (Louisa’s Mr Hurst?) and a man with an ear trumpet. Mary struggled to find a topic of conversation that Mr Hurst would engage in after the coughing had stopped until she flat out asked him what his favourite subject was, and good naturedly let him manboysplain about horse racing. She was clearly enjoying herself and sparkling socially. Mrs Gardner, Tom and Caroline, at least, noticed this. The latter was not pleased.
Mary stood up for herself when Caroline quoted Lady Catherine in the bitchiest possible way, but was still hurt by her words. This was the moment that Tom decided to offer his services as someone who’d rebuff Ryder for her should she want it. Mary tried to explain that she didn’t want it, because she enjoyed his company, even if she wasn’t drawn to him. Not sure that Tom followed that entirely (and more or less engaged men have no business being dogs in the manger with other women), but it was interrupted by DRAMATIC NEWS. Mrs Bennet had fallen ill, and the Gardener party had to go. In the shock of it, Mary knocked into an insect collection that Ryder had inherited from his father (it was the ‘from his father’ bit that clearly had made it meaningful to him.)
1.4/Chapter 4
Mary’s voiceover was still quite chirpy about London as she walked around a park. But she returned to the house to overhear the adult Gardeners talking candidly about her and her unnaturalness. Thrown and hurt, she walked back outside into Mr Heyward. She was a bit down on poetry to him and a bit too frank about her feelings for her family, and he decided that she was ‘out of sorts’.
So, he decided to do the grand gesture of inviting the Gardeners and her (Miss Baxter had wriggled out of it, which suggested they might not be the best match) to a special poetry reading by him in a nice garden. Okay, poetry stan.
HOW the music swelled to let us know how to feel/they didn’t trust the actor.
Mary was moved, though, and found enough words to express that she didn’t have enough words. After being a bit Marianne Dashwood about the importance of strong feelings and poetry, Tom did the whole leaning in thing to push off a bit of petal from her glasses. Mary, quite rightly, reacted like it was a bit of a liberty. Yes, what are you playing at, sir?
Mrs B invited/ordered Mary to come join her at Pemberley for the summer (I bet Lizzy would second it for maximum buffering between her and her mother) as her companion, but mainly her dog walker. Despite the adult Gardeners pressing her to stay, Mary was determined to go. Well, determinedish. But she decided to give poetry another chance and connected a bit more with the children. Sort of.
Mrs Gardener had got an inkling of what motivated Mary’s desire to leave London so soon, and tried to use a metaphor (bonnets = men) that Mary hilariously failed to understand. And so the Gardeners tried a games night, only it would be word games. Mary came across a Mr Ryder, who had a touch of the young Mathew Rhys about him, and rather impressed him, especially because she was good at riddles (I was not. I wanted a feature where someone explained them to me.)
Tom and Miss Baxter turned up, and there were undercurrents. Tom and ‘Will’, i.e. Mr Ryder, had both been lawyers, and Tom had bested him. (Miss Baxter seemed grumbly that her fiancée spent too much time at work. I wondered what Mr Ryder was living off if he’d given up lawyering.) Good-natured Tom did not like how well Mr Ryder and Mary were getting on, though he didn’t react to his intended seeming to quite like the chap too. Hmm, northern Edward Ferrars much?
After a mostly fun night for her, Mary, who’d been putting off sending her reply in the affirmative to her mother, asked Mrs Gardener if she could stay. Should note that the gown she wore for games night was even more lurid than the one in the previous episode.
1.5/Chapter 5
The Gardener children’s governess had returned, which Mary had a twinge about, but accepted that that meant she’d be able to be even more sociable.
There was to be a ball, and Miss Baxter – not sure if she’s an Anne or an Ann – took Mary under her wing, giving her beauty advice (put a stew on your face) and tips about handling men: essentially, chart a middle ground between playing it cool and being responsive. She also dropped a big hint that she was no longer feeling the spark with Tom, if she ever had. Of course, before the ball, Mrs Gardener advised Mary to be herself.
Which is probably why she had a garish belt on over the nice white muslin. And I noted she was red-faced, which turned out to be rouge. Oh dear. But Miss Baxter (dressed in black, which suited her, but made me raise my eyebrows because surely not for an unmarried lady who was intending to dance at a ball, it’s the colour of mourning) forced Tom to dance with Mary.
Weird one that, because there might have been tripping for comic effect, or that might have been the dance step, but I will say that the move where one partner was going around behind the standing partner was a bit sexy if there was some intense staring from at least one of them going on.
Mary then saw Mr Ryder, refused to dance for a bit, but intrigued him in conversation, then they did a dance that was mostly ridiculous, and she turned out to have spirits as high as Lydia. Guess who was there to notice? Caroline Bingley. She was a bit of a bitch, especially because Ryder was inviting Mary over to his for a dinner.
Tom Heyward also noticed, and didn’t like it.
The thing was that Mary had admitted to Miss Baxter that she was fairly sure that Ryder didn’t like her like that (which might not be accurate, she is absolutely intriguing him because he hasn’t met anyone like her, and even accepted a rebuke about his chauvinism from her) which was why she felt comfortable around him and why she thought they were getting on.
Ryder had sent Mary pamphlets about grisly crimes, because she’d admitted they were her guilty pleasure for reading.
Mrs Gardner had a word that you could tell was lifted from the book, and very sincerely meant, about not letting the insecure Caroline Bingleys of this world get ‘us’ down. (Janie Hadlow, you’re no Jane Austen. But then, who is? I spent most ‘Sanditon’ whining about the writing.) It did feel that Caroline was reliving a nightmare, seeing a Bennet girl nab her potential match (even if he’d never seen it like that.) Mrs G was all for Mary wearing her crimson gown (umm, Caroline wasn’t wrong when she put down Mary’s fashion choices, Caroline’s dress looked far better.)
Mary was having a good chat with Ryder that promised a fun night, when Caroline swept in, pointing out a portrait of Lady Catherine de Bourgh (ER, WHAT?) She also steamrollered Ryder into letting her look over the dinner arrangements, which seemed odd, as he was anti-marriage at the ball. We’d see the results of that at dinner, where Caroline was sat next to Ryder, Miss Baxter to Tom, and Mary was seated next to a coughing Mr Hurst (Louisa’s Mr Hurst?) and a man with an ear trumpet. Mary struggled to find a topic of conversation that Mr Hurst would engage in after the coughing had stopped until she flat out asked him what his favourite subject was, and good naturedly let him manboysplain about horse racing. She was clearly enjoying herself and sparkling socially. Mrs Gardner, Tom and Caroline, at least, noticed this. The latter was not pleased.
Mary stood up for herself when Caroline quoted Lady Catherine in the bitchiest possible way, but was still hurt by her words. This was the moment that Tom decided to offer his services as someone who’d rebuff Ryder for her should she want it. Mary tried to explain that she didn’t want it, because she enjoyed his company, even if she wasn’t drawn to him. Not sure that Tom followed that entirely (and more or less engaged men have no business being dogs in the manger with other women), but it was interrupted by DRAMATIC NEWS. Mrs Bennet had fallen ill, and the Gardener party had to go. In the shock of it, Mary knocked into an insect collection that Ryder had inherited from his father (it was the ‘from his father’ bit that clearly had made it meaningful to him.)
