@Pemberley
Apr. 16th, 2026 07:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe Other Bennet Girl - 1.6/Chapter 6
Mary’s mad flight – alone in a carriage, still in her ballgown – ended at Pemberley, where she found her mother…was fine, having sent alarming letters to all her daughters, bringing them to her. Mary was expected to tend to the dog and be the butt of her mother’s nastiness and her sisters’ low opinion of her again. Sigh.
Hard to say whether (heavily pregnant) Lydia or Mrs B was the greatest caricature. It gradually dawned on the sisters that Mary might have had a life in London, and things improved slightly between her and Lizzy, who tried to put Mary’s fixation about breaking the bell jar into perspective, and there was a particularly potent moment where we knew about the messes Mary presumed Lizzy had never made in her life.
And then Mr Ryder turned up, and everyone bar Mary – who still felt terrible about the bell jar – started twitching their antennae. Main takeout: he only likes poetry because it’s short and is a bit of a himbo, so they’re doomed. But he did get to quote some poetry at her aptly, and was making his intentions somewhat clear, or would have if Mary simply didn’t believe a gentleman could have intentions towards her thanks to her mother’s training. She thought a horse ride was just a horse ride (and a bit of an ordeal) and was very flummoxed by her mother’s completely different behaviour towards her now that a gentleman seemed interested in her. Mrs B was even making heavily pregnant Lydia take care of the dog.
Ryder made some acute points about his father being locked away in his study, obsessing over beetles, and ignoring his family. But the fact that Mary had never been asked what made her happy before, and the family dynamics that we were seeing at play explained her a lot.
The episode ended on a CLIFFHANGER with Ryder seeming to propose, but the voiceover claiming Mary couldn’t have anticipated what would happen next. Myself, I wondered, ‘He isn’t going to ask her to be his mistress, surely, they’re too middle class for that!?’
Three things relating to P&P bugged me this episode: where was Georgiana? I chortled at Darcy walking into a room with the in-laws and walking out straight away, and at his ‘seasonal headache’, but where’s his sister who lives there? Did she get married off the page? I get that the budget is not infinite and the focus is on Mary, and they want the clarity of her being with her mother and sisters again, the only Miss Bennet left. But, Would a line explaining where she was have killed them? Also, wouldn’t Jane have met many of the London people Mary had been introduced to that time she was staying with the Gardeners? That occurred to me after watching the episode, but during it, I was presuming that Ryder was related to Lady Catherine de Burgh through the dead husband, or he’d be related to Darcy – and anyway, wouldn’t they have known each other regardless, which would have changed how things played out? At the moment, I think it was a mistake to make him related to Lady C, he could have just known Caroline (and the Hursts?) by chance, but I suppose that I could be persuaded differently by whatever happens next.
Neat emphasis that Darcy is wealthier than the Bennets ever were by the footmen having powdered wigs.
Mary’s mad flight – alone in a carriage, still in her ballgown – ended at Pemberley, where she found her mother…was fine, having sent alarming letters to all her daughters, bringing them to her. Mary was expected to tend to the dog and be the butt of her mother’s nastiness and her sisters’ low opinion of her again. Sigh.
Hard to say whether (heavily pregnant) Lydia or Mrs B was the greatest caricature. It gradually dawned on the sisters that Mary might have had a life in London, and things improved slightly between her and Lizzy, who tried to put Mary’s fixation about breaking the bell jar into perspective, and there was a particularly potent moment where we knew about the messes Mary presumed Lizzy had never made in her life.
And then Mr Ryder turned up, and everyone bar Mary – who still felt terrible about the bell jar – started twitching their antennae. Main takeout: he only likes poetry because it’s short and is a bit of a himbo, so they’re doomed. But he did get to quote some poetry at her aptly, and was making his intentions somewhat clear, or would have if Mary simply didn’t believe a gentleman could have intentions towards her thanks to her mother’s training. She thought a horse ride was just a horse ride (and a bit of an ordeal) and was very flummoxed by her mother’s completely different behaviour towards her now that a gentleman seemed interested in her. Mrs B was even making heavily pregnant Lydia take care of the dog.
Ryder made some acute points about his father being locked away in his study, obsessing over beetles, and ignoring his family. But the fact that Mary had never been asked what made her happy before, and the family dynamics that we were seeing at play explained her a lot.
The episode ended on a CLIFFHANGER with Ryder seeming to propose, but the voiceover claiming Mary couldn’t have anticipated what would happen next. Myself, I wondered, ‘He isn’t going to ask her to be his mistress, surely, they’re too middle class for that!?’
Three things relating to P&P bugged me this episode: where was Georgiana? I chortled at Darcy walking into a room with the in-laws and walking out straight away, and at his ‘seasonal headache’, but where’s his sister who lives there? Did she get married off the page? I get that the budget is not infinite and the focus is on Mary, and they want the clarity of her being with her mother and sisters again, the only Miss Bennet left. But, Would a line explaining where she was have killed them? Also, wouldn’t Jane have met many of the London people Mary had been introduced to that time she was staying with the Gardeners? That occurred to me after watching the episode, but during it, I was presuming that Ryder was related to Lady Catherine de Burgh through the dead husband, or he’d be related to Darcy – and anyway, wouldn’t they have known each other regardless, which would have changed how things played out? At the moment, I think it was a mistake to make him related to Lady C, he could have just known Caroline (and the Hursts?) by chance, but I suppose that I could be persuaded differently by whatever happens next.
Neat emphasis that Darcy is wealthier than the Bennets ever were by the footmen having powdered wigs.
