Lakes – imagined and real
Apr. 22nd, 2026 08:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe Other Bennet Sister double-bill
(Sorry, I’ve realised my brain has been stuck on calling it ‘The Other Bennet Girl’, which is wrong.)
Chapter 7
Ack, Ryder did propose that Mary become his mistress, although it took Lizzy to put it in those terms, proving he hadn’t really listened to Mary’s rebuke about freedom for men not working out so well for women. Mary didn’t know how to respond, and he took it as her playing for time. She was seriously considering the idea when she had her tete a tete with Lizzy, when she threw a pretty harsh blow about Lizzy caring more for propriety than her. (I think the oh so 2026 bias is showing, this would have been shocking for someone of Mary’s background, both class and religious upbringing, however ‘wide’ her reading. See also how they talk about what happened with Lydia.) Lizzy had a killer blow of her own, though, when she asked if Mary loved Ryder.
In between the proposal that wasn’t, the failure to eavesdrop by Mrs B and daughters, Mary lying to her mother about what Ryder had said, and the above sisterly heart to heart, the Collinses arrived (!?!? The only sighting we had of Darcy all episode was him sinking behind a newspaper. One can only imagine his reaction to Lizzy’s on-the-spot decision to hold a dinner to celebrate her mother’s remarkable recovery. It’s not even as if this spin-off is that bothered about Lizzy and Charlotte’s friendship.) And they were miserable.
Mary told Ryder, when he was leaving for Italy the next morning, that she wouldn’t be leaving with him, despite his manly forearms. And really, the fact that he thought she’d wake up, start packing and tell her family, ‘Bye!’ is daft. For this, she was rewarded by Lydia, Kitty and Jane leaving Pemberley, removing some buffering from her mother’s chagrin and complaining about Mary’s failings, which Lizzy could see amounted to bullying, even if she wasn’t there for the outright threats from Mrs B to keep Mary at her side forever more.
Miserable Mary shared a moment with a Mr Collins who had more self-awareness than he ever had in P&P (and tip of the hat to this take on things, I did suddenly think that he must be an only child and what had his upbringing been like.) Via Aristotle, he imparted the notion that one’s happiness was in one’s own hands to her – and re-emphasised the idea that Mary/Collins was a plausible uncanonical ship, as she treated him respectfully and with some sympathy. She even managed to tactfully hint to Charlotte later that she might be less miserable in her marriage if she didn’t quite shut out her husband so much, because he wasn’t that bad. (I was reminded that, if they were living in Longbourne, his gardening days were over.)
Having come on as a good older sister, Lizzy had decided to write to the Gardeners, who turned up – Mrs B was hoping the carriage contained Mr Ryder – inviting Mary to holiday with them in the Lake District and then stay in London for good. Mrs B ordered her to refuse and be her companion, but Lizzy had outmanoeuvred their mother by arranging a paid companion named Susan (nod to Susan Price?) And as most of the party were pro letting Mary decide, she decided to go.
Her adieu to her mother was so pantomimish that I’m almost surprised they skipped a close-up of the footman’s face going ‘My master’s mother-in-law is a monster.’
The ‘cliffhanger’ was provided by the revelation that Tom Heyward would be joining them in Wordsworth country.
Chapter 8
Of course, who wouldn’t be joining them would be the Gardeners’ kids, heh. 2026: you are BAD PARENTS/we are jealous. Governess in London: Sigh. All episode, Mary was treated to the repeated vision of a truly happy marriage that is the missus napping on the napping mister.
In a stop on the way, because – well because it’s a small world on this show – Mary bumped into Ann Baxter, who revealed that she and Tom had broken up, and that she was now engaged to someone else, who she’d just met at Ryder’s party (which paints her as flighty, but this is all an aside.) Mary assumed Tom would be heartbroken. This viewer did not and smirked at Ann asking Mary to look after him (or words to that effect.)
We had enough glorious shots to gladden the heart of the Lake District’s tourism board, even if I’m not convinced that they filmed there and that there wasn’t some VFX jiggery-pokery. Eventually, they caught up with Tom, and Mrs G’s matchmaking began (Mr G would be oblivious to this all episode), pushing them out to talk in the garden, where he learned a bit about what damage her mother had done to Mary, she addressed the break-up, and he had just raised Ryder’s visit to Pemberley when they were interrupted. Nice blocking in this scene.
The next day involved fishing – of course Mary had read up about it and was telling everyone how it was meant to be done, which they took in good spirits. Also cute flirting over Tom’s terrible drawing and bird calls (which are, in part, mating calls. By the way, I just read a piece about how ornithological sexism has meant that birders have got it wrong about female birdsong for years.) They had a bit of crosstalking so Tom couldn’t make it clear that he wasn’t devastated about the end of things with Ann, and Mary couldn’t make clear what had happened with Ryder.
The next day the young couple were on a rowing boat, the older couple on the shore, as Mary confessed to struggling with poetry. Good bit of acting as she was asked to read the piece and did so uselessly, so Tom got to do so. Just a bit of fingers brushing each other as the book was passed over, and him, at least, feeling it. They’d calmed down on the soaring music, and trusted a close-up to show that when Tom was quoting ‘Tintern Abbey’, he wasn’t thinking about nature in the way that Mary was, while she had her eyes closed mostly and couldn’t see it. She’d finally clarified that there was nothing between her and Ryder, and he’d finally felt able to talk about having grown out of the understanding and his feelings having changed when…
Ryder turned up, having decided to wade into the lake. I’d been spoiled that the 1995 Darcy wet shirt would be referenced, because Tom was pulled into the lake too, Mary kept dropping oars into the lake, and the two men had to tow her seated in pomp in the boat back to shore. Mary didn’t quite get why they were both peacocking and pretending they didn’t need to get changed and warmed ASAP. Tom was extremely irritated. Ryder was extremely not in Italy.
The party reached their inn to find the Hursts AND Caroline Bingley looking out of place there. Caroline tried to be bossy and bitchy, Mary stood up to the latter better. They all had to eat together, and the newcomers invited themselves to the planned hike up Scarfell the next day. Tom got to do a bit more touching as he helped Mary wrap herself more snugly in her shawl (me: he wants to CHERISH you!) He also thought he’d been clever in asking her to climb with him, and maybe they could continue their conversation on the boat at the peak. To be fair, Mary seemed very into this plan. Ryder saw this and also snagged Mary to basically hint he’d realised that if he wanted her, he’d have to put a ring on it and might be amenable to that and maybe they could talk about it at the peak. Caroline noticed this conversation and tried her best to break it up, but failed.
Voiceover!Mary was struck by the novel idea that just as she’d given up the thought of ever marrying, two of her ‘dear friends’ (oh bless) were maybe interested in offering it to her. Myself, I was hoping that nobody fell off a cliff and wondering whether Mary or Caroline would be the first to fail abjectly at climbing. Mary has the advantage of being the heroine and of being forewarned about wearing appropriate footwear.
(Sorry, I’ve realised my brain has been stuck on calling it ‘The Other Bennet Girl’, which is wrong.)
Chapter 7
Ack, Ryder did propose that Mary become his mistress, although it took Lizzy to put it in those terms, proving he hadn’t really listened to Mary’s rebuke about freedom for men not working out so well for women. Mary didn’t know how to respond, and he took it as her playing for time. She was seriously considering the idea when she had her tete a tete with Lizzy, when she threw a pretty harsh blow about Lizzy caring more for propriety than her. (I think the oh so 2026 bias is showing, this would have been shocking for someone of Mary’s background, both class and religious upbringing, however ‘wide’ her reading. See also how they talk about what happened with Lydia.) Lizzy had a killer blow of her own, though, when she asked if Mary loved Ryder.
In between the proposal that wasn’t, the failure to eavesdrop by Mrs B and daughters, Mary lying to her mother about what Ryder had said, and the above sisterly heart to heart, the Collinses arrived (!?!? The only sighting we had of Darcy all episode was him sinking behind a newspaper. One can only imagine his reaction to Lizzy’s on-the-spot decision to hold a dinner to celebrate her mother’s remarkable recovery. It’s not even as if this spin-off is that bothered about Lizzy and Charlotte’s friendship.) And they were miserable.
Mary told Ryder, when he was leaving for Italy the next morning, that she wouldn’t be leaving with him, despite his manly forearms. And really, the fact that he thought she’d wake up, start packing and tell her family, ‘Bye!’ is daft. For this, she was rewarded by Lydia, Kitty and Jane leaving Pemberley, removing some buffering from her mother’s chagrin and complaining about Mary’s failings, which Lizzy could see amounted to bullying, even if she wasn’t there for the outright threats from Mrs B to keep Mary at her side forever more.
Miserable Mary shared a moment with a Mr Collins who had more self-awareness than he ever had in P&P (and tip of the hat to this take on things, I did suddenly think that he must be an only child and what had his upbringing been like.) Via Aristotle, he imparted the notion that one’s happiness was in one’s own hands to her – and re-emphasised the idea that Mary/Collins was a plausible uncanonical ship, as she treated him respectfully and with some sympathy. She even managed to tactfully hint to Charlotte later that she might be less miserable in her marriage if she didn’t quite shut out her husband so much, because he wasn’t that bad. (I was reminded that, if they were living in Longbourne, his gardening days were over.)
Having come on as a good older sister, Lizzy had decided to write to the Gardeners, who turned up – Mrs B was hoping the carriage contained Mr Ryder – inviting Mary to holiday with them in the Lake District and then stay in London for good. Mrs B ordered her to refuse and be her companion, but Lizzy had outmanoeuvred their mother by arranging a paid companion named Susan (nod to Susan Price?) And as most of the party were pro letting Mary decide, she decided to go.
Her adieu to her mother was so pantomimish that I’m almost surprised they skipped a close-up of the footman’s face going ‘My master’s mother-in-law is a monster.’
The ‘cliffhanger’ was provided by the revelation that Tom Heyward would be joining them in Wordsworth country.
Chapter 8
Of course, who wouldn’t be joining them would be the Gardeners’ kids, heh. 2026: you are BAD PARENTS/we are jealous. Governess in London: Sigh. All episode, Mary was treated to the repeated vision of a truly happy marriage that is the missus napping on the napping mister.
In a stop on the way, because – well because it’s a small world on this show – Mary bumped into Ann Baxter, who revealed that she and Tom had broken up, and that she was now engaged to someone else, who she’d just met at Ryder’s party (which paints her as flighty, but this is all an aside.) Mary assumed Tom would be heartbroken. This viewer did not and smirked at Ann asking Mary to look after him (or words to that effect.)
We had enough glorious shots to gladden the heart of the Lake District’s tourism board, even if I’m not convinced that they filmed there and that there wasn’t some VFX jiggery-pokery. Eventually, they caught up with Tom, and Mrs G’s matchmaking began (Mr G would be oblivious to this all episode), pushing them out to talk in the garden, where he learned a bit about what damage her mother had done to Mary, she addressed the break-up, and he had just raised Ryder’s visit to Pemberley when they were interrupted. Nice blocking in this scene.
The next day involved fishing – of course Mary had read up about it and was telling everyone how it was meant to be done, which they took in good spirits. Also cute flirting over Tom’s terrible drawing and bird calls (which are, in part, mating calls. By the way, I just read a piece about how ornithological sexism has meant that birders have got it wrong about female birdsong for years.) They had a bit of crosstalking so Tom couldn’t make it clear that he wasn’t devastated about the end of things with Ann, and Mary couldn’t make clear what had happened with Ryder.
The next day the young couple were on a rowing boat, the older couple on the shore, as Mary confessed to struggling with poetry. Good bit of acting as she was asked to read the piece and did so uselessly, so Tom got to do so. Just a bit of fingers brushing each other as the book was passed over, and him, at least, feeling it. They’d calmed down on the soaring music, and trusted a close-up to show that when Tom was quoting ‘Tintern Abbey’, he wasn’t thinking about nature in the way that Mary was, while she had her eyes closed mostly and couldn’t see it. She’d finally clarified that there was nothing between her and Ryder, and he’d finally felt able to talk about having grown out of the understanding and his feelings having changed when…
Ryder turned up, having decided to wade into the lake. I’d been spoiled that the 1995 Darcy wet shirt would be referenced, because Tom was pulled into the lake too, Mary kept dropping oars into the lake, and the two men had to tow her seated in pomp in the boat back to shore. Mary didn’t quite get why they were both peacocking and pretending they didn’t need to get changed and warmed ASAP. Tom was extremely irritated. Ryder was extremely not in Italy.
The party reached their inn to find the Hursts AND Caroline Bingley looking out of place there. Caroline tried to be bossy and bitchy, Mary stood up to the latter better. They all had to eat together, and the newcomers invited themselves to the planned hike up Scarfell the next day. Tom got to do a bit more touching as he helped Mary wrap herself more snugly in her shawl (me: he wants to CHERISH you!) He also thought he’d been clever in asking her to climb with him, and maybe they could continue their conversation on the boat at the peak. To be fair, Mary seemed very into this plan. Ryder saw this and also snagged Mary to basically hint he’d realised that if he wanted her, he’d have to put a ring on it and might be amenable to that and maybe they could talk about it at the peak. Caroline noticed this conversation and tried her best to break it up, but failed.
Voiceover!Mary was struck by the novel idea that just as she’d given up the thought of ever marrying, two of her ‘dear friends’ (oh bless) were maybe interested in offering it to her. Myself, I was hoping that nobody fell off a cliff and wondering whether Mary or Caroline would be the first to fail abjectly at climbing. Mary has the advantage of being the heroine and of being forewarned about wearing appropriate footwear.
