Mountaineering and planning your future
Apr. 29th, 2026 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe Other Bennet Sister
Chapter 9
Breakfast involved Mary’s two suitors proffering preserves, Caroline being vicious, and Mrs Gardner not putting up with that. Outside, Mary started doing daft stretches in preparation for the climb, so Tom felt obliged to follow, ditto Ryder, doing such high kicking that one hoped the actor’s britches/trousers were made to measure.
Oh, and Tom asked Mary if money mattered much to her, and she awkwardly said something about Lizzy not having realised she loved Darcy until she saw Pemberly. Oh dear. (Like, she probably wants enough to live on and buying books is essential for her, but we’ve never seen signs that she’s mercenary.) Hardworking lawyer Tom’s face fell.
The tricorned local guide was not impressed by the party. The captions informed us of the height they’d ascended, as the suitors proffered flowers to Mary. Well, Ryder offered one to Caroline too, who gobbled it down in the ‘belief’ (thanks, local guide!) that the first to eat a primrose would get married first.
It looked misty. They climbed higher, the Hursts were suffering, and Mr G felt he and his wife ought to accompany them back down as they’d lose their way, otherwise, and convinced his missus, who was enjoying herself, that they could enjoy themselves at the inn. Mrs G dropped her chaperoning duties, beyond telling Tom to look out for Mary. The four young single people continued to climb with the local guide having to do the carrying.
At the summit, it was less misty, but no way could they see much of anything. Tom finally had Mary alone to resume the conversation from the lake, bumbled about awkwardly, dared to presume to use her first name, but they seemed to be on the same page about feeling most themselves when they were around each other… (Not realising this was the penultimate episode and all that implied.)
Ryder interrupted, despite both Tom and Mary asking him to let it wait, for some ‘pressing’ legal advice involving Lady Catherine. After it was shared, he seemed happy, Tom less so, and more or less made clear that he wasn’t going to propose. Mary failed to join the dots and got narked.
Which is when the guide took the men aside (sexist!) to let them know that a storm was brewing. Tom was the only one who thought they should listen to the person with experience and local knowledge and start descending forthwith. Caroline was enjoying her rest, Ryder was enjoying the atmosphere and quoting poetry, and Mary was hurt by what she took to be Tom’s rejection, and said she was going to be a new her instead of ‘rational’ her – he said he’d liked the old her plenty, she snarked that it was nice to finally know what he thought of her. The guide left them to it, the Marianne Dashwood impersonators sat down to watch the storm break on the ‘summit’ of Scarfell, while Tom lurked unhappily behind them. Some lightning and thunder and heavy rain later and Mary was leading the charge for leaving.
Of course it was wet and slippery and dangerous on the way down. Mary apologised to Tom, who reminded her he’d promised Mrs G to look after her, but also chastised her about how bad he’d feel if anything happened to her. She was supposed to stick closely to him, Ryder had bounded ahead, while Caroline was struggling at the rear, and ended up with her leg jammed in a rock formation. Mary came back to try to help her, getting slapped for her services, before hoisting Caroline out and trying to help the much taller woman alone until Tom arrived, and took over, with Mary following them.
Cut to Ryder at the inn, worrying with Mr Gardner about where the others were! Just coming, but far more drenched and weary. Tom handed Caroline over to her rellys, which is about when Mary fainted, and he carried her into the inn. Where she proceeded to have a fever and the doctor called a couple of times, with Mrs G playing nurse, feeling worried and guilty about abandoning her charge for some nookie, and Tom in the next room, feeling worried sick. Mary roused eventually, and the doctor said she’d get better.
The Hursts, Caroline and Ryder left in a carriage. Tom left on a horse. Mary was left to voiceover sadly that nothing had gone as she’d wanted.
Chapter 10
Back in London, and no sign of Tom. Mary had written to him three times (shocking!) and had the letters returned to sender all three times. And then to make her life better, her mother turned up, having been oh so kindly sent to see a London specialist for her nerves by the Darcys. She proposed finding Mary a match – cue a strange montage involving interacting with men, as in it was strange for the final episode where everything was more freighted with meaning.
Which is when Ryder turned up, wanting to speak to Mary…alone. He was apologetic for Scarfell and all that, explained that he was now Lady Catherine’s heir – MASSIVE SIDEBAR, wait, what? Okay, so she’s angry with Darcy, but whither Colonel Fitzwilliam, and WHITHER ANNE? Like no way would Lady C just make Ryder her heir without pressurising him to marry her daughter. This Easter egg is so problematic – that’s what he had a legal consultation with Tom about on top of a mountain, and so, because Mary made him see the world in a new way, he was now doing what he should have done before and proposing for reals.
Mary started her answer with an ‘of course’, then an hour-long pause, then rejected him because she didn’t love him and he deserved to be loved. He had to take it quite well. Mrs B didn’t, barging in to try to make her daughter take it back, but Mary took charge, and when her mother started berating her, left the house for a walk in the park.
Where she was crying, when Mr Sparrow (remember him? I did, but I also cracked a ‘Captain Jack Sparrow’ for old times) happened to walk past. Actually, he was Dr Sparrow now, and seemed to think that higher education was a thing for women in the Regency era. (Nope.) And presumably married because he had a daughter he was acknowledging. Mary blurted out her current life plan, which was to become a governess for an older girl who really wanted to learn about her specialist subjects.
When she came home, she had to have it out with her mother, and when pointing out that she didn’t want a miserable marriage heroically managed not to say ‘like yours.’ It was Mrs B who raised how Mr B did nothing for his daughters’ futures and she was left alone to plot for their futures, but it was laced with self-pity and a relentlessly disparaging view of Mary. So, Mary told her mother that her visit was over, and Mrs Gardner would later praise her, because the Gardner’s were not delighted with Mrs B’s visit. Mary had a little wobble over Tom’s disappearance when talking to her second mother.
Guess who visited next? No, given the running time, it was Caroline Bingley, who had the grace to thank Mary for treating her better than she would have had their roles been reversed on Scarfell. She also asked Mary to back off from Ryder. Safe in the knowledge that she’d already rejected him, Mary could say she would, and even admitted it was Tom she really loved. Caroline shut down any more confidences, and left.
A week and a montage later of Mary allegedly being an older girl’s governess, although she also seemed to have loads of free time to wander around, which is a Panglossian take on being a governess at the time. Her voiceover told us she was resolved to do things her own way and to be happy about it. This was interrupted by someone shouting ‘Miss Bennet’ a lot. That someone being Tom Heyward.
Another thing that Jane Austen is better at (hello, ‘Persuasion’) than most writers is, of course, endings. I will point out that if you’re going to be all anachronistically modern in your take on Regency romance, it might behove you not to have your heroine thwack your leading man. We are not supposed to be all right with domestic violence in 2026, even if she had every right to be mad, and it was for komedy. It also irritated me that an alternative might have been her suggesting pushing him into the tiny pond they were standing right next to. It was right there, it would have been a running gag about how he keeps getting soaked.
They had a row, where she was all ‘Where have you been?’ He tried to explain that when he’d heard that Ryder would inherit loads, he decided to step back so that Mary could have what she deserved. She pointed out that it was her choice, and he seemed to get it. Having now learned that she has a temper on her, he still wanted to propose and she pretty much agreed immediately. Kissing while handholding! Him suggesting she could call him by his Christian name now.
We also learned that he’d come back from Yorkshire to London because Caroline had written (shocking, also how she knew where he was and Mr Gardener, say, didn’t was handwaved.) She was on her way to Italy, chasing after a man who had abandoned her (and the woman he actually proposed to) on a mountain while there was a proper storm on. Apparently he has ideals. (Austen would have demolished his selfishness had she ever dreamed him up.)
We were informed that Mary and Tom got married when and how they wanted – not clear if the shot of them returning to the Gardeners’ was after the engagement or after said marriage. The final scene was of him carrying another load of books to a room that she’d had wallpapered in a heavy purplish pattern, while she’d written ‘Advice to a Young Lady’ to explain the voiceover. But they seemed happy together. And Mrs Bennet probably wouldn’t land on them.
So, that was mixed, as in some of it worked, and some of it didn’t, and it lacked some of the crazy energy of ‘Sanditon’, though its intent wasn’t quite the same.
Chapter 9
Breakfast involved Mary’s two suitors proffering preserves, Caroline being vicious, and Mrs Gardner not putting up with that. Outside, Mary started doing daft stretches in preparation for the climb, so Tom felt obliged to follow, ditto Ryder, doing such high kicking that one hoped the actor’s britches/trousers were made to measure.
Oh, and Tom asked Mary if money mattered much to her, and she awkwardly said something about Lizzy not having realised she loved Darcy until she saw Pemberly. Oh dear. (Like, she probably wants enough to live on and buying books is essential for her, but we’ve never seen signs that she’s mercenary.) Hardworking lawyer Tom’s face fell.
The tricorned local guide was not impressed by the party. The captions informed us of the height they’d ascended, as the suitors proffered flowers to Mary. Well, Ryder offered one to Caroline too, who gobbled it down in the ‘belief’ (thanks, local guide!) that the first to eat a primrose would get married first.
It looked misty. They climbed higher, the Hursts were suffering, and Mr G felt he and his wife ought to accompany them back down as they’d lose their way, otherwise, and convinced his missus, who was enjoying herself, that they could enjoy themselves at the inn. Mrs G dropped her chaperoning duties, beyond telling Tom to look out for Mary. The four young single people continued to climb with the local guide having to do the carrying.
At the summit, it was less misty, but no way could they see much of anything. Tom finally had Mary alone to resume the conversation from the lake, bumbled about awkwardly, dared to presume to use her first name, but they seemed to be on the same page about feeling most themselves when they were around each other… (Not realising this was the penultimate episode and all that implied.)
Ryder interrupted, despite both Tom and Mary asking him to let it wait, for some ‘pressing’ legal advice involving Lady Catherine. After it was shared, he seemed happy, Tom less so, and more or less made clear that he wasn’t going to propose. Mary failed to join the dots and got narked.
Which is when the guide took the men aside (sexist!) to let them know that a storm was brewing. Tom was the only one who thought they should listen to the person with experience and local knowledge and start descending forthwith. Caroline was enjoying her rest, Ryder was enjoying the atmosphere and quoting poetry, and Mary was hurt by what she took to be Tom’s rejection, and said she was going to be a new her instead of ‘rational’ her – he said he’d liked the old her plenty, she snarked that it was nice to finally know what he thought of her. The guide left them to it, the Marianne Dashwood impersonators sat down to watch the storm break on the ‘summit’ of Scarfell, while Tom lurked unhappily behind them. Some lightning and thunder and heavy rain later and Mary was leading the charge for leaving.
Of course it was wet and slippery and dangerous on the way down. Mary apologised to Tom, who reminded her he’d promised Mrs G to look after her, but also chastised her about how bad he’d feel if anything happened to her. She was supposed to stick closely to him, Ryder had bounded ahead, while Caroline was struggling at the rear, and ended up with her leg jammed in a rock formation. Mary came back to try to help her, getting slapped for her services, before hoisting Caroline out and trying to help the much taller woman alone until Tom arrived, and took over, with Mary following them.
Cut to Ryder at the inn, worrying with Mr Gardner about where the others were! Just coming, but far more drenched and weary. Tom handed Caroline over to her rellys, which is about when Mary fainted, and he carried her into the inn. Where she proceeded to have a fever and the doctor called a couple of times, with Mrs G playing nurse, feeling worried and guilty about abandoning her charge for some nookie, and Tom in the next room, feeling worried sick. Mary roused eventually, and the doctor said she’d get better.
The Hursts, Caroline and Ryder left in a carriage. Tom left on a horse. Mary was left to voiceover sadly that nothing had gone as she’d wanted.
Chapter 10
Back in London, and no sign of Tom. Mary had written to him three times (shocking!) and had the letters returned to sender all three times. And then to make her life better, her mother turned up, having been oh so kindly sent to see a London specialist for her nerves by the Darcys. She proposed finding Mary a match – cue a strange montage involving interacting with men, as in it was strange for the final episode where everything was more freighted with meaning.
Which is when Ryder turned up, wanting to speak to Mary…alone. He was apologetic for Scarfell and all that, explained that he was now Lady Catherine’s heir – MASSIVE SIDEBAR, wait, what? Okay, so she’s angry with Darcy, but whither Colonel Fitzwilliam, and WHITHER ANNE? Like no way would Lady C just make Ryder her heir without pressurising him to marry her daughter. This Easter egg is so problematic – that’s what he had a legal consultation with Tom about on top of a mountain, and so, because Mary made him see the world in a new way, he was now doing what he should have done before and proposing for reals.
Mary started her answer with an ‘of course’, then an hour-long pause, then rejected him because she didn’t love him and he deserved to be loved. He had to take it quite well. Mrs B didn’t, barging in to try to make her daughter take it back, but Mary took charge, and when her mother started berating her, left the house for a walk in the park.
Where she was crying, when Mr Sparrow (remember him? I did, but I also cracked a ‘Captain Jack Sparrow’ for old times) happened to walk past. Actually, he was Dr Sparrow now, and seemed to think that higher education was a thing for women in the Regency era. (Nope.) And presumably married because he had a daughter he was acknowledging. Mary blurted out her current life plan, which was to become a governess for an older girl who really wanted to learn about her specialist subjects.
When she came home, she had to have it out with her mother, and when pointing out that she didn’t want a miserable marriage heroically managed not to say ‘like yours.’ It was Mrs B who raised how Mr B did nothing for his daughters’ futures and she was left alone to plot for their futures, but it was laced with self-pity and a relentlessly disparaging view of Mary. So, Mary told her mother that her visit was over, and Mrs Gardner would later praise her, because the Gardner’s were not delighted with Mrs B’s visit. Mary had a little wobble over Tom’s disappearance when talking to her second mother.
Guess who visited next? No, given the running time, it was Caroline Bingley, who had the grace to thank Mary for treating her better than she would have had their roles been reversed on Scarfell. She also asked Mary to back off from Ryder. Safe in the knowledge that she’d already rejected him, Mary could say she would, and even admitted it was Tom she really loved. Caroline shut down any more confidences, and left.
A week and a montage later of Mary allegedly being an older girl’s governess, although she also seemed to have loads of free time to wander around, which is a Panglossian take on being a governess at the time. Her voiceover told us she was resolved to do things her own way and to be happy about it. This was interrupted by someone shouting ‘Miss Bennet’ a lot. That someone being Tom Heyward.
Another thing that Jane Austen is better at (hello, ‘Persuasion’) than most writers is, of course, endings. I will point out that if you’re going to be all anachronistically modern in your take on Regency romance, it might behove you not to have your heroine thwack your leading man. We are not supposed to be all right with domestic violence in 2026, even if she had every right to be mad, and it was for komedy. It also irritated me that an alternative might have been her suggesting pushing him into the tiny pond they were standing right next to. It was right there, it would have been a running gag about how he keeps getting soaked.
They had a row, where she was all ‘Where have you been?’ He tried to explain that when he’d heard that Ryder would inherit loads, he decided to step back so that Mary could have what she deserved. She pointed out that it was her choice, and he seemed to get it. Having now learned that she has a temper on her, he still wanted to propose and she pretty much agreed immediately. Kissing while handholding! Him suggesting she could call him by his Christian name now.
We also learned that he’d come back from Yorkshire to London because Caroline had written (shocking, also how she knew where he was and Mr Gardener, say, didn’t was handwaved.) She was on her way to Italy, chasing after a man who had abandoned her (and the woman he actually proposed to) on a mountain while there was a proper storm on. Apparently he has ideals. (Austen would have demolished his selfishness had she ever dreamed him up.)
We were informed that Mary and Tom got married when and how they wanted – not clear if the shot of them returning to the Gardeners’ was after the engagement or after said marriage. The final scene was of him carrying another load of books to a room that she’d had wallpapered in a heavy purplish pattern, while she’d written ‘Advice to a Young Lady’ to explain the voiceover. But they seemed happy together. And Mrs Bennet probably wouldn’t land on them.
So, that was mixed, as in some of it worked, and some of it didn’t, and it lacked some of the crazy energy of ‘Sanditon’, though its intent wasn’t quite the same.
