***SPOILERS*** (stop reading here in case you haven’t watched the adaption/read the novel):
The rushed childhood might be called a first lapse but to be honest, I never cared about that part of the novel anyway. I rather considered it be a smart approach to a not so attractive part of the novel. Nevertheless, every good thing was missing and especially Jane’s relationship with Helen was reduced so much that some parts of her character later in life and even the naming of Helen later on seems out of the blue, I think. Plus: Was that an altar she was lying on? But then, Thornfield – at last. It took me quite a while to adapt to both, Ruth Wilson and Toby Stevens – her mouth reminded me just too much of a guy (!) I went to school with and his flirty-girty appearance was just over the top. Another reason for my dislike was the sheer overkill of hand-held shots. It’s great that they tried a more modern approach to filming a periode movie but thought it overdone for the most time and distracting rather than intruiging. It seemed a bit film-student trying to be innovative and reminded of Dogma95 movies.

Then part 2 came, I had made my peace with RW’s face and TS’s smiles and *PANG!* – I was lost. Especially RW’s performance was simply great and even if I will never seriously fancy the man so do I still have to admit that TD’s Rochester is growing on me. The only scene I wasn’t happy with in this episode was the money-for-the-journey scene – it’s one of my all time favourite moments in literature (together with the letter from Persuasion, the funeral from Holly and others) and I lovelovelove it in the ZC/TD adaption and this adaption lacked all the spark, I found. I so missed Timothy Dalton shouting “you shall walk up the pyramides of Egypt!…. you little niggard!” – Wonderful! Even if I can understand why they changed a lot of the original lines, to exclude these lines sure was a blunder! Click here to see how RW and TS managed this scene.

Now finally, episode 3 was aired last night and I can’t help the big huge grin Mr Lovedrunk has planted onto my face… Seriously, I’ve never seen anything like it and TS was too cute. I was giggling all the way through their getting together, the first kisses, the hand in the carriage, the “that child knows you better than I do” – lovely! TS starts filling Rochester’s larger-than-life pants and I’m thrilled to watch him doing so. As for RW, I can’t think of anything more to say that she just might have pushed ZC off the little thrown I’ve had built in her honour… there’s never been a more genuine portrayal of JE than hers. I laugh with her and suffer with her and can’t wait to see her struggle next time – Click here for a clip of the crucial scene in this episode. What a pity that they seem to have chosen to skip the taking-off scene! We’ll have to do without it then… if only it’d be Sunday already! Alas, there’s still a lot to rewatch (for instance a clip from the final episode) and rediscuss on C19 and reread on Penny For Your Dream and Brontëana.

Btw: If you want to see what killed my last nerves this afternoon, have a look at the Duddle-section – hence the unworthy effigies-tag on this post