Weekends are usually slow at work, so I try to fill up my time with school work or personal projects whenever I have nothing to work on. I was very productive this week, so I was left with nothing to do, unless I wanted to get ahead on classwork for the next two weeks, so I packed a pair of headphones and settled in to watch the last episode of Return to Cranford (I missed it when it aired).
Overall, I did not enjoy Return to Cranford quite as much as I enjoyed the original Cranford series. I still love Miss Matty’s sweetness, and Miss Pole’s manner, but there was something lacking from this story. While the first Cranford had its share of melancholy moments, there was a sense of calm satisfaction with the state of things that added to the charm of the storyline. I don’t mean to give away too many plot spoilers, but there are an awful lot of deaths in this story, not least of which is the unexpected death of a very minor character of the four-legged variety (almost as bad as when JKR kills off Hedwig).
A few new characters also joined the town in this series, Celia Imrie as Lady Glenmire being my favorite.
The story ends on a high note, but I felt that there were a lot of loose endings that remained unresolved; I think part of this has to do with the feeling that there was too much going on at once–changes in the town, the matter of the railway, deaths, births, comings and goings, new faces, a love story, an intrigue. The vignettes in Return to Cranford were as sprawling as the railway; I prefer the steady stroll of the first Cranford.
I was also pleased with the quality of the PBS online video (hadn’t had the chance to rely on it before). I’ll probably miss Emma tonight, so it’s good to have the online option 🙂
marginalia and such 