North & South - finale!

Great moments from last night’s viewing

Once upon a time I would see those video montages of North and South, frequently at Katie(babs) and KristieJ’s place, and occasionally I’d play them, and it would be like, people walking around in an atmosphere of cotton fluff, or else looking out windows at each other, and I was like, hmmm. WhatEV.

No more! Now I will play those videos and relish the moments they call up. Without fear of spoilers! For I have come to the end of North & South! Twice, because once was just not enough.

Le moments:

The hands at the train station. I have to say, the way that John and Margaret sat together, and then put their hands together, pressed them over each other, that was even more satisfying than that kiss. It was so, just, perfect. Not that the kiss was chopped liver, but oh, those hands!!

It made me think of the way the hands are all the way through. Like, in the beginning, Margaret won’t shake John’s hand, then at the party, that fine handshake I mentioned in a previous gushing post. Then, during the proposal, he leaves his gloves and she picks them up. Empty gloves - deflation, absence, lack. No hands! And then the lovely train station scene, of hands joining!

Margaret has pleasantly plump hands which makes this scene all the more sweet and wonderful. I first saw this video at Sula's, and I just love it. Thanks!





Mrs. Thornton and Margaret in the empty factory. I love these two together in scenes. Now, I am not a good line rememberer, but Margaret says something like, you once accused me of not fully understanding the man I rejected, and you were right. And I felt at that moment the mother got it. Oh, the mother is perfectly written. She is the ultimate complex three dimensional character.

John Thornton’s voice. I love his voice, especially when it goes a little gravelly, which it tends to when he gets emotional, like at the end of the proposal scene, or when he bitterly tells Margaret that he’s looking toward the future after her rejection of him. I think my fellow crusaders know precisely what I am talking about. I also watched the Armitage interview - gosh, what a gracious fellow! - and his voice is just as enchanting in real life. I like him better with the cravat, though, than that little necklace.

n.b.: Look how he smiles as he is about to kiss her!

The extended proposal scene. Thanks, Sula, for pointing out the existence of this. Why did they cut this? This scene made so much more sense. I mean, I suppose they had to fit the series into a time slot, but now it is on DVD. They should stick in all the deleted scenes!

She goes back to the South. That was such a great way to highlight the journey of her character, how she suddenly saw the South as suffocatingly simple. And in a way, it brings the father to light as an intellectual. In the beginning, I felt the father seemed a bit stupid and selfish, but you really see what was going on with him by the end. He was rejecting that suffocation.

Okay, question. The one thing that seemed weird was that the old Oxford friend of the father’s owned the properties Marlborough Mills occupied. Wasn’t that a weird coincidence? Did they go to Milton because his old friend owned property there? It seemed actually, unnecessary, too, that she would inherit that property. It seems like it would’ve been enough to inherit money and invest it. Not that it detracted from my enjoyment of the series, of course!!

The expressiveness of Armitage. John Thornton is a character who contains many emotions at a time, or a fluid series of them. Almost in any scene, esp. with Margaret, he’s consumed with love, anger, worry. And actor Armitage has this ability to embody all that at once. Because really, the character of John Thornton is a highly emotional character. I love photos like this. Look at all the different emotions here!