Contributing to my deliquency

Dearest Kristie (j) and Katie(babs) (and Sula, too!),

Is it not enough that I have joined your crusade? Is it not enough that my mind is now addled with images of Margaret and Richard, er, John Thornton?  And images of their hands, and people looking out windows and things?  

Please, for the love of God, I have work to do.  I have kitties to feed!

  

But no, it is not enough for you.  No, now  you deliver me this.

**klunk**

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!

Dark night in Milton

Great moments from tonight's viewing of North and South

Spoilers ahoy!

Dear readers, you find me very worried about our Milton friends tonight. I am maybe halfway through episode #3.

Worry #1: Poor John Thornton's heart. So I saw the proposal - oh, how crushing.  I actually watched the scene several times.  Please, do not continue in that way!  

I was surprised, in a way, that he even proposed, given that they were arguing, and it seemed a bitter exchange, and then he was like, actually I came to ask you to marry me (not in those words).  What's interesting and what I sort of love about him is that he's a man who'll do what he does in spite of potential rejection and that's why he went ahead and asked after that exchange. He told his mother he had to ask, even though he knew she'd turn him down, and he went and did it.  And Margaret tells him she doesn't even like him!  

Heroes get put through a lot. I felt confident in his resilience until he came to their door later to visit father and Margaret wouldn't let him in...and he saw Frederick's things and he felt so hurt! 

Worry #2: I am still really worried about that doctor who she spurned in the first episode.  He seems mean! And I feel like they wouldn't keep showing his angry face if he wasn't going to do something terrible.  

Worry #3: Frederick, of course. Hurry back to Spain, Frederick!  It seems naive on the part of the family that they might imagine he could wiggle out of a mutiny charge. 

Really, this entire family is sort of interesting in that way.  Are they a bit naive? Do they not see things, or choose to take things at face value?  Do they expect the best of people, and are they right to?  And they have their prejudices and blind spots.  It's funny how they don't know what's going on with their own daughter, for example. 

And the mother asks Mrs. Thornton to care for Margaret, not reading the signs of her

 reluctance--or does she choose to deal only with Mrs. Thornton's higher nature? I continue to absolutely love Mrs. Thornton. She is totally my favorite character here. She is full of self knowledge and honesty.

And in a way, Margaret seems to be sort of changing away from that in a positive way. In that scene, for example, where  Frederick speaks poorly of all tradesmen, including Thornton, Margaret defends him, not just because, well you know, but because she is seeing people and the world in a more complex way.  Maybe that is her journey.  At least it struck me that way in this episode.  We will see. 

Worry #4: Will Margaret misguidedly fall for Higgins?  NOOOOOOO!  

Favorite moments from tonight's viewing

Well, I watched a portion of episode 2 of North and South tonight. Yum! I forced myself to turn it off in order to save some for tomorrow, but it wasn't easy.

Hurry, Netflix, hurry! But I know it won’t come tomorrow.

Oh, the moments! A few favorites:

The mother tells Richard that Margaret loves him, citing the way she rushed out to him on the balcony and clung to him. I am loving the mother. She is such a rich character! And I love when characters point out stuff to me that I stupidly don’t catch. Like the significance of that. I wouldn’t have drawn that conclusion, but I think mothers have certain psychological powers around their children, so I bought it. And it was so touching, she asks him not to go to Margaret, and that she wishes to be first in his affections, if only for one more day.

Also, I wonder if Margaret only realized she loved Richard at that moment. She tells him to go out there, and then he goes and then, after he’s out of the room she says “…and take care.” And then she rushes after him.

The handshake. Or perhaps I should say the titillatingly slow release from the handshake.

Our hero and heroine look back on the balcony scene. Richard looks back and the image that comes to him is her laying there wounded. Margaret looks back and it’s the brief embrace she recalls most strongly. What a great touch!


Richard removes his cravat. Katie(babs), I believe, said in recent comments here, “Isn't Richard so sexy in his cravat?” Yes indeed he is. The sexiness of Richard in his cravat, however, is but a dim candle compared to the brilliantly blazing sun of him ever so casually removing his cravat in a scene…what scene WAS it? What was happening? I don’t recall. All memory functions were overridden by the staggering view, there within the stiff V of starched shirt, of Master Thornton’s fine and masculine neck.

Margaret. Overall, I love Margaret, and I love the way she looks, and her sort of wonderful plumpness. Oops, that’s not a moment.

This isn’t a moment either, but people really look out windows a lot in this series. I’m sure it’s been mentioned in the many posts on it, which I tended not to read as not to spoil things, but I like it thematically. To me, it sort of heightens the sense of the series being about separation and perspective, in addition, of course, to Richard’s cravat, and one’s feverish hopes that he will remove it again.

Okay, question: I’m not entirely clear on Richard’s position vis a vis the strike. He won’t back down…is it because he can’t? Is there no compromise here? Do the strikers have no merit? I am having a hard time evaluating his position. At the dinner party, Richard seemed to appreciate her seeing different sides of an issue, but then he’s like, it’s horrible to bring them food.

Oh, how I could go on!

seeing the light + a new baby!

Well, I finished the first episode of North and South last night, and all I can say is...wait! I have nothing to say!   

I need a lot more caffeine to think of an appropriate expression of my intense enjoyment of this series.  I have not yet seen the "fist of doom" (pictured left) as Carrie Lofty calls it, but I am starting to understand: Thornton is a man torn between two worlds. Or maybe not. It's still early in the series--maybe there is something else that makes him look like that. 

And I love all the characters...I also even sort of love how Thornton's mother talks.  I will post about it, but I'll probably watch pretty slowly due to time constraints, and also, I don't want to squander these precious moments of discovery by watching all in one go.   

Okay, also, look at our new kitty!  We have been kitty-less since Petunia died, which some of you may remember. 

It is so great to have her. She is a big fan of the bird feeder - here you see her in a rare moment of distraction from it. She is also fiercely interested in strings being dragged across the floor.  

She doesn't have a name yet. Eventually, her name will just become apparent. We actually may be getting a little brother for her soon, too. Isn't she cute?   

Guess who is joining the crusade!

Thanks to my man's current schedule, I now have total and complete control of Netflix.

Guess what I have ordered.

Now, finally maybe I will understand what everybody 

has been talking about all this time!