Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell'

I'm not going to lie to you, finding pictures for this episode has not been easy.
I've barely found any, and none worth a snark.

Magic - and more than the occasional raven - pours into England through broken mirrors, and Jonathan Strange is coming home. Mr Norrell is intent on hiding in the labyrinth surrounding his library, while the despicable Lascelles, having intercepted Drawlight and murdered him to keep Strange's message to Childermass from being delivered, urges him to kill his rival and claim dominion over England.

"Why are you firing walnuts at me?"

"Nothing bad could possibly happen through here..."

Childermass uncovers Lascelles' treachery and thus begins a regular rollercoaster ride. Lady Pole's finger is precipitately reattached, drawing her out of Faerie and the wrath of the Gentleman on her, Sir Walter, and Honeyfoot and Segundus. Meanwhile Strange and Norrell team up to summon the Raven King, who promptly swans off like a magnificent bastard to resurrect Vinculus and rewrite the book tattooed on his skin. They then attempt a resummoning, offering all of England's magic in exchange for the death of the Gentleman, but lacking his true name accidentally summon and empower Stephen Black, only for Lascelles to shove his oar in.

"We have channeled all of English magic into a butler, and he shot him!"

"I'm on the job, you big nabob,
You ain't never had a friend like me!"

This more than a little ticks off Stephen's self-styled friend the Gentleman, who kills Lascelles and takes Stephen back to Lost Hope, with Norrell and Strange in pursuit. There Stephen recovers and, effectively become the Raven King, delivers the Gentleman the beatdown of the 18th Century. Strange's kiss disenchants Arabella and he sends her through a mirror to his friends in Venice, but he and Norrell remain trapped in the Black Tower, perhaps forever.

"I shall answer to no master now!"

There is a lot to like in this final episode, and in the series as a whole, from its unrelenting attention to period detail to the complex interwoven threads of the plot which combine to transform the downtrodden Stephen into an almost godlike liberator. That the story ends with the freeing of those enslaved by magic or convention - Lady Pole rejects a return to polite wifedom, instead intending to join Arabella and Flora Greysteel in Venice and be awesome - is even more satisfying than the comeuppance of Lascelles or the coda wherein Childermass brings Vinculus 2nd ed (revised) to the same York Society disbanded in episode one to initiate the next stage of English magic.

"I will not exchange one kind of helplessness for another."

Really the only disappointment for me was the Raven King, who looks a little too much like a pretentious 80s metaller, says nothing and just swishes about in slow motion. I don't think he does much more in the book - not in person, that is; apparently he has been directing everything from afar - but the look has been done a little too much to carry the necessary gravitas.

The episode also brings the fine acting to the fore. Berite Carvel is excellent, both as full-on crazy Strange and in a brief appearance as his old self for the epilogue, although the scenes between Strange and Norrell ultimately belong to Eddie Marsan, who has occupied the skin of Mr Norrell so exquisitely, and here truly makes us feel for him, both when he rails against Strange's mockery, and when he confesses Strange's opus to be 'the most beautiful book of magic I have ever read.' Outside the leads, there isn't a bum note in the orchestra, with every performance hitting spot on.

In summary, I think that the best that I can say in praise of the series is the same as I might say of the book: That it is a whole thing, complete of itself, that leaves one wanting more without ever seeming less than finished.