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.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - 'The Black Tower'

"A a little bit of this..."

Dr Greysteel: "Do you wish to be shot?"
Mr Drawlight: "No."
Dr Greysteel: "Then behave differently."

While Mr Norrell deploys magic to eliminate all copies of his rival's book, Strange has made his way to Venice to seek the madness that will circumvent the Gentleman's glamours of concealment. After assaying various chemical methods, he finally buys the madness of a crazy cat lady, allowing him to deal with the Gentleman and, in the latter's confusion, gain access to the token of his last bargain; Lady Pole's finger. Thus he is able to locate Lost Hope and learn of the fate of Lady Pole, Stephen Black and the enchanted Arabella. Thus the lines are drawn. The Gentleman traps Strange in a tower of eternal night, but Strange counters this by throwing open the doors which contain English magic.

Meanwhile, Stephen Black learns more of the prophecy from Vinculus, who bears the Raven King's book on his skin after his father rashly ate the tome after losing a bet, but is still unable to escape the hateful thrall of the Gentleman. Norrell and Lascelles send Drawlight to spy on Strange and his friendship with a disgraced adventuress, only for Drawlight to be recruited as Strange's messenger, while Childermass scores over Lascelles when the increasing magical presence makes him the more useful sounding board. Meanwhile, England is turning on magic as a result of Norrell's pettiness and the future of English magic is in crisis with the impending return not merely of the magic itself, but of the Raven King.

In many ways, this is the episode where shit gets real, as the Gentleman is drawn into direct conflict with Strange and shoots his bolt summoning the Black Tower, while Strange goes all out in response. With all this, the friendship between former Byron groupie Flora Greysteel and Strange is an oddity, rather low key, but one expects potentially important, especially when Strange offers to teach her magic, the ultimate defiance of Norrell's way of doing things. It also gives a perfect foil for Bertie Carvel's superb performance as the unravelling Strange, while the far more understated Eddie Marsan continues to impress as Norrell, quietly shedding a tear for the beauty of his erstwhile comrade's work, before setting out to destroy it.

'THe Black Tower' continues to build the pace of the series, which began so sedately in 'The Friends of English Magic', and one can only hope it manages to keep going through the finale next week.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - 'Arabella'

"Am I your wife?"

"I think what you are telling, my lady, are fairy tales, but told in some way as if the fairy is telling them."
"Human tales, as it were."
- Honeyfoot and Segundus

The Gentleman's trap is sprung! With Jonathan distracted by his Waterloo PTSD, he sends Stephen to lure Arabella away on the pretense that Lady Pole is upset - which she is, sensing the impending deception and striving to warn the Stranges via her baffled keepers - and then swaps in the moss oak duplicate, who induces the magician to declare her 'your only wife', thus bargaining away the real Arabella into the Gentleman's power. As we first saw with Lady Pole, the right of a person to bargain another's life, let alone their understanding of what they are doing, seems less important than their willingness in dealing with the fey.

One ought not to get into strange coaches, and this is a very strange coach.

Lascelles leaps on this as an opportunity to squash Strange's attempt to publish a magical primer, by fostering accusations that he murdered his wife by magic and manipulating Norrell into refusing to aid his attempts to revive Arabella when the moss oak expires. The result is a rapid degeneration, as Strange abandons his self-imposed exile from practical magic and sets out to become mad enough to see and deal with a fairy, restore Arabella and show Norrell what for.

As in the book, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell has little in the way of obvious heroes and villains. While on the most superficial level the dynamic, emotional Strange is the hero and the cold, calculating Norrell the villain, they are both flawed men and ultimately focused on doing what they see as good. The most obvious actual villain is of course the Gentleman, although he is more by way of the scorpion of oft repeated fable; why does he deceive, manipulate and abduct? Because it's what he is. He's less a bad guy and more a natural hazard.

For real villainy and heroism, we have to look elsewhere; at the smaller roles. At the unfaltering Lady Pole, and at Messrs Honeyfoot and Segundus who are working so hard to understand their charge (an action largely unheard of in 19th century psychiatric care;) and at Mr Childermass, who is just... quietly cool. Childermass in particular gets good mileage this week. He politely turns down Strange's offer of a partnership, and explains that as Strange and Norrell seem set on destroying one another now, he will hang back and step in to oppose whomsoever wins, so that there will still be two English magicians. He also clashes with the real villain, the reptilian Lascelles, who with no excuse of alien origin leaps on the apparent death of Arabella Strange as a chance to destroy the already distraught Strange in revenge for his critical assassination of Lascelles' own book. Lascelles also dismisses Childermass as 'the servants', which may yet come back to bite him.

The strength of this tale of magicians and magic is that the real driving forces, be they virtuous or vicious, are human.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - 'All the Mirrors in the World'

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

With Mr Childermass having visions under the surgeon's knife and Lady Pole whisked away to a specialist care institute (briefly a magical school) in Yorkshire, scandal is but a heartbeat away from Mr Norrell's door, especially as the unassuming Mr Segundus reveals that he is able to see the roses at the mouths of the Gentleman's enchanted victims, Lady Pole and Stephen Black.

Meanwhile, the differing approaches of Messrs Strange and Norrell come to a head. Called to attend upon the King himself, Norrell declares again that magic can not cure madness, but Strange is willing to try. His efforts, however, almost lead to the abduction and murder of the king by the Gentleman, with Stephen Black as his unwilling executioner. Strange then learns that various persons believe themselves to be being instructed in magic by Jonathan Strange, as the result of a con perpetrated by Mr Drawlight. In seeking out Drawlight, he stumbles on the King's Roads - a set of magical paths behind the mirrors of the world, created by the Raven King - but is dissuaded from exporing them when he realises that he is becoming consumed by magic to the expense of his marriage. He then pens a scathing review of Lascelles' account of Mr Norrell's revitalisation of English magic and announces his intention to retire to Yorkshire. Lascelles encourages Norrell to view this as a betrayal and Strange as an enemy, even as the latter is being recalled to service after Napoleon's capture of Paris.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell continues to hammer along at a cracking pace. It's almost a shame how briefly we get to see things like the King's Roads, a network of broken paths and walls resembling little so much as the fast transit system in a better class of fantasy computer game. So far, the primary movement in the plot is due to the largely unseen hand of the Gentleman with Thistledown Hair, but it looks as if we'll get to see more Strange vs. Norrell soon, and one almost wants Lascelles to get his comeuppance as much as the Gentleman.

While it has plenty of set pieces - the Roads, the confrontation with King George and the gathering of the moss-oak - and quieter moments - Strange's recognition that magic is not worth his marriage, Lady Pole witnessing Honeyfoot and Segundus defying Childermass - the crux of the episode is the last meeting of the two leads, in which Norrell notes that without the other, neither can truly discuss magic, as no-one else understands.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - 'The Education of a Magician'

Take or leave us, only please believe us, we ain't never gonna be respectable.

Jonathan Strange is, aptly enough, a stranger in a strange land. From Lisbon into the interior of Portugal he trails the army, seeking a military use for his magic in keeping with the goal of respectability.

Wellington: Could a magician kill a man by magic?
Strange: I suppose a magician might; but a gentleman never could.

War is, however, Hell, and after the death of his manservant and the destruction of the books he brought from Norrell's collection, Strange is forced to dig into his reserves, deploying strange mists and necromancy from the days of the Raven King in the name of the war effort. All of this leaves him somewhat shaken, but greatly respected by the soldiers, the nickname 'Merlin' rapidly going from a joke to a term of true honour.

Meanwhile, in Blighty, the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair once more promises to make Stephen Black a king as he plots to secure Mrs Strange as one of his vassals, but is thwarted by her good sense and caution.

Lady Pole: Can you think of any instance where you were saved by your husband?
Arabella: I am more in the habit of saving him.

I really like this woman, but alas she makes little headway with the stubborn Lord Pole and Mr Norrell still insists that Lady Pole's madness is incurable by magic and refuses to confess any guilt in the matter, even monitoring her doings and intercepting Arabella's letters to her husband to maintain his position and reputation. As a result, Lady Pole attempts his murder, only for Childermass - who is pretty awesome this week*, acting as Norrell's conscience as well as attempting to warn off Segundus and Honeyfoot before Norrell gets heavy-handed with their school of magic, and generally being the no-nonsense northern one in the Norrell camp - to take the bullet.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is powering through the plot at a rate of knots. This has the benefit of pace, although it loses out some of the crawling dread and in particular the consuming horror of the Gentleman's insinuation into the lives of Lady Pole and Stephen Black. All in all, however, it does what a successful adaptation does, turning the book into a subtly different, but more televisual beast that is still just as good.

* I spend a possibly inordinate amount of time considering which character from a show I want to see get their own quirky PI spin-off. For this one, my current front runner is (Arabella) Strange and Childermass, Detectives of the Weird.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - 'How is Lady Pole?'

Let's be honest; she's not good.

Mr Norrell is the English Magician, and his hangers-on are determined that Britain will accept no substitutes. After all, there's not much credit in being the personal friends of an English magician, rather than the definite article. When Mr Segundus, late of the York Society, introduces the self-taught Mr Strange to the scene, Messrs Drawlight and Lascelles are up in arms, but a display of his prodigal talent and a respectful request for an apprenticeship win over Mr Norrell himself.

Yet these are genteel matters compare to the fate of the titular Lady Pole, who is alive and wed, but now bound to the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair to dance helplessly at his revels every night as she sleeps, growing more and more exhausted and distracted, and quite unable to speak of what troubles her without recounting fanciful anecdotes. Mr Norrell will not help her and no other can do; the only other person who knows is Stephen Black, Lord Pole's butler, himself now caught in the Gentleman's web. Her husband merely locks her in her room, so that the only person who will at least credit that there is a problem is Arabella Strange, who knocks heads with Mr Norrell at an auction and catches the eye of the Gentleman as he spies on Strange.

Episode 2 of the BBC's adaptation of Susanna Clarke's grand epic kicks it up a notch to announce the arrival on the scene of the second magician of prophecy. While Mr Norrell is determined that magic be 'respectable', you can see the extras and supporting characters straining for him to do something exciting. The disappointment when his magical sea defences are entirely invisible is evident, and the catharsis when Strange cuts loose at the Horse Sands is almost palpable.

Meanwhile the enchanted Lady Pole and Stephen Black are shown as tragically powerless figures, and the audience yearns for them to get their chance to kick back against their fey oppressors (and at Lord Pole to boot.) The brief visit to the manor of Lost Hope is a masterpiece, a weird and distorted world of ruins and fragments where the Gentleman and his cohorts cavort with the hapless mortals in their power. Ironically, in her madness and her resistance to the attempts of others to have her confined, Lady Pole finds more backbone than as a whole and unensorcelled woman, but it is Arabella Strange who steps up to represent for the sisterhood, not just in believing in Lady Pole's plight, but in refusing to take any shit from her husband.

The series continues to impress with its combination of special effects and magical storyline with the utter commitment to period detail which lends an intense verisimilitude to the entire tale. 

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - 'The Friends of English Magic'

It's been a while since I read the book, but as I recall, it's pretty accurate to
depict Strange (Bertie Carvel) as slightly baffled as to how he got anywhere,
and Mr Norrell (Eddie Marsan) as simply pissed off to be there.

English Magic is not what once it was. What once it was is not yet clear, but what it is is gentlemen eating fabulous dinners and discussing theories over the port, while poo-pooing the idea of casting spells (because some stereotypes aren't very empowering.) Enter Mr Norrell, practical magician and hoarder of magical texts. Spurred by his ambitious valet Childermass and a challenge from the gentlemen of the local magical dining club, Mr Norrell animates the statues in York Cathedral and finds himself hailed as the saviour of English magic. Sourly determined to rid magic of its trappings of charlatanry, he unwittingly sets in motion a sequence of events that will bring about the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy, that two magicians will restore magic to England: Mr Norrell, and the dilettante sorcerer Jonathan Strange.

This adaptation of Susanna Clarke's spine-cracking opus has far more pace than the novel (after one hour of an absolutely faithful adaptation we'd be halfway through the footnotes in Chapter 1,) although that still makes for a measured affair. Some reviewers seem unable to forgive it for not being Poldark, but if you're not here for heaving bosoms and shirtless ex-vampire/werewolf/dwarf Aidan Turner, there's a lot to like. While actual porn is thin on the ground, the costume and scenery porn is lavish, and part of the success of the production must be that it looks like a BBC Dickens adaptation, just with more moving statues and scrying mirrors.

Thoros of Threadneedle Street!

Perpetual second fiddle Eddie Marsan impresses as Mr Norrell, bringing the requisite absolute nonentity to the great Magician of Hanover Square, while Bertie Carvel belies his stage roots to give a spirited performance as the more dynamic - but so far shiftless - Strange. Norrell's shifts from private rage and animation to public awkwardness, and his horror at finding that London has heard that, far from conjuring statues to life, his great feat was to magically clean all the laundry of York, are deftly underplayed by Marsan. Carvel contrasts with a wide-eyed amazement at everything, which means that his receipt of spells and prophecy from a man under a hedge authentically seems no more startling to him than would be finding a sixpence on the road.

The supporting cast is also excellent, including Sam West as Sir Walter Pole and erstwhile Richlieu Marc Warren popping up to raise the dead as the Gentleman with the Thistle-Down Hair. There's not much in the way of female characters, but that was an issue with the book and a simple side-effect of Clarke's adherence to the traditions of the period style in which she was writing. The minor characters are even more Dickensian than the central dramatis personae, with particular mention going to Norrell's hangers-on Mr Lascelles and the almost grotesque Mr Drawlight, to the entire port-swilling Yorkshire society of magicians, and to ubiquitous scruffy religious crazy person Paul Kaye's turn as street magician and agent provocateur Vinculus.

'The Friends of English Magic' is a strong opening episode, although compared to the book it is oddly silent on the legend of the Raven King, who is referred to, but not at any point explained in even the most basic of terms. I don't think it's ever going to win over anyone who came here for the bosoms, but it was never meant to, and despite the costume porn connection, it really is comparing apples and curtain fabric.