Emma Approved
I have given Emma Approved four episodes. I will continue to give it more episodes, because it definitely succeeds at being entertaining (and Harriet is adorkable)...but I’m not so sure about its successfulness as an adaptation.
Adorkable as Harriet is, the way they’ve introduced her character also shows how much the adaptation has already - in four episodes! - deviated from the original book. The characters’ relationships to each other have been set up so differently. In the book, Mr. Knightley thought Emma and Harriet’s friendship was a bad thing, because it tended to puff up Emma’s already healthy estimation of herself, whereas in Emma Approved, he actually lined Harriet up as Emma’s assistant himself.
And given that he picked Harriet out of a whole pile of applications, it’s hard not to think that “Which of these possible assistants will minister most sincerely and gratifyingly to Emma’s vanity?” was the criteria uppermost in his mind as he combed through the applications.
I feel in particular that they’ve gone really over-the-top with Emma’s conceit and meddlesomeness. Sure, in the book she’s a little full of herself and plumes herself on her ability as a matchmaker...but she never tries to make one of her friends go through with a wedding that the friend wants to call off, for the purely selfish reasons that calling it off would damage Emma’s pride (This match was Emma approved! It must pan out!) and her match-making business.
And she doesn’t try to talk Anne out of calling off the wedding by, for instance, trying to remind Anne why she and her fiance fell in love. No, Emma gets out a binder full of invoices to remind Anne how dazzlingly expensive the wedding plans are, and how complicated it would be to call them off.
And when Anne is not convinced - when she signs the paperwork to cancel the orders - once Anne’s gone, Emma tears the paperwork up. Because she’s going to fix this, dammit! She’s going to find a way to make Anne go through with a wedding Anne no longer wants!
This is neither the action of a friend nor of a good businesswoman.
I also think that making matchmaking Emma’s profession - not just something she does in her spare time, but a thing that she’s trying to build a company on - is kind of unfortunate, given that the premise of the story is that Emma is a terrible matchmaker.
ETA: I thought I should add this, as it came up chatting with asakiyume in comments.
The reason Emma's incompetence at her chosen career is such a problem is that it undermines what makes her character interesting rather than exasperating. In the book, Emma's a little full of herself, but it's a slightly exaggerated reflection of her actual abilities: not only is she rich, clever, and beautiful, but she's of central importance to her social circle and has clearly been running her father's social life for years, in such a way that he enjoys himself and his companions also have a good time, despite his gentle selfishness. Of course she believes she knows best. She's far more perceptive than her father or Miss Bates or Harriet, and given her limited experience, it makes sense that she would believe her perception even stronger than it really is.
EA's Emma, on the other hand, is apparently not even competent enough to realize that she doesn't really need the assistant Knightley is foisting upon her. (And if Knightley finds Emma so irritating that he needs to offload her caprices onto a hapless assistant - and there seems to be no real business reason for Emma to need an assistant - it's going to be hard to buy Emma and Knightley's romance.)
Without the background competence that underlies Emma's self-assurance, her egotism almost embarrassing, because it's so out of line with her actual abilities.
Adorkable as Harriet is, the way they’ve introduced her character also shows how much the adaptation has already - in four episodes! - deviated from the original book. The characters’ relationships to each other have been set up so differently. In the book, Mr. Knightley thought Emma and Harriet’s friendship was a bad thing, because it tended to puff up Emma’s already healthy estimation of herself, whereas in Emma Approved, he actually lined Harriet up as Emma’s assistant himself.
And given that he picked Harriet out of a whole pile of applications, it’s hard not to think that “Which of these possible assistants will minister most sincerely and gratifyingly to Emma’s vanity?” was the criteria uppermost in his mind as he combed through the applications.
I feel in particular that they’ve gone really over-the-top with Emma’s conceit and meddlesomeness. Sure, in the book she’s a little full of herself and plumes herself on her ability as a matchmaker...but she never tries to make one of her friends go through with a wedding that the friend wants to call off, for the purely selfish reasons that calling it off would damage Emma’s pride (This match was Emma approved! It must pan out!) and her match-making business.
And she doesn’t try to talk Anne out of calling off the wedding by, for instance, trying to remind Anne why she and her fiance fell in love. No, Emma gets out a binder full of invoices to remind Anne how dazzlingly expensive the wedding plans are, and how complicated it would be to call them off.
And when Anne is not convinced - when she signs the paperwork to cancel the orders - once Anne’s gone, Emma tears the paperwork up. Because she’s going to fix this, dammit! She’s going to find a way to make Anne go through with a wedding Anne no longer wants!
This is neither the action of a friend nor of a good businesswoman.
I also think that making matchmaking Emma’s profession - not just something she does in her spare time, but a thing that she’s trying to build a company on - is kind of unfortunate, given that the premise of the story is that Emma is a terrible matchmaker.
ETA: I thought I should add this, as it came up chatting with asakiyume in comments.
The reason Emma's incompetence at her chosen career is such a problem is that it undermines what makes her character interesting rather than exasperating. In the book, Emma's a little full of herself, but it's a slightly exaggerated reflection of her actual abilities: not only is she rich, clever, and beautiful, but she's of central importance to her social circle and has clearly been running her father's social life for years, in such a way that he enjoys himself and his companions also have a good time, despite his gentle selfishness. Of course she believes she knows best. She's far more perceptive than her father or Miss Bates or Harriet, and given her limited experience, it makes sense that she would believe her perception even stronger than it really is.
EA's Emma, on the other hand, is apparently not even competent enough to realize that she doesn't really need the assistant Knightley is foisting upon her. (And if Knightley finds Emma so irritating that he needs to offload her caprices onto a hapless assistant - and there seems to be no real business reason for Emma to need an assistant - it's going to be hard to buy Emma and Knightley's romance.)
Without the background competence that underlies Emma's self-assurance, her egotism almost embarrassing, because it's so out of line with her actual abilities.