Bleak House Episodes 8 & 9 (episode 4 of the PBS broadcast)

[winterspel]

Previous Episodes: Episodes 1-3 | Episodes 4 & 5 | Episodes 6 & 7




From the BBC website: List of Characters | Character/Actor Information

Episode 8: Summary

• This episode, about the midpoint of the series, has the distinction of containing some of the highest drama yet. Mr. Boythorn provides some excellent ominous foreshadowing when he relates the tale of the Ghost Walk at Chesney Wold. Later, at Esther's insistence to see the Ghost Walk, Esther, Ada and Charley encounter Lady Dedlock who wishes to speak privately with Esther. This scene is one of the most poignant, affecting and powerful. Lady Dedlock reveals to Esther that she is the young woman's mother: "your wretched, unhappy mother." Sadly, Lady Dedlock tells Esther that she had been told that her child had died in the hours after birth, so she had never known that her daughter was alone in the world. Even worse, the two women must never see one another again to protect the family name and honor of Sir Leicester, who Lady Dedlock deceived (by pretending to love him and never telling him that she had borne a child). Mother and daughter are entirely distraught with grief that they must be parted after only having found one another.

• Miss Flite gives Ada a disquieting warning:Miss Flite: Your cousins, my dear. Mr. Carstone. The other ward in Jarndyce.
  Ada: What about him, Miss Flite?
  Miss Flite: Let someone hold him back...or he'll be drawn to ruin.
  Ada: But Richard is in no danger, Miss Flite.
  Miss Flite: Oh, I know the signs, my dear. I saw them begin in Gridley. And I saw them end. But just let someone hold him back and all may yet be well.
  

• Sargeant George is stuck between a rock and a hard place - so finally after much agonizing, he turns over a writing sample of Captain Hawden to Tulkinghorn. Of course the handwriting is identical to the law writer, Nemo, so Tulkinghorn now knows the identity of Lady Dedlock's secret. Tulkinghorn proves to be an even greater bastard than we have seen of him yet - despite the fact that Sargeant George complied in turning over the letter, Tulkinghorn instructs Smallweed to wait a month and foreclose on George's debt merely to punish him for his defiance. As he says: Tulkinghorn: I choose to foreclose on the debt because I wish to do it. And because I can do it. Sargeant George is going to have learn that there is a price to be paid for acts of defiance.
  

Episode 9: Summary

• This episode marks the beginning of an arc of secrets that threaten our beloved characters. Esther has a terrible secret which she cannot reveal to Ada, and Ada is a bit offended when Esther won't tell her everything, so she refuses to tell her own secret.

Lady Dedlock must keep her own secret from her husband to save his honor, and Mr. Jarndyce cherishes the secret hope of making Esther his wife someday (Mr. Boythorn wonders when Mr. Jarndyce first conceived of this plan). A stroke of fortune for Ada means that Boythorn and Jarndyce are drawn away on business, and Esther discovers what Ada had concealed: that Richard is at an inn near Boythorn's estate and Jarndyce's absence means that Ada and Esther can visit Richard who refuses to come to the house.


• Richard story grows darker: he's engaged a new attorney recommended by the dreadful Skimpole who I swear hovers over Richard like a disgusting vampire; the new attorney is more expensive, but Richard feels confident that Voles will be able to succeed with the case when their old lawyers had not. Esther wonders whether anyone recommended by Skimpole could possibly be trustworthy, but Richard won't be dissuaded. Both Ada and Esther are very sorry that Richard persists in his rift from their benefactor.

• Smallweed discovers the letters from Lady Dedlock to Captain Hawden and sells them to Tulkinghorn who pays a visit to Sir Leicester and Lady Dedlock. There, he delivers a carefully disguised threat to Lady Dedlock that leads to a later confrontation - Tulkinghorn now knows her secret: that she had an affair with Captain Hawden, and bore a child. He informs her that she is therefore in his power, and must dance to whatever tune he wishes if she does not wish to disgrace her husband, who, he tells her in no uncertain terms, is his only concern. Well, that and torturing Lady Dedlock as long as he can. He is grimly giddy at the idea of having the woman he despises under his thumb.

• Mr. Voles, Richard's new attorney, is a despicable creature, who bribed Mr. Skimpole to make the introduction to the young man! Skimpole has no embarassment whatsoever for accepting the bribe, which I still can't believe that he revealed to Esther so shamelessly! It almost seems to me like Skimpole regards Richard's plight as entertainment. Considering that Skimpole seems to have been in dire financial straits often in the past, it's a wonder to me that he would put someone else in the same situation, as though he must spread and share the misfortune. It's becomes clear very quickly that Mr. Voles is interested in wasting Richard's money far more than in actually winning the case!

all caps by lilycup :)