Bleak House Episodes 1-3

[winterspel]

Bleak House is a BBC serialized drama based on the Dickens' novel that was shown Thursdays and Fridays between October 27 and December 16, 2005. While the first episode was one hour, each subsequent episode was only 30 minutes long.
I finally was able to finish watching all the episodes about two weeks ago, but the task of writing a proper review was rather daunting! This is one of the best series I've ever seen, and deserves a proper tribute. So without further ado!





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



The series, adapted by Andrew Davies, centers on a great and famous inheritance case called Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, which has been going on for decades [long story short: Jarndyce generated a vast fortune, but when he died he left several disputed wills, and many possible heirs]. And somehow at the center of it all, there is the beautiful Lady Dedlock (Gillian Anderson) who hides a dark secret, and the orphan Esther Summerson, who knows nothing of her parents, and finds herself as a companion to Miss Ada Clare and Mr. Richard Carstone, possible young heirs in the Jarndyce case.

Episode 1: Summary

Thoughts

• We learn that Esther is a very kind and compassionate person, as we can see how sweet she is in regards to Mr. Guppy's embarassment over the ink stain on his face (Mr. Guppy seems very taken with Esther), and also how kind she is to the young Jellaby child whose head is trapped between bars. We also learn that there is some dark secret surrounding Esther's birth, which shames her and has seemingly hung over her entire young life.


• Ada Clair and Richard Carstone, strangers before being taken in by their benefactor John Jarndyce, are rather innocent in the ways of the world.Richard: What a day this has been! Yesterday, on my old school bench construing(?) latin verses, and today I'm Mr. Richard Carston, an heir to a fortune! So where do we go next, Miss Summerson?
  Esther: Don't you know?
  Richard: Not in the least. We're like the babes in the wood.
  [they all laugh]
  Esther: Have you known each other very long?
  Ada: Not very long.
  Richard: We met each other half an hour before we met you, Esther. [Ada smiles] We're the best of friends, already. I'm sure all three of shall be.
  
• They meet Miss Flite, the bird lady, and Mr. Kenje directs them to the Jellaby household for the night, where Esther meets the much-put-upon Caddy who is extremely frustrated by her family, and is desperate to make something of herself. Esther is also very kind and compassionate toward poor Caddy.
  
  
• We learn that the the formidable Tulkinghorn, Sir Leicester's faithful lawyer, does not have a high opinion of Lady Dedlock - he makes it clear that he serves Sir Leicester and suffers Lady Dedlock; her birth is not high, and he does not care that she was once considered a great beauty (something of which his man Clamb reminds him), or even that Sir Leicester dotes on his wife.
  
  
• We discover that Miss Flite keeps birds...lots of birds...and they are named: Hope, Joy, Youth, Peace, Rest, Life, Dust, Ashes, Waste, Want, Ruin, Despair, Madness, Death, Cunning, Folly, Words, Wigs, Rags, Sheepskin, Plunder, Precedent, Jargon, Gammon, and Spinach.
  
  
• We meet Nemo, a free-lance copyist for Snagsby, who has a room in the same building as Miss Flite. Nemo is a somewhat shadowy, mysterious figure with romantic long dark hair, a haunted expession, and a courteous manner. We watch him copy papers for the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case in a very particular and beautiful hand, something which of course proves quite significant later. He also happens to be an opium enthusiast, yet we also see how kind Nemo is to Jo, the poor street-sweeper boy, and that he often gives a little something to Jo at the end of the day. We also see Nemo sell a few military medals, to pay off his debts.
  
  
• Krook, the landlord of Nemo and Miss Flite is an awful man. But he tells us something about the Jarndyce case: "Jarndyce and Jarndyce, eats them all up. It's like being ground to bits in a slow mill. It's like being drowned by drips and going mad by grains." He also tells us this about Nemo: "Some people say he sold his soul to the devil. But if he has, I don't know what he done with money!" Both Miss Flite and Mr. Nemo are down on their luck, it seems, and Krook is always hounding them for their rent.
  
  
• When Tulkinghorn visits Chesneywold, the estate of Sir Leicester and Lady Dedlock, Lady Dedlock reacts rather peculiarly to a document that falls to the floor, asking whose hand wrote the document - we of course recognize that it was Nemo who copied the document. Lady Dedlock tries to shrug off her anxious tone of voice when Tulkinghorn notes her interest, and his suspicions are aroused when moments later, Lady Dedlock faints. Tulkinghorn takes it upon himself to investigate who copied the document that led to Lady Dedlock's faint, which leads him to Nemo.
  
  
• Mr. Jarndyce is exceptionally kind and friendly to the three young people as they arrive and settle into Bleak House. Esther is overwhelmed and surprised by his faith in her when she, a poor orphan with no knowledge of her parents, is entrusted with the housekeeping duties of the house. Both Ada and Esther wonder at Mr. Jarndyce's kindness and generosity, when he doesn't know any of them. Such generosity is seemingly quite extraordinary in their world.
  

L: Esther R: Ada

• We are introduced to the terrible Mr. Skimpole, played by Nathaniel Parker (for anyone who's seen Nathaniel Parker in the Inspector Lynley Mysteries he is unrecognizable as Skimpole, an absolutely abominable wastrel of a man).Skimpole: [to Richard] As far as worldly matters are concerned, I am but a child. A perfect child.
  [a few moments later]
  You ask my profession. No profession whatsoever. I have no aptitude for worldly affairs, none at all. There, that's Harold Skimpole for you.
  [later at dinner]
  I covet nothing, possessions are nothing to me. I live as innocently as a child.
  Richard: Forgive me, sir. Did you never wish you had a house of your own...and a wife and childen of your own?
  Skimpole: Why, bless you, my dear fellow. I have a wife! And childen - half a dozen, I should say. Or more. And love them very dearly.
  Esther: But how do you look after them?
  Skimpole: Look after them? How could I? See, I have no aptitude for work of any kind. None whatsoever!
  Jarndyce: My friend Skimpole needs somebody to look after him.
  Esther: Then how do your children live, sir?
  Skimpole: Do you know, I have no idea...but live they do, somehow or other. As I say, it's no use asking me how these things are done. I am a child, a perfect child in these matters.
  [Esther looks down, much disquieted by his words]
  Richard: I think your life must be a very pleasant one, Mr. Skimpole!
  Skimpole: Well, yes. You might think that.
  Clearly, Skimpole bothers Esther a great deal with his extremely irresponsible lifestyle of mooching off his friends and abandoning his family to fend for themselves. From what little I've read of Dickens, this echoes of his father who also had no sense in financial matters and led his family to a debtors' jail when Dickens was young. It's also disturbing that Richard speaks of Skimpole so admiringly, rather than shrinking away from Skimpole as Esther does. Later, Skimpole turns to Richard and Esther when he is arrested for debt, so poor Richard and Esther cough up all the money they have left in the world to save him from jail, but Esther is clearly very perturbed and disgusted by Skimpole.
  
  
• It's clear that there is some kind of attraction between Richard and Ada.
  
  
• Mr. Guppy, who has gone to deliver some documents at Chesneywold estate, sees a painting of Lady Dedlock and has a sense of recognition. Also, when Nemo bumps into Esther in the street, he stares at her for a long moment in much the same way. Hmmmm...
  

John Jarndyce gazes at Esther

• Jarndyce is very upset when he discovers that Richard and Esther paid off the debt collector, so he gives her the money back, and tries to explain (when confronted) why he's so generous with them. He explains that his uncle committed suicide over the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case, and that he wants to protect and care for Richard and Ada as much as possible, so that they aren't overwhelmed in the case as well. However, he stumbles and hedges a bit when it comes to explaining why/how he chose Esther - yet his kind-heartedness seems very genuine and well-meant.
  
  
• Mr. Guppy's proposal is hysterical! Oh, my gods, the language he uses is just too, too much. Poor Esther tries so hard to put him off, but Guppy just runs with the bit in his teeth. She tries to turn him down gently, and he actually takes it much better than I would have expected, professing his eternal devotion to her! The way he calls her "my angel" is so cute, even if Guppy is a teensy bit appalling!
  
  
• Tulkinghorn finding Nemo dead! Lady Dedlock's reaction to that document sets into motion a very dark chain of events that grinds on inexorably, indifferent to who might be trapped beneath the wheels.

Tulkinghorn finds Nemo dead

Episode 2: Summary

Thoughts

• When Tulkinghorn calls Krook to attend to Nemo's death, Krook manages to pocket a small bundle of letters before he goes for the doctor.
  
  
• Richard, who seems so earnest and good-hearted, begins to think about starting a profession, encouraged by Mr. Jarndyce, so that Richard will be able to support himself in the world. Richard, who is rather young and impulsive, decides to go into medicine, without thinking it through very well. Skimpole immediately throws cold water on Richard's idea, rather than encouraging him as the others do, by highlighting the unpleasant aspects of medicine.
  
  
• Tulkinghorn digs into Nemo's death, trying to ascertain his identity; an inquest is convened, and the details of Nemo's life and death are brought out. Miss Flite testifies that he was "always polite and well-spoken," and that she thought he might have once been in the army. Jo tells them that Nemo was very good to him. The outcome of the inquest is that Nemo left nothing of value, no information on relations or connections, and that he seemed careless of his life, but that he did not seem suicidal - in short, that he died an accidental death. He is buried in a pauper's grave. However, after, Tulkinghorn chases Jo down:Tulkinghorn: You boy, come here! Here!
  Jo: I ain't done nothing, sir.
  Tulkinghorn: What do you do here? What do you know of this man? What passed between you?
  Jo: Nothing, sir. I don't nothing about him. Except...
  Tulkinghorn: Except what?
  Jo: Except that he was very good to me.
  Tulkinghorn: And why should he be good to you? What good were you to him? Hmmm?
  Jo: Don't know, sir.
  The doctor, Mr. Woodcourt, comes to Jo's rescue and asks Tulkinghorn to release the boy; Tulkinghorn asks Woodcourt's opinion of the dead man, and seems intrigued that Woodcourt thinks that he must have been an officer and a gentlman. The italics are mine because it seems to describe Tulkinghorn's philosophy very well - he is not good to anyone, unless he can see some profit in it. And even then, he's never "good" to anyone.
  
  
• Already, Jarndyce has a sense of disquiet regarding Richard's impulsive decision to pursue medicine, and worries that Richard might waste his life waiting for the court case to be decided instead of moving on. Meanwhile, Skimpole has gone to work on Richard to drive a wedge between Richard and Mr. Jarndyce, and try to convince Richard that the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case is everything. Skimpole is a poisonous snake in the grass who disguises his seeds of disaster beneath a cloak of willful childish ignorance.
  
  
• Lady Dedlock is disturbed when she receives the message that Tulkinghorn has met the writer whose hand she recognized - so disturbed that she stops the carriage to walk, so she can be alone with her thoughts, but she can't escape her husband who insists on joining her.
  
  
• When their lawyer brings papers for Ada and Richard to sign, Richard hopefully asks:Richard:Good afternoon, sir! Is there some news about our case in Chancery?
  Kenje: There are some papers to sign, Mr. Carstone, but...no news. The law grinds very slow and very fine. You must understand.
  Richard: Yes, of course. The best is to expect nothing from it, at all. Then we shall never be disappointed, isn't that so?
  Kenje: An excellent philosophy, Mr. Carstone. I wish more of my clients were like you.
  Again, we are reminded of the awful case and how it moves so slowly that no one can have any hope in it. Richard is not thrilled, though, when he learns why Kenje has come - that his cousin, Mr. Badger has agreed take Richard on as his medical student and provide him with living quarters. Badger is in Chelsea, which I think bothers Richard because it's far enough away from Bleak House that he will surely miss Ada and Esther's company, and he's likely less and less thrilled with his choice of profession.



Doctor Woodcourt gazes at Esther


• The Badgers seem quite nice, but Richard seems less and less happy with the circumstances he's found himself in. When the doctor, Mr. Woodcourt and Esther become friendly (even flirtatious) over dinner at the Badgers, poor Mr. Jarndyce notices with a twinge of jealousy, I imagine. I really feel for Esther, though, as I listen to her put herself down to Woodcourt - she really believes herself to be no one of consequence.
  
  
• Tulkinghorn is a bastard. In the note he sent to Sir Leicester, he said only that he had seen the writer of the documents - he doesn't say that the writer is dead. He's baited a trap for Lady Dedlock by doing so, depending on her interest to bring her to him. And indeed, when Tulkinghorn comes on business, and stays for the night, Lady Dedlock seeks him out, and he tells her what he found of Nemo. Lady Dedlock is looking for any information that might tie that dead man to her, and when she find none, she turns to go, clearly disturbed what he has told her, and as we might extrapolate, distraught over the man's death. But Tulkinghorn stops her to give her a sharp reminder and a threat:Tulkinghorn:Lady Dedlock. [she stops and turns] I have been Sir Leicester's attorney for many years. And my father was attorney to his father before him.
  Lady Dedlock: I am aware of that, Mr. Tulkinghorn.
  Tulkinghorn: And Sir Leicester has always had my complete personal loyalty. [he smiles] And always will have. [she stares back at him a bit like a deer caught in the headlights]
  Lady Dedlock: I am glad of it. [she turns again to leave]
  Tulkinghorn: Whatever the consequences to others.
  Lady Dedlock: That is just as I should hope, Mr. Tulkinghorn. Good night.
  Lady Dedlock knows that he has her in his trap, and understands his message quite well. He will learn her secret. These two are pitted against one another from this point onwards.
  
  
  
  Lady Dedlock
  
  
  Tulkinghorn
  Episode 3: Summary
  
  Thoughts
  
  
• Love is in the air in this episode! Ada confesses that Richard wants to marry her, and then Caddy comes to Esther to tell her that she is engaged to Prince, a dance instructor at the deportment school she enrolled in. Unfortunately, Jarndyce is very unhappy and refuses to permit Ada and Richard's engagement because Richard is not settled yet and they are both very young. Richard reveals his mind when he again refers to the settlement of the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case, but wisely Mr. Jarndyce reminds him to forget about it, and to turn his attention back to his studies. Sadly, Richard seems to pay this no mind; when he talks to Ada, he begins to turn his mind to pursuing law over medicine, and he grown ever more keen on pursuing their case in Chancery.



Richard and Ada


• The snake Tulkinghorn baits Lady Dedlock further, by mentioning (in a postscript to a letter to Sir Leicester, no less!) that he believes that Jo, the crossing-sweeper boy, has more information about Mr. Nemo. He is just waiting to see how she jumps at this news. I really hated what he said to her at the end of episode 2, but here, I'm beginning to realize just how poisonous the vile man actually is.
  
  
• We see how kind Mr. Woodcourt is as he cares for Miss Flite after her collapse at court, and we see how the case has driven poor Mr. Gridley mad from all the waiting - but Richard does not take the lesson. And Tulkinghorn demonstrates further his cruelty as he asks for an arrest warrant for Mr. Gridley's outburst in court. He seems the sort to do ill to a person just because they irritate him, or because they dare to act in even the smallest way against him or cause him inconvenience. The contrast between good people like Mr. Woodcourt and Mr. Jarndyce versus the vileness of Mr. Tulkinghorn is stark.
  
  
• I hate Skimpole! To hear him rejoicing in the death of the man who tried to arrest him is seriously depressing. But again, Jarndyce comes to the rescue with his benevolence as he insists that they find the children of the poor man, so they can do something for them. It makes me love Jarndyce even more and want to hug him in gratitude.
  
  
• Poor Lady Dedlock steps right into Tulkinghorn's second baited trap, by going to find Jo, who leads her to Nemo's pauper's grave.
  
  
• I was shaking my head much like Jarndyce when Richard announced his intention to abandon his medical studies and pursue law instead. Ah, Rick...he's a good-hearted fellow, but rather heedless and careless, which doesn't bode well for his future.
  
  
• Jarndyce seems ever on the edge of confessing his feelings to Esther, but something always comes up. But to be interrupted by Mr. Woodcourt's farewell...Poor Mr. Woodcourt has eyes only for Esther as he announces that he has signed on to be a ship's surgeon, and Ada looks so sad, until she receives the flowers that Mr. Woodcourt left for her, and she allows herself to hope...just a little. This is one of the oddest love triangles I've ever seen, but also one of the sweetest! I like both Ada's admirers tremendously, even if she doesn't recognize Jarndyce's silent affections.
  
  
  
  Ada
  
  
  Doctor Woodcourt
  
  
  John Jarndyce
  
  
  Ada
  
  Images are from the BBC website and caps by lilycup.
  
  Final Thoughts
  
  I love these characters and I love the mysteries. The actors are superb - Gillian Anderson, Anna Maxwell Martin, Charles Dance - these are truly the standouts, but they are all excellent. As some have heard me mention before, the production values are extremely high, and the cinematography is spectacular. The innovative and interesting filming techniques make this pop among period dramas - there are no long slow pans across scenic vistas - instead we see quite modern filming - interesting angles and jump cuts that heighten the tension. The cinematography almost seemed like its own character to me. Frankly this program leaves me breathless for more with each episode I watch.
  
  Reviews for the remaining episodes to come each week!