Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

I've never been much of a Star Wars fan. I enjoy watching the original trilogy (and occasionally watch the prequel trilogy to laugh at it), but I've never been as utterly obsessed with it as some of my friends are.

This film changed that.

(The way the Star Wars films open makes it really hard to get screencaps of just the title and not the expository text. I never realised how annoying this is until now.)

The plot is pretty similar to A New Hope. Character from a sandy planet gets caught up in saving the galaxy, villains have a weapon that destroys planets, main villain is related to the heroes... But there are enough differences that it doesn't feel like a complete rehash.

I'm pretty sure everyone recognises the actors, so let's go straight to the plot.

Years have passed since the end of the original trilogy, and the First Order is the latest villainous group to try to take over the world -- er, galaxy. I was rather dubious about this when I first watched the film. "Seriously? Of all the possible plots out there, you had to go with another "villains take over the galaxy" one?" But moving on, Princess Leia (now General Leia) has sent her best pilot, Poe Dameron (and his droid BB-8), to find a piece of a map that'll lead the Resistance to Luke Skywalker.

Poe

BB-8, probably the most adorable droid ever to appear in Star Wars.

BB-8 escapes with the map, but Poe is captured by First Order stormtroopers and Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren, Darth Vader-wannabe. (On a completely unrelated note, I really wish I knew how to refer to him. Is "Ren" his title and "Kylo" his name, or the other way round? Is "Kylo Ren" even a name at all?)

BB-8 finds Rey, a scavenger, who somewhat reluctantly lets him stay with her. Poe, meanwhile, escapes the First Order with the help of Finn, a defecting stormtrooper.

Rey and BB-8

Finn

Finn and Poe crash on Jakku, the planet where Rey and BB-8 are. Poe is apparently killed in the crash. Finn makes his way to the nearest town, where he meets Rey and BB-8. Then the First Order arrives, and the three of them have to escape in a ship Rey describes as "garbage": the Millenium Falcon.

I nearly died laughing when I realised which ship she meant.

They escape, meet Han and Chewie, have a very narrow escape from some pretty nightmarish monsters, and go to visit Maz, someone Han thinks can get BB-8 to Leia. Unfortunately the First Order turn up again. A battle ensues. In the middle of it Finn learns he can use a lightsaber, Poe reappears alive and well, and Kylo Ren captures Rey. Shortly afterward, Leia turns up (with C-3PO!) and has a long-overdue reunion with Han.

Leia, Han... and Threepio

By this time we've learnt the terrible truth about Kylo Ren. He's Han and Leia's son, Ben Solo, who turned to the Dark Side because of Snoke, Supreme Leader of the First Order.

Rey saw the map, and Kylo tries to get it from her mind. He fails spectacularly, and storms off to sulk. Rey uses her newly-discovered Force powers to escape.

Rey and Kylo (without his helmet)

Rey escaping with the (Force-assisted) help of a stormtrooper.

Meanwhile we've learnt what the First Order is doing. General Hux, who's supposed to be Kylo's co-commander but is more like an exasperated underling, is creating Starkiller Base, a new sort of Death Star that can wipe out multiple planets at once (as they demonstrate, unfortunately for the Hosnian system).

The Resistance sets out to destroy Starkiller. Finn helps Han and Chewie get into the base and lower the shields so Poe and his friends can blow it up. Along the way they meet up with Rey... and Han meets Kylo. This is a moment that always leaves me in tears, because... Kylo kills Han 😭

*sobs uncontrollably*

Finn and Rey fight Kylo while the planet is falling apart around them. And Rey discovers she has the Force, and fights Kylo with Luke's old lightsaber. Yes, it's as awesome as it sounds.

The Resistance destroy Starkiller, Rey and Finn escape, Kylo is presumably rescued and returned to Snoke, the galaxy is (temporarily) safe... There's just one thing left to do. Find Luke. So Rey follows the now-intact map and finds him. And then... the film ends. (I was really annoyed by this cliffhanger at first. It's become slightly less exasperating now that the sequel's out, but still.)

So, my overall opinion of the film? I love it. Is it the best Star Wars film? No. Does it borrow too much from previous films? Probably. (How many times can this series use Death Stars before they find a more original plot?) But is it a good film in spite of that? Yes!

Rey is awesome. At first her ability to fly the Falcon seemed a bit unrealistic, but then it was revealed she has the Force and it made perfect sense. Poe's survival comes out of nowhere, but I can forget about that and focus on his amazing piloting skills. Finn is just as awesome as Rey. In the space of a few hours he goes from being a stormtrooper to being lost in a desert to shooting TIE fighters. And BB-8 is simply adorable.

On the villainous side, there's the surprisingly sympathetic Kylo Ren. If you'd told me before I saw this film that my favourite character would be the crazy Darth Vader fanboy who murders Han, I'd have thought you were as crazy as Kylo. But then I saw the film. And Kylo became not just my favourite character in it, but one of my favourite characters in the whole Star Wars series. Guess I should have realised by now that I just really like tragic villains 🤷 First Loki, then Maeglin, now Kylo.

Is it available online?: Probably, but I don't know where.

Rating: 7/10.

Review: Thor (2011)

I'm taking a short break from period drama reviews to review a film I fell in love with when it was first released. Well, I didn't fall in love with the film. I fell in love with a character in it.

(You probably already know who.)

Thor isn't a straight-up adaptation of Norse mythology; it's an adaptation of Marvel Comic's adaptation of Norse mythology. So obviously it's not very close to the original myths. I'm not a comics fan so I can't say how close it sticks to the comics, but other people's remarks make me think it's a loose adaptation of them too.

Every so often you find a film that is just average on its own, but has a character/a plot/a song (if it's a musical)/a scene that you fall in love with. Thor is one of those films. I frankly couldn't care less about Thor's romance with Jane, and his quest to get back to Asgard is interesting but not enough to hold my attention. Every time I watch this film (and I've seen it dozens of times), it's because of Loki.

I'm pretty sure absolutely everyone knows the actors, so I won't even bother listing them. Instead I'll go straight to the plot. Not the entire plot, just the important parts.

The story begins Jane trying to get photos of a storm, only for a man to appear out of nowhere and hit her van. Then it flashes back to the events leading to this situation.

Odin, King of Asgard, tells his young sons, Thor and Loki, about a war between the Æsir and Jötnar/Frost Giants.

Young Loki, young Thor, and Odin

Then we jump forward about a thousand years. Thor and Loki are now adults, and Thor is about to be crowned King of Asgard. The ceremony is interrupted when a group of Frost Giants sneak into Asgard. Thor, egged on by Loki, takes some of his friends and goes to Jötunheim in retaliation. A fight breaks out. And in the middle of it, Loki is grabbed by a Jötunn... and sees his skin inexplicably turn blue.

The moment that set Loki on his path to villainy. Poor Loki 😢

Odin rescues Thor and co., then promptly banishes Thor for nearly starting a war. Thor ends up on Earth, where he crashes into Jane's van.

Loki, back on Asgard, discovers that he is a Jötunn. Not just any Jötunn, but the son of King Laufey. He takes this revelation... pretty badly. Just to make things worse, Odin -- in a display of spectacularly bad parenting -- has raised him to hate and fear Jötnar.

Result: Loki goes off the deep end. He decides the best way to cope with this is to nearly murder Thor, and try to destroy Jötunheim.

It doesn't end well for poor Loki. In fact, it ends in attempted suicide, and him becoming a full-fledged villain 😭

Don't let go, don't let go... NOOOOO! 😭😭

The film ends with Asgard cut off from Earth thanks to Loki's actions. But after the credits there's a scene that reveals Loki is still alive, and on Earth. I'd cheer, but considering what he's on Earth to do...

So, what do I think of it overall?

Thor's plot is pretty average and predictable. And to make things worse, I can't think of a single scene where his romance with Jane feels natural. Every time they interact it's painfully obvious that this subplot is here just because the director/script writer/producer/whoever thought the film needed a romance subplot and didn't care if it was believable.

Loki, on the other hand, is the greatest character in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. He's tragic, he's losing his mind, and I feel so sorry for him even when he's trying to blow up a planet. This is one of the reasons why I'm not the biggest fan of Loki's characterisation in later films, incidentally. From The Avengers onward he stops being a tragic villain and becomes just a villain. A fascinating, amusing villain, but a much less sympathetic one.

Is it available online?: Probably, but I'm not sure where. I've heard it's on Netflix, but I don't have Netflix so I don't know if that's still true or not.

Rating: 5/10 for the plot, and 8/10 for Loki.

Review: Cranford (novel)

Cranford the series is perfection. Cranford the book is... not quite so perfect.

First things first. Cranford is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in 1853. Unlike Mrs. Gaskell's other novels -- North and South and Wives and Daughters in particular -- Cranford does not have an overarching plot. Instead it describes a few events in the village of Cranford over several years.

The narrator is Mary Smith, who frequently visits Cranford and observes its resident's amusing oddities. Several characters from the series -- Dr. Harrison, Lady Ludlow and the Huttons in particular -- don't appear in the book at all.

Attempting to explain all the incidents the book covers would take ages. Instead I'll just say what I thought of it.

I watched the series before reading the book, and so I kept comparing the book unfavourably to the series. (Yes, this is one of those rare cases where the adaptation is better than the source!) Captain Brown's astonishingly early death was a real shock. So was how little Jessie and Major Gordon appeared in the book. I was amused to discover that Lady Glenmire from Return to Cranford is a relatively important character in the book, complete with the drama about her marriage (though obviously she doesn't marry Captain Brown in the book).

There are no dramatic plot twists or adorable weddings in this book, unlike in the series. And it won't make readers roar with laughter or burst into tears the way the series does. But if you want to read something that's fairly short and certainly enjoyable, then Cranford is the book for you.

Is it available online? Yes, on Gutenberg.

Rating: 7/10.

Review: Middlemarch (1994)

It's inevitable that I'll have to review some series I dislike at some point. Middlemarch is one of those series. I've decided to post this review after my Lark Rise to Candleford review to get the series I don't like out of the way, so I can pay more attention to series I do like.

Middlemarch (or as I like to call it, "Dear God, What did I Just Watch?" or "Unlikeable Characters: The Series") is based on a book by George Eliot. It doesn't have a plot. Instead it's about the lives of several residents of the village of Middlemarch, especially Dr. Lydgate and Dorothea Casaubon (née Brooke).

I didn't recognise many of the actors. These are the ones I did recognise:
Michael Hordern (Cedric in Ivanhoe 1982, and the King in The Slipper and the Rose) as Mr. Featherstone
Rachel Power (Pleasant Riderhood in Our Mutual Friend 1998) as Mary Garth
Elizabeth Spriggs (Mrs. Jennings in Sense and Sensibility 1995 and Mrs. Gamp in Martin Chuzzlewit) as Mrs. Cadwallader
Robert Hardy (Sir John Middleton in Sense and Sensibility 1995) as Arthur Brooke
Rufus Sewell (Prince Leopold in The Illusionist) as Will Ladislaw
Douglas Hodge (Willy Wonka in the musical of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Tertius Lydgate
Pam Ferris (Mrs. General in Little Dorrit 2008) as Mrs. Dollop
Judi Dench (Miss Matty in Cranford) as the voice of George Eliot
Jonathan Coy (Charles Cheeryble in Nicholas Nickleby 2001) as Ladislaw's friend

The story starts with Dr. Lydgate arriving in Middlemarch, certain he'll do great things there. Shortly afterward, Dorothea Brooke accepts the proposal of the much-older Reverend Edward Casaubon. This marriage turns out to be a disaster, thanks in part to the interference of Casaubon's cousin Will Ladislaw, who reminds me a great deal of Wickham. Meanwhile, Dr. Lydgate makes a similarly ill-advised marriage. He marries Rosamund Vincy, an airheaded spendthrift, who does her best to bankrupt him.

There are exactly two somewhat likeable characters in the whole series: Mary Garth, and Mr. Featherstone, who's more comical than likeable. And he dies less than half-way through. Everyone else is either obnoxious, disgusting, irresponsible, or practically a non-entity.

Dorothea sets my teeth on edge. She blunders headlong into a marriage that anyone can clearly see is going to be a bad idea, and then while she's married she becomes infatuated with her husband's cousin, who spends most of his time with other women. And when her husband dies and she marries the cousin, we're supposed to see this as a happy ending.

Dr. Lydgate is, quite frankly, an idiot. He marries a clearly vain, selfish brat. To please her he rents a house he can't afford. She spends practically every penny he has, and throws a fit when he complains about this and suggests they sells their furniture. I couldn't stand him or that imbecile Rosamund. Every time they appeared I fast-forwarded the DVD.

The most interesting thing to happen in the series is when Mr. Bulstrode is revealed to be a hypocrite, and helps cause the death of the man who could expose this to the whole town. And this happens near the end, and is quickly forgotten about in favour of the incredibly boring romantic entanglements of various Middlemarch residents.

I never thought I'd find a series that would rival Lark Rise to Candleford for the dubious honour of "worst period drama I've ever seen". Middlemarch is that series.

Is it available online?: I didn't even check. If for some reason you want to watch it, you'll have to search for it yourself.

Rating: 1/10.

Review: Lark Rise to Candleford (series)

I can sum up this series in one sentence: the Coronation Street of period drama. That's how dull, implausible, and trashy it is.

I watched a few episodes of it when it was being aired, and remember it as being incredibly boring and unrealistic. Recently I decided to rewatch it. Lots of other people were talking about how good it was, so obviously I thought there was something wrong with my memory. Maybe I'd just seen the bad episodes of an otherwise good series.

No, the whole series is like that.

The music is the only good thing about this series.

Lark Rise to Candleford is a loose adaptation of three semi-autobiographical novels by Flora Thompson. If it was any looser, it would fall off completely.

I only recognised a handful of the actors:
Julia Sawalha (Jessie in Cranford, and Mercy Pecksniff in Martin Chuzzlewit) as Dorcas Lane
Brendan Coyle (Nicholas Higgins in North and South) as Robert Timmins
Claudie Blakley (Martha in Cranford) as Emma Timmins
Karl Johnson (Tungay in David Copperfield 1999) as Twister
Linda Bassett (Abby Potterson in Our Mutual Friend 1998) as Queenie
Peter Vaughan (Mr. Boffin in Our Mutual Friend 1998) as Rev. Ellison
Phil Davis (Smallweed in Bleak House) as Arthur Ashlow
Victoria Hamilton (Mrs. Forster in Pride and Prejudice 1995) as Ruby Pratt
Liz Smith (Peg Sliderskew in Nicholas Nickleby 2001) as Zillah

I watched series one torn between laughter and disbelief. The Christmas special left me speechless. Slogging through series two was a battle of Greek proportions. I spent most of the last few episodes in tears of laughter. That was the only way I could cope with this mess. And I can safely say I will never watch the third and fourth series.

LRC doesn't have a plot. It has a collection of plots, one or two to each episode. Its main characters are Dorcas Lane, a postmistress, and Laura Timmins, her assistant. It all blurs together so much in my mind that I can hardly remember any specific plots from it, except for one or two especially outrageous things.

In the first few episodes the problems with this series become apparent. Problem one: the very modern characters. The mark of a good period drama is that the characters act as if they're really in Victorian England/Tsarist Russia/Tang Dynasty China/whatever place and era it is. Lark Rise to Candleford has a collection of 21st century characters who for some reason have decided to dress up in 19th century clothes. That's it. They're only wearing the costumes, and making no attempt to fit in with the 1890s beyond that.

Problem two: the lack of a coherent plot. Some series have a new plot in every episode but manage to be very good series in spite of that. Jeeves and Wooster springs to mind. LRC doesn't. Its episodes follow a predictable pattern. A never-before-seen character appears, and is often treated as if they'd always been there somewhere, the plot revolves around this character, the episode ends, and both character and plot are completely forgotten in the next one, which continues the cycle. It's exactly as frustrating as it sounds.

Problem three: the caricatures. There are virtually no likeable characters, or even ones with a personality. And almost every character is a caricature. Laura, despite being the narrator, is as interesting as watching paint dry. Robert is an arrogant jerk who'd rather see his family go without food or clothes rather than accept charity. Thomas is always babbling about religion, and comes over as decidedly unhinged as a result. Dorcas is always right, always knows best, blah blah blah.

Problem four: the morals or lack thereof. It was an absolute scandal in Victorian England for a couple to live together without being married. Queenie and Twister would have been shunned by the whole village as soon as it became known they weren't married. Think of the mayhem Lydia and Wickham caused in Pride and Prejudice by running off and living together without being married. In this respect, things were no different in the 1890s than approximately eighty/ninety years before.

Problem five: that bizarre Christmas special. I still can't believe that someone looked at this sub-par series and thought, "What it needs is a ghost story." So we take a sudden and unexplained detour into the supernatural which is never mentioned again. Especially weird is that this ghost has supposedly been lurking around for eighty years, but no one has ever seen or heard of her before.

This is only scraping the surface of "what's wrong with LRC". I've never found a more disappointing, overrated period drama.

Is it available online?: Some episodes are. I don't know if the whole series is, but why would anyone want to watch the whole sorry mess?

Rating: 1/10.

Review: David Copperfield (1999) Episode 2

Episode 1 ended with David falling in love with Dora. Does anyone think this will end well? No? Then you already know some of episode 2's plot.

David meets Steerforth again, years after they met at that horrible school. It's obvious from the start that Steerforth has grown up to be a character very like Wickham, but David doesn't see this.

After this David finds Mr. Micawber, and in the process accidentally introduces him to Uriah Heep.

David, Mr. Micawber... and Heep

David and Steerforth visit Dan Peggotty and his family. While there Steerforth meets Em'ly. This is the start of much misery for the Peggottys and David. Ham and Em'ly have gotten engaged. It's obvious that she doesn't care much for Ham, and that she's far too interested in Steerforth.

Meanwhile, David is shocked to learn that Mr. Micawber has become Uriah Heep's clerk. Shortly afterward, Aunt Betsey loses most of her money. David also has very little money, so he decides to take up writing.

This leads to trouble with Dora. David tells her he loves her, but she can't imagine marrying a poor man. This should warn David not to marry her at all.

David visits the Wickfields, and learns that Uriah Heep has gained some sort of power over Mr. Wickfield. He's using this power to try to force Agnes to marry him.

Am I the only one having flashbacks to Arthur Gride and Madeline Bray in Nicholas Nickleby?

Em'ly runs off with Steerforth, and Dan Peggotty sets out to find her. David goes to Steerforth's mother with the news, and finds that she blames the Peggottys entirely for it.

Ham, Dan and David read Em'ly's letter

Dora's father goes bankrupt and dies. David goes and proposes to Dora.

She's just as silly and childish after marriage as she was before it. David invites Mr. and Mrs. Micawber to dinner, and then finds that Dora doesn't know how to cook. The dinner is... a bit of a disaster. Mrs. Micawber reveals that since Mr. Micawber became Heep's clerk, he's become suspicious and secretive.

David and Dan finally find Em'ly. Steerforth abandoned her and disappeared. Dan decides to emigrate to Australia with Em'ly.

David goes to give Ham a letter from Em'ly. He arrives to find that a ship is sinking in a storm, and Ham goes out to try and save some of the people on it. One of those people is Steerforth. He drowns, and Ham drowns trying to save him. Ouch. I couldn't care less about Steerforth's death, but poor Ham 😭

😭

After this, Mr. Micawber asks David and Aunt Betsey to visit his office. He reveals that Heep has deceived Mr. Wickfield into thinking he stole money, and uses this imaginary crime to blackmail Mr. Wickfield.

Heep has also been stealing other people's money, including Aunt Betsey's. She's furious when she hears this.

It's not clear from the screenshot, but she's hitting him with her purse here. Never mess with Aunt Betsey!

Uriah Heep is transported. After this the Micawbers decide to emigrate to Australia.

Dora has been ill for a while, and now she's dying. After she dies David travels the world for several years. At last he comes back, and very suddenly decides he's in love with Agnes and has been for years.

This is always a part that stretches my willing suspension of disbelief. Somehow David never realised that he was pining for Agnes for years? And he only realises because she tells him she loves him? It just feels too abrupt to be believable.

Anyway, David and Agnes get married and have children. And Aunt Betsey finally gets her goddaughter, Betsey Trotwood Copperfield. Aww!

So, what do I think of the miniseries over all?

As I've already said, Young!David is adorable. I just want to hug him and tell him everything's going to be all right. Unfortunately, adult!David never makes much impression on me. There's nothing glaringly wrong about Ciarán McMenamin's performance, but there's also nothing outstanding about him. But the other actors are perfect in their roles, so I can overlook that.

This is a fairly faithful adaptation because it adapts all the important parts of the book. But it's been literal years since I read the book, so there are probably minor differences between the two that I didn't pick up on.

Is it available online?: Not as far as I know :( But you can buy it on Amazon!

Rating of this episode: 7/10.

Rating of the whole series: 7/10.

Review: David Copperfield (1999) Episode 1

This version of David Copperfield was the first version of the book I ever saw, and it was what got me interested in period drama to begin with. So it's about time I reviewed it, don't you think? 😃

I'd watched several period dramas before -- Pride and Prejudice, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, and similar ones. But none of them, not even P&P, got me interested in the genre as a whole the way David Copperfield did.

The miniseries is based on Charles Dickens' eighth novel, which was also his most autobiographical. As the title suggests, the main character is called David Copperfield.

Recognisable actors include:
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) as young David Copperfield
Emilia Fox (Georgiana in Pride and Prejudice 1995) as Clara Copperfield
Maggie Smith (the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey, Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter, and Mrs. Medlock in The Secret Garden 1993) as Betsey Trotwood
Zoë Wanamaker (Mrs. Jarley in The Old Curiosity Shop 2007) as Jane Murdstone
Pauline Quirk (Dixon in North and South) as Peggotty
Alun Armstrong (Inspector Bucket in Bleak House) as Dan Peggotty
Imelda Staunton (Miss Pole in Cranford) as Mrs. Micawber
Ian McKellen (Gandalf in Lord of the Rings) as Mr. Creakle
Karl Johnson (Twister in Lark Rise to Candleford) as Tungay
Dawn French (Caroline Arless in Lark Rise to Candleford) as Mrs. Crupp

The story starts with Betsey Trotwood visiting Clara Copperfield, the widow of her nephew, on the evening David is born. Miss Trotwood is sure the baby will be a girl. She's so furious it's a boy that she leaves, never to return.

Betsey Trotwood

David and his mother

Years pass, and Clara finds a new husband: Mr. Murdstone. It's obvious from his first appearance that this guy is trouble. Even his name sounds horrible! Yet Clara decides she wants to marry him. I can sum up my reaction to this in two words: you idiot!

Mr. Murdstone, the wicked stepfather.

David goes to stay with Dan Peggotty, an uncle of Clara Peggotty, the Copperfields' maid. There he meets Ham and Little Em'ly, both of whom will be important later.

Dan Peggotty

Clara Peggotty and David

Ham and Little Em'ly

While he's away his mother marries Mr. Murdstone. David returns to find his stepfather's sister has also moved in, and she's taken over the house.

Jane Murdstone. Someone knock that bonnet off, please. And tread upon it!

Together the Murdstones abuse Clara, Peggotty, and David. Their cruelty leads to David biting Mr. Murdstone (hurray!). Unfortunately this makes the Murdstones send David off to a horrible school, run by the equally horrible Mr. Creakle. Imagine a marginally less vile version of Wackford Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby, and you know all you need to know about Mr. Creakle.

Mr. Creakle. Ugh.

While at this school David meets a boy called Steerforth, who'll also be important later.

David, Steerforth, and some of the schoolboys

Clara Copperfield dies, and Mr. Murdstone takes David out of school and sends him away to work in a factory. He stays with Mr. and Mrs. Micawber, two of the nicest (and funniest) characters in the series.

Mr. Micawber

Mrs. Micawber

Mr. Micawber is in debt, and while David is staying at his house he's arrested and sent to a debtor's prison. Mrs. Micawber's family pay his debts, and the Micawbers pack up and leave -- but can't take David. He decides to find his aunt Betsey Trotwood. After a long arduous journey, he arrives at her house.

At first Aunt Betsey wants nothing to do with him. ("No boys here!") But when she learns who he is and what's happened to him, she takes him in. Aunt Betsey is one of the characters Dickens excelled at writing: comically eccentric, but with a heart of gold.

Also staying with Aunt Betsey is Mr. Dick, another of the nicest characters in the series even though he's a bit odd. (King Charles I, anyone?)

Mr. Dick

The Murdstones reappear, demanding Aunt Betsey hands David over to them. She refuses. Awesomely.

"Do you think I don't know what sort of life you led this poor child's mother? It was a woeful day when you first appeared!"

That's the last we see of the Murdstones, thank goodness. Unfortunately they're soon to be replaced with another villain. Aunt Betsey sends David off to school -- a much better school than Mr. Creakle's. While there he stays with Aunt Betsey's lawyer Mr. Wickfield, his daughter Agnes... and his clerk Uriah Heep.

The very 'umble Uriah Heep. (Side note: I'm endlessly annoyed that no adaptation of the novel ever remembers Uriah was only fifteen when David came to stay with the Wickfields.)

David grows up and goes to work for another lawyer, Mr. Spenlow, who has a daughter named Dora. David immediately falls in love with Dora. Unfortunately, she's a childish airhead. This is especially irritating because Agnes is clearly in love with David, but he's such an idiot he doesn't realise it.

David, now an adult, and Agnes

Dora

Episode 1 ends with David determined to marry Dora. Of course there's no way this could possibly go wrong...

So, what do I think of the series so far?

It's not one of the best Dickens adaptations, and it might not even be the best adaptation of David Copperfield. (Though it's certainly better than the 2000 version, which sees the book's plot as a guideline to be ignored at will, and probably better than the upcoming 2019 version, which has the oddest cast list I've ever seen for a Dickens adaptation -- Tilda Swinton as Aunt Betsey? Who looked at the White Witch of all people and thought "She'd be perfect as Aunt Betsey!"?)

A mark against this adaptation is that it has Dawn French in a (mercifully) minor role, and I can't stand her. She isn't even an actress, she's a comedienne, and she couldn't portray a convincing emotion if her life depended on it. To make matters worse she shares her scene with the magnificent Maggie Smith. The contrast between the two is so obvious that I don't know if I should laugh or be furious that someone actually thought casting Dawn French was a good idea.

But other than that, the acting in this adaptation is pretty good overall. Young!David is adorable, Mr. Dick and Mr. Micawber are brilliant, Uriah Heep is a slimy creep, Mrs. Micawber is hilarious, the Murdstones are vile, and Aunt Betsey is awesome.

Rating of this episode: 7/10.