Review: Wives and Daughters (1999) Episodes 3 & 4

Review of the first two episodes here.

Roger, newly-engaged to Cynthia, is on his way to Africa. Dr. Gibson and Squire Hamley aren't overjoyed about the match, but they have no real objections... yet. Mrs. Gibson, meanwhile, is delighted. She's been eavesdropping on her husband's conversations, and knows that Osborne is seriously ill. Money-obsessed brat that she is, she's hoping he'll die so Roger -- and Cynthia -- will get the Hamley estate. I'll let Squire Hamley describe Mrs. Gibson.

Cynthia goes off to visit her cousins in London. While there she gets a proposal from another man, Mr. Henderson, and -- for once -- is sensible enough to refuse him. Her mother isn't happy.

Osborne and his wife Aimee have a child now, and Osborne's health is rapidly deteriorating. His father still doesn't know he's married, Roger is in Africa, and Molly is the only person in England who knows of Aimee's existence. So Osborne gives her his wife's address.

Molly has her own problems. A rumour has been circulating about Cynthia and Mr. Preston, but a misunderstanding leads to Molly's friends believing she is engaged to Preston.

Cynthia returns and finally admits that thanks to her vanity, she borrowed money from Mr. Preston when she was fifteen(!) and agreed to marry him in return. (Yes, people could get engaged at fifteen back then. Doesn't make it any less creepy.) Now she wants to break off the engagement, but he won't let her.

Lydia and Wickham version 2 (with Molly dragged into this sorry mess).

So Cynthia sends Molly to ask Preston for some letters she wrote him. Naturally, someone sees Molly and Preston talking, alone, early in the morning, in a forest. Poor Molly's reputation is almost ruined.

Thanks to some intervention from Lady Harriett, Molly manages to avoid total disgrace.

Lady Harriett

Cynthia doesn't help at all, spoilt brat that she is. Preston disappears from the story (about time!), and Dr. Gibson finally hears the full story of what his step-daughter has been involved with. A terrible argument later, Cynthia decides to break off her engagement with Roger. Thank goodness!

Now comes the most heart-breaking part of the series. Osborne dies 😭

😭

Molly tells the Squire about Aimee, and sends word to her about Osborne. The Squire, after some reluctance, decides to let Aimee stay.

Aimee and Osborne Jr.

Roger comes home, and almost immediately falls in love with Molly. He doesn't think she could love him and she doesn't realise he loves her, but it works out in the end. Adorably.

One of the sweetest proposals in period drama 😍

Sadly we don't get to see the wedding (*gives the director an unamused look*), but we do get a nice scene of Molly and Roger, together, in Africa. Aww 😍

My overall opinion is "great series with some really obnoxious characters". I can't stand that airhead Cynthia, that even bigger airhead Hyacinth, or that creep Preston. Luckily the decent characters are good enough for me to ignore those brats.

The main drawback with this series is the length of the episodes. There are only four episodes, but a lot happens in them. As a result each episode is over an hour long, and there are times when it seems like they'll never end. I get the feeling the series would have benefited from having eight half-hour episodes instead of four long ones. But that's the only real complaint I have about it.

Is it available online?: Yes, on Dailymotion.

Rating: 8/10.

Review: Wives and Daughters (1999) Episode 1 & 2

Hope everyone's having a good 2019 so far! 😃

Today I'm going to review one of my favourite period dramas ever. Well, the first half of it.

Wives and Daughters is based on Elizabeth Gaskell's last novel. Mrs. Gaskell died before finishing it, so the writers had to create the ending themselves. Unlike most cases of writers adding things when adapting novels, the result isn't bad at all. But more about that later.

The cast is full of familiar faces.

Justine Waddell (Estella in Great Expectations 1999) as Molly

Francesca Annis (Lady Ludlow in Cranford) as Mrs. Gibson

Keely Hawes (Lizzie in Our Mutual Friend 1998) as Cynthia

Bill Paterson (Mr. Meagles in Little Dorrit 2008) as Dr. Gibson

Michael Gambon (Mr. Holbrook in Cranford) as Squire Hamley

Deborah Findlay (Miss Tomkinson in Cranford) as Miss Phoebe

Barbara Flynn (Mrs. Jamieson in Cranford) as Miss Browning

Tom Hollander (Cutler Beckett in Pirates of the Caribbean and Mr. Mantalini in Nicholas Nickleby 2001) as Osborne

Elizabeth Spriggs (Mrs. Jennings in Sense and Sensibility 1995) as Mrs. Goodenough

Barbara Leigh-Hunt (Lady Catherine in Pride and Prejudice 1995) as Lady Cumnor

Rosamund Pike (Jane in Pride and Prejudice 2005) as Lady Harriet

I'm sure I've forgotten someone, but I think that's a long enough list as it is 😃

The series begins with a rather odd, almost surreal sequence of young!Molly wandering around a party and meeting the woman who'll eventually become her stepmother. Then it jumps forward a few years. Molly, now a young woman, has gone to visit the Hamley family, and her widowed father Dr. Gibson decides to marry again.

Dr. Gibson

Mrs. Hamley and Molly

Squire Hamley

Hyacinth (yes, that really is her name!) Kirkpatrick, the future Mrs. Gibson

It's obvious from the start that he made a terrible choice. Mrs. Kirkpatrick is a selfish, mercenary brat who doesn't care about anyone else's thoughts or feelings. Molly is understandably unhappy to learn about her soon-to-be stepmother. And to make things worse, Mrs. Kirkpatrick has a daughter, Cynthia, who's just as spoilt and selfish as she is.

Cynthia

Molly's friends the Hamleys have their own troubles. Squire Hamley is forced to pay his son Osborne's debts, which leaves the family with very little money. Mrs. Hamley dies of what's implied to be tuberculosis. Roger is alternatively looked down on and praised to the skies by his father. And Osborne has a terrible secret that the Squire absolutely must not know: he's married to a Frenchwoman, and his father hates the French.

Osborne

Molly and Roger

Even more trouble starts when Roger -- who Molly is secretly in love with -- falls in love with Cynthia, and the mysterious, sinister Mr. Preston comes on the scene.

Mr. Preston, the closest equivalent Wives and Daughters has to Wickham.

Osborne and his wife are going to have a baby, which means Osborne needs money desperately. But the Squire refuses to give him any, and he doesn't dare tell him the truth. Things look pretty grim for everyone... but then Roger is given a place on a scientific expedition to Africa. He gives Osborne some of his money, gets engaged to Cynthia (terrible idea, Roger!), and goes to Africa for two years. Episode two ends with Molly watching him go. Ouch, poor Molly 😢

😢

The first time I watched this series, it was immediately after watching Pride and Prejudice (1995). That wasn't the smartest idea. I'm ashamed to admit that I was bored for half of the first episode. (You could say I was "Pride and Prejudiced" against it 😊) I thought "yawn, I know how this will go. Mrs. Gibson's going to be a wicked stepmother and Osborne's going to be a villainous brother" -- which was doing poor Osborne a terrible disservice.

But once Pride and Prejudice-induced criticism wore off (because everything looks bad when  compared to something really good), I fell in love with Wives and Daughters. I was especially impressed by the performances of Justine Waddell (Molly) and Tom Hollander (Osborne). Before this series, I'd only seen Justine Waddell in Great Expectations, playing a character that I've never liked, and Tom Hollander in Pirates of the Caribbean, playing a despicable villain. It was odd to see them in such different roles here, where their characters are two of the most sympathetic ones in the series.

Rating: 8/10.

Review of the next two episodes here.