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LocusNOLA's Replies
Austen made her view of Marianne's future clear - in time, her heart becomes as devoted to Brandon as it ever had been to Willoughby. And Marianne is chastened, and wiser - she has chosen her mate with sense as well as sensibility, and is highly unlikely to look elsewhere, particularly where she has been so grievously injured.
Like many current shows, it's a sort of hybrid - every episode solves a case (roughly, I think there was a two-parter). But there is also an over-arc, largely concerning Martin Riggs' psycho-emotional difficulties following the death of his wife and unborn child, and the home life of the Murtaughs.
Edward's income as a clergyman is dependent upon the income of the "living," or "parish" in this film. In Austen's novel, it is made clear that the living at Delaford did not provide sufficient income to support him, by itself. As has been pointed out, most of those who made the Church their profession had additional resources; Edward has none.
Brandon might very well have been willing to "help" Edward and Elinor, if it were needed. It is less clear that Edward would be willing to accept his charity - he is very grateful for the living, but at least he will be working to earn his meagre bread. A handout would have been quite another matter, and offering one, no matter how willing Brandon were, would have been problematic, an indelicacy.
Willoughby's motives for marrying money (and, yes, preserving Combe Magna as his property) are nowhere - not in Austen's novel nor any adaptation - presented as arising from a sense of family duty. He is presented as being purely selfish and fearful of poverty.
Nor does Austen speculate as to his uprearing. And Willougby himself, in the book and in the adaptations which include his confession to Elinor at Cleveland during Marianne's illness, makes no real attempt to excuse himself, although he thinks Eliza ("Beth" in this adaptation) deserves some measure of blame (as, indeed, she does, though a small measure compared with his).
If Willoughby does not think he has the "right" to behave as he has (as he does not), if he admits the shamefulness of his actions toward both Eliza/Beth and Marianne (as he does), I am not sure why you feel the need to excuse him, or blame chimerical parentage you've invented out of whole cloth.
Oh, certainly, there is some measure of good in Willoughby. He's weak, expensive and weak. Austen is harder on Fanny Dashwood and Mrs. Ferrars - indeed, she is harder on Lucy Steel and Robert Ferrars than on Willoughy.
But his behavior to Marianne is simply unforgivable. His behavior to the family who has welcomed him is unforgivable. He flings himself from their presence with "I will not torment myself further," knowing full well he leaves torment for all the family in his wake. He'd have to go far, after that, for me, to redeem himself. And he does not, in fact, redeem himself. He is on the way to being a tragic character, really, as his happiness is undone by his own flaws.
Austen wrote a few near-monsters, yes, but she writes human beings, not whole-monsters. So we agree, there.
Hello! I just found this board - so glad to find you still posting!
Thank you for the link. Wow. I have no doubt Rebeck experienced what she describes, and it's pretty gawdawful.
And I agree it was probably a mistake to fire her. But. But. It was Season 1 which was so over-the-top ridiculous as to inspire a new pastime, and coin a new term - "hate-watching." And Rebeck does not appear to have come to terms with this fact.
Julia and the prospective adoptive Chinese daughter? Scarves everywhere? Karen behaving with a truly ludicrous lack of professionalism, and coming up golden every time? Ivy demonized for having insisted on being allowed to do her job - albeit in a disagreeable, passive-aggressive manner? Ellis?
One can lay much of the blame at Spielberg's feet, sure. And Season 2 did suffer from the switch to a more male focus (it was pretty clear Safran had more interest in Jimmy than in anyone else, though I will always be grateful to him for standing his ground that Ivy-Derek was "endgame," Cartwills' desires notwithstanding, and for insisting that Karen would not win a Tony). But Rebeck's sugar-coated memory of Season 1 isn't accurate. It just isn't what happened in the real world.
Keeping to the imaginary world, I've been penning a fanfiction Season 3, if you've any interest -
[url]http://archiveofourown.org/works/1028680/chapters/2048422[/url]