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castironThe Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books. I love the sprawling disparate characters and plotlines, and how as the book goes on, each seemingly random plotline or character links up until everything comes together in the end. Back when electronic devices couldn't be on during flights, it was the book I brought for plane reading because I knew I wouldn't finish it before I got to my destination. I still remember reading it as the plane pulled away from the gate at O'Hare, being utterly engrossed, and not realizing until the flight attendant's announcement that we had been parked on the tarmac for 45 minutes waiting for our turn to take off.
So when the Masterpiece adaptation showed up on PBS, I watched it with anticipation and hesitation. Would this do justice to one of my favorite books, or would I be shouting at my screen?
Turns out, yes to both.
Episode 1: So far, so good; yes, there's a smidge of simplification for TV, but I can buy it. Everything's set up for the initial disaster, and Edmond's arrest and imprisonment are heartbreaking. The eye candy is good. Villefort is fabulously acted.
Episode 2: This adaptation is really working for me. I love the relationship between Edmond and the Abbé Feria, and the teaching scenes; it makes the Count's exquisite manners in the book all the more believable. Okay, the "burial" happened at night in the book, but I'll make allowance for the difficulty of filming a sea escape by night.
Episode 3: Again, Edmond stealing some clothes on land and meeting Jacopo in Marseilles is a change from the book, where Edmond was picked up at sea by the smugglers, but budgets. Overall I'm buying the spirit of the thing, and still really enjoying WTF WAIT WTF REVEALING HIMSELF TO CADEROUSSE WTF WTF NO THIS IS NOT RIGHT WTFWTFWTFWTFBBQWTF. (deep breath)
I do not buy this. I will reserve judgement till the end whether it makes sense in this adaptation, but right now, no, absolutely not.
(I wondered why they had Ettore when there are so many other characters in the book that they could've used without making up a new one. It took me a surprisingly long time to realize that Ettore takes the place of Ali, a character who would be difficult to do in a non-offensive way.)
Episode 4: NO NOT EVEN VILLEFORT IS EVIL ENOUGH TO KNOWINGLY BURY A BABY ALIVE IN THE BOOK HE THOUGHT THE BABY WAS DEAD AND SO DID HERMINE COME ON.
Though otherwise this episode is working for me. Carnaval was neat, and Albert and Franz are believable young men out on their own for the first time. In the book it can be easy to forget how ruthless Edmond is because of how cool the plots are; this adaptation doesn't let you forget that Edmond is terrifying in his revenge.
Episode 5: I was wondering when Haydee would be introduced. It's a less creepy intro than in the book.
DUDE YOU'D BETTER SEND JACOPO WITH A WAD OF BANKNOTES FOR THAT TELEGRAPH OPERATOR WHO'S GOING TO LOSE HIS JOB.
(A general side note: I find it a little jarring that the characters occasionally use modern phrasing like "way too much" and "sure", but I'm telling myself that language evolves and besides it's all translated from French anyway.)
So they're dropping the Andrea Cavalcante plot and using Luigi Vampa for that part of the story. Which leaves me wondering, where's Villefort and Hermine's baby?
Episode 6: Valentine in prison? What???
(I made no other notes on this episode, which shows how much it affected me otherwise.)
Episode 7: No, I don't get why they created Gaston instead of sticking with Andrea Cavalcante. On the other hand, given how they changed Caderousse already, I'm glad that he appears to survive.
Episode 8: I'm not sure I buy Villefort's courtroom breakdown in this version. (I do buy it in the book; I think book Villefort has a more active conscience than TV Villefort.) I also don't care for the whole midwife plotline, though since Bertuccio was dropped I can see that it's the likeliest way for someone to know about the baby.
But once Villefort comes home -- yeah, he doesn't go mad and start digging, but in a way it's almost more terrible, especially since the son isn't the spoiled budding sociopath that he is in the book.
Do we ever get an explanation of the liquid that Edmond keeps snorting?
Danglars -- well, it takes less explanation to have him jailed than to have him run off to Italy, get taken by Luigi Vampa, and have to spend millions of francs for his dinner. I'm not enamored of how this adaptation treats Hermine, but I love that they kept Eugenie and Louise's canon lesbian relationship.
In bookverse, I deeply dislike that Mercedes goes off to a life of mourning while Edmund goes off to a life with a woman twenty years younger. The TV show does a better job of convincing me that their chance has passed; it leaves open the possibility of a new start down the road, but I don't want that for this Mercedes. (Though I'm pleased that they dropped the Haydee romance.)
On balance, I think this adaptation does a decent job of conveying the theme of revenge and when it goes too far. The casting is great; Mikkel Boe Følsgard in particular is very right for Villefort, and Nicholas Maupas does a good job of portraying Albert's transition from carefree boy to chastened young man. And the costumes and sets are excellent; I have a much better mental image of the Carnval scenes now. I don't agree with all the choices the showrunners made to compress a sprawling novel with a bazillion characters and over-the-top plotlines into eight hours and a reasonably sized cast, especially when adding plotlines that aren't in the book. But the visuals are excellent, and overall I found it worth watching.
(Still, WTF, EPISODE 3???)
So when the Masterpiece adaptation showed up on PBS, I watched it with anticipation and hesitation. Would this do justice to one of my favorite books, or would I be shouting at my screen?
Turns out, yes to both.
Episode 1: So far, so good; yes, there's a smidge of simplification for TV, but I can buy it. Everything's set up for the initial disaster, and Edmond's arrest and imprisonment are heartbreaking. The eye candy is good. Villefort is fabulously acted.
Episode 2: This adaptation is really working for me. I love the relationship between Edmond and the Abbé Feria, and the teaching scenes; it makes the Count's exquisite manners in the book all the more believable. Okay, the "burial" happened at night in the book, but I'll make allowance for the difficulty of filming a sea escape by night.
Episode 3: Again, Edmond stealing some clothes on land and meeting Jacopo in Marseilles is a change from the book, where Edmond was picked up at sea by the smugglers, but budgets. Overall I'm buying the spirit of the thing, and still really enjoying WTF WAIT WTF REVEALING HIMSELF TO CADEROUSSE WTF WTF NO THIS IS NOT RIGHT WTFWTFWTFWTFBBQWTF. (deep breath)
I do not buy this. I will reserve judgement till the end whether it makes sense in this adaptation, but right now, no, absolutely not.
(I wondered why they had Ettore when there are so many other characters in the book that they could've used without making up a new one. It took me a surprisingly long time to realize that Ettore takes the place of Ali, a character who would be difficult to do in a non-offensive way.)
Episode 4: NO NOT EVEN VILLEFORT IS EVIL ENOUGH TO KNOWINGLY BURY A BABY ALIVE IN THE BOOK HE THOUGHT THE BABY WAS DEAD AND SO DID HERMINE COME ON.
Though otherwise this episode is working for me. Carnaval was neat, and Albert and Franz are believable young men out on their own for the first time. In the book it can be easy to forget how ruthless Edmond is because of how cool the plots are; this adaptation doesn't let you forget that Edmond is terrifying in his revenge.
Episode 5: I was wondering when Haydee would be introduced. It's a less creepy intro than in the book.
DUDE YOU'D BETTER SEND JACOPO WITH A WAD OF BANKNOTES FOR THAT TELEGRAPH OPERATOR WHO'S GOING TO LOSE HIS JOB.
(A general side note: I find it a little jarring that the characters occasionally use modern phrasing like "way too much" and "sure", but I'm telling myself that language evolves and besides it's all translated from French anyway.)
So they're dropping the Andrea Cavalcante plot and using Luigi Vampa for that part of the story. Which leaves me wondering, where's Villefort and Hermine's baby?
Episode 6: Valentine in prison? What???
(I made no other notes on this episode, which shows how much it affected me otherwise.)
Episode 7: No, I don't get why they created Gaston instead of sticking with Andrea Cavalcante. On the other hand, given how they changed Caderousse already, I'm glad that he appears to survive.
Episode 8: I'm not sure I buy Villefort's courtroom breakdown in this version. (I do buy it in the book; I think book Villefort has a more active conscience than TV Villefort.) I also don't care for the whole midwife plotline, though since Bertuccio was dropped I can see that it's the likeliest way for someone to know about the baby.
But once Villefort comes home -- yeah, he doesn't go mad and start digging, but in a way it's almost more terrible, especially since the son isn't the spoiled budding sociopath that he is in the book.
Do we ever get an explanation of the liquid that Edmond keeps snorting?
Danglars -- well, it takes less explanation to have him jailed than to have him run off to Italy, get taken by Luigi Vampa, and have to spend millions of francs for his dinner. I'm not enamored of how this adaptation treats Hermine, but I love that they kept Eugenie and Louise's canon lesbian relationship.
In bookverse, I deeply dislike that Mercedes goes off to a life of mourning while Edmund goes off to a life with a woman twenty years younger. The TV show does a better job of convincing me that their chance has passed; it leaves open the possibility of a new start down the road, but I don't want that for this Mercedes. (Though I'm pleased that they dropped the Haydee romance.)
On balance, I think this adaptation does a decent job of conveying the theme of revenge and when it goes too far. The casting is great; Mikkel Boe Følsgard in particular is very right for Villefort, and Nicholas Maupas does a good job of portraying Albert's transition from carefree boy to chastened young man. And the costumes and sets are excellent; I have a much better mental image of the Carnval scenes now. I don't agree with all the choices the showrunners made to compress a sprawling novel with a bazillion characters and over-the-top plotlines into eight hours and a reasonably sized cast, especially when adding plotlines that aren't in the book. But the visuals are excellent, and overall I found it worth watching.
(Still, WTF, EPISODE 3???)