Watched the first 3 episodes last night, had never read the books.
Norrell: D&D Wizard, constantly studying books and working the hard way around.
Strange: D&D Sorcerer. Not weighed down by silly notions of magic, just knows he can do it.
Norrell: Extremely jealous of Strange’s natural talents and abilities to just do things.
I don’t remember from the books but is it ever explained by going to Fairy land makes Lady Poole crazy but seems to hardly effect Steven at all?
It makes them both unhappy and frustrated, not crazy. Steven gets depressed and withdrawn, which mostly goes unnoticed. Lady Poole rebels more against her fate, which looks to outsiders like “crazy”.
The “crazy” part is an actual curse: no-one (not Steven, not Lady Poole) can explain what is happening to them - if they try, all that happens is that (instead of explaining) they just start to tell a long, rambling story about something totally different, but having to do with fairy magic - to outsiders, they appear to be babbling nonsense. In frustration Lady Poole lashes out in various ways, but she’s not actually nuts.
Lady Poole keeps trying to explain what is happening to her - which makes her appear crazy. Steven doesn’t try to explain what is happening, for various reasons (first, he sees Lady Poole failing to do it).
Steven did try to explain it at the door to Mrs. Strange, with the same results.
Did anyone else notice? In the first episode, Mr. Norrell is quick to correct someone on the pronunciation of his name: It’s NOR-ull.
But in this last episode, the fourth, Mr. Norrell himself pronounces it Nor-ELL.
Cutting things out entirely doesn’t bother me. What I found disconcerting was introducing something with little or no explanation and then never mentioning it again.
I’m thinking of the “tower of darkness” curse and the return of Uskglass, for instance. They both seemed like they could have been the basis of something interesting, but there was basically no time left for discussion about either one.
I noticed that as well. I also had a little chuckle at his counting Jonathan’s three medals versus his one.
I took it as a small comic hint at Norrell’s conflicting priorities: he’s a pedant of the highest order but he also desperately wants respectability. That he even briefly descends to Drawlight’s level of pretension is indicative of how much of his soul he’s sold.
hogarth, the latter isn’t expanded upon in the book either; I think the key there is Vinculus’s statement that Strange and Norrell ARE the spell Uskglass is casting upon England - he has been the puppetmaster all along. That we are left with no resolution as to his motives is simply a mystery we must accept; Uskglass is not the protagonist here.
As for the former, the show differs from the book (big spoiler): [spoiler]Norrell and Strange remain trapped in the darkness, but they themselves remove Hurtfew Abbey and their other homes from public access (although the cat apparently has no trouble getting in), sort of like the house-hiding spell in Harry Potter.
In the end Strange speaks to Arabella in person, he within the darkness and she without, and promises to come to her when they have dispelled the darkness. The show makes it seem like they were spirited away against their wills, which I found a little disappointing.[/spoiler]
I thought this week’s ep was the best yet!
The Raven King painting at Windsor Castle was appropriately creepy. Likewise the scene where the Gentleman puts a sword in Stephen Black’s hand and magically pulls him forward to kill George III, and Strange whisks the king back just in time - again to plunk discordantly on the harpsichord. And the magical log with not-Arabella inside - brrr!
Very funny scene with the woman by the fire listening along and moving her lips as Strange reads through her list of how he’s to magically and horribly kill all her relatives. Also a nice touch as the Army officers pretend not to be listening while Strange and his wife argue, and then briskly thank Strange for a lovely evening as they leave.
I liked Lascelles taking the notices of Drawlight’s debts and immediately arranging for his arrest. His hysterical reaction to Strange’s critique of the book was also right on the mark.
Was Childermass actually missing a finger when he held up his hand to Segundus and Moneyfoot, or was he just mimicking Lady Pole?
As to Strange being recalled to Army service to deal with Napoleon’s return, in the books,
did that happen? I thought he just served in Spain.
Favorite line this time, by Strange: “I think it was most inconvenient to [Lascelles] that I did not die in the Peninsula.”
As noted in the OP, please only discuss an episode once it has aired in the U.S.
Nitpick - it’s Pole, not Poole. She is not mad, but very frustrated by her inability to explain what’s happening to her, and exhausted from dancing all night, every night, in Lost Hope.
Yes, in introducing himself to George III, no less! I’ve noticed that the BBC America ads all along have used the second pronunciation, but Clarke, in interviews I’ve heard, uses the first.
Yeah, that was a nice bit.
The new trade paperback edition with the TV actors on the cover includes a new two-page foreword by Clarke. She’s obviously pleased by what the BBC has done with her book.
As in giving her a long ton of money and setting it up for a sequel? I’m only halfway done with the book, but the series gave short shrift to the womenfolk, as Lady Pole acknowledged. Good to have those lovely ladies working together in the next one. As fond as I am of Eddie Marsan, a little bit of Norrel goes a long way.
Well, Clarke’s been working on a sequel for more than a decade now. Here’s an excellent 2004 interview (warning - some book spoilers): The SF Site: An Interview With Susanna Clarke.
Saw the fifth and sixth episodes, “Arabella” and “The Dark Tower,” last night, and enjoyed them. The Waterloo scenes were very well done (and seemed based on this part of the battle: La Haye Sainte - Wikipedia). Loved the pugnacious Scots publisher, and later, the disappearing books. I noticed Arabella’s chest moving just slightly while she was supposed to be dead. Childermass hiding by the wall, and Drawlight in prison, were well-done. The mad old woman and her cats was great, as was Strange’s purposeful descent into madness.
Favorite lines: “Do you wish to be shot?” “No.” “Then behave… differently.”
On to the finale!
Well, last episode aired on BBC America tonight. They’d been fairly faithful in adaptation up until the end… when suddenly they jumped the rails and went racing off on their own. I don’t think the changes were bad – it kept Strange and Norrell “in” on the action – but it certainly was unexpected.
In the Waterloo scene, i think it was the other building at Hougoument,
Because of the big French officer smashing throught the gate with an axe and then going Viking on everyone around. Real guy.
From Wiki ‘Sous-Lieutenant Legros, wielding an axe, managed to break through the north gate. A desperate fight ensued between the invading French soldiers and the defending Guards. In a near-miraculous attack, Macdonell, a small party of officers and Corporal James Graham fought through the melee to shut the gate, trapping Legros and about 30 other soldiers of the 1st Legere inside. All of the French who entered, apart from a young drummer boy, were killed in a desperate hand-to-hand fight’
Can you summarize, perhaps in a spoiler box, how the book ending differed?
Comcast has the first four episodes, put on-line after showing like normal.
And none of them past that. 
Ah, perhaps you’re right.
Although I enjoyed the series, it did seem that the finale episode was a bit too rushed - even a little incoherent.
Some differences from the book, as I remember it:
[spoiler]
There’s nothing in the book about S&N having their faces pulled off by the curse.
The Raven King actually speaks to Childermass at Vinculus’s hanging-tree.
Lascelles doesn’t shoot Drawlight in the book, as I recall, and doesn’t shatter like porcelain - he is stranded in the realm of Faerie as guardian of a road. Nor does he shoot Stephen Black, or cut Childermass’s face.
Lady Pole doesn’t give the Gentleman his name, and does not tell her husband she is leaving London. (I don’t remember Lord Pole resigning from Parliament or as Prime Minister, either).
Black magically kills the Gentleman outdoors, along a river, and then becomes the ruler of a much more benign Faerie-palace.
Childermass doesn’t meet with the York magicians at the end, or reveal Vinculus’s skin-book to them.[/spoiler]
But maybe I’m misremembering some of this?
Those are basically the ones I recalled offhand
[spoiler]Plus, I don’t recall Norrell and Strange transporting themselves to Lost Hope in the book; they ordered England to give obeisance to the “Nameless Slave”, who was in Faerie (not at Lost Hope), where he took care of the Gentleman. Plus, Strange and Norrell end up moving Norrell’s home into the Eternal Darkness (or into Faerie; unclear); it disappears from England.
I’m pretty sure they don’t turn all of Norrell’s books into ravens as a spell to send English magic to the Raven King; I think that the Raven King turns all the books into ravens in response to their attempt to contact him. And as I recall, they later turn back into books.
And I vaguely recall Segundus ending up in Faerie with Lady Pole, but probably have to re-read that part as it’s been a while.[/spoiler]
A couple of those did appear in the book:
[spoiler]you posted: “Lascelles doesn’t shoot Drawlight in the book, as I recall, and doesn’t shatter like porcelain - he is stranded in the realm of Faerie as guardian of a road. Nor does he shoot Stephen Black, or cut Childermass’s face.”
OK, thanks. I wasn’t sure. Gotta re-read it sometime!