lost in Austen

I've spent much of the week ranting about how Austen men would never pull the kind of stunts modern men might. And, I've spent much of the weekend snuffling over a head cold.

So it's really no surprise I watched the entire Lost in Austen series last night.

It's British, so it's not really in Canada yet. And, considering the viewer turnout was just a few million over four weeks, I'm not sure it will come across the pond. (But I'm holding out hope, dear CBC.)

The show was brilliant! Loosely connected to a novel by the same name, it plops 21st century girl Amanda Price (wearing skinny jeans and low-cut top) into the pages of Pride and Prejudice. She messes the whole thing up royally, of course, somehow bumping in between Jane and Bingley, Charlotte and Collins, and Lydia and Wickham. Because Amanda has swapped spots with Elizabeth, she gets caught up in Darcy, too -- but isn't that what we would all do?

Well, you would think that's what we would all do, since we've all fallen in love with the sharp-tongued-but-shy hero a thousand times (no? just me?). But when faced with the real-life (likely still fictitious) Mr. Darcy, he's kind of an ass. He in fact would probably twist and turn all sorts of things to get his way and somehow justify it (kind of like a couple guys I've known over the years).

He does smoulder, though.... my favourite scene includes a water fountain, Darcy, and Amanda saying, "I am having a bit of a strange post-modern moment here."

Tee-hee.

Artistic licence is a great thing, too. Was Mrs. Bennett as completely insipid as she comes across on the page? Was Mr. Wickham a complete and utter cad? Were there lesbians in Austen's books?

As Amanda puts it, there are plot twists enough to send Miss Austen "spinning in her grave like a cat in a tumble dryer."

**do not play the video below if a) you hate Vanessa Carlson or b) you don't want the miniseries spoilt for you**