Welll hellooooooo poppets! I have to thank Emily SO very much for taking over for me while I was flying around. I thought I’d be able to keep up the LBD’in but it turns out that I was in motion for the release of each new video, and that’s no fun. Emily did such a great job I’m going to ask her to put her comments on the videos under these posts from here on out. I mean, only…seven…videos…left…right?
RTT we guessed the 100 episode thing on the LeakyNews tumblr? Just saying!
Of course, I go away and I miss the big Bing ending, which I thought was darling, fitting, FULL OF FEELS, and put his bizarre actions in check. We’ve been calling it here in the comments section – medical school crisis – so, go us! The plot is unraveling faster than my sweaters after Moochka’s gotten at them, so let’s sit back and enjoy the ride.
Predictions… the Catherine DeBourgh ending perhaps? Because unless Emily corrects me again, I think this is where she comes into the story? So whatever update/placeholder they have for that bit of things? Actually, FIRST, we need for Lizzie to find out the real story of what happened with Wickham. That Bing got resolved first is very interesting to me.
It’s up and it’s called REVELATIONS!!!
All right. So. It was Lydia who tells Lizzie. However, we still don’t know exactly how she found out. It wasn’t just the Pemberley vids, because even they don’t explain that he bought the company. Did she connect with Gigi? Work some magic through Charlotte and Collins and Collins?
Let’s back up one quick sec, and talk about Lizzie re-watching her vlogs and seemingly discovering her own feelings and re-evaluating her history with everyone (especially Darcy). This seems to echo Lizzy’s revisiting of the book’s events after Pemberley. I am sure Emily will have some thoughts on this subject below when she gets here. 
However, the reveal was a tiny bit low-key. It was a revelation of info we, the watchers, all already knew. It was important for it to be imparted to Lizzie. And it was important to set up this gif-in-the-making:
Upate: that was fast!
But what else do we think this style of revelation did for the story? Are we going to have any CDB fallout or have we drifted so far now that we think it’s irrelevant? I’m waffling on that one.
DISCUSS!
Emily’s comments follow:
You know, I’m actually kind of glad that I didn’t do the immediate recap on this one, because I’m still sorting out my feelings. My very first reaction was “FINALLY! SHE KNOWS!! FINALLY!” but I’m left feeling a little– unsatisfied. They delayed this revelation for SO LONG that it was nearly unbelievable that Lizzie didn’t know yet. I mean, how hard is it to find the Domino videos, really? (And I’m a bit disappointed that Lydia didn’t mention the Domino videos to Lizzie– what better way to prove Darcy’s motives? Hopefully she’ll find them on her own.) Maybe the delay unrealistically built up my expectations? I was expecting a more emotional reaction, I guess. And honestly, I think part of the problem is the limitation of the medium.
At the beginning of the LBDs, Lizzie was totally unafraid to share her true feelings with the internet at large. And it worked, because the book, while in third person, is largely from Elizabeth’s point of view. We are privy to her thoughts and emotions. Her change of heart is evident through the narration. Adaptations have to deal with the fact that we don’t have a narrator to tell us Elizabeth’s inner dialogue, and most do this by showing us those moments where Lizzy is alone, or using flashbacks (like in the P&P 1995). But in order to show key points of the plot in a video blog, the characters must, necessarily, be aware of the video blog. So now Lizzie, having learned her lesson about prematurely judging people and broadcasting her opinion to the world, isn’t telling us what she really thinks, because Darcy might be watching, because Caroline might be watching, because Gigi is certainly watching. We’re not getting any private heart-to-hearts with Jane, no sitting-at-a-mirror-and seeing-Darcy-looking-disapproving scenes. We don’t know what’s going on in her head, her new-found self-control is muting her responses on camera, and as a result I’m feeling an emotional disconnect from what I’m seeing on screen. I’m not saying I didn’t like this episode– there’s lots to like, and lots to pick apart– but having taken nearly a year to tell this story, I guess I’m hoping for a more emotional payoff then I’m getting. We’ll see how this continues to play out as the story wraps up.
Anyway. Other stuff. So good to see Lydia again! And a Lydia on the road to recovery. Her comments about not really knowing Darcy and about how the face he presents to the world is not necessarily the true one were obviously about herself as well. I think it’s plain that she knows she was putting up barriers to everyone knowing her true self, including her sisters, and is therefore willing to give the benefit of the doubt to someone else who is obviously doing the same. I’m glad she’s opening up. I’m glad she’s getting counseling. I have hopes that George did not ruin her forever.
Dare I say, I think Lydia is on the Good Ship Lizzie/Darcy was well? (Sorry, I don’t do smash-names for ships, so no Dizzies from me. 
) She seemed to want to tell Lizzie because she deserved to know that Darcy cared about her (the whole “when you care about someone you don’t want to see them hurting” speech applying not just to her hopes for George but also for Darcy’s motives), and also tried to put the ball firmly in Lizzie’s court. I’m not sure it succeeded– Lizzie now knows, or suspects, that he still cares about her. But I still think she’ll wait for him to make the first contact.
Here’s how Lizzy reacted to the news in the book:
He had done all this for a girl whom he could neither regard nor esteem. Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her. But it was a hope shortly checked by other considerations, and she soon felt that even her vanity was insufficient, when required to depend on his affection for her—for a woman who had already refused him—as able to overcome a sentiment so natural as abhorrence against relationship with Wickham. Brother-in-law of Wickham! Every kind of pride must revolt from the connection. He had, to be sure, done much. She was ashamed to think how much. But he had given a reason for his interference, which asked no extraordinary stretch of belief. It was reasonable that he should feel he had been wrong; he had liberality, and he had the means of exercising it; and though she would not place herself as his principal inducement, she could, perhaps, believe that remaining partiality for her might assist his endeavours in a cause where her peace of mind must be materially concerned. It was painful, exceedingly painful, to know that they were under obligations to a person who could never receive a return. They owed the restoration of Lydia, her character, every thing, to him. Oh! how heartily did she grieve over every ungracious sensation she had ever encouraged, every saucy speech she had ever directed towards him. For herself she was humbled; but she was proud of him. Proud that in a cause of compassion and honour, he had been able to get the better of himself. (Pride and Prejudice, Vol. III, Ch. X)
I can see Lizzie having a similar argument with herself, that his motive may partly have been because of leftover admiration, but that it didn’t take much a stretch to imagine that he did it merely because he blamed himself for having allowed it to happen at all. But it must necessarily increase her opinion of him, which has already been materially increased by his behavior to her while she was at Pemberley. If she hadn’t already admitted her feelings for him to herself (which she already had in the book), she must now.
It will be interesting to see what happens in social media this weekend, with Gigi going to SXSW and Mary and Gigi following each other. I honestly don’t know what to expect from those plot nuggets. Might we expect a grateful tweet to Darcy from Lizzie’s account? I shall be watching with bated breath.
–Emily
