Read my review of Emma (the book).

General impressions

Romola Garai starred in the Cuba-set 2004 remake of Dirty Dancing, with which I was obsessed in college. I never expected to see her in a role like this, and it took a while to get used to her, but I think she does the job well.

I loved the abundant use of natural light in this miniseries. The estates, land, and gardens were beautiful and well displayed. So many excellent exterior shots. This is the kind of gentle elegance that the best period dramas display.

Every false start of a relationship felt much more founded in this adaptation. Suspicions of Jane and Mr. Dixon, Mr. Knightley and Jane, Frank and Emma, Frank and Harriet — they are all framed as quite possible. I think modern viewers and readers have become so familiar with Austen’s storylines that we’ve forgotten that, when the book was still new, nobody actually knew about Frank and Jane’s engagement, or Mr. Knightley’s secret affections, or Harriet’s third crush. Framing these as believable relationships for the story’s ending is more loyal to the spirit of someone experiencing this story for the first time.

I appreciated seeing so many spoken-of events happening on screen. Many scenes other Emma adaptations have left out were included here.

I find it interesting that a woman with so much influence as Mrs. Churchill is never seen in the book, and that the adaptation maintains this. She is a silent, absent yet omnipresent figure looming over much of the story for everyone without meeting anyone or saying a word.

The amount of added content, whether whole scenes or extra lines in conversation, is surprising for such an already long story. I felt most of it supported the development of the characters and story. Nothing felt out of place (unlike certain 1997 chicken thieves…)

While I enjoyed the 1997 movie much more than the 1996 version, I still felt rather bored and tired of the story watching both. I thought reading and then watching so many versions of Emma had just wrung me out. But I found myself really enjoying this one.

I am beginning to think, not as a rule but certainly a general guideline, that miniseries will always make better classic adaptations than movies. How can the average classic novel, especially one the length of Emma, be done justice in two hours? Things must be cut and adjusted for the time limit alone, and then further changed to suit the medium of screen.

With the attention to detail in nods to servants, social hierarchies, room sizes and furnishings, the framing and lingering on beautiful estates, and the loyalty to plot and characters, I think this might actually be objectively the best period drama adaptation I’ve seen.

Episodes One and Two

I like how this adaptation begins with establishing why Mr. Woodhouse is so concerned about people’s health or people leaving home — the loss of his wife to illness, and his resulting grief. Similarly, the beginning of the series’ focus on main characters as children grounds Frank Churchill with his aunt’s influence and Jane Fairfax’s status in life and relation to her family. Emma’s pampered home life shown in contrast to Frank’s and Jane’s circumstances helps establish why she is so self-centered and self-assured.

I love Michael Gambon, from Wives and Daughters, as Mr. Woodhouse. Excellent casting there.

I was surprised at how much content was added to the beginning of the show. The intention of establishing the characters in their relationships and world certainly makes sense, but the story is already so long that I wondered how the adaptation would pace it and if they would wind up changing or cutting a lot.

I love Romola Garai, and she makes a beautiful Emma. At the start she does strike me as too immature and expressive for the high society woman of the book. Jonny Lee Miller’s Mr. Knightley seems priggish and snobby, but I think that’s partly due to his contrast with girly Emma. He also doesn’t look nearly so handsome or rugged as the usual romantic period drama hero.

Why does Jodhi May’s Miss Taylor/Mrs. Weston seem so tired and sick all the time? Her character was a quiet, well-mannered girl but never looked so pale or severe. She plays the part well, just doesn’t look like I pictured.

I like Tamsin Greig’s Miss Bates. She maintains the chatty nature of the book character but feels much more realistic and less ridiculous than the other adaptations I’ve seen.

A lot more was made of Miss Taylor’s leaving Hartfield than was focused on in the book, as well as Emma’s sister’s absence. I think this establishes part of why Mr. Knightley’s friendship and Emma’s never leaving Hartfield are so important.

I’m immediately inclined to like Louise Dylan’s Harriet by her looks, soft and blond as I always pictured, with a sweet shy smile. I like the little looks Emma uses to try to hint better etiquette at Harriet. Their friendship feels mostly natural and genuine.

Seeing Harriet sneak Mr. Elton’s pencil during the portrait painting was a funny moment.

This Emma does seem less manipulative in her conversations with Harriet, but also less perceptive and mature in exchange. Her insistence that Harriet marries better than Robert Martin, while still rooted in social prejudices and vain self-image, does seem more genuinely inspired by her desire to keep her friend close in her life.

Emma and Knightley’s arguments feel exactly right to the book. Entertaining, engaging, imbued with real concern and emotion.

I enjoyed seeing the seasons pass at Hartfield as they did in the book. The Knightley family scenes are also adorable.

Rupert Evans’ Frank Churchill was unexpected. I loved him as the brother Frederick in North and South. His first impression in this work is more reserved and subdued than I expected from the social and flirtatious Frank Churchill. His manner seems to shift to more playful once Emma mentions Jane Fairfax, which was a clever move. This Frank is portrayed as flirting only to cast off suspicion, and perhaps in part because he cannot help but smile to think and talk about his secret love. He feels less naturally flirtatious with everyone and more affected by his own secret circumstances.

This Emma is terrible at the piano, for such a high lady. I appreciated that attention to novel detail — while everyone loves and indulges Emma, the book makes it clear that her vanity and flighty attention span affected her studies and accomplishments so that she was not particularly excellent at any one thing.

Episodes Three and Four

I loved seeing the hullabaloo about holding a ball, and where to hold it, and how to have enough space for dancing and food, etc. It felt like a silly long passage in the book. I wasn’t surprised to see other adaptations exclude it, but this one manages not only to include every beat from the book but also to make it feel interesting and relevant. Every scene or line of dialogue that doesn’t propel the plot deepens character development.

Emma’s uncertainty about her feelings for Frank have been handled well, and with voiceover, in every adaptation so far. I do think this one makes the moment feel the most relatable. This Emma feels less haughty and objective and more like an insecure, uncertain girl.

Christina Cole, North and South‘s Fanny Thornton, makes a lovely Mrs. Elton. At first, she seems less sarcastic and haughty than other adaptations’ Mrs. Elton, more sincere and oblivious to her own irritable qualities. I preferred this approach to the character. She grows much more self-praising and annoying as the episode progresses, though.

Emma seems to look directly into the camera at several moments in episode three. It feels strange. It might have worked for the specific instances the method was used for, if they’d used it in previous episodes as well, but I don’t remember this happening before episode three. It feels out of place.

John Knightley, Mr. Knightley’s brother and Emma’s sister’s husband, feels like an actual character and presence in this iteration of the story. I really like him.

This adaptation very thoroughly establishes Mr. Knightley’s distaste for dancing before showing him dancing with Harriet. They establish how significant the action was for him.

This Mr. Knightley and his relationship to Emma grew on me with each episode. What seemed plain, unremarkable, and unromantic in him at the start of the series became charming, gentlemanly, and appealing with development of his character and his chemistry with Emma.

Mr. Elton leading Mrs. Elton’s donkey is even funnier than the idea in the book. How visual the symbolism for the woman who constantly makes an ass of herself.

Another scene omitted from other adaptations but included here, and well done: Jane Fairfax slipping away from the strawberry party and begging Emma to let her go alone. Her character is fleshed out splendidly in this version of the story.

Mr. Knightley’s odd behavior before leaving for London — taking Emma’s hand, leaning to kiss it, then changing his mind — was changed in one adaptation to simply kissing her hand. In contrast, this adaptation maintains the full truth and awkwardness of the moment, which I appreciate.

Frank and Jane’s moment in town is really cute.

I wish they hadn’t changed some of the wording in the Mr. Knightley proposal scene, and Emma is more expressive and emotional than I imagined for this scene, but it is still a beautiful moment. The music is lovely. Of course, in the Austen adaptation tradition, a kiss is added. They also have a new intimate conversation between the two immediately after.

The way this story handles Emma’s realization that she could not leave her father made me laugh. The miniseries did a great job building up to the significance of this moment, but the sudden cut from their happy conversation to her exclaiming in tears that they can’t marry is just so funny. Mr. Knightley’s reaction is heartfelt and romantic in this delivery.

I like seeing Frank (and Jane) again in the ending, after his secret has been revealed. Other adaptations overlook the fact that, with all his faults, Frank and Emma did develop real friendship in the middle of all the flirting. Other adaptations sort of drop the characters once their immediate relevance to Emma is no more, but they are still her friends.

I was surprised we didn’t see Knightley and Emma’s wedding on screen, but their trip to the seaside feels like the perfect happy ending for this version of these characters.