Bill Bodkin – Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell

2015 has been the year of limited-run series, special event series, and mini-series…and frankly they’ve all been pretty awful. I tried Wayward Pines, Tatau, and Aquarius and none of them resonated with me. They all suffered from the same problem too — introducing way too much in the first episode, hitting me with a sledgehammer of multiple, convoluted plotlines. It was like they were screaming, ‘You have to watch next week, please!’

However, there’s one miniseries that has finally captured my attention — Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

The series, adapted from Susanna Clark’s 2004 debut novel, follows the two titular British magicians as they battle with the identity of British magic during the Napoleonic wars. The series unfolds at a very meticulous and methodical British manner. This series does have multiple, intersecting and sometimes convoluted plotlines, but they are unfolded in a very orderly manner. It’s a natural progression, not something wedged into your face for the shock value of bringing you back next week. This feels like the classic, British mini-series that would air on PBS’ Masterpiece Theater…if it was tripping on acid and absinthe at the same time.

While there’s enough personal and political drama in the series, when they stray into the fantastical world of English magic, you’re sucked into a hallucinogenic world that you don’t (and can’t understand). It’s utterly fascinating, and we are still in the dark about so much of it. All we know is there’s a fairy servant (Marc Warren – The Repairman in Wanted) of the mysterious Raven King who is pulling a lot of strings and making life extremely difficult for everyone in the ‘real world.’ We’re about half-way through the series, and it’ll be extremely interesting to see how far down the rabbit hole the series will take us.

While the plot is fascinating and intoxicating, and the effects are straight-up awesome — it’s the acting that makes Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell great. Veteran character actor Eddie Marsan is beyond perfect as Mr. Norrell. Marsan perfectly captures Norrell’s bookishness, paranoia, fastidiousness, his fear, and his crotchiness. Marsan has long been a background player in everything from Ray Donovan to the Sherlock Holmes films, and it’s awesome to see him thrust into the forefront. Yet, despite how good this veteran is, it’s Bertie Carvel as Jonathan Strange who makes his show something special. Carvel breathes this twitchy, excitable energy into the eccentric Strange. Yet, there’s more to Strange than that — he brings this subtle chip on the shoulder to Strange. He portrays Strange as a man who needs to prove himself to the world, which will probably be his undoing.

If you love British television, science fiction or fantasy, or just damn good television — you need to be watching Jonathan Srange & Mr. Norrell every Saturday night on BBC America.

[php] wp_link_pages(array(‘before’=>’

‘)); [/php]

=========================================================================================================