Just
loosening up a little represented quite a character development arc for Mr.
Darcy, whereas Wickham remained just a cad. Still, he would not seem to be the
sort of chap to commit murder, but the circumstantial evidence says otherwise. Ironically,
Wickham’s only hope to avoid the gallows lies with the Darcys who loathe him so
well in Death Comes to Pemberley (promo here), P.D. James’
whodunit sequel to Pride and Prejudice,
which airs the next two Sundays as part of the current season of PBS’s Masterpiece.
After
six years, the Darcys are still reasonably happily married. Elizabeth Darcy
(nee Bennett) is a kind and understanding mistress of Pemberley,
counterbalancing her sometimes gruff husband. Her sister Lydia is not to be
received at Pemberley, especially not with her mercenary husband, George
Wickham. However, they are determined to crash the Darcys’ formal ball, in the
company of Wickham’s former army buddy, Captain Martin Denny.
Unfortunately,
there will be no dancing for anyone. During the coach ride to Pemberley,
Wickham and Denny have a nasty row that spills over into the ominous woods.
Shots are fired, with Wickham subsequently discovered with the body, babbling “it’s
all my fault.” To avoid any appearance of impropriety, Darcy must hand over the
investigation to Sir Selwyn Hardcastle, an old family rival. Hardcastle has no
sympathy for uppity commoners like Wickham. Darcy does not suffer them gladly
either, but he is tied to Wickham by marriage. Should Wickham’s sensational
motives for murder be exposed, it would shame the family and possibly even
jeopardize the continued health of Pemberley.
Frankly,
there are equal parts Downton Abbey and
Nick & Nora Charles in DCTP,
which makes sense considering how much PBS viewers love drama based on estate
management and scandal suppression. Penelope Keith even parachutes in for a
scene as Lady Catherine de Bourgh, very much in the tradition of Dame Maggie
Smith’s Dowager Countess.
Neither
Darcy really sets out to crack the case either, they just respond as events develop.
If not the most intricately plotted Brit mystery, DCTP is still quite winning thanks to the perfect casting and
elegant chemistry of its Darcys. Matthew Rhys plays Mr. Darcy with a mercurial
temper and sly wit that are great fun to watch, while Anna Maxwell Martin’s Elizabeth
Darcy is sensitive but down to earth in a manner that should pass muster with
Austen-philes. They are terrific together, elevating the romance and strained
marriage melodrama well above our expectations.
Matthew
Goode’s rakish shtick certainly suits Wickham and Jenna Colman is convincingly
annoying as Lydia Wickham, but the X-factor in the large supporting cast is
unquestionably Trevor Eve, who turns a few surprises and rather humanizes the curmudgeonly
Hardcastle over the course of DCTP. In
contrast, even by British standards, Eleanor Tomlinson and James Norton are tragically
vanilla as Darcy’s slightly scandal-tinged sister Georgiana and her progressive
would be suitor, respectively.
