Reactions to the fourth episode of Jane Eyre

The usual (always incomplete) first list of reactions and comments that the fourth and last episode of Jane Eyre has generated on the blogosphere / board world:

Thornfield_Hall LJ Community

Wee_Mango: OMG. *wipes tears off face* I loved that; I'm such a sucker for a happy ending. Love what they did with the entire family & most of the servants all sitting together, and babies!OMG!! XD- Loved, loved loved the scene when Jane comes back to Rochester and the way he grabbed her arm as soon as he heard her say "George is not here." That whole wee bit as he kept asking whether she was real or not made me cry.- Jane's flashbacks of her & Rochester on her bed & him stroking her neck with his hand/fingers...O_O Woah...*fans self*

La_Frileuse:

Considering that the last episode ended with Jane lying on her bed, it was a little odd that it should start with Jane on the moors; people who haven’t read the book may have wondered what was going on. I had been lead to believe that there was a ‘begging’ scene but this beginning suggested not. However, it appeared later as flashback; at least I presume it was Jane remembering Rochester trying to persuade her to stay because I imagined that she would be more impassioned and struggling to free herself from him, whereas she was lying submissively beneath him. I found it all quite embarrassing – and I was watching it on my own! I know lots of people are going to be enthralled by this scene but I think they took the ‘sex’ too far. The part where he rolled off her, as if…. Of course, the probable reason why this scene was done as flashback was to keep people interested during the ‘boring’ St John Rivers part. But then we had Jane, distraught and sobbing at the memory: another xcellent performance from Ruth Wilson. (...)

I really did approach this adaptation with an open mind. The production quality was great. The music was lovely. Ruth Wilson was fantastic. But after waiting 9 years for a new adaptation this really hasn’t hit the spot for me.

BBCCostumeDrama LJ community

Moira_C: I especially loved the little things: her name on the wings of a ladybug (is that how it's called?), Rochester following the petals that have fallen out of Jane's bouquet, and the leg thing (*happy smile*), Jane breaking down (heartbreaking!), ...I thought the whole flashback thing was brilliant, since then even the Rivers' part didn't stay without "Rochester and Jane"-tension.

C19 Board:

Cobwebs: Superb- Sandy & the rest of the production cast & crew have done ever such a good job.

I loved the flashbacks and interweaving of stories in Ep4. It stopped the tedium of the year away from Thornfield from overwhelming the episode.

At last a proper fitting ending. All the surviving characters for a family gathering. Including this time, the junior Rochesters and Adele, as it is written in the book, but rarely seen. (hence an older Adele actress from the start - I had noted my sneaky suspicion in my post for Ep1 that she would re-appear at the end. )

The Episode didn't dwell on the St John chapters as much as CB does, just enough, and the Flashbacks to Janes pre-leaving scenes with ER were differently passionate from the book, but very watchable.

I still missed some of the original dialogue, but overall, given it had to fit in only 4 hours of air time, I am very very happy with the series. It justified my license fee this year.

Janeite: Still getting to grips with how I feel about this. I've been rabbiting on over on another JE thread about the shape of this adaptation, vis a vis the shape of the novel. The place I always want to be is the place where the relationship between Jane and Rochester is being worked out. So I'd already concluded, I think, that episodes 2 and 3 are going to be the ones I'll treasure.

I thought that the character of St John Rivers was believable, and understandable, and handled without too much application of 21st century hindsight (...)

I wish that the final scene between Jane and Rochester before she ran away could have been given more time to itself, instead of being fragmented as it was in flashbacks - with the proviso that if it had not been fragmented, it probably would have been too explosive to bear. I wanted to know how he had found his way to Jane's side, after the despair of her refusal to admit him at the end of the last episode.

I loved their reconciliation. Every minute of it, from the cry across time and space.

As for the final tableau - I laughed out loud! In a good way - I'd been wondering what they would point a camera at to render the most famous line in romantic fiction, Reader, I Married Him, and that is how it was done. A round of applause! But not very Bronte-esque, don't youi think? Very, very bourgeois! I thought it was sly and funny.

IMDB Board:

DeppandMeaningful:I thought it was pretty dam good until they were reunited, all the leaving scenes were great and sexy, then when they met again a year later it all changed, and it somehow got even better! Ruth was brilliant as always and Toby was well, breath taking. His performance got to me the most, it was just amazing. He needs to get an award for that, a big gold one with his name engraved on it and diamonds literally dripping off of it. Nope, Im not exaggerating.

Categories: Movies-DVD-TV, Jane_Eyre