Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

(Seriously, that's the episode title).

So this finale snuck up on me a little bit, as for the past few weeks I've been under the impression that this was a ten-part miniseries. Truth be told, I think this adaptation could have benefited from more breathing room with which to explore Susanna Clarke's meticulously crafted alternate-history, but it captured many of the book's most important plot-points and certainly provided a twist on the usual BBC period drama. It's never going to be a classic, but as an adequate adaptation of the source material I don't have too many complaints.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell: The Dark Tower

So for some reason I was under the impression this miniseries would be ten parts long; which meant I was a little confused to find we had arrived in Venice so quickly. In my mind, Venice occurs at the very end of the book, and there didn't seem to be enough material left to cover four more episodes. Then I looked up the show on Wikipedia and discovered there are only seven episodes, which means next week is the finale!

Whew, talk about whiplash. All of my current shows are ending within a few weeks of each other!

Jonathan Strange: Arabella

This one might be a bit of a rant, and I promise it's not just because the episode departs from the book (or at least, doesn't relate this part of the story in the same way the book does). There are also some rather dodgy additions here which don't reflect very well on the characters involved.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell: All the Mirrors of the World

So this episode managed to get one key theme of the novel across: that men like Norrell can commit terrible crimes and get away scott-free whilst the marginalized: women, servants, people of colour, and mentally ill (or any combination thereof) are ignored and quietly shuffled away – out of sight and out of mind.

In fact, the adaptation has actually expanded on Lady Pole's breakdown by depicting the immediate aftermath of the shooting, which only serves to raise the question as to why exactly no one has confronted Norrell on the obvious correlation between her condition and his magic.

The answer of course is that Norrell is a very important man, and Lady Pole's behaviour is all too easily chalked down to female hysteria – something that's very sad, but not to be investigated too deeply when a gentleman's reputation is on the line.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell: The Education of a Magician

This was the strongest episode so far, despite straying further from the text than its past two instalments. Or perhaps it was strong because it strayed from the text; not just in omitting things, but by adding a few original details here and there.

When you have a novel as sprawling as Susana Clarke's, you have to make some cuts – but as with most adaptations, it's also important to at least attempt to put your own stamp on the project, to let it breath and grow on its own terms without slavish devotion to the book.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell: How Is Lady Pole?

Time for another round of "this is different from the book and even though I can understand why I'm still going to have a grumble about it."

Some say that the greatest weakness of Susana Clarke's novel is its meandering pace, even though I say that's exactly what I love about it. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is not a story you can rush; instead you have to savour the world Clarke has crafted and the lives of the characters therein.

And though I'm meant to say of course this sort of thing can't be sustained in a television series, Penny Dreadful is a testimony to the fact that slow and careful pacing is possible in forty-five minutes, a time span that show fills with so much rich characterization and juicy plot developments that it somehow feels much longer.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell: Friends of English Magic

Let's get this out of the way first: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell one of my favourite books. Seriously, in my top ten books of all time. (Kanye: "All time!") Having said that, you'll now be expecting me to follow up with: "so my expectations were extremely high for this adaptation" – but no. It's precisely because I love the source material so much that I tempered my anticipation, and as such was able to enjoy this on its own merits – though that's not going to stop me from lamenting all the little things they got wrong. Because that's what the internet is for.