"such a fanciful, troublesome creature"

Watched the first episode of the new Emma on iPlayer last night. Still not sure what I think. It's beautifully shot, the actors are good, the music is nice, and there are bits that are very close to Emma but...I'm just not sure. For the first ten minutes I was getting annoyed and texting a friend who had recommended I watch it, because I a) couldn't work out why Knightley was narrating* and b) wasn't sure why they were presenting it as if Emma, Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax were all entwined by destiny OMG. I half-expected an evil sorcerer to turn up and curse them or for a dragon to start spouting about how they were, er, three sides of the same coin (I may have watched too much Merlin).

Once I got past the opening ten minutes and on to the part that is actually the book it improved. I did think Emma's taking up of Harriet Smith suggested that she found her more than just platonically attractive, and there were occasions when Emma looked ready to strangle her, but otherwise that was done quite well. The whole thing with Mr Elton is greatly improved knowing he is Justin from The League of Gentlemen. And Johnny Lee Miller wasn't as gratingly bad as Mr Knightley as I was expecting (I based my prior opinion solely upon the film of Mansfield Park).

I will watch ep2, but I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole thing. I am, however, hoping that we get Mrs Elton riding a donkey. I want to see that.

Other points:

- Mr Elton's hair is as well styled as his counterpart in Clueless, so it turns out there was hair gel in Regency England.

- When Mr Weston said he always carried a spare umbrella in Spring weather I imagined him lurking down country lanes waiting for unsuspecting young women to be caught in sudden rain showers.

* I know he's always watched over Emma and is very aware of what she does, but that got interpreted as slightly creepy in my head.