We start off with Mrs. Dashwood finishing up a friendly interview with one of the female servants who will come with the ladies to Devonshire.

Elinor enters the room just as the conversation is ending, and after the servant leaves, the two ladies debate which of the male servants to ask along. Mrs. Dashwood feels that Thomas would be a little young and unsteady without an older man to help guide him; Elinor argues that, basically, they can’t afford to pay the more senior servants what they’re worth, so they should be taking less senior ones: the assistant cook Mrs. Dashwood was just interviewing, Thomas, and one of the upstairs maids. They are interrupted by more servants wanting the ladies’ input; Fanny is trying to lay claim to various items that came to Mrs. Dashwood from her own family, and don’t belong to Norland at all. Outside, Marianne is saying goodbye to all the trees in a highly Romantic fashion, while Margaret complains that Marianne’s ruining the nice cloak Margaret just trimmed for her. The day of departure finds them at the family cemetery with John Dashwood and family. After a moment of silence at Henry’s grave (possibly after laying flowers), everyone says their goodbyes. Edward is kind and awkward as usual; it’s very clear that he’s going to miss Elinor. Fanny is rather too blatantly glad to see them go; John is uncomfortable because he knows that behavior is a no-no but he doesn’t want Fanny mad at him either. The ladies get in the carriage and leave, with possibly a backward view of grand Norland growing smaller and smaller in the distance.

The book lays a certain amount of emphasis on the rusticness of Devonshire when they arrive, and I think that should come through on screen. The scenery’s more picturesque (in the 19th c. sense) and less ordered, the buildings more quaint and less impressive, the cottage simultaneously rather cozy and very obviously a comedown from Norland. There’s a brief period of all the sisters being excited over the novelty and getting their stuff in place (wedging the pianoforte in particularly takes some doing), and then the let-down, where Marianne says something about missing Norland already and Mrs. Dashwood starts making remodeling plans, which Elinor shuts down as gently as she can. They hold a small celebration of Marianne’s twentieth birthday.

The meeting with Sir John Middleton and his family goes pretty much as you would expect from the book. The louder, more rustic vibe at Barton Park should feel very different from Norland – not necessarily bad, from the audience’s POV, just different enough to be kind of a shock. Elinor has some piece of snark at the expense of the Middleton children that puts her in her hostess’s bad books. Colonel Brandon is courteous and capable of holding an intelligent conversation; he offers to turn Marianne’s music pages for her but doesn’t put himself forward or really show romantic interest in any of the young women. Possibly (especially if Mrs. Jennings is here at this point), he’s forced to tell something of his backstory: a failed elopement when he and his lover were sixteen; her unhappy marriage to his brother, the death of both brother and former lover. We do NOT, repeat, NOT get that whole convoluted thing about his ex-lover being divorced for adultery and ending up in a spunging house. Somewhat to Marianne’s annoyance, he doesn’t defend the elopement, saying that all it did was cause heartache. When Sir John and friends start shipping Marianne/Brandon, Marianne says less about thinking him too old for her (he’s 8-9 years her senior in this version instead of roughly twice her age), and more about his tragic past having put him beyond such foolish and delusional ideas as second attachments.

Marianne and Margaret are both gung-ho to go out walking, on the day of a certain incident, and it is Elinor who teases them about getting wet. The two young ladies walk among the hills, it’s about to rain. In addition to the sound of thunder, they hear the eerie sound of hunting hounds calling in the distance. Margaret repeats stories of the Wild Hunt and the Yeth Hounds that she’s heard in the village. Marianne calls it one of those beautiful stories she wishes were true. The thunder is getting closer; the ladies turn and race for home. Marianne trips and falls with a cry of pain, Margaret kind of skids down hill past her without being able to stop, and then starts back up to find a handsome young man holding a shotgun. He has two pointers with him, one of them smaller and female. They’re not actively licking Marianne’s face, but they’re kind of snuffling and nuzzling at her in a friendly/worried way. Margaret’s panicked about her sister, but Willoughby (for of course this is he) calms her fears. He helps Marianne to her feet, but she can’t put weight on the injured foot, and it is at this point that he decides to carry her.

Willoughby befriending the family proceeds as you would expect, although his attempt to give Marianne a horse is done when they and Elinor and Brandon are all at Barton Park. We see rather than hear the young lady and her lover and sister all around the horse; we don’t get the full story until Brandon comes up and admires the animal. Marianne turns to him with a glowing look and babbles about how the mare is perfect for her and such a thoughtful gift from Willoughby, but Elinor is quite right, the cost would be too much of a charge on poor Mama. We need to see on Brandon’s face that something’s happened to him in that moment; he’s gone from respectful admiration of an attractive, cultured young woman to “I wish it were me instead of him.”

The Palmers, the failed outing to Whitwell, etc all proceed pretty much as in the book. Possibly they all actually visit Delaford and the planned outing to Whitwell is staged from Delaford, which makes Brandon’s sudden departure even more shocking and Willoughby and Marianne’s irritation slightly more justified. In spite of Mrs. Jennings’ fears, I think Mr. Palmer’s willingness to take a sidetrip so his wife can visit her family should be one of Palmer’s more sympathetic moments.

We only see the visit to Allenham when Marianne tells Elinor about it in flashback, and it quickly transitions from the house in holland covers to a fantasy of Marianne’s life with Willoughby at Allenham.

I feel like Marianne should be less negative on Brandon when Willoughby starts trashing him than some versions have her. She sort of half-reproaches Willoughby for talking like that, kind of a “you’re a naughty boy and I am amused” tone rather than “let’s be mean girls together at this other guy’s expense” tone. Willoughby’s departure is very sudden and dramatic in the book, but it’s also clear that there’s stuff he’s not telling the Dashwoods, and this needs to be played as such.

Edward’s brief visit is tricky; it needs to be clear that he’s unhappy, and at least partially so because he can’t have Elinor, but I feel like it’s important not to spoil the big reveal of the secret engagement, which, for instance, the 1981 version does by basically making him bolt the moment the Miss Steeles are mentioned. For Lucy herself, I feel that it’s important she not come off as sadistic towards Elinor. She thinks all this fencing about Edward is a game of marking territory; and she’s a little annoyed but also almost….admiring? when Elinor scores a point off her. (This is not how Elinor reads her reactions in the book, but I feel like this is more entertaining, and I’ve said before that I think Elinor is pretty delulu where Edward and Lucy are concerned.) We end with Mrs. Jennings’ invitation to London.