My (spoiler-y) review of The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet, for Mary Kate’s audio book club.

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On Recording the Audiobook for The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet!

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“It’s this thing you sort of get caught up in. You don’t really think too much about sharing your life with strangers online, because you aren’t thinking about them as strangers online.”

– The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet

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Some people have it, some people don’t.

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I know I’ve said that it was Charlotte that kept me coming back to the show before the obsession had truly taken hold, but in the interest of full disclosure I must admit that Lydia’s crazy double-jointed elbows also played a role. I kept wanting to see her do that again, just to convince myself it was real.

As this set shows, the show did not disappoint.

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aeternamente:

At the very least.

And yes, I will keep reblogging these. Always.

I’m in. Though I can see it both ways. There’s the school of thought that says, basically: “Choose your battles. When you’re in a hole, stop digging.” But then on the other side there’s the school of thought that says, “Hater’s gonna hate. To thine own self be true.”

And then I guess there’s the third school of thought, which looks at the first two with a puzzled expression, before shaking its head and saying, “Whatever. I just want to see things wrapped up in a way that feels satisfying. Clearing up how Lydia feels about what happened would help with that. Also, I bet it would sell enough Diet Pepsi to pay for itself.”

I’m currently attending all three schools, which I accomplish by forging a lot of sick notes and being massively tardy. But I would watch this if they made it.

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erinwert:

So we had today what I can only presume is probably the last episode featuring any of Lydia’s storyline. If we look at the book, after Lydia (and Wickham) visit and Lydia lets slip that Darcy was at their wedding, she goes off with her new husband, and really isn’t mentioned much again. She has served her purpose in the larger story, in the story Austen is writing, which is the story of Darcy and Lizzie.

Therefore, it seems fair to conclude that as far as Lizzie’s vlogs are concerned, we’ve “wrapped” Lydia’s storyline.

Except the thing is, I don’t feel wrapped?

I feel wrapped from a Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice perspective, in that I don’t think it makes sense to have more focus on Lydia on Lizzie’s vlogs, because they are LIZZIE’S VLOGS. This is Lizzie’s story, and we definitely do not have time to linger on giving Lydia anymore closure when clearly we NEED THESE SIX EPISODES to bring us DIZZIE. I mean, you guys, we have six episodes for Dizzie. I just can’t.

But The Lizzie Bennet Diaries as a whole is more than Lizzie’s vlogs. They’ve given me characters I care about, that I want to see more from.

Today I saw that Lydia is starting to heal maybe a touch? She is at least starting the process of being more open, and she’s getting therapy, all really great, awesome things. I’m excited for her. But she still hesitates at George’s name. I still don’t know what she’s really feeling. I still don’t know that she is going to be okay. I need to know that she is going to be okay.

They’ve made me care about Lydia as a character outside of her role in the main story, Lizzie’s story. I feel like it’s only fair, if you’re going to make me care about a character, that you wrap up the story.

I could see someone arguing that Lydia wouldn’t want to vlog right now, because she’s processing, she’s hurt, she was burned by her vlogs… but that’s the thing. She needs to reclaim her vlogs. They ended with George getting the last word (through Lydia). With George winning.

That’s not right, that’s not fair. And I feel like it makes much more sense that Lydia would want to reclaim her channel as her own. Either that, or delete the entire thing (which obviously will not work for playback necessity). Which means that Lydia needs to get to have the last word.

Lydia has used her vlogs time and again as a sounding board, as a way to process her feelings, as a way to reach out to people when she wasn’t reaching out to her sister. Yes, she’s reaching for her sisters now, but I think she would still reach for her channel. She’s clearly still reaching out to be on Lizzie’s vlogs, why wouldn’t she also reach out for herself, and for her own viewers, which she’s recognized before as being meaningful to her.

Personally, I could see her vlogs very much being a part of her therapy. Something that she might choose to do to help her reclaim her life, and to be more open and honest with the people who love her, etc.

Lydia needs to have her voice restored. George stole it. And abused it without her permission. We’ve seen her heartbroken on Lizzie’s vlogs, we’ve seen her start to heal on Lizzie’s vlogs, but that’s still all Lizzie’s vlogs. She won’t be healing if the last thing she allows to be on her channel is her profession of love to George.

It doesn’t feel true to Lydia’s character if she never vlogs again.

(FWIW, I also want a better conclusion of Jane’s story, and depending on how they end Charlotte, that, too. I care about our four main girls greatly. It’s just that Lydia has already shown herself to speak for herself on her channel and there’s a venue to give her more of a separate ending, because she has a separate story. I would love to hear more from Jane, but we never got to see any of Jane when she was off in LA by herself, because Jane doesn’t like making her life super super public. If, for instance, Jane had kept a blog during the series, I would expect some sort of closing blog from her to close things up. As it is, we have Jane’s lookbook, and personally I would LOVE to see one last look featuring her and Bing together.)

I’ve been holding back on the lobbying for more Lydia videos, not because I wouldn’t want to see them, but just because I’m focused on the main storyline at this point, and kind of winding down my LBD obsession generally. And I missed this when Erin posted it originally. But looking at it now, I think she makes a really good case.

I think it’s out of character for Lydia to have left her videos where she did. She would want to update her vlog because in-universe, she feels a connection with her viewers. She probably feels responsible for the many young women who watched her earlier interactions with Wickham. She would feel obligated to set the record straight for the benefit of those viewers, wouldn’t she?

Maybe she’s not there yet in terms of the counseling she’s receiving, and her processing of her feelings about the whole thing. But in terms of the in-universe narrative, I think it really is a logic issue, and a storytelling issue, if the Lydia channel is left where it is currently without some loose ends being tidied up.

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What Lydia deserves

I was an early member of the “please don’t let Lydia end up with Wickham” club. As I explained at the time, I was unwilling to see this character I’d fallen in love with subjected to an unhappy ending just because that’s what Austen did. There have been enough comments from people connected with the show, especially since the sex tape reveal, that I’m pretty sure Lydia won’t end up with Wickham. So that’s great.

But it’s no longer enough.

It’s not enough that Lydia not end up with Wickham. The narrative has subjected her to so much that not being with Wickham won’t be enough for her to be happy. And I want her to be happy. I want to see the madcap party Lydia from the beginning of the show. I realize that was partly an act for Lizzie’s benefit, an act that masked Lydia’s insecurities. But there was an element of truth to it, too, a side of her personality that hasn’t been visible for a very long time.

The most I can hope is that by the end of the show she’ll be like the girl in the market from Poe’s first verse: Able to construct a place where she can go and hear the sound of violins and shut out the wickedness of the world. With the love of her family and the realization of Wickham’s true nature she’ll be able to start rebuilding her life and rediscovering her true worth. She’ll never be as naive and trusting as she was pre-Wickham, but she’ll be stronger.

But not yet happy. It’s too soon for that. But it could happen in the post-show transmedia. A few dozen tweets and Instragram photos, spread out over time, could show us her journey.

I want pig piles. I want double-jointed “Whaaaaaaaats”. I want Poe’s last verse, where the girl in the market meets a soulmate, someone whose damage reflects her own, and they have the chance to heal and restore each other.

Because Lydia deserves to be happy.

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