The Exciting Adventure that is... Sharpe's Peril

Sean Bean was at the top of his game in Masterpiece Theatre's Sharpe's Peril on PBS last night. The story picks up at the end of last week's Sharpe's Challenge with Richard Sharpe and Patrick Harper on their way home. When Sharpe is asked to take a stubborn young Frenchwoman to a hill station to await her fiance (who won her from her father during a card game we find out later), it seems like a simple enough task that will only delay them a day or two, but of course it is merely the beginning of another adventure in Imperial India.
A plot involving an opium crop leaves an entire troop of soliders and locals slaughtered. The story continues to play on themes of harshness and danger through the rest of the piece. The writers took a risk by allowing likable characters that the audience is emotionally invested in be killed off, but it gave a sense of realism to the story. It was brutal landscape to be in.
Sharpe has a very interesting journey as a character in this episode as well, going through a range of emotions and changes in his relationships with various characters. Most noticable was his relationship with Marie-Angelique played by Beatrice Rosen. It starts as the traditional hate-at-first-sight, both thinking the other to be repulsive, but they grow to respect and care for one another. Though it has a romantic undertone, the film never becomes a romance. It stays focused on the life of the solider and the socio-political conflicts of Imperialism. Ideas of comradery, betrayal, honor and other principals always underlie everything.

Monday Morning Drive

After a small family Masterpiece Theatre Party at my dad's last night, I crashed in my old bedroom at his house. The mattress was more uncomfortable than I remembered and in the middle of the night I found myself sitting out on his balcony trying to keep my candles from blowing out. My breath came in clouds and I could hear oceans of water pouring through the rain gutters. But I couldn't sleep.
This morning I woke up and the house was empty except for me. I hadn't slept there in an age and it was strange. I would have loved to stay there and wander around the little town all day, but I had to behave as a responsible adult and come home, there are a million things to do.
The drive was beautiful though. Bits of color are starting to burst out from the naked winter branches and a light fog hung over everything like a canopy. I felt like I was in I Capture the Castle, it always seemed to be raining in that book- a damp but lovely English countryside. It was all very serene. I normally don't like driving on back country roads, they make me nervous, but I didn't mind it at all today.
And in case you were wondering: Sharpe's Challenge was quite good, and Sean Bean was hunky as usual. Cornwell is one of my father's favorite authors and he loved it.