Well, Netflix finally put up the final episode of The Pillars of the Earth and I have finished the eight hour miniseries. It’s hard to imagine that an eight hour series could feel short and rushed, but I think it did. There was a lot of character development from the novel that didn’t make it onto the screen. It seems like a lot of the beginning of the series stayed true to the novel and then veered off course toward the end.
In fact, the ending of the miniseries was very different than the ending of the novel. Not so much in ultimate result, that was pretty much the same. If you have any interest in reading the novel and don’t want to be spoiled about the differences, stop reading now. In the novel Alfred still ends up dead, but it is at the hand of Richard who kills him after he attempts to rape Aliena. William Hamleigh does end up hanged, but only after a spoiled attempt to gain power by assassinating Archbishop Thomas Becket, in a nice nod to actual historical events. Waleran doesn’t have any dramatic fall from the cathedral, but instead is stripped of all his power and is forced to become a monk after being caught in his lies.
The ending of the series was certainly a lot more dramatic, and after watching eight hours of Waleran scheme and murder and succeed in his desperate grabs at power I don’t think I would have been satisfied with anything less than what we got. It was an interesting choice, having him seemingly give in to his guilt and essentially kill himself. I’m not quite sure if that was in line with his character.
One of the more curious choices in the whole series, in my opinion, was the increased focus on the war between Maude and Stephen as compared to the novel. I’ve mentioned before that in the novel the conflict between the two would-be rulers was merely the backdrop of the story and it didn’t get a lot of attention in the book. I wonder if the creators were trying to cash in on the interest in series like The Tudors, hoping to attract historical fiction buffs. If that’s the case, you have to wonder why they would falsify history, as they did in this episode. Stephen’s son Eustace was not killed on the battlefield, and Henry’s reign was secured with a treaty. I suppose that isn’t as dramatic, but….
Overall, I thought the miniseries was a good adaptation of the novel. It was not excellent, but it was good and I certainly don’t feel like I wasted my time. With the miniseries headed toward extinction (there were only two nominated at the Emmys this year), I have to wonder if we’re going to see a lot of Emmy attention for this production. I might even suggest that Starz knew all this and produced the miniseries to scoop up a few awards and get some attention and credibility for their original programming. We’ll have to see how that plays out next year.
There are a few things that I would be remiss without mentioning. This episode featured a ridiculous amount of terrible hair. Seriously, how many small woodland creatures had to give their life for Richard’s awful hair extensions? Then there was Alfred’s unruly mop of “I’m depressed” hair, which was also horrid. I have to admit that a chuckled a bit at the end when we fast forwarded 14 years and everyone looked like they had aged 40 years, not 14. And yet Martha seemed like she stayed 12 years old through the entire series. I think I’m looking too closely, though.
Overall, I enjoyed the series. How about you?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Sep 01, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
