Emma: A Victorian Romance - Season 2

After the quiet success of the first season of Emma, I returned to the simpler Victorian days of its second and final season (or Second Act, as it is puts it in the title sequence and who am I to argue?)  

Despite the end of the first season leaving Emma on her way to the village of her birth, we instead find Emma ensconced as a maid in a large household in Haworth. William continues to run his family’s company, albeit poorly at times, and pressure continues for him to marry the viscount’s daughter, Eleanor. Meanwhile Emma is asked to accompany her mistress and so return to London to visit to the mysterious Mrs. Trollope, and perhaps in the process find herself meeting William once more...

The fact that the household we find Emma working in is in Haworth suggests that this final season might have a few nods to the 1800s, Haworth being the home of the Brontes; we have Mrs. Trollope, assumedly a reference to Anthony Trollope (rather than suggesting the character’s nature) and even our first episode starts with perhaps a nod to Pride and Prejudice (OK, pre-Victorian but close enough) with the lady’s maid stealing to pay her lover, a soldier's debt, who turns out to be a thorough rogue (echoes of the flighty Bennet daughter entranced by a solider - though luckily here no marriage is required). If I seem to be making a bit of a thing of this, there is a reason, because as a start to the season it’s a moral dilemma for Emma as a character but also a potential problem for the season as a whole: will this take us situation down a faux dramatic rabbit hole or not? (And faux drama is not something a series like Emma needs in my view.) Thankfully it does not and instead opens up space for the good nature that Emma as a series provides and rightly so, this is a series I would equate to Aria, not in genre so much as in its gentile drama, giving the viewer space to engage with the series' characters and providing a warm, humane space for us to visit.

That said class and prejudice does come more to the forefront in this second season. True, it was always there somewhat, but in this second act it becomes much more prevalent, especially with Eleanor’s father, Viscount Campbell, making explicit his detestation of the Jones' and only for a time tolerating them for the wealth that Eleanor marrying into the family would bring him; whisperings about Emma and William garner disdain from all levels, even the servants who don’t know who the mystery maid is... Yet the Jones' are frequently noted as being nouveau riche brutes and though some of William’s behaviour towards Eleanor arguably rightfully gains some rebukes, the talking behind backs, or sometimes blatantly, always ensures that class is simmering under the surface. As with the first season this is proper for the times. Again, this never quite takes over or becomes overbearing in terms of the narrative, rather it’s part of the backdrop to the societal structure. The series has to remember when and where it is set; at one point Emma runs away and that she could lose her job for disappearing for a day is understandable, servants being ten a penny, and without much in the way of rights; that she should be able to return unpunished would be ludicrous. Though this is not class so much as rights, it’s nevertheless all part and parcel of how those born to wealth may have obligations but they also have more freedom, even if that can be relative.

As with the first season, the second act of Emma continues to bring in new characters, a friend for Emma in the form of clumsy but lovable Tasha, the dour footman Hans that you suspect has a thing for Emma, and the Molders family for whom she works, most of whom have their own dynamics and views on Emma, even if most warm to her in time. The characterisation of some of these new players can be broadbrush but that’s fine, as they still live and breathe: the excitable youngsters on their first trip to the metropolis are ready to run out and explore and on their second puff their feathers and pontificate as if natives for years. There’s much to make you smile.

The still sympathetic Eleanor and her sister

Perhaps the most important introduction though is to the enigmatic Mrs Trollope, who at first blush appears to be a character that is slightly anachronistic until we understand who she is. With her unusually short hair and passion for things oriental, it does not take long to demystify why Mrs. Trollope exists and she eventually provides a role that is very necessary for the story to develop.  

Equally important as any new players entering our gentle drama work is that those we knew from before do not behave oddly.  Again it seems vital that Eleanor is both sympathetic and an active character; it’s noticeable in how she approaches her relationship, or not, with William that she is no wallflower and willing to battle emotionally and practically for what she wants. She also grows as a character and I found it interesting that she latterly states - perhaps to convince herself as much as others - that she may have been in love with the concept of being in love, more than being in love. And it is in the series favour that she is given as much attention as she is, because it shows how Emma as a story is willing to investigate the emotional impacts of William’s feelings on others, especially of course his own family as well as on Eleanor and Emma.

Arguably the second act is a bit more conventionally romantic than the first season and there are some more overtly dramatic beats, but these are not too discombobulating and sometimes they speak to the difficulty of trying to communicate with someone who is in a different social position. The denouement of course must be dramatic, and it’s intriguing that the narrative has two notes of jeopardy. One of these you could argue is unnecessary but it is properly foreshadowed and realistic, not just drama for the sake of it, because it allows indirect observations on class and snobbery. It is also intriguing for how there is active villainy that goes unpunished, but again this feels correct in terms of time and place. If anything had the villain received their ultimate comeuppance (though in part this does occur) it would have been even more discombobulating and likely improbably ludicrous.  

It’s usually a mark of a good series that you can consume all 12 episodes in and around watching other things in only a couple of days and so I did. Though as I mentioned there are some more overly dramatic aspects, the slow, quiet characterisation and emotional undercurrents continue to drive the series. True, Emma’s backstory from the first season never really gets resolved in terms of why it exists (except perhaps to potentially isolate her) but that’s a small quibble. I enjoyed the second act enormously and it's such a pleasure to watch an anime that allows itself to the time for its quiet narratives to unfold. OK, it’s true just before this I finally got to watching Chainsaw Man and enjoyed it immensely and perhaps both work for the same reasons, both are true to themselves, have a certain purity to them, a stance if you will, that are very different but both commit to their genres utterly. Ultimately that is why Emma works, because you care about the people in it, even those, like Eleanor who in a different narrative might be marginalised, or William’s siblings who are often petty and selfish. I do love a humane drama, sometimes we need to replenish our feelings of good faith in humanity and Emma does just that.

Oh and the question you may be asking yourself is do we have a happy ending? What do you think?

Brooding Hans