Great Expectations
Baring A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations is probably Charles Dickens most adapted story. Pip growing up and becoming disillusioned with the world has played out time and time again. And I have never really liked a single one of them. Pip, whether played by actors I love like Ioan Gruffudd or those I respect like Michael York, has always struck me as a prissy prig. He's holier than thou and thinks he has some divine right to the life he's been given. In my opinion the world would have been a lot better off without Pip in it. So how did Steven Knight trick me into watching another adaptation other than being Steven Knight? Matt Berry. That's right folks, I watched this entire adaptation just to see Matt Berry's backside. I didn't know I'd get to see his backside, it was just an amusing bonus. Though even if I hadn't tuned in for Matt Berry I would have been sad to have missed this adaptation because it is the best "adaptation" of Great Expectations ever. The quotes are there because while much was made in the press about Matt Berry's backside being supported by the text, the truth of the matter is Steven Knight kind of threw the text out the window. Of the three "stages" of Pip's life the first one is the only one to actually remain true in this telling, after that it's a free for all. And I for one am here for it! Miss Havisham obviously holding a quartet captive in her house since her wedding day so she can have mood music wherever she wants? While I'm only positing that that is how they're there, I am so here for this that I can't tell you how much I loved it. The fact that Miss Havisham gets to live AND give Pip a parting shot worthy of any eighties action star? Oh yes, more of this, this is the Miss Havisham of Jasper Fforde! Lord Larys leaving the Red Keep to disgustingly sniff snuff? I didn't know Matthew Needham was so comically gifted! But above all what makes this entire adaptation work is that Steven Knight was obviously sick of waiting around on Tom Hardy to make season two of Taboo, AKA the best television series that has ever been created, and decided to make his version of Great Expectations into Taboo 2.0. This is literally Taboo minus Tim Hardy with a veneer of Dickens and Matt Berry. In fact, can someone check to see if Jaggers is wearing Tom Hardy's coat from Taboo? Because I have my suspicions. And specking of Jaggers, he really is the star of this adaptation, and that's saying something because David Suchet has also played this role. Jaggers brings to the fore all the issues that Steven Knight finds the 19th century plagued with that he obsessively explores; slavery, inequality, maritime law, and revenge. This might ostensibly be Pip's story, but Jaggers is the star. But the biggest question at the end of the day is how does Steven Knight make maritime law interesting? Because I assure you he does.
There are SO MANY adaptations of A Christmas Carol it's hard to find a unique new spin to get viewers to watch yet another version. Why would I want to subject myself to another adaptation that could never compare to the humor and horror of Scrooged, which in my mind is the only version worth watching, though I will let you argue in favor of the Muppets. The answer is Steven Knight. Steven Knight created the masterpiece that is Taboo, which I'm still waiting on season two and will gladly wait for years Steven just so you know! He's more commonly known for creating Peaky Blinders and oddly enough being one of the three creators of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? So with Steven Knight at the helm and Guy Pearce staring and Andy Serkis bringing the haunting, I knew it was going to be dark and gritty, so I was instantly sold. Because, I'm sorry, the Victorian age was dark and gritty, and Dickens usually reflected that reality, except oddly enough in this, his most popular piece. So bring on the dark! Bring on the weird backstory about Scrooge being sexually abused? OK, I guess... I mean, it's nice to have some justification as to why Scrooge became who he was but there seemed to be too much riding on this revelation. To me it felt like the adaptation was saying abuse gives you a free pass to be a dick, but if possible, don't be one. So while I loved all this magic and mystery and the reason why these ghosts were called to haunt Scrooge, I felt that the backstory should have been finessed. Yet if we didn't get the backstory we wouldn't have gotten the dream sequence of Kayvan Novak, AKA Nandor from What We Do in the Shadows, as Ali Baba... now that's a tough choice to make. Let's go back to the Christmas wasteland with Marley and mull that over while Andy Serkis throws another memory on the pyre. 
