Should You Let Yourself Be Enchanted By Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell?

What Is This Thing?

In early 19th-century England, a Mr. Segundus is dismayed to join his local Learned Society Of York Magicians only to discover that no one there is actually interested -- as he is -- in performing magic spells or enchantments. Constantly finding the magic books he orders bought out from under him by another gentleman in town, he seeks out the acquaintance of this Mr Norrell and finds out that he is a legit magician -- one of two who are fated to bring magic back into common practice...but not without consequences.

When Is It On?

Saturdays at 10 PM on BBC America.

Why Was It Made Now?

It's a historical story set during the Napoleonic Wars, allowing the BBC to buts out all their no-zipper knickers and long jackets: the real question is, given that the book it's based on is more than a decade old, why it took the BBC this long.

What's Its Pedigree?

As mentioned above, the series is adapted from Susanna Clarke's Hugo Award-winning début novel, published in 2004. Toby Haynes, who directs all seven episodes of the series, is a veteran of prestigious British productions including Wallander, Five Days, and "The Reichenbach Fall," the S2 finale of Sherlock. Eddie Marsan -- formerly of Happy-Go-Lucky, Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes movies, Ray Donovan, and a million other character roles -- plays Mr Norrell; Bertie Carvel, as Jonathan, is less well known to me, but his IMDb profile indicates that he's appeared in every British TV crime drama of the past five years or so. Howards End and Mr. Selfridge co-star Samuel West plays Sir Walter Pole, an MP with a gravely ill fiancée. But the most fun casting of all is Charlotte Riley as Arabella, the woman Jonathan would marry if she could only stop thinking of him as a shiftless gadabout; if her face looks familiar but feels very out of place in period costume, it may be because you recognize her from her role as badass soldier Nance in Edge Of Tomorrow.

Controversial former Good Wife guest star Marc "Kalinda's Ex-Husband" Warren also appears, though saying what he does is spoil-ier than I want to be. But if you buy into this show's premise, you'll probably hate him less here than you did there.

...And?

For a show that has all the trappings of a fancypants costume drama (including the fancy pants), JS&MrN really moves. The series premiere chews through so much plot that I misremembered having watched two episodes. Like, proof that magic is real and that Mr Norrell is proficient at it -- he brings all the members of the Learned Society to a church and enchants the statues to come to life -- happens within the first third of the episode; by the end of the hour, Mr Norrell has moved to London and undertaken a spell with much higher stakes, all with the notion of convincing the government that magic should be added to the military's arsenal on the battlefield. Meanwhile, Jonathan -- inheriting a significant fortune upon the surprise death of his father -- is prepared to become a farmer to prove to Arabella that he can handle respectable employment, until an encounter with vagabond street magician Vinculus makes him wonder if he has another calling. (The magic mirror Jonathan enchants using Vinculus's spell is even more convincing.)

What makes the show so effective, and so much fun, is that it is completely straight-faced in its portrayal of this world, and the people in it. We start with Segundus asking the members of the Learned Society why magic isn't practised in England "anymore"; implicit in his phrasing is the idea that it was practised in times past -- a premise pretty much everyone seems to accept, particularly after a very inaccurate account of Mr Norrell's successful spell is reported in the newspaper. Even Arabella and her sensible vicar brother Henry, who witness the results of the magic mirror spell, react with accepting surprise as opposed to, say, horror or disbelief. At the end of the premiere episode, only Mr Norrell has any sense that magic may not be something that should be practised in England anymore -- of course, only once it's too late. Everyone else who's borne witness to amazing feats, though, can just be excited about the possibilities...for now.

...But?

I'm used to seeing this period only as a backdrop for Jane Austen stories, so the dude-centric focus is kind of a shock. Spoiler alert: there haven't even been any romantic misunderstandings yet! Also, as a protagonist, the "on the spectrum before there was a spectrum" Mr Norrell is hard to hook into; Jonathan may be more of a goof-off but he's also a lot more charismatic as a character, so it will be good for the series if the story is divided more equitably between them for the remaining six episodes.

...So?

Aside from the magical plot elements, this is not an arch gloss on the period à la Pride And Prejudice And Zombies: it's still mostly a straight-ahead historical drama, so if you're not into those, you probably won't be into this. But if you're looking to fill your summer with something a little more highbrow than American Ninja Warrior, this could be just the thing.