See previously featured adaptations: Mansfield Park and Classic Alice.
Ok, so if you haven't started watching Emma Approved yet, it's time to get on it! Pemberley Digital's 2nd full-length series recently returned from hiatus and 57-episodes in feels stronger than ever,
Emma Approved is: "A lifestyle brand and documentary of life coach and matchmaker Emma Woodhouse." When the series begins, Emma & her long-time family friend Alex Knightley have recently formed a subdivision of the "Highbury Group" to focus on match-making, event planning and lifestyle excellence.
This modern day Emma is no Cher Horowitz. She's more a combination of ruthless Kardashian business skills meets Mary Fiore's event coordination. She is talented but unwilling to compromise one ounce of her vision of the world. She goes to great (questionably illegal) lengths to accomplish her plans.
This series, even according to its creators, started a little weak for a couple reasons. The biggest issue was fans adjusting to a very different format than it's predecessor, the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Where Lizzie shot vlog-style videos & knowingly posted them on the internet where other characters could find them & viewers could interact with them, Emma Approved videos (minus the Q&A) are told almost "mockumentary" style. While the in-world reasoning for this didn't make much sense, anyone familiar with the story will know that telling Emma the way PD told Pride & Prejudice wouldn't work. Aside from the risk of in-world characters viewing the episodes, it would be highly implausible for high-society Emma Woodhouse to vlog.
And there's just something to love about a grown man who can still look like a five year old when the occasion calls for it:
They've done rather well with the rest of the casting, too, with highlights being Harriet Smith, Bobby "B-Mart" Martin, Annie Taylor-Weston, and Maddie Bates. In addition, Frank Churchill has made a few appearances and Jane Fairfax just re-joined Highbury.
Thus far, Emma Approved has taken 2, month-long hiatuses (hiati?). Though it's sad to go a month long without Monday and Thursday pick-me-ups, both times the team has returned to take their game up a notch. After January's hiatus, they achieved an Emma Approved-Lizzie Bennet Diaries crossover that just blew me away by combining/replacing the character of Mrs. Augusta Elton with the LBD's Caroline Lee. Brilliant move! And following the May hiatus, they had not only the long-awaited reveal of Jane Fairfax but introduced a both in-world and real-world charity drive to fight modern day slavery. These kind of game-changers combined with the heightened anticipation have made the hiatuses more than worth it! So, Pemberley Digital, while I hate to be without you, take all the time you need to make it awesome!
The show has had a few detractors - mostly the ones I mentioned early on. Some things, like Jane Fairfax's character development, will just take time or others like myself, who initially disliked Emma, will have to be won over. Personally, the two biggest obstacles for me have been the format and certain production choices. As I mentioned earlier, I understand that vlogging wouldn't work for this story, but full-time surveillance in an office doesn't make sense either. I also felt that the strength of LBD's transmedia was really missing from the first 1/3 of this story, though I feel that's improved recently with twitter conversations about Knightley offering to carpool with Jane Fairfax and especially with the charity drive.
My second - and even bigger - frustration has actually been with the costume department for Emma herself. I understand that she is in event planning and that she's supposed to be trendy. But more often than not I inwardly cringe at her costumes because they are so not office appropriate. Short shorts, mini dresses, and midriff just do NOT belong in her world of high-profile clients. I know they are working with sponsorships from trendy places like mod cloth - which is great! But even Harriet looks more trendy-but-appropriate than Emma does and honestly I find it distracting. Okay. Personal rant over.
Overall, I do love the show, but not nearly as much the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. That is probably due to the fact that I love Pride and Prejudice far, far more than Emma. But if the LBD was a 5/5, this is still 4.5. I really enjoy the interaction between these actors and several of the modernizations they have made with Bobby Martin, Mr. (Senator Scum-bag) Elton, and especially with the Caroline Lee - LBD crossover.
And I can't review it without mentioning that the show has received an extra spark thanks to a very "Emma Approved" real life pairing: Joanna Sotomura and Brent Bailey, who play Emma and Knightley in-world, are in a real-life relationship.
I told you he was perfect. :)
Be sure to check out Emma Approved and in the mean time, I'll leave with a recent video from the stars goofing around on the Tonight Show.
