From girls to grown-ups

It’s hard to complain about PBS Masterpiece’s gorgeously staged version of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved coming-of-age tale, Little Women. In these days of emoji communication, watching the March sisters giggle over paper chains and share dreams while curling each other’s hair is like visual comfort food.

The BBC’s main problem is how much built-up expectation comes with this miniseries. After years of making juicy, addictive historical entertainment out of Austen, Dickens, and Winston Graham (not to mention originals like Downton Abbey and Victoria) you can’t help feeling disappointed that the quintessential American girl story turns out to be such tepid sauce.

On the one hand, when so many directors and screenwriters inject revisionist views into classics, it’s refreshing that Heidi Thomas, who also created Call the Midwife, lets Alcott be Alcott. There are no “gritty,” modern interpretations here.

But after so many movies, miniseries, and plays of this novel, this is one instance where I could have done with a few surprises. (I’m still waiting for some filmmaker to give us the ending we all really wanted between Jo and Laurie.)

Still, if the story doesn’t exactly break new ground, some of the actors find unexpected depths to characters we know so well. Emily Watson adds a base note of insecurity to Marmee that makes the character seem more like her own person and not merely a supporting figure in her daughters’ lives. And Angela Lansbury’s Aunt March could give Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess a run for her money in the one-liner department.

Maya Hawke, who will remind older viewers of her mom, Uma Thurman, carries the production, however. With a combination of feistiness, wistfulness, and ambition, her performance makes it easier to understand why Jo spurns Laurie’s love, even if it doesn’t make it easier to accept.

And maybe that’s for the best. In the end, Alcott’s story isn’t one of wish fulfillment but of growing up. And even when the scenery is pretty, growing up rarely comes with a picture-perfect ending.