Thoughts for the Serious Reader of Harry Potter
Hogwarts Professor Pillar Posts
Keys to Understanding J. K. Rowling’s Novels and Screenplays
Recent Conversation
- ChrisC on Dylan Thomas and Cormoran Strike: Three Thoughts on the Congruence
- Lancelot Schaubert on Ink Black Heart: Gilderoy Gleenings
- David Llewellyn Dodds on Dylan Thomas and Cormoran Strike: Three Thoughts on the Congruence
- Lancelot Schaubert on Dylan Thomas and Cormoran Strike: Three Thoughts on the Congruence
- Lancelot Schaubert on Ink Black Heart: Gilderoy Gleenings
There’s one thing about this trailer that give me pause, not in a good way, either. The BBC “Strike” is something I don’t bother with much. It just comes off as just a sequence of poorly written Cliff-notes to the books they are based on. It’s a shame, as there have been adaptations I’ve been willing to go to bat for in the past. However, this time it just comes off as one continually dropped Snitch.
What gives me pause, and made me do something of a double-take, comes from how the trailer implies the new season will handle certain elements of the plot. In particular, what got my attention was a scene that very much suggests the presence of actual ghosts taking part in the proceedings.
My initial reaction to that snippet of a scene went something like, “What the heck”? After giving it some further thought, my entire judgment on the whole creative decision goes as follows: “Aw, please don’t go there”!
Don’t get me wrong. I tend to be a fan of that type of story. It’s what got me interested in books in the first place. In addition, reading the Strike series, along with a few elements from the Hogwarts saga leaves me convinced that Ms. Rowling could write a more than competent Horror novel.
To be even more fair, the constant presence of White Horse symbolism in the 4th Strike book does at least hint at the presence of spectres from the past exerting an influence on the crimes of the present. The difficulty comes in when you realize all of this is an implicit subtext of the text. It is a plot element that is meant to be inferred rather than directly seen. In my opinion, to take the sub-text and try to represent it on a visual level just comes off as an unfortunate creative misstep.
My hope is that the scene is just an illustrated hallucination sequence on the part of Billy Knight. If that’s the case, then I hope it means my misgivings are unfounded. Otherwise, yeah, someone dropped the Snitch again, big time.
Chris, after watching it, I’m thinking what you’re referring to will be a flashback of Billy’s memory or the re-enactment of what really happened that night when Strike explains it to him.
I agree and I’m not that fond of screen adaptations. I did like it better the second time through the series. My quibbling with details done differently gave way to understanding they had to condense and combine things. Still not as good as a book though! Thus my ownership of a Harry Potter themed Tshirt which says “Book Nerd”!
I think the ghost is going to be Kinvara coming through the woods when the gang is secretly and illegally digging in the Dell. It appears to have red hair.
I hope that JK Rowling never writes a horror novel. I would be compelled to read it and never sleep again!
I enjoyed the TV series better the second time too. But I can’t to think of a book to film where I read the book first and totally approved if the movie or TV show. Honestly, I’m really psyched about this, but we’re pretty starved for new TV and movies.
https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-08-14/strike-lethal-white-hospital-scene-exclusive/
I was disappointed to hear that the scene with Jack at the hospital got cut, since that is one of my favorites. OTOH, they seem to have the breakdown on the verge. They also mention that they may “save” that and work it into a future story, and that Rowling has been agreeable with things happening out of sequence. That gives me hope that some of the added bits we’ve seen (kid who could have shot Strike but didn’t, childhood flashbacks to “someday you’ll love someone like that” and Strike’s reunion and apology to Brittany Brockbank ***IN A COMMUNE, OF ALL PLACES****) are previews of coming attractions.
And maybe our friend the YouTube Pirate who slapped the episodes up will do so again, so we don’t have to wait until October for the US showing.
There is a tantalising clue dropped by Tom Burke on the BBC radio 2 interview:
https://thetottenham.tumblr.com/post/627427202805514240/tom-burke-holliday-grainger-bbc-radio-2-the
“Tom Burke: I know a little bit cos there was a particular thing… There was a particular, err…my grandfather was a novelist and there was a particular thing he wrote about that comes into the novel in a particular way. So we got chatting about that…”
Tom’s grandfather is Arthur Calder-Marshall.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Calder-Marshall