Scribegrrrl Reports: Gentleman Jack

Special Report: Well, kittens, you are in for quite the treat. We have a very special report from my new Surrenders East Coast Correspondent, Scribegrrrl. Yes, you remember Scribe. She of the definitive "The L Word" recaps. She of just being the most awesomely Scribe to have ever scribed, period. Well I managed to lure her out of blogging retirement with a trip to the New York premiere of "Gentleman Jack." And this is the glorious result. So please enjoy.

Scribegrrrl Reports: Gentleman Jack

As this very blog has shown -- to thrilling, breathtaking, and staggering effect -- there's something about a woman in a suit. And as of tonight, there's a new deity in the suited pantheon: Suranne Jones, star of HBO's "Gentleman Jack."

"Gentleman Jack" tells the criminally untold story of Anne Lister, a 19th-century English landowner with a big brain and a hungry heart. If you haven't heard of Lister, that's because she's mostly been left out of the history books. “Gentleman Jack” creator Sally Wainwright (more on her later) has been trying to bring Lister's story to the screen for two decades, and I’m so glad she didn't give up.

The show draws from Lister's diaries, which comprise more than four million (!) words. They were partly written in a secret code and were never published, but Wainwright is helping to digitize them and has also helped produce a “Gentleman Jack” tie-in book. Not that you're likely to need supplemental reading material: in Suranne Jones's hands, Anne Lister is fully realized. Jones expertly conveys Lister's lust for life, as well as her impatience with the repression of her day. But Jones doesn’t paint Lister as a legend or an archetype; she keeps her human. Magnetic and dazzling, yes, but also human.

Jones is something of a muse for Wainwright. Their past projects include a little show called "Scott and Bailey." I expected to see some similarities between Rachel Bailey and Anne Lister, but Jones is a much better actor than that. She seems like a pretty great person as well: in interviews, she respects the magnitude of Lister's story and acknowledges the importance of getting it right.

I still haven't forgiven Wainwright for killing off Kate in "Last Tango in Halifax," but “Gentleman Jack” might start to heal the rift. Some aspects of the show feel kind of off, especially an addressing-the-camera thing that comes out of nowhere and then takes too long to come back. But overall the show is absorbing, romantic, and funny. And Jones has considerable chemistry with Sophie Rundle, who plays her love interest. It's the kind of chemistry that would bring forth fanfic if this were subtext rather than main text -- but it's not! The real Anne Lister would be gobsmacked.

The show includes other Wainwright favorites, including a scene-stealing Amelia Bullmore. (The pool of across-the-pond actors seems *so* tiny!) The generally excellent cast holds its own against the stunning landscapes and sets; a lot of filming took place at the actual Shibden Hall, Lister's family estate that dates back to the 15th century.

And of course the costumes are key. (Never mind Anne's weird hair -- it's historically accurate.) Suranne Jones in a top hat, carrying a walking stick... well, SWOON.

My Weekend Crush

The internet is, let’s be perfectly honest, not necessarily known for its great writing. Bad spelling? Oh, yes. Atrocious grammar? To be sure. Fanatical blowhards? I think it actually spawns them. But you have to really want it to find great writing. So once you find it, it’s like the clouds open. This, this is what I’ve been searching for. Halle-fucking-llujah!

I remember searching, largely in vain, years and years ago for that ever-elusive great writing when I stumbled back upon a website I visited occasionally called AfterEllen. I had read its articles before but this was something different. This writer, this Scribegrrrl, was recapping this new show about lesbians. I was, of course, watching said show and psychoanalyzing its every twist and turn in my own head. And here was this writer who was so funny and so smart and so insightful and so very gay doing the exact same thing. It was, in short, a revelation.

As the season wore on I kept coming back, week after week. The season turned into seasons and I kept coming back, week after week. And week after week, she made me laugh like an idiot. I had to stop reading her recaps in the office because my co-workers kept looking at me funny as I chuckled and chortled myself into a stupor. Meander through her five seasons of L Word archives and practically any page you land on will give you a reason to smile if not outright snort with glee. If anyone ever dares to tell you that lesbians aren’t funny, just point them to Scribe. End of argument. My unabashed writer’s crush would sometimes lapse into full-blown writer’s envy as a particular turn of phrase or exceptionally shrewd insight would send me into fits of both awe and jealousy. Dammit, I wish I’d written that.

Little could I have ever imagined that all these years later not only would I find myself working with Scribe, but -- I’d like to think -- could count her as a friend as well. In our first email exchange, before I was blogging for AfterEllen, Scribe off-handedly said to me “your blog rocks” and I’m pretty sure I actually blushed. It’s rare and wonderful to work for someone whose work you respect so completely.

So her departure from AfterEllen this week (for a fabulous new job) makes me happy for her but terribly sad for me and, really, all of us. Not being able to read her writing day after day seems inconceivable, unbearable even. Do they make a patch for writer withdrawal? Scribe is the reason I first became addicted to AfterEllen. She was, is and will always be the originator of Snark: Lesbian Style. For that, and so much more, I will be eternally grateful. Thanks for the great writing, Scribe. Happy weekend, all.