On the I’m-not-admitting-which-round-of-rewatching for today’s Lizzie Bennet Diaries, I noticed that there’s a little catch in Darcy’s voice, right when he says “The hills in this city are quite unforgiving.” And he thinks for a moment before he delivers the line, steeling himself for it.
That’s because he knows, when he says it, that repeating that line is saying something else to Lizzie—something that he just doesn’t have the guts to come right out and say.
(Lizzie Bennet Diaries, the Pemberley meeting)
Oh, THAT’s why he delivered that line all seductively!
That’s why Courtney is the romancier, she notices such things.
And how nice is that? That this is a dude’s idea of wooing a lady: hello, I have been paying attention to what you say, very careful attention, and I can use your own words in an appropriate context to let you know a) I’d genuinely like to help you out and am not just being polite b) I really like listening to you and remembering what you say because you say great things c) super into you btdubs.
I mean, that’s one of the truly awesome rarely-reproduced-in-similar-fiction things of the original Pride and Prejudice: that Darcy changes, not just for her, but because he listened to what she said and found it an eminently reasonable thing to say. He changed because upon reflection of her words he felt it was the right thing to do and not just to get the girl. When he sees the girl again he tries to show her not only that he changed but that he listened, and did so not to get with her romantically but because her opinion mattered and her words counted with him.
Translation: Hey girl your ready wit’s even finer than your eyes. Always an excellent thing to convey, Darcy.
