child of sagittarius

It reminds me of the Folklore of Discworld—apple farmers pouring cider on their trees and banging pots and pans to wake the trees up

It also reminds me of Only Yesterday and other Studio Ghibli movies that revere the simple life, the old ways, children being industrious. The making of a home out of almost nothing. Lots of cleaning.

Visually, production value wise, it’s beautiful. The pace is remarkably slow in adapting one brisk book. Two hours to adapt what happens in the first chapter.

it takes a lot of cues from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice. Tita looks just like Lizzie Bennet, for one thing. The scenes shot from beneath blankets, the "yearning" language that consists of short breaths, longing looks, SO TENSE FEEL THE TENSION. It takes some cues from Bridgerton, but not as many as the 2026 Forsyte Saga, for which we can all give thanks.

But everything subtle, everything implied in the book was dragged into daylight.

The narrator explains that Tita can transfer feelings into her food--- so it's not some mysterious rare magic that lurks within Tita, it's another stat like you'd see on a superhero trading card. If Tita's power could be summoned as easily as that, you'd think she would have killed certain people in her household ages ago.

Also, historically speaking--- in episode 2 Mama Elena reprimands Tita for attending Nacha's funeral. She says "the funeral is just for the servants." The historian in me counters, "To honor a servant such as Nacha, who has served so loyally, right in the house kitchen, and for so many decades... Mama Elena herself would be in attendance."