After watching the first episode of The Casual Vacancy last week I did a blog about how I preferred this TV version to the J.K Rowling book it is based upon.  I watched the second installment last night and have now completely changed my mind.  The second episode was a bit of letdown in my opinion.  They say a week is a long time in politics, add to this seemingly in screen writing too!

The problem I have I guess  is that having read the book, I was all the time consciously or  subconsciously comparing it to the screenplay version as I watched it.  Therefore, I come to it from a different angle compared to those folk who have not read the book.  Whereas I thought the alterations last week in episode one improved the story, last night I thought they weakened it.The story also seemed somewhat rushed in episode two compared to the one in book. I recognized the events that occurred but they seemed to come too close together in this TV version, and I for one found this rather unsettling to watch   The book is better paced in my view. It is more detailed and flows at a more leisurely pace which thus allows you to get to know the characters a lot more.

Episode two started with the funeral of Barry Fairbrother.  Comedy-wise I thought actor Richard Glover as Simon Price stole the show once again.  Firstly, to advance his chances of getting elected on to the Parish Council he got all of his family members to cheekily put his election campaign leaflets on the pews before the mourners arrived.  I did laugh at his campaign slogans, full of building/DIY puns given that was his trade.  He also wore sunglasses with his funeral outfit which looked very funny. Howard Mollison(Michael Gambon) amusingly remarked how he looked like Tom Cruise from the film Top Gun.  I also found the coffin bearers which included Simon Price, struggling to carry the coffin and thus going off course highly amusing.

The identity of  ‘The Ghost of Barry Fairbrother’ was revealed to us and it turned out to be Barry’s doting nephew, namely Andrew “Arf” Price.  The ghost therefore is a force for good and is on Barry’s side.  His witty put downs of the election candidates made for much hilarity and served to stir the pot a little amongst the rest of the characters. For example, wet Miles Mollison(Rufus Jones) was appalled that the ghost referred to him as having ‘man boobs’.  My only criticism here is that as viewers we only got to see these sarcastic comments from ghost very fleetingly on screen.  I wanted to be able read these messages more than we were allowed too.

In the book I just about tolerated the character Stuart “Fats” Wall, but here on TV this Pete Doherty wannabe just wound me up too much.  He is too full of himself, too cocksure to even remotely like, and I just wanted to lamp him one throughout the episode. I didn’t find him wanking in the library funny either as I think I was meant too, I just found it rather weak. I could be wrong but I am sure this ‘wanking gag’ does not feature in the book and so instead must be an inclusion solely from screenplay writer Sarah Phelps.  We saw him become the boyfriend of Krystal Weedon’s(Abigail Lawrie) and again the depiction of their relationship troubled me in the episode last night.

In the book “Fats” is only interested in Krystal Weedon because she does not look that great,  and so he thinks this as well as her being a bit ‘rough’ will give him a good chance of getting regular sex with her. In the TV version Krystal is played by a pretty actress though and so I struggled with this and the version of Krystal I had in my head via the book. No disrespect to the actress Lisa Reilly but I thought of somebody like her as Krystal when reading it.  I wanted more explanation in the TV version as to why they hooked up together.  Krystal is more needy in the book and I think this accounts more for why she puts up with “Fats”.  They become regular teenage sex partners in the book whereas I think we only saw them at it once last night in the telly version.

The rest of the episode focused on Stuart Price frantically trying to get rid of stuff he had nicked from work(after being outed by the Ghost of Barry Fairbrother), and a disastrous dinner party held at the Mollisons. The former thing was amusing to watch.  In an attempt to cover his tracks it ended up with Stuart dropping an expensive television set off a bridge and into a lake, yet sadly for him it would not sink.  The dinner party brought together the rivaling factions of the Pagford Parish Council Committee.  It wasn’t long before a row broke about Sweetlove House which led to GP Sukhvinder Jawanda breaking patient confidentiality,  broadcasting to everybody how Howard had a belly rash due to being too fat!

A character who featured at the dinner party but who didn’t say much was Social Worker Kay Bawden(Michele Austin).  I am sat there watching it and suddenly thought to myself, I’m sure she has a boyfriend very early on in the book.  I was sure she was with a guy who just put up with her, he was a lawyer I thought.  I have since looked it up and I was right about her having a boyfriend in the book.  His name is Gavin Hughes and so I wonder why writer Sarah Phelps decided not to include him. The only thing I can think of is perhaps  TV time constraints being the reason for his exclusion. It is a shame in my opinion because via Kay’s relationship with him, we would then have seen a different side to her on screen.

I also did not really get the bit at the end where Howard gets into a state of paranoia after having a disturbing dream about Barry Fairbrother.  I thought it was a tad corny and did not add anything to the piece.

Despite some of my reservations and criticisms I still think episode two was an enjoyable watch though. It just wasn’t as good as the first episode. It ended a bit flat whereas the first episode ended on an exciting cliffhanger.  I also think some elements of the book were touched upon and dealt with too quickly at times.  At the moment I now prefer the book over the television version but all this could yet still change with one episode left to watch. I have read the ending in the drama is different to the ending in the book and I say hallelujah to that because the ending is weakest thing about the book.  I want to marvel about episode three like I like marvelled about episode one please, here’s hoping this time next week I shall be!