Good night, Cubao!

Finished watching The Sanctuary Sparrow from the Brother Cadfael series.

This episode is quite gripping and VERY faithful to the book, so much so that I could anticipate what would happen next and what it would look like. Minor scenes had to be edited out due to the time constraint, such as the painstaking restoration of the battered lute and the minstrel's progressive lessons under a designated monk. The hiding-place for sex was also not convincing; as I recall it was in some crawl space under the floorboards of the oratory and not behind a stone sarcophagus. Perhaps the crab dolly had not yet been invented at the time.

Overall, one cannot help but appreciate the creation of the mise-en-scene for every sequence. I now know that some of the plants and herbs in the garden, in the hut interior, and in the fields HAD to be fake for the purpose of continuity, which must have been an art director's nightmare.

This episode was a study of pathos.

Love those black, pierced tin lanterns!