Episodes one and two had some confusing behaviour from Miss Johnson, so let’s see what she gets up to in episodes three and four!

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The Surprise Picnic

We already had an episode titled The Midnight Feast in series one, so this one had to have a different title, though it was also about a planned midnight feast.

The plot of this episode is, as above, about the girls trying to plan a midnight feast to cheer Bill up, only they are hampered by Bill continuing to get into trouble for visiting the stables and riding “out of hours”.

A secondary plot involves Irene having sore hands, Gwen nearly having to play lacrosse in her place, and Irene offering to play piano for an older girl’s singing audition.

Things I liked

I don’t think there was much in this episode that particularly shone, though the mystery around Miss Johnson has deepened, definitely. It’s obvious now that she IS up to something rather than just being strange about Bill, so that is interesting. Like Ellen I thought the owl hoots were suspicious, as is Miss Johnson turning up at the stables at all hours. It can’t all be in the hope of catching Bill out.

Matron’s disappointment at the lack of leftovers – and eating a biscuit from the floor was funny.

I liked Irene’s musical skills being recognised – like how she can play something just from hearing it once – and how pleased she was to be recognised.

Things I didn’t understand

The rules around Bill riding/visiting Thunder are a bit unclear, I suppose all we need to know is that she has broken them though. It seems she can ride during certain hours (all girls can) but apparently she (and possibly all other girls) need permission to ride outwith those hours. In addition Bill can only ride if she has completed her extra prep.

The girls are very gung-ho about keeping Bill out of trouble, which I respect, but it means they are all continually breaking rules and visiting the stables themselves (and not always because they’re going to warn Bill!). At one point it’s Ellen who tells Bill she shouldn’t be there – Well neither should you, Ellen!

Likewise, having already hidden the picnic food at the stables they decide it’s too risky to have a picnic there. Yet two of them sneak out in the night (with no torches, even though they are seen with torches in the dorm) to the stables to collect the food anyway, risking getting caught and into trouble.

Things I am ambivalent about

While it was nice that they referenced Mr Young, the music teacher, it would have been better to see him!

Likewise, having Mavis in the episode, as a singer, is good as it is something actually from the books, but why make her a) a much  older girl and b) so modest about her singing ability?

The girls can make silly decisions sometimes – but planning a midnight picnic in the stables when Bill already has an order mark for visiting the stables outside of riding hours seems particularly foolish. Gwen actually says this to the other girls and for once she’s got a point!

Things I did not like

Darrell and Ellen steal the left-overs from the governors’ meeting. While they were leftovers and may have gone into the bin (at least whatever Matron doesn’t eat) this seems unusually dishonest for Malory Towers girls. In the books all food came from tuck boxes, or they begged lemonade from friendly kitchen staff.

I also hated Miss Johnson trying to put the whole class into detention as “justice” for Bill’s misbehaviour. However this is not a criticism of the show, this sort of thing happened in the books as well. I just hate that method!

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The Accident

The main plot involves Thunder disrupting the girls’ French lesson by turning up at the window and making Bill go off to see what’s happened.

Secondary to that is Matron holding an unexpected dorm inspection.

Things I liked

Bill’s conversation with Mam’zelle Rougier – confusing Thunder the horse with the weather thunder was funny, as was her being in a little dwam during the lesson and making horsey noises.

The dorm inspection was a nice little bit of drama to start the episode.

I also liked how kind Miss Grayling was – she showed real understanding for Bill’s problem and genuinely wanted to help. It’s odd, as I definitely remember saying that I preferred the original Miss Grayling (Jennifer Wigmore) to this one (Birgitte Solem) but having watched these episodes I find myself really liking Birgitte Solem and unable to remember Jennifer Wigmore that clearly.

The drama of Bill and Darrell riding off to find out what had happened to whoever had been riding Thunder – and the reveal of who is was – was well done.

I continue to not know what Miss Johnson is up to. She continues to go after Bill, it comes across as a real vendetta. For example immediately assuming it is Bill when she finds some straw on the floor (there are other girls with horses, even if we have never seen even one of them. The budget presumably didn’t stretch to other horses but a girl or two in jodhpurs leaving the stables would at least give an impression that there are other horses).

Things I am ambivalent about

While I like seeing more of Irene – she’s one of my favourite book characters and Natasha Raphael is wonderful – it’s a shame sometimes in the way that they portray her.

In the books she’s certainly lost in her own musical world and will go to meals with her outdoor cloak and hat on, or water the classroom flowers on someone else’s day etc. But in the series she often comes across as just careless – it’s always Irene who puts her foot in it and accidentally spills a secret – and they’ve also made her very clumsy. Some of this is from earlier episodes but I’m just bringing it up now.

In this episode she has forgotten to tell the others about the dorm inspection Matron will be doing the next morning – this IS very Irene, but the books would have shown Matron telling her, her vowing to pass on the message, and then her suddenly getting a tune in her head that she must write down… On screen all we see is that she has forgotten, which makes her rather less sympathetic.

Also connected to the dorm inspection is Darrell’s attempts to waylay Matron in the hope that Bill will get back in time. She uses some of their science chemicals to create a green bubbly blocked sink. This explains why there was suddenly a large science/chemistry set up at on end of the dorm – for plot reasons! I had been wondering since when were the girls allowed to have, or just have, chemistry set ups in their dorm.

Not specific to this show but it’s a common trope in film/TV/books for someone to smash a framed photo – always a precious photo – and it to cause upset or an argument. And like what happened in this episode the photo – the precious part – was fine (though of course it’s possible that the glass could cut or scratch the picture, or with very old pictures the image could have transferred a bit to the glass) and the glass would just need to be replaced. So I often feel like there’s a bit of an over reaction when someone breaks a photo frame. Luckily for Jean, Bill is very understanding.

Things I didn’t understand

I was half-convinced that this was Thunder about to have his colic as Bill was worried about Thunder (in a more specific sense of him not being right) but it’s really too early in the series. But instead we later (and probably unrelated to her worries) had him turn up in his saddle.

Miss Johnson initially seemed quite angry about it all – it wasn’t even her class that was disrupted. However she doesn’t seem to be suggesting that Bill was negligent in not securing him in the stables like I thought she would.

There’s a bit of arguing from her about whether anything is wrong at all – that perhaps Thunder has just bolted from the stables – but that seems silly as he wouldn’t be in his saddle would he!

Spoilers – as above the girls find the thrown rider some distance from the school. “Quick – it’s not a groom!” Darrell cries, as if somehow, a groom being thrown from a horse is OK, but not anyone else.

It turns out to be Miss Grayling. She has been very understanding with Bill, and clearly likes horses herself but I’m not sure what she was going going off on Thunder herself. All I can think is that she was going to tell Bill not to worry about Thunder while she was banned from the stables as she (Miss Grayling) was going to visit and ride him instead.

This leads to the biggest moment of non-understanding in perhaps the whole series. With Miss Grayling’s badly broken leg she is not going to be able to work for a while. Naturally someone else will have to take charge of the school.

Matron sensibly turns to Mam’zelle Rougier, who she says has been at the school the longest. But Miss Johnson – who’s been there a matter of weeks – announces that Mr Lacey has asked HER to step in.

None of it makes any sense. Yes, Mr Lacey is on the board now, but he is presumably the newest member having only joined this term. Surely it wouldn’t be his decision? Even if so, why would he choose Miss Johnson? He did have a couple of conversations with her on the first day of term, so how has she convinced him in that time that she’s the best replacement for Miss Grayling?

Obviously it had to be one of the only three adults we ever see at the school, and for the plot of the series obviously Miss Johnson being in charge is important as it means she’ll find it easier to do… whatever it is she is up to. But it makes NO sense!

Her behaviour continues to be all over the place – she arranges some cocoa for all the third formers (perhaps trying to keep them on side) – but still refuses to let Bill see Thunder except at weekends.

The final scene is her taking a seat at Miss Grayling’s desk, smug smile firmly in place, and replacing Miss Grayling’s wartime photo with one of her self.

WHAT IS SHE UP TO?