***Many, many major LBD spoilers ahead***
***You’ve been warned***
Today’s #LBD video opened with Lizzie sitting (alone!) talking about how grateful she is for all her fans. But have no fear, she was only toying with us—and also referencing all the teasing, almost-reveals of the past episodes. After the opening, the video picks up right where it left off on Lizzie and Charlotte’s shared birthday: with Darcy standing in front of her in her parents' den. I’ve got to hand it to the guy. He certainly does know how to return a phone call.
They sit down, and Darcy notices that Lizzie is, of course, filming. I like this nod to the issues in pervious episodes when Lizzie filmed people or discussed them without their knowledge. It’s more proof of how her character has grown over the course of the series.
And then we are on to the deliciously awkward “Why did you call?” “Why didn’t you call back?” part of the video. Here we’re back to the early days of the show where so little of the meaning is in the words and so much is revealed in a glance. The back and forth between the two of them as they talk around what they mean and try and screw up the courage to be honest is really lovely. Darcy asks if she still wants to be friends. Lizzie nearly jumps on him in her eager reply and his face as he struggles to make sense of that in the scope of all that he’d hoped is perfect repressed Darcybot. I loved the fact that they kept in Darcy’s little speech about how his feelings are unchanged. He still feels the same way he did back in the fall. “More strongly even than I did then.”
It had been, since I first read the novel over thirty years ago (I was in diapers, a child prodigy, I swear) some of my favorite lines. All that restrained passion from a character who has often been guilty of coldness should not be left out. And we can see the effect of his words play out on Lizzie’s face from distress, to disbelief, to hope, to joy.
Lizzie interrupts his carefully thought out speech with a kiss to “clarify” things. But never fear, she doesn’t leave it at that. Lizzie goes on to say all the words Darcy (and we!) have been longing to hear. She says them while fingering his tie, as though now that she can finally touch him, she can’t bear to stop. And he brushes her hair back off her face in a way that made me believe he’s been thinking of doing that every time he looked at her the past year.
This is all followed by Gigi and Fitz flailing on Twitter. Those two have shipped Lizzie and Darcy as much as I have, so it’s only fitting.
After a whole year, they finally are together, a couple. It took them long enough, which Lizzie acknowledges. “For two such smart people, we certainly can act like idiots.”
But then again, aren’t we all fools for love?
Even if you haven’t been faithfully watching the show, go watch this episode. You won’t be sorry.
Julia Broadbooks writes contemporary romance. She lives in the wilds of suburban Florida with her ever patient husband and bakes ridiculous amounts of sugary treats for her teens' friends. Find her on Twitter @juliabroadbooks.
