This was the first episode this season I really fully enjoyed! I made the mistake of coming here and reading reviews before watching, so I was spoiled about Archie, but I still teared up when Queenie was talking to Alf about letting him go. Beautiful acting by all. I've thought it before: they need to have more storylines that involve the kiRAB. They've got some raw talent there. My standout would have to be Martha Murdoch (Ethel).
What with the looming threat of starvation and half the children in Lark Rise deathly ill with measles, that's more drama than the rest of the series put together! I think I like this tack better than all sunshine and roses. Life was hard back then, and basic things like disease, crop blight, and bad weather could easily destroy whole communities. I know it's not realistic, but why not use the dramatic potential real life provides! Certainly better than the all the supernatural stuff we got the last couple of weeks!
Still don't give a fig about the Laura and Daniel relationship, and am tired of there always being the same subplot between Emma and Robert (Emma makes a little joke or offhand comment, Robert's pride is wounded, lather, rinse, repeat. I liked the gray hair plotline...that was so sweet!).
The Browns were thankfully used in moderation. A little goes a long way for me in their department, and Thomas Brown was getting on my last nerve after the first two weeks.
The same cannot be said of Minnie. I never get enough of her! There is not an episode bad or good that cannot be improved with more Minnie!
Sydney is growing on me. Wish they'd stop calling him Little Man though. He was cute with his hair all sweaty and mussed. Looked more like he did when he was in the Yorkshire school, LOL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOtPkCpnkA (0:24, 0:30, 1:23, 1:39, 1:44) The slicked hair does nothing for him, just like it did nothing for his father.
Speaking of which, I've not let go of this bone. I know it could have happened off-screen, and lord knows this episode was busy enough without it, but couldn't they have slipped in a mention of letting Sydney's father know his son was unwell? If James is probably in the habit of reading the newspaper (for stocks and business reasons), which no doubt described the quarantine in effect at the Candleford Post Office. Poor man was probably out of his wits!
Ah well, I'm sure there are plenty of people who watch the show and don't notice that Laura HAS turned into Candleford's courtesan (Ruby called her that back when she was on Philip, and she's had two big public snogs with two different blokes since!), or that Patience and Annie are each about a year younger than they're supposed to be, and Emma's maiden name is supposed to be Lane, but I do notice, ok! But I'd be completely willing to suspend disbelief, if you just acknowledge James! Pretty please?
So for the next two weeks we get a guest character-centric plot (Mr. Reppington/Tom Conti and then Old Peg Leg:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2010/wk7/sun.shtml#sun_lark). That takes us half-way through series three, and still no word on Lady Adelaide returning. I'm starting to worry the Olivia Grant article got it wrong. I'm so looking forward to seeing her again, no matter what the storyline, and if Sir Tim comes along as well, I will just die with excitement. If the writers don't milk Sydney calling Dorcas "Ma" and his Pa being away ("Oh, he's a hanRABome, rich hotelier. Rumor was he was going to ask Miss Lane to marry him. Why do you ask, Sir Tim?")
But yes, this week's episode was excellent, and kudos to Harry Miles for an excellent job playing Archie for these past three series. You will be missed!
Lost count of how many times I filled up, if I'd been by myself I'd have been crying buckets!! 
At Archie's funeral they were wearing black ribbons on their clothes that the Pratt's must have donated from the ribbon that was left from their 'posh' clients. So the elder Miss Pratt is showing signs that she does have a heart underneath that stiff exterior. The expression on her face when telling Ruby about her bout with measles DID make me wonder if there's more to their story? Is she Ruby's Mum or just a woman who adores her younger sister?
