...the scene was meant to highlight Lydia's character more than Mr. Collins's or at least as much for a viewing audience of whom many of them would be without benefit of having read the novel such as myself. Now, to be honest, I was rather surprised to see this scene but I have to say it did much to add to the character of Lydia. The, shall we say---volupuous looks of Julia Swahalha the character's sort of flouncy, uncouth, untamed and what-a-good-joke behavior in this scene gave me concrete evidence of her personality. Someone has already mentioned how JA manages to very slowly build character through narrative, dialogue and subtle hints to which I added it's kind of like getting to know someone in real life. The film doesn't have this luxury so we get this scene that is trying to do double duty by also giving us humor. I suppose they could have come up with some other scene but, surprise aside, it did help with my perception of Lydia. I would like to say something further to make my point but I must stay in the moment so I will stop here. ;-)